Our
readings
speak
about
doing as
God asks at all times, of the need to live our faith.
In
our
Gospel,
Jesus
tells the
parable of the servant who is in charge while his master is away.This person can either do their job as they
are told, or they can sluff off and think they can get away with murder
while
the master is away. They can get by now, by not doing their jobs,
hoping that
there will be plenty of time to do what was asked later - so why not
party
now!!
Kind
of
like
the
image of the
teenage children who promise their parents that they will behave and
keep the
house clean while the parents are on vacation, then when they are gone
they
throw a wild party, only to find that the parents forgot something or
had to
come home early and find a party in progress.Those children are in deep trouble.I know of a situation where the parents left their daughter at
home
saying she was mature enough to be alone, and when they called
unexpectedly to
check how things are going, and found a strange boy answer the phone,
they cut
the vacation short and returned immediately. This child was found to be
immature,
and not worthy of trust, There was a lot of grounding and removing of
privileges which that followed that occasion.
Then
there
are
the
times that the
parents leave and when they have the neighbor check up to see if
everything is
OK find out that things are going fine. The chores are getting done,
the house
is clean, the children are going to school and going to work as they
are
supposed to. This child is proven to be trustworthy and gets more
freedom and
privileges as a reward.
God
is
the
same way
with us, His
children.He teaches us right from
wrong, he gives us the law of the commandments and the beatitudes, He
even
gives us an example of how to live these to live up to our name
Christian - by
giving us Jesus as an example who lived these matters of faith in love.
There
is no reason why we don’t know what is expected of us.But the question is do we live it? Are we
worthy of trust?It is not just enough
to carry the name Christian - but we need to live Christ, we need to
always
live His teachings. But do we?
We
look
at
Abraham in
the second
reading.St. Paul is the one who insists on
the
importance of faith. But does faith just mean, being baptized so we
carry the
name Christian? Does faith just mean knowing the scriptures so we know
what God
expects of us? Does faith just mean saying yes to Jesus?It means more than that; it means we need to
LIVE our faith at all times. So St. Paul tells us about Abraham.
Abraham
lived
in
a
time when
people forgot about the real God. God wanted a new beginning a fresh
start
again so he tried a different way to begin again than using a flood, as
He did
with Noah, God choose to reveal Himself to one man. God revealed
Himself to
Abraham and asked Abraham if he believed in Him. This was a new
beginning, a
fresh start for faith in the world which had forgotten by God.
Abraham
did
believe
in
God - so
God asked him to show it. God asked him to leave his home in Ur (Kuwait)
where
he
had
his family and
friends to protect him, and to journey by himself to Haran (Syria).
This
was
different
than us
driving from one state to another. There were no police departments to
keep you
safe and protect you. You had safety in numbers by having your
relatives around
you to protect you.Abraham showed he
had faith - by doing as God said, by depending on God to be his
protection and
guide, as he journeyed alone and left his family behind and God blessed
him
with many flocks and herds.
God
asked
Abraham
if
he believed
in Him and he said he did, so He told him to move to the land of Canaan
(Israel)
and
because
he
moved
He told him he would give this whole land to Abraham’s
descendents. The only problem was that Abraham had no children and he
and Sarah
his wife were beyond child bearing years about in his 70’s. But Abraham
was
faithful to God and even showed hospitality to 3 strangers - who was
God in
disguise - checking up on Abraham. Abraham shared what God gave to him
with
these strangers, he was found working when God came, as Jesus told in
the
parable, and so because Abraham shared his food with 3 strangers, God
blessed him
with a son whom he named Isaac.
Abraham
is
now
about
90 and God
asked Abraham if he believes in Him, and Abraham said yes, - so God
said prove
it. Sacrifice your son, about the age of 12, to whom all this land is
promised
to his descendents. How can God give this land to his descendents if he
is
dead? But Abraham believes that if God gave him this son - when both he
and his
wife were dead in the womb - past child bearing years, why wouldn’t God
raise
Isaac from the dead to keep his promise? So Abraham willingly prepares
to
sacrifice his son. As we know the angel intervenes saves Isaac’s life
and God
promises descendents as numerous as the sand of the shore and the stars
in the
sky.Faith was not just a good feeling
that God loves me, it was not just a mental act of the will of saying
Yes to
God, that Yes had to be lived out by works to show it was real – and
Abraham
proved himself trustworthy and was rewarded.
As
you
know
school is
about to
start. We are first of all to know our faith.It is interesting how LITTLE parents want their children to
learn their
faith. It is important for them to go to school and learn how to read,
write,
do arithmetic, algebra and geometry, to know the laws of science and to
learn
the rules and plays in sports, parents willingly sit down with the
children and
help them do their homework and learn, but when it comes to learning
their
catechism and Bible and learning their prayers, no time is spent
teaching their
children and helping them understand their faith. Children do not know
the
prayers they learned for first communion and reconciliation; they do
not know
the commandments or the teachings of Jesus when Confirmation time
comes. They
are ill equipped for being an adult Christian, how did they get this
way? How
many families pray at home? How many adults are ashamed to pray in
public? What
will people think if we make the sign of the cross and pray at meals
for
example?
I
went
down
to Sioux Falls
last
week and stopped for supper
at a restaurant. I prayed before the meal as we are supposed to
do.usually
do not see anyone pray. Then a group of teenagers came in and were
seated at a
table across from me. There was one boy and 3 girls. When the food came
the boy
said “Let us pray.” And the four made the sign of the cross and prayed
the meal
prayer together out loud. I was proud of them, they knew their duty of
living
their faith, they were not Christian in name only, but lived their
faith in
public not caring what people thought. These teens deserved trust.
If
you
look
at Eastern Europe during the
days of atheistic
communism when it was illegal
to practice your faith in public or share it with your children even
privately
at home, you will see great differences between countries. Some
countries the
people were afraid to live their faith, they prayed quietly, they did
not teach
their children for fear of suffering for doing it, they did not speak
of God or
go to church and they suffered greatly and lost all freedom - and the
faith
nearly died in those countries. Then you had other countries where just
because
the state said it was illegal to practice their faith the went to
church
anyway, they taught their children at home, they did not fear the state
because
they all followed the faith openly and they had a lot more freedom
because God
found them trustworthy.
Is
our
faith
something
private
inside our heads or hearts, or is it a way of life of prayer and living
the
commandments and teachings of Christ. When God visits us does he find
us going
to church and being Christ to others showing we deserve blessings as
Abraham
did or does he find us undeserving of trust and deserving of
punishment. Faith
is not just belief in God, it is not just knowing teachings, it is a
way of
living daily - which shows faith is real!