Beloved in Christ,
Please, Lord, grant me a living faith. My supplication comes from a deep place of discovery after a sincere introspection and interrogation of my practical faith in Jesus and his promises. A scripture verse from this Sunday's Gospel reading accounts for my honest search for where I stand in the personal exercise of faith. In Mark 6:6, Jesus laments the "lack of faith" in him by his people. Among his kin and in his native place, there is a lack of response to Jesus' message because they could only see in him the son of the carpenter and Mary, a common and familiar person with no distinguishing pedigree or status. Their lack of faith and rejection of Jesus and his message echo the stubbornness and rebelliousness of the Jewish people to the divine message brought to them by Ezekiel (Ez 2: 2-5). In the last two Sunday mass gospel readings, we saw contrasting responses to faith in Jesus. Two Sundays ago, we heard of the disciples' insufficiency of faith in Jesus while in a boat assailed by storms, and last Sunday, we heard of the living faith displayed by the woman with an issue of blood and Jairus' father. Jesus expects and demands deep faith from us whenever we approach him in prayers and worship. Do we always approach Jesus with the expected faith, or do we lack adequate faith in Him? What do we need to have the required faith that summons mighty deeds from God? What do we need to grow and exercise a living faith when we pray? I liken efforts at growing faith or healing a lack of trust in Divine Promise to the taking of supplements daily to increase my low potassium level. I religiously take some prescribed medications and eat specific fruits to increase my potassium level, and I have seen an improvement. In like manner, we can go on a spiritual diet to nourish our faith. What are the essential nourishments needed to increase and deepen our faith? I want to prescribe spiritual food to strengthen or increase our faith. A constant intellectual (mind) and spiritual (heart) reading of the Sacred Scripture is mandatory to see our faith mature to the level needed to live an abundant spiritual life. The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible and will encourage us to live in faith when we study it daily. The second element in our spiritual diet that brings about the kind of faith Jesus demands of us is a devout prayer life. Prayers are the oxygen of life of faith. We must invest in intense conversation in the Spirit to increase our faith. When I refer to daily prayer, it includes daily mass attendance and a deliberate invocation of the Holy Spirit to spur us into spontaneous prayer. Our prayer regime, of course, must consist of a structured daily prayer that includes meditation on the Holy Rosary and Divine Office- the official prayer of the Church. I recommend additional spiritual diets for a stronger faith. Still, the two suggested in this message suffice for now to avoid slipping into a lack of faith in our relationship with Jesus. In conclusion, I invite you to join me in raising hands in supplication to God; Lord, please grant me a living faith.
With Living Faith, Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
Please, Lord, grant me a living faith. My supplication comes from a deep place of discovery after a sincere introspection and interrogation of my practical faith in Jesus and his promises. A scripture verse from this Sunday's Gospel reading accounts for my honest search for where I stand in the personal exercise of faith. In Mark 6:6, Jesus laments the "lack of faith" in him by his people. Among his kin and in his native place, there is a lack of response to Jesus' message because they could only see in him the son of the carpenter and Mary, a common and familiar person with no distinguishing pedigree or status. Their lack of faith and rejection of Jesus and his message echo the stubbornness and rebelliousness of the Jewish people to the divine message brought to them by Ezekiel (Ez 2: 2-5). In the last two Sunday mass gospel readings, we saw contrasting responses to faith in Jesus. Two Sundays ago, we heard of the disciples' insufficiency of faith in Jesus while in a boat assailed by storms, and last Sunday, we heard of the living faith displayed by the woman with an issue of blood and Jairus' father. Jesus expects and demands deep faith from us whenever we approach him in prayers and worship. Do we always approach Jesus with the expected faith, or do we lack adequate faith in Him? What do we need to have the required faith that summons mighty deeds from God? What do we need to grow and exercise a living faith when we pray? I liken efforts at growing faith or healing a lack of trust in Divine Promise to the taking of supplements daily to increase my low potassium level. I religiously take some prescribed medications and eat specific fruits to increase my potassium level, and I have seen an improvement. In like manner, we can go on a spiritual diet to nourish our faith. What are the essential nourishments needed to increase and deepen our faith? I want to prescribe spiritual food to strengthen or increase our faith. A constant intellectual (mind) and spiritual (heart) reading of the Sacred Scripture is mandatory to see our faith mature to the level needed to live an abundant spiritual life. The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible and will encourage us to live in faith when we study it daily. The second element in our spiritual diet that brings about the kind of faith Jesus demands of us is a devout prayer life. Prayers are the oxygen of life of faith. We must invest in intense conversation in the Spirit to increase our faith. When I refer to daily prayer, it includes daily mass attendance and a deliberate invocation of the Holy Spirit to spur us into spontaneous prayer. Our prayer regime, of course, must consist of a structured daily prayer that includes meditation on the Holy Rosary and Divine Office- the official prayer of the Church. I recommend additional spiritual diets for a stronger faith. Still, the two suggested in this message suffice for now to avoid slipping into a lack of faith in our relationship with Jesus. In conclusion, I invite you to join me in raising hands in supplication to God; Lord, please grant me a living faith.
With Living Faith, Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
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