How firm is your faith?

Good News Reflection
Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time
July 13, 2010
Today's Readings:
Isaiah 7:1-9
Ps 48:2-8
Matt 11:20-24
http://www.usccb.org/nab/071310.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_07_13.mp3
How firm is your faith?
"Unless your faith is firm, YOU shall not be firm!" That's the message of today's first reading. How can our faith remain steady when we allow circumstances in our lives to take our eyes off of Jesus? Unless we focus on in him, we're weak and vulnerable and easily shaken by the struggles we face.
Trust is a choice. Fear tells us to distrust God and trust our own assumptions, which are based on limited evidence. Fear is a feeling, but trust is a decision. God eagerly helps us to make that decision. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, he gives us divine evidence that contradicts any discouraging evidence, although often it comes in ways that are, at first, easy to overlook.
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus uses as evidence the miracles and mighty deeds of God. What trials are you enduring right now? In the midst of the frightening, burdensome and frustrating events that spell out bad news, look for evidence that God HAS been at work, for there you will find good news.
Many years ago, bad news nearly destroyed my faith after eight months of unsuccessfully trying to sell our house at a time when other houses were selling in less than two weeks. Because we had entrusted the sale to God, I interpreted the problem as evidence that God did not care about me. He cared about everyone else, even the atheist down the street who sold his house in two days, but not me.
However, God DID provide evidence that he was working a good plan on my family's behalf. The house we wanted to move into got sold to someone else, but the deal fell through. Our son was able to finish Kindergarten without changing schools. God gave us friends who prayed for us. And so on.
When I finally chose to open my eyes to the good that God was doing, I became free to trust. A month later – which was just enough time to discover that I really could remain firm in faith – the house sold.
God's mighty deeds happen every day, especially during difficulties. However, unless we allow these miracles to transform us, deepening our reliance on God, our faith is easily shaken. As Jesus said, we become worse off than the sinful cities of Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, because we have more evidence of God's goodness than they did.
Distrust is a rejection of God's goodness. The Sacrament of Reconciliation and the penance rite at the beginning of Mass then become more of God's miracles: The Lord provides the grace we need to pay more attention to his loving interventions.
© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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