Our Lady of the Blue Ridge, Madison
By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 6/13/02)
Today our Scripture readings speak to us of our greatest treasure: faith. As people living in a country founded upon Christian ideals, it is easy for us to forget how radical it is to say that we believe in God. When the practice of the Faith is assumed into a culture, it has the tendency to become a routine custom rather than a dynamically lived relationship. In addition to this, we live in an era which uses the scientific method as practically the sole criteria to determine what is true or real. Faith in God goes beyond what the senses can apprehend and accepts as true the existence of a holy and living God, Who cannot be measured in any scientific manner. We are people of faith, and our readings today remind us that through faith we can know God, that we must believe in Him and that, as a consequence of our faith, we must live holy and committed Christian lives.
In our first reading, the prophet Hosea exhorts us: "Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord." Faith is a gift that we receive from God. Through the gift of faith, we can begin to penetrate the mystery of the unseen God, and we can come to know Him. He reveals Himself to us through His creation, through His self-revelation to His chosen people, through his prophets, and, in these last days, through the incarnation of His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. Yet, this same passage from the prophet Hosea also warns us about becoming lukewarm in our faith. "Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away." Our faith life can become routine; we can take it for granted and forget that a relationship with the living and true God should be a dynamic reality. God says to His Chosen People through the prophet Hosea that He had punished them because they had become complacent in their religious duties, and reminds them: "…it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts." It is a common struggle in the spiritual life to resist becoming complacent. Going to Mass on Sunday can become one more thing to check off the list; going to confession a chore. But, our faith should be a dynamic relationship with the living God. The Eucharist and the sacraments should be fonts of life-giving joy, not routines and chores.
In our second reading, St. Paul holds up before the Christians in Rome, and us, the example of Abraham and Sarah as icons of faithful believers. As we recall, Abraham had been told by God that He would be the father of many nations, and that the whole world would be blessed through his offspring. The problem was that both Abraham and Sarah were well past the age of biologically being capable of having children. But, St. Paul tells us: "He [Abraham] did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body as already dead — for he was almost a hundred years old — and the dead womb of Sarah. He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief. … and it was credited to him as righteousness."
How many times are we faced with the decision to believe or not? Many times we justify our lack of faith by telling ourselves that we are being realistic when, in fact, we do not believe that God could or would provide something we need. How often did Jesus tell the sick — "Go, your faith has healed you" (cf. Mt 9:22) Or, "According to your faith let it be done to you" (cf. Mt 9:29). Of course, medicine and technology are God-given helps for us, and we ought to use them when they can improve our health or situation. I am not talking about those sorts of issues. I am talking about those times when we need something beyond the ordinary, something only a loving God can provide. We must not only know about God, but we must believe and trust in Him.
Our Gospel reading from St. Matthew draws our lesson on faith to its conclusion. Faith begins with God calling us as He did St. Matthew in our Gospel reading this morning. St. Matthew was a tax collector, and tax collectors were despised by the Jews. The reason for this is not because they collected the government’s taxes, but because tax collectors could require that their fellow citizens pay more than the standard amount so that they could become individually wealthy. If the people did not pay that amount, they would have them thrown in jail. These tax collectors preyed on their own people, and were, therefore, despised by them. When did Matthew’s faith begin? We do not know, but we do know that Matthew did not begin to follow Jesus until he was called. His faith is revealed in the fact that "he got up and followed him."
You can imagine the horror of the apostles when Jesus called Matthew — a tax collector. "You are calling him!" But, it is in the call of the sinful Matthew that God reveals the response He desires from His disciples: "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’" These words could be paraphrased: "I desire a living and dynamic relationship with my children, not rote and routine responses."
Faith is and should be a living and dynamic reality. The people with whom we come into contact each day, especially those who claim to not believe, should be impressed by the fact that we are different. Jesus came "not to call the righteous, but sinners." Are we not all sinners? Through living a dynamic faith life, we are being slowly transformed into living expressions of God in the world. As we come to know God better, our love for Him deepens and we begin to imitate Him more closely. This process is known as growth in holiness. Faith and holiness go hand in hand.
Our faith has been tested over these last few months as revelations of clerical sexual abuse and the mishandling of some of these offenders have come to our attention. We must be like Abraham and Sarah and believe. Jesus points to the reason for our belief in his words to St. Peter. "You are Peter the Rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (cf. Mt. 16:18). Ultimately and fundamentally, our faith is not in a particular person called to minister on Christ’s behalf. Our faith is in Jesus Christ, Who remains with the Church He founded. We are called to believe that He is still guiding His Church, and that He will continue to lead us. These trials will be shown in the end to be the powerful intervention of God to protect the innocent and guide His Church in the direction that she should go. It is not an easy time, but it can be a fruitful one if we have faith and live it.
As I prepare to join my brother bishops in Dallas, I ask you for your prayers for me and all of us as we gather to address this very serious problem. May we all, the members of the Body of Christ, the Church, be strengthened in our faith, come to a deeper knowledge of God and live a holier life as a result of these terrible problems and trials. May we be like Abraham and Sarah and trust in God even as we experience purification. Yes, today our readings speak to us of our greatest treasure: faith. Let us thank God for this wonderful gift, and recommit ourselves to living the faith given us, joyfully and perseveringly, until our journey of faith gives way to the vision of God in eternal life. Amen.
Copyright ©2002 Arlington Catholic Herald. All rights reserved.
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