No Faith Without Action
One
No Faith Without Action
Jesus brings his Sermon on the Mount to a close by teaching, 'It is not those who say to me, "Lord, Lord", who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven. When the judgment day comes, many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?" Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, you evil men!' 'Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!'
Jesus concludes his teaching by explaining the true nature of faith.
Faith in Jesus means to trust that Jesus is God and to trust that what He tells us is true, and if it is true we need to do what He tells us. Faith is not real, it is not solid until we live it, until we put it into practice.
Two
It is not enough to simply accept the content of faith as true. I could know everything in the Catechism but if I do not live it, then I do not have faith. James 2:19, “You believe in the one God - that is good, but the demons have the same belief, and they are in hell.”
Faith must transform your whole life. When someone claims to be a Christian, to believe in Jesus, but not live by his teachings, they are living in denial. But if we don’t actively incorporate what Jesus said into everything we do, well, that is a sign we live in denial, that our faith is dead.
Faith only lives insofar as it changes our life.
We have been meditating on the Sermon on the Mount, the greatest of Jesus’ teachings. It is challenging, I am weak and I fail often. But I want to live it. I know you do as well.
Don’t give up. Say to Jesus, “I can’t do this, but you can. Jesus, I trust in You!”
Three
The Transforming Power of the Resolution
Again, Jesus said, “It is not those who say to me, "Lord, Lord", who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.”
A resolution is the key to mental prayer. St. Francis of De Sales writes, “The most important thing of all is that you cling firmly to the resolutions you have taken in meditation so as to practice them carefully. That is the great fruit of meditation, without which it is often not only useless but harmful. Why so? Because the virtues upon which we have meditated but not practiced sometimes puff us up so much in mind and heart that we think we are already what we are resolved to be which no doubt is the case if our resolutions are solid and ardent. But when, on the contrary, they are not practiced, they are useless and dangerous.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, II Chap 8)
Choose something practical and concrete to do that day based on your meditation. If we practice a resolution flowing from our meditation every day we will change and become a better person.
If we don’t practice a resolution, then not only will we not remain the same, we will get worse – because unchecked vice makes a person worse, not better.
Examples of a resolution: Today I will listen more than I speak. I will not gossip today. I complain too much, today I will practice thanking God ahead of time for working everything for good. I am anxious, today I will replace that feeling of anxiety with an act of trust in God.
Four
Jesus describes faith as an expectation that God will work wonders. It is this expectation that allows those wonders to occur.
In 1982, the Israeli Airforce carried out daily bombing raids on Beirut, Lebanon in its efforts to weaken Lebanon and gain more control of the Golan Heights. During these raids, 36 disabled children had been abandoned in a hospital in West Beirut that was heavily damaged. Mother Teresa heard about this and flew from India to rescue the children. She met with a number of military officers and politicians and asked for a fleet of Red Cross trucks to go and pick up the children… tomorrow. The US Ambassador retorted, “This is impossible. We need a ceasefire first. And there is no chance it will come tomorrow….”
“Oh, but I have been praying to Our Lady,” Mother stated confidently. “And I have asked her to let us have a cease-fire here tomorrow.” The ambassador was taken aback. He stared incredulously at Mother Teresa and said, “Mother, I believe in prayer, but don’t you think that the time limit is little…well you know… short?” “Oh, no.” Mother Teresa responded, “I am certain that we will have the cease-fire tomorrow.” Trying in vain to conceal his skepticism, he placated her quietly. “Mother, if we have a cease-fire, I will personally make the arrangements to see that you go to West Beirut tomorrow.” Mother Teresa’s response was simply, “We shall pray.”
Then Mother Teresa went and pulled an all-nighter in prayer in the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. To everyone’s surprise, except for Mother Teresa, a cease fire was declared the next morning at sunrise and you can watch for yourselves on YouTube the convoy of Red Cross trucks carrying those children to safety and a big smile on Mother Teresa’s face.
That is expectant faith.
Five
Only Jesus can give us Faith but you have a job here as well.
No matter how much I want another person to have faith, I cannot give it to them. We cannot generate faith in someone else. Only Jesus can. Only an encounter with Jesus has the power to give someone faith.
Still, we have a necessary role to play. It is our job to help people encounter Jesus. How do we prepare the way? By being missionaries of friendship with our family and with our friends.
We help to prepare the way by praying and offering sacrifice for them. By sharing life with them and delighting in all that is good in them. By learning the art of being genuinely interested in them, of asking good questions, and follow-up questions to get people thinking about the most important things in life. And when we see a hunger for God arise in their heart, invite them to what they want. Invite them to pray the Rosary with you or learn more or help them to the Church and the Sacraments.
You cannot make another person have faith. But through friendship, there is much that we must do. St. Francis of Assisi said, “Through friendship learn faith.”