27th Sunday - Faith

All the texts of this Sunday's Liturgy speak of faith, which is the foundation of the whole of Christian life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us faith is “the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us” (CCC 1814).

All of us here today believe in Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus is God and that by the power of the Holy Spirit, He came down from heaven into the womb of Mary and was born in Bethlehem. We believe Jesus lived 33 years on this earth and during the last three years of His life, Our Lord worked miracles, He healed the sick, raised the dead, exorcised the possessed, walked on water, multiplied loaves and fish, calmed the storm, changed water into wine, and He proclaimed the Good News.

Jesus works miracles by faith. He told the blind man, “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

At the Last Supper Jesus changed wine into His blood and bread into His body. We believe Jesus suffered and died on the Cross and after three days He raised Himself from the dead with a new resurrected body. We believe He appeared to His apostles and many others and He ascended into heaven. We believe Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Yet, though we cannot see Him, we believe Jesus is always at our side and that He loves us. Our faith tells us God is the author of the bible and used men to convey Himself to us through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.

We believe at every Mass the crucifixion event becomes present on the altar. We believe at Mass, heaven is opened and we join the angels and saints worshiping God. We believe at Mass, Jesus through the words of the priest changes bread and wine into His body and blood and then we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. We believe Jesus is united to us in Communion for at least 10 minutes.

We believe Jesus in the priest baptizes babies and adults. We believe Jesus unites couples in marriage. We believe Jesus anoints the sick and dying. We believe Jesus, through the priest, absolves our sins in confession. We believe Jesus sends the Holy Spirit upon us to confirm us at our Confirmation. We believe when a man is ordained by the bishop, Jesus configures his soul and acts through the priest sacramentally to pastor the people to heaven.

We believe in the Blessed Trinity, that there are three persons in one God. We believe Jesus has two natures, both human and divine and yet the person of Jesus is divine.

We believe in heaven, in hell and in purgatory. We believe at the moment of death, we will be judged. We believe at the end of the world is the general judgment and we will all rise from the dead at the general resurrection. We believe saints can intercede for us and obtain favors from us.

We believe Jesus loves us and hears our prayers even when they are not answered when and how we would like them to be answered.

In the first reading today the prophet Habakkuk had difficulty because his prayer was not answered, and so, he cried out to God, “How long, Lord, am I to cry for help while you will not listen?” But, by faith we believe, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

In the Gospel, the apostles realized they needed more faith, and so they said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” and Jesus said, “Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.”

Pope Benedict XVI in a homily said, “Jesus taught his disciples to grow in faith, to believe and to entrust themselves increasingly to him, in order to build their own lives on the rock. For this reason they asked him "increase our faith!". What they asked the Lord for is beautiful, it is the fundamental request: disciples do not ask for material gifts, they do not ask for privileges but for the grace of faith, which guides and illumines the whole of life; they ask for the grace to recognize God and to be in a close relationship with him...”

All of us here today, have faith and we can always grow in our faith too. Faith is needed to help overcome life’s problems and difficulties. If we lack faith, we should ask God for the gift of faith and He we trust He will give it.

Some non-Catholics believe in faith alone. But, the early Christians (who were Catholic) believe in faith and works, as the Book of James, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James is stating something very simple, if we truly have faith, we will live by faith, causing us to show our love for our neighbor helping them in all their needs.

We cannot therefore say, “I believe in Jesus, and then don’t do what Jesus asks of us.” We can’t say we love Jesus, if we fail keep His commandments. He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” If we don’t repent of our sins, (the times we failed to keep God’s commandments) our faith will be weakened and can be lost, as St. Paul said, “Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.“ (1 Timothy 1:9) Peter, our first Pope, helps us to see the joy that comes from believing in Jesus. He said, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Jesus gives us a promise of never dying. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11: 25)

Our Lord said, if we believe in Him, we will have eternal life and be raised us on the last day. (John 6:40)

Jesus, I believe in you and because I believe in You, I will live my life as a Christian doing works of love for my neighbor, because that is what You want me to do. Out of faith, the Virgin Mary, said yes, to become your Mother, and when She stood at the foot of Your Cross, when all seemed lost, She believed you would rise from the dead, and so, I believe in You, O Lord, because I desire to be with you forever in heaven.