Faith The Theological Virtues

Faith is one of the most fundamental of all Christian virtues. As the letter to the Hebrews says, “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for the existence of realities unseen.” It then goes on to say that, “Yet without faith it is impossible to please Him, for no one draws near God without first believing that he exists and that he rewards earnestly” (Hebrews 11:6 )

Life is a journey, and the virtues are meant to help us to get where we are going. The saints often speak of each human being as ‘homo viator’, which is Latin for a kind of pilgrim, someone who is on their way to somewhere. But exactly where are we supposed to be going? Only God knows for sure, and we have to find that out for ourselves through faith.

Lord Jesus, you are the way the truth and the life. Show us how to walk closely beside you each day; show us how to be your hands and feet, your presence in this world of need. Help us to be attentive to your calling and sensitive to the needs of others.

Tuesday: Romans 4:16-25

Abraham is our earthly father in faith, God’s real presence in the world manifested itself in Moses, Elijah and Abraham. In Old Testament times these people were the presence of God in the world.

Faith always trusts in the unseen God. We trust in things we cannot physically touch, hear or see. The world looks to what is tangible. We rely on what is not tangible.

When Abraham put his faith in God he was made father of many nations. His simple act of trusting transformed his simple life into something extraordinary.

In the same way if we open ourselves to the reality of God that our lives are a gift, then we become ‘fathers and mothers’ in faith to those around us. It is by our own trusting that we can share something of the hidden life within us.

Lord Jesus, help us to become aware of this hidden reality that transforms us and also transforms our relationships, from something ordinary, into something special.

Wednesday: John 6:22-59

“And Jesus said to them I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst..”

We all have a deep hunger and a thirst for something deep inside us. We can end up trying to fill our hunger and thirst in so many other ways, by having the latest mobile phone, a new car, lots of friends, a good job. We can try to be comfortable materially.

Such things never fully satisfy us. Faith is what gives us the bigger picture.

Jesus ultimately gave his life up for us so that we can be set free, free for what? Free to forget about ourselves and our own needs and to focus on the needs of others.

Faith makes the events of Jesus a reality, his dying on the cross, his rising to new life. By entering into faith we move from the events being simple facts, to affecting our own heart, our own lives.

We become witnesses as though we had actually lived through the events 2000 years ago and that is what we are invited to do at the Eucharist, Christ’s last supper, to be a part of the his last meal and the events that followed.

If I allow Jesus he can really change me from within to accept that without him and by my own strength I cannot venture beyond the superficial. By allowing him in I enter into full relationship where he is my motivation, my compass, my shield, my strength.

Lord, help me enter into trusting prayer, where you become real food and real drink, where you become my motivation, my reason for living, my compass, my light, my source of energy.

Thursday: John 9:38

“Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshipped him.”

This reading is about the blind man who was healed at the pool of Siloam. The blind man’s life in this reading was so transformed by the actions of Jesus that he was able to say the words, “Lord I believe.”

There are times in our lives when we are so focussed on our material need and our worries and concerns for ourselves and those around us that we fail to see that it is Jesus who is standing right in front of us.

Jesus wants to heal us of our own blindness, where there are so many things that blur our vision of him - our own wants, our own agendas and our priorities. He wants to come first in everything. He wants us to sit in faith at his feet, so we are able to say like the blind man “Lord, I believe.”

Lord, I believe you are the reason for my existence, Lord I believe that you are really my saviour, Lord I believe it was for me that you suffered on the cross and rose again.

Faith is the means by which I come to life, from my own inner deadness, to come to full life in Christ, freed from temptations, fears, my own priorities, my self centeredness and my need to please other people. Faith means sharing this life with other people.

Lord, help me to see you,, open the eyes of my heart, the eyes of my faith so that I can see that it is you that is standing in front of me, inviting me to come, to come and be a healed by a God that loves me unconditionally, and held in that love I am set free.

Friday: Luke 7:1-10

“I say to you I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel”

This passage is a powerful testament to the Centurion’s faith. He trusted Jesus to completely heal his servant of his illness. I have chosen this reading because it shows real strength of faith. He would have been a gentile, and would have believed in the Jewish God, without becoming a Jew.

To believe in Jesus power to heal was to take a big step away from common belief, to accept Jesus as the Messiah that he really was.

For many to come to fully believe requires a real decision in faith. There are people who try to persuade us not to believe, like Richard Dawkins adverts on buses ‘There is probably no God’ and the book ‘The God Delusion’, which tries to argue against the existence of God.

We can be made fun of or not listened to, or there can be other subtle pressures against faith like not being able to wear religious symbols on work uniforms.

When we decide to hold on in spite of the subtle pressures and often ridicule of our society, and those around us, and we are able to witness, we can hear Jesus say to us “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”

Lord, help me to be a witness to my faith in a society which has turned its back on faith, and is aggressively secular and at times ridicules faith. Help me like the Roman centurion to be a real witness to you and to have the same strength of faith to ask for our own healing and for the healing of others.

Publish:

Verbum Dei UK