Meditate on God’s Word

The Gift of Faith

How often do we pray to God for greater faith? The apostles in today’s Gospel echo the words of Christians throughout the centuries, “increase our faith!” Jesus was teaching messages that challenged their own preconceived notions and they recognized that they needed faith to be able to accept these truths. So too, it is often difficult in our own secular society to believe all of the increasingly counter-cultural teachings of the Church. In a culture that demands the stamp of scientific approval on all matters, it requires greater faith to believe certain sublime truths of the Church that cannot be proven in such a manner.

This is why we too need to earnestly implore the Lord for more faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church claims that “faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him.” (CCC 153). This understanding is important in realizing that while we can perform acts that help cultivate our faith, it ultimately remains a pure gift of grace from God. This lens allows us to remain humble in times when our faith is strong for we realize that we are constantly being sustained by grace. This should spur us onto greater gratitude to God

By recognizing our great need for the pure gift of faith, we should strive to return to the core act of our discipleship, namely, prayer. Let us set aside time each day to pray to the Father the words found in the Gospel of Mark, “I believe, help my unbelief.” Let us then move outwards and pray for others to be strengthened in their faith, especially those whom we know are struggling,

Summary

It is often difficult in our own secular society to believe all of the increasingly counter-cultural teachings of the Church. This is why we too need to earnestly implore the Lord for more faith. Let us set aside time each day to pray to the Father the same words found in the Gospel today, “increase our faith!”

https://www.archtoronto.org/stewardship