Nov 29: Faith Abounds

Caspar Luiken: The Faith of the Centurion

Monday of the First Week of Advent
Gospel: Mt 8:5-11

“Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (NRSV, Mt 8:10b-11).”

Lord God, faith is saying “yes” to the gift of your divine life that you offer to us. It is a matter of placing our trust and confidence in your promise. For all of us who recognize the fullness of your presence and revelation in Jesus Christ, it is our acceptance of him that unites us into a community of faith, the Church.

But surely, Lord, faith extends beyond the confines of the Church. Indeed your invitation goes out to all of humanity. All who say “yes” to you, with whatever understanding, live in faith and partake of your life. In fact, it is the very acceptance of that divine life within our mother’s womb, made possible by your power given to us, that makes us to be human beings. Lord God, you are Love, and whoever manifests love is by that very act a sharer in your divine life. Wherever love abounds, divinity is also present filling the lives of those who serve one another.

Lord, faith is often identified with the acceptance of certain truths concerning you but there are those who truly live in faith who are not sure of your existence and who even deny it. Their puzzlement and even their seeming rejection of you is sometimes a matter of being confused by the distortions of your image that we who are explicit believers present to them. If love is the manifestation of your presence, Lord, the agnostic and the atheist are often the very ones, prompted by a true faith that goes unrecognized, who show us the better way and challenge explicit believers to abandon the hypocrisy that frequently tinges our lives.

Lord God, Father, help us to uncover faith in you where it is least expected, to encourage its growth in all of our sisters and brothers, and to grow in faith ourselves by making a deeper and fuller commitment to you as we meet your challenge to new life in every moment.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.