August 8, 2010 NINETEENTH SUNDAY OF THE CHURCH YEAR
8 AUGUST 2010, 5:15, 8:00, 10:00
READINGS: Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48
SAINT MARY PARISH, VIROQUA
Introduction: The author of the Letter to the Hebrews encourages us to have models in the faith; look at our ancestors in the bible. Noah, Joseph, David and more; especially Abraham. So many of the figures of the bible serve as models of faith for us!
1. Faith is not always an easy thing to grasp. If it is easy, perhaps it is not the kind of faith that God asks of us. A legend tells us when Moses threw the wand into the Red Sea to divide the waters, the sea, contrary to expectations, did not divide itself to leave a dry passage for the Jews. Not until the first man had jumped into the sea did the promised miracle happen and the waves receded. That took faith!
A climber fell off a cliff. As he tumbled down into the deep gorge he grabbed hold of a branch of a small tree. “Help,” he shouted. “Is there anyone up there?” A deep majestic voice from the sky echoed through the gorge. “I will help you, my son. But first you must have faith in me.” “All right, all right. I trust you,” answered the man. The voice replied, “Let go of the branch.” There was a long pause and the man shouted again, “Is there anyone else up there?”
2. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun – not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Powerful! What do we see because of our faith?
a. First of all we see that we have a Father who loves us! Our faith brings us that message over and over again. Like he loved his Son, he loves us. It is helpful to remember that he loved his Son most of all when he was carrying his cross.
b. What else do we see? We see that God has entered into history; as a result history has a direction to it; it is not aimless. Our lives have purpose. We are capable of giving love and receiving it. We see we are not alone.
c. We see that we should not fear what challenges us. This instruction is given by Jesus over and over again in the gospels. “Be not afraid!”
d. We see there is a life hereafter. One writer gave a good argument for an afterlife. “If there is nothing after this life, then the Nazis and the Jewish children they threw alive into Auschwitz furnaces have identical fates.” That cannot be! By our faith in God we know how to see.
3. Therefore, it is logical that we become people of prayer. This God who is the Author of life; this God who gave us his Son, wishes to hear from us.
a. Some prayer is simple. A young Shepherd does not know how to read; but he sits in church and recites the alphabet over and over again, while saying to God. “I know only the letters. You, please, rearrange them into the right words.”
b. Some is complex. Pope John Paul II used to say, “My prayer begins with my words to God; it ends with God’s words to me.”
Conclusion: Faith is not easy; yet it teaches us how to see. Further, it invites us to correspond with God. We are called to be models of faith to others.