Faith
Second Sunday of Easter
17 April 2007
Presented by Michael Fetsko
Opening Prayer
Faith is one of the three virtues of the Church:
The virtue of Faith as defined by the Catholic Encyclopedia is:
“Faith
is an infused virtue, by which the intellect is perfected by a supernatural
light, in virtue of which, under a supernatural movement of the will, it
assents firmly to the supernatural truths of Revelation, not on the motive of
intrinsic evidence, but on the sole ground of the infallible authority of God
revealing. For as man is guided in the attainment of natural happiness by
principles of knowledge known by the natural light of reason, so also in the
attainment of his supernatural destiny his intellect must be illumined by
certain supernatural principles, namely, Divinely revealed truths.”
Faith is always initiated within us by God. It is a subtle process. It is not initiated or created by us, but rather forms within us from God. Perhaps this gift of faith is what has brought you to RCIA. It cannot be created by us, for it is an engagement of God reaching out to our hearts and minds. Once we open up ourselves to God reaching out to us, our faith begins to grow.
This past Sunday’s readings were very beautiful selections that are appropriate to this concept. In the Gospel passage (Jn 20:19-31), we learn about the Apostle Thomas, often referred to as “Doubting Thomas”. As we listened to this account, we have the benefit of 2,000 years Church tradition and faith. But if we put ourselves in the time of the Apostles, we realize that were living in the moment. Their beloved Jesus had just been crucified two days ago, and they are in hiding, behind a locked door. Suddenly, Jesus appears before them. He does not pass through the walls as a ghost, but rather appears in the living flesh. At this moment, the Apostles sense Jesus’ coming into His divine, glorified body. That is, all of the Apostles except Thomas, who was not with them.
Proceeding to John 20:24-5, we learn that Thomas was absent during the first apparition of Jesus to the disciples. And he did not believe the other apostles when they told him that they had seen the Lord. The only way he would believe is by touching the wounds of Jesus with his own finger.
A week later, again on a Sunday, while the disciples were gathered behind locked doors with Thomas, the Lord Jesus appeared again and said, "Peace be with you." [Jn. 20:26] By the emphasis that this happened on a Sunday, it becomes clear that in John's time, the first day of the week was the day on which the early Church Christians assembled to celebrate the liturgy.
Next, we are taken to the moment when Jesus said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." [Jn. 20:27] In response to these words, Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God!" [Jn. 20:28] Seeing was sufficient. Thomas believed because He saw Jesus. [Jn. 20:29]
When Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God!” he was affirming the Divine nature of the Lord Jesus. For while the word "Lord" implied Jesus as "Master" and "Teacher," the word "God" implied Yahweh, the God of the Jewish nation. In the person of Jesus, Thomas perceived the human and Divine natures.
A side note here: it is customary for Catholics to recite this prayer to themselves, during the Elevation of the Host and Wine, as the priest/celebrant utters the words of consecration. (Some even expand upon this prayer, reciting “My Lord and my God, have mercy on me.”)
In this passage, faith is shown as the opposite of doubt. Doubt causes confusion and discord, and causes us not to see clearly. (This is not to be confused with a healthy doubt, which raises questions in our mind that are answered for us through our faith).
Faith is not a suspension of our judgment or intellect. The Papal Encyclical Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason) written by the late Pope John Paul II begins with the introduction:
Faith and reason
are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of
truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a
word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may
also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9;
63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2).
Trusting in faith alone, or reason alone will not work. Relying solely on one or the other eventually fail us, and let us down. We need to have both in our lives. God’s wisdom is infinitely greater than any human could possibly imagine. God give us both faculties to together contemplate Him and grow closer in union to Him.
Take Thomas for example. He physically observes the wounds of Christ with his fingers, and sees them with his eyes. This is a tangible and rational observation for him. However, Thomas also experiences faith in his witnessing Jesus before him.
It is interesting to note that in the Gospel accounts that take place during this time after the crucifixion of Jesus, and prior to His ascension into Heaven, many of His disciples fail to recognize Him in His newly glorified body (i.e. the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24: 13-35.)
Paragraphs 142 and 166 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains to us that God’s divine love is freely given to us. And our response to this love is our Catholic faith. There is nothing that we as humans, have done to warrant, or perhaps even deserve this love. And yet God has chosen to freely give it to us.
In the Gospel, we also read that after Jesus revealed Himself to the Apostles, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is God.
The Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Genesis as “breath”, from the Hebrew word “Rua”, which means “breath” and “spirit”. Jesus “breathes” life into the apostles as God breathed life into Adam. There is a deliberate connection between these two passages. Without the “breath” of Christ in us, the Church cannot be a living Body. We might be a religious organization, but without the indwelling Spirit of Christ we cannot be a living body of faith.
This act of Jesus signifies the birth of the Church, and the establishment of the Apostles as its first leaders. At this moment, Jesus gives the Apostles a power that was previously reserved to God. In John 20:22-23 we read:
“Receive
the Holy Spirit.
Whose
sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and
whose sins you retain are retained.”
In these words, Jesus establishes the Apostles as the first Bishops. He is instructing them that “What you do in my name, I do” passing on His mission to them.
In last Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts
5:12-16), we read the account of the Apostles healing the sick, just as
Jesus did during His earthly ministry.
The Apostles are acting in persona
Christi (“in the person of Christ”).
Remember, the Acts of the Apostles occurs after Jesus’ ascension into
Heaven.
In the Book of Acts, we see the Apostles working
in persona Christi, bringing faith to the people. The people begin to believe
by witnessing the signs and wonders performed by the Apostles. For instance, the people clamor through the
crowd, just to fall within Peter’s shadow to be healed, just as the woman in
Gospel is healed by touching Jesus’ cloak.
By merely coming into contact with the Apostles, the people are given a
miraculous hope of being healed. 2,000 years later, this remains as an
important element of our faith. The
Bible and the Book of Acts in particular, gives us a clear vision that Christ
handed His power over to the Apostles.
This passing on of Jesus’ ministry is with us
today, in the Magisterium of the Church: this mission has been handed down from
the Apostles to the Pope, Bishops and Priests that are with us today.
Keep in mind that the Apostles were not
superhuman. They were people just like us. By passing on His ministry, Jesus ensured
that the Church would continue in the world until His return, and not end with
the death of the Apostles.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 153 states:
When
St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus
declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and
blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven".24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused
by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the
grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the
Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of
the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"
Faith is passed on by hearing and witnessing. The very same Holy Spirit that was received by the Apostles is poured out to us in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. And by receiving the Holy Spirit, we are able to open ourselves up to what the Church teaches.
Without the Church and Her Sacraments, we are incomplete in Christianity. ALL of the Sacraments have been instituted by Christ, to be performed on the people from the Apostles on down though history. The Catholic understanding of the Sacraments is rooted in the Easter Scriptures. The faith that we have in Christ comes from the faith that the Apostles had after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The Apostles believed, as we believe, that they were sent by Christ to do His work.
John Henry Newman
A great example to us of faith lies in the person of The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman. (February 21, 1801 – August 11, 1890) He was an Anglican (Church of England) priest and convert to Roman Catholicism, later made a cardinal, and in 1991 proclaimed 'Venerable'. In early life he was a major figure in the Oxford Movement to bring the Church of England back to its Catholic roots. Eventually his studies in history persuaded him to become a Roman Catholic. Both before and after his conversion he wrote a number of influential books, which themselves inspired countless more souls to experience a conversion as he had.
In his time, Newman observed how people picked and chose what to believe. He reflected on how, in the time of the Apostles, people accepted and believed what they were taught at face-value. The submission of one’s mind was only a token of faith. He came to conclude that either the Apostles were sent by God, or were not. And in believing that the Apostles were indeed sent by God, he felt that he had no choice but to believe in all that the Church teaches. He believed that there was no room for a “grey area” when it comes to faith.
The Apostles’ ministry is alive today in the Magisterium of the Church. The Pope, Bishops and Priests of our Church today, preach, teach and minister to the people in place of the Apostles, who themselves acted in persona Christi.
When we disagree with the Magisterium, we do not have faith. Faith is an absolute: there is no such thing as having “a little” bit of faith. It is either all or none. We are called to give ascent to all that the Church teaches and believes.
Put into focus, look at the age in which we live, particularly in the
The Gospel challenges us in this day and age, to go above and beyond Man’s Law. If we have difficulty in believing in what the Church teaches, we must give ascent to Her teachings, pray for strength and pray for the day to come when we are no longer distressed by such feelings.
Take for example how sex is
portrayed by the media, in how what the Church teaches about sex is in direct
opposition to the media’s portrayal of it.
The message of public opinion on sex is in complete defiance to what the
Gospel teaches us: Sex is holy versus sex is simply for our pleasure.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of
believing the latter. And if we do, we
must realize that believing so is a sin. If we recognize that this is contrary
to what the Church teaches, and feel remorse and guilt over doing so, we are
compelled to seek the Sacrament of Confession.
We may have sinned, but we have not lost our faith. If however, we lose
are sense of remorse, and rationalize our sins to the point that we are
hardened to feeling any guilt whatsoever, we have lost our faith. Faith is not negotiable: “I believe what the
Church teaches, but…” To have this
mentality is to not have faith. A healthy, faith-filled conscience always
re-centers us, and brings us back to God.
The Church is the arbiter of
truth. What Jesus said to the Apostles
in last Sunday’s Gospel (John 20:22-23) marked the beginning of the Church. And what the Apostles
did in Jesus’ name furthered the Church, and what the Church teaches us
today. This is known as the Deposit of
Faith. Th Church, in her wisdom, never
adds to subtracts from the Deposit of Faith
The Gospel is not just the words
that are written in the Bible: it is a living account of how the Apostles
lived. The Church, and our faith, is a
dynamic, living faith. For every event
that has happened in history, the faith has always answered with a
response. We must submit to the teaching
authority of the Church. This can be
extremely difficult in this day and age, when so many people are educated, and
information and knowledge can be easily attained. Living in such an age, we can easily fall
into the trap of thinking that we “know better”. But in the end, faith always outdoes our
pride.
Saint Therese of Lisieux, a
Doctor of the Church, once said that in prayer,
the last vice to go from a person who is striving for virtue, is pride. Pride,
which is a cardinal sin, occurs when we believe that we know more than we
do. In response to pride, we need to
strive for Humility, which is the greatest cardinal virtue. And in order to strive for humility, we must:
·
Pray
often
·
Ascent
to all that the Church teaches, and
·
Humble
ourselves before the Lord.
A wonderful resource for prayer is
the EWTN Prayer
Page.