(Audio)
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
Faith is not just a feeling. It has to do with much more than our inner subjective worlds. Faith is in fact much more practical than we usually accredit it to be. Faith gets us from where we are to a future that we can't see or calculate but which is certain and on which we need to stake our entire lives.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place
that he was to receive as an inheritance;
he went out, not knowing where he was to go.
Feelings are insufficient grounds for the adventures to which we are called. We need faith that can sustain us even during the hard parts. Faith enables us to see and greet our destination from afar. It is the basis for a hope that can actually shape our actions. It is in fact a participation here and now in the world that is to come.
The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,
that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,
they might have courage.
Practically speaking, with this faith we can gird our loins, light our lamps, and actually be ready for the master's return. We can actually live like ready to meet Jesus at any moment.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
We often succumb to the world's insistence that it is only here and now that matters. We put ourselves first in the short-term thinking that we'll solve the problems of our hearts eventually. But faith puts us in such close contact with the master's return that being ready to meet him takes on a new priority. After all, we do meet him constantly in the lives of our brothers and sisters, in prayer, and especially in the Eucharist. But we tend to sleepwalk through these encounters. Faith can make them real.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
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