“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
THURSDAY, May 13th Jn. 16: 16-20 Ascension of the Lord… (Transferred to Sunday)
“So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God.”
- At the Ascension, which we will celebrate again on Sunday, Jesus leaves the Apostles with this missionary mandate: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
- We have been baptized in the faith, but we need to grow in our faith until the day we die. We either swim upstream to heaven or float downstream to hell. There is no standing still!
FIVE WAYS TO HOLD ONTO FAITH UNTIL THE END by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
Faith is a theological virtue freely given at Baptism. Faith is believing in God even though we do not see Him. Faith must be defended, cultivated and shared with others if faith is to persevere in our lives.
Do you still have faith?
Jesus said: “When the Son of man comes many will lose faith and charity will grow cold in many hearts.” If you still have faith, be exceedingly thankful for this precious and gratuitous gift. Maybe it would be a good spiritual exercise to simply wind back the clock and see how many practiced the faith with you—maybe many of your relatives. Now, for some reason, many of these same people do not have faith, but you do!
Why is this the case, that you and I are among the few that have faith; whereas, the huge majority have lost faith? Is it because there is something innately good about us, or due to our keen intelligence, or due to our wit and charm, or maybe due to our good looks that we have faith and others do not? Why? Indeed, a mystery of God’s infinite goodness to us.
Before tooting our horn or patting ourselves on the back, we should be keenly aware of the hard truth: any one of us who at present have faith in God, in the Lord Jesus, and in the Church, could be among those who in the future lose their faith.
What then should we do to maintain our faith, sustain our faith, grow in our faith, and remain faithful? What course can we undertake to be faithful to the end? Remember that the race is not over until the finish line has been crossed!
The following suggestions can help us guard the precious gem that was given to many of us—faith in God, faith in Jesus the Lord, faith in His mystical Body that we call the Church.
1. A DYNAMIC, VIBRANT AND GROWING PRAYER LIFE
The late Father John Hardon, S.J. made this observation: “Those who lost their faith often were those who abandoned the practice of prayer.” That makes sense. Why? For this simple reason: praying is an act of Faith.
When we pray, we do not see God to whom we are addressing our words. Our God is a mysterious and hidden God. Our God is invisible to our physical eyes that perceive the physical realities that bombard our senses. For this reason, Jesus gently rebuked Thomas the doubter: “Thomas, you believe because you see. Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” May the doubt of Saint Thomas the Apostle strengthen our weak and faltering faith! Every day of our life, we should strive to pray a little bit more and better. This indeed will be a safeguard to help us avoid losing our faith.
2. BEGGARS BEFORE THE LORD
Why not pray this short but powerful prayer: “Lord, I believe, but strengthen my belief.” Jesus told us: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.” (Mt. 7:7) We should never be afraid to become a beggar before the Lord, imploring Him to give us a robust and dynamic faith!
3. STUDY
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once commented that very few people leave the faith for what the Church teaches, but rather for what they think the Church teaches. In other words, many leave the Church and lose their faith based on erroneous concepts of Church teaching. Due to an all-pervasive ignorance, a lack of knowledge of Divine truths combined with poor catechesis, many abandon the practice of the faith.
If you want to grow in your faith and avoid losing it, then you must study your faith.
One suggestion: read, study, and learn the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this text is one of the most important and influential spiritual masterpieces published in the past fifty years under the guidance and pontificate of Saint Pope John Paul II.
You cannot fall in love with what you do not know. Reading, studying, and living the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be a wellspring of knowledge and grace for maintaining a dynamic and flourishing faith!
4. PRACTICE YOUR FAITH
There is a modern proverb used by many people today that’s applicable to this concept: “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Musical talents, athletic prowess, literary expressions, linguistic perfection, culinary skills—all of these demand a constant effort to keep them up to the mark of approval! Likewise, for our faith to grow we have to practice it.
Ways we can practice our faith are many, here are a few:
1) Prayer. The habit of personal prayer, prayer in common, and liturgical prayer—all of these bolster faith.
2) Sign of the cross. By making the sign of the cross we are professing in a corporal manner our belief in the greatest mystery of our Catholic faith, the Blessed Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3) Genuflection. By performing a reverential and pious genuflection in church, we are manifesting belief and adoration for Jesus, truly present in the most Blessed Sacrament.
4) The Most Holy Eucharist in Holy Communion. The greatest act of faith we can make is receiving the true and Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist in Holy Communion!
5) Amen. By saying Amen when we receive Holy Communion, we are professing our belief that the Lord Jesus is truly the Bread of Life, the living Bread that came down from heaven to give us life and life in abundance. (Read John 6:25-71)
5. SHARE YOUR FAITH WITH OTHERS
In the material realm, when we give something to others, we become impoverished. I give you $20 and I am $20 poorer. In the spiritual realm, this is not the case. Rather, if I teach catechism, preach a homily, preach a mission, explain to somebody how to pray, explain in detail the ten commandments to somebody who has a poorly formed conscience—in all of these cases, as the person is receiving enrichment from this sharing, I am also being enriched by sharing my spiritual treasures.
One of the greatest gifts we can give to another is to share our faith; this is one of the highest forms of charity. Indeed there is more joy in giving that in receiving and this can be applied to the sharing of the faith.
Therefore, let us humbly thank God for the gift of faith the He has so generously given to us, but let us defend our faith, cultivate our faith, share our faith and pray that we will be faithful until the end!
Copyright 2021 Oblates of the Virgin Mary – St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
