Saturday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Bishop Robert Barron gives a beautiful reflection on faith: “What does faith do? Faith lifts us up out of the little, narrow world that we live in, and connects us to the power and mystery of God, the creator of the cosmos.” “Therefore, when we are connected to God in faith, we are connected to the enormous source of power – the power that creates everything that exists.”
The real power of faith, which is manifested in ordinary ways, comes from detachment. (Bishop Robert Barron) What does this mean? When I live in faith, in the truest sense, it means that I have already detached my life from myself – from my wants and desires, from my likes and dislikes, from my plans and ambitions, from my concerns – and I have re-centered my life on God and his power.
What does this do? That produces in us a sense of detachment. We are not attached to the goods of this world or to material things; and we are not afraid of poverty or lack of financial security. We are not tied to power, influence, prestige, or social status; and we are not vexed by weakness or powerlessness. We are not fastened to success or accomplishment; and we are not humiliated by defeat or failure.
Living in faith, I am in a different realm of existence. In that realm I am totally free… because neither wealth nor poverty, neither power nor weakness, neither acceptance nor rejection, neither success nor failure, neither health nor sickness, can finally influence me or the way I should live my life. I am rooted in the power of God. Hence, I am totally free to let God be God in my life. That gives me power… power to be free from myself… from other people… from selfish ambition… from materialism… from fear and anxiety.
Let us pray that we may have enough faith. Faith is not the assurance that whatever we ask of God will be granted to us. Rather, it is our certainty that God’s will – which is the best for us – will be done to us. Our faith may not always get for us what we want, but it will get what God wants us to have. (Vance Havner)
Parokya ni Osong 