A few years ago there was extensive news coverage on a prediction that the world was going to end. It seems that someone speculated that since there were no more dates on the Inca or Aztec calendar after a certain date the world must be ending, hence the prediction. This prediction caused anxiety in a great many people including my children who were young at the time. They came to me worried that this prediction could be true. They were very surprised by my answer. I told them, “I sure hope so.” “Why Dad would you hope for that?” I explained to them that with our faith in Jesus we had nothing to worry about. If it was the end of the world, Jesus was coming to be with us again. Wouldn’t that be great? Maybe not the Father of the Year answer, but so very true. Our faith in Christ can free us from all fear. How many times do we hear Jesus Himself say, “Do not be afraid.” Faith is a powerful tool in our arsenal. Just last week faith saw Peter walking on water. It wasn’t until fear took hold of him and, as Jesus says, he lost faith that Peter began to sink. When we allow the storms of life to overpower us, we sometimes forget to just rely on our faith. We can do such great things when we allow ourselves to be led by our faith in Christ. As Jesus says, we could move mountains with faith.
We sometimes forget that our faith in Christ also allows us to overcome sin. We all sin but Christ tells us that through Him, even if we feel unworthy of forgiveness, with faith in Him all our sins can be forgiven. The woman who calls out to Jesus for her child to be cured in today’s Gospel was not even worthy to speak to Jesus in the culture of that time. That does not stop her from asking Jesus to help her. In fact, Jesus tells her that her faith in Him is why he grants her wishes for her child to be healed. It is an action on her part that grants what she wishes. How many times in our lives do we allow the sins we have committed to bear us down? We allow sin to sink us. If we only have faith in Christ, an action on our part, we can put down the burden of sin and allow Christ to forgive us. It also allows us to forgive ourselves. Once we put all our faith in Christ, we will be able to waltz sinless and fearless across the surface of the stormy waters of life.
May Jesus live in our hearts forever.
Deacon Chris