Wis. 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Ps. 30:2, 4-6, 11-13; 2 Cor. 8:7,9, 13-15; Mk. 5:21-43
The Lord says to us today, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” In the middle of the storm of life someone might say to us “just have faith” and in your heart you realize that is easier said than done. The test of faith comes clear under the storms of life where fear strikes at the heart, in circumstances beyond our control, and when God comes calling. Fear and faith are in constant opposition of each other. Fear drives away faith and faith buries fear.
True faith is not blind faith. Some foolishly think that to walk by faith is to walk blindly. Consider this example of two people in a dark room with no light. The person who walks blindly has never been in this room, has no idea where things are and can easily stumble and injure themselves. The person who walks by faith has spent time in this room getting familiar with the surroundings with a sense of how to walk in the darkness of this room. When we close our eyes to pray, we open our souls to the light of faith and receive the spirit of truth to walk in true faith. Without prayer we only trust in what we see and lack faith.
By faith we know how to handle success with grace and manage failure with humility; we know how to celebrate life and persevere in suffering, we know how to live each moment as it was the last breath and prepare for eternity. Faith is the scale on which we weigh all that life brings us and stay in right balance.
The question is where is our faith; in who do we trust? Do we mainly trust in ourselves and give God a passing thought or prayer in hopes that he is there when we need him or do we align our life in the practice of trusting in God and allow God to be our God, our guiding light in all that we do? The answer determines whether the scales are tipped towards fear or faith.
Faith is like a muscle that without exercise cannot become stronger but in time only weakens. Faith is an active process that becomes stronger with practice; that is the practice of prayer; trusting in the Lord; waiting upon the Lord; seeking him; and surrendering to the him. This is true Godly faith in action. In Godly faith we have the capacity to put on the mind of God, to see with the heart of Jesus, and follow the will of our Father in Spirit.
The woman who touched the clothes of Jesus believed with great faith in the power of Jesus to cure her. The synagogue official whose daughter was dying believed in the power of Jesus to save her from death. Those who lacked faith and ridiculed Jesus for saying she was not dead but asleep he “put them all out” to feed on their own lack of faith. This is a reminder that people of faith need to guard against the carriers of fear and doubt who work for the evil one. “Get away from me Satan” is an appropriate prayer to bring light to darkness.
God formed humanity to be in his own image “imperishable” and yet “death” is in the world; or is it? Jesus came to put an end to death. There is an image of a little girl with her finger pointing out at who is seeing her. The caption at the top says “Don’t worry about dying your going to live forever”; then at the bottom it reads “worry about location, location, location”. Jesus came to put an end to death so his purpose is to bring us to everlasting life in heaven. Death of the mortal body is just the next step in the journey to our location of heaven, purgatory, or hell. Purgatory comes with the promise of heaven in need of final justice through purification.
When we pray for life and death comes to the body it does not always indicate a lack of faith; in fact, it may be an answered prayer. True life is eternal and God has answered our prayer not as we seek it but as he wills for our greater good. The Lord has rescued us from the sins of this world and we give him all the praise and honor. “I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me” that I may have great faith and trust in you.
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