Luke 11:5-13 The Year of Faith

Luke 11:5-13  The Year of Faith

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Jesus said to his disciples: …“If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

One does not solve a problem by making it bigger. 

As I sat around the dinner table last night with a beautiful family, I had to ask this mom and dad of three kids how they came up with their youngest daughter's name.  I never expected to hear what I heard.  I should have known better.

Facts are not opinions.  That’s what we all learned in school.  Well, the facts didn’t look good for this mom of two, or for her unborn child.  The doctor treating her said she ran the very serious risk of bleeding to death if she continued with her pregnancy; and that her unborn child, if it even survived, would have serious defects.  The doctor pleaded with her to use her better judgment.  He reminded her that she was already the mother of two small children.  Why run the risk for one more child?  Why in the world would she leave the other two motherless? The “logical” conclusion was to abort.   

With so much to lose and with so much pressure to come to terms with “reality”, it is a miracle she remained steadfast.  She refused to have an abortion.   

A few months before she gave birth, she had one last sonogram.  The doctor would not allow her to look at the image of her child.  When she pressed for a reason, the doctor told her, “Just in case you decide to change your mind.”   

Her husband, a good Christian man, had his doubts though.  He did not have her faith. 

The moment her child was born, her doctor began to cry.  This mother of two had given birth to a perfectly normal baby girl.  Mom and dad named her “Faith”.    

A few years later, Faith’s dad became a Catholic.

Today, Faith is a very beautiful, highly intelligent (straight A), playful and creative teen.  While her parents shared stories about her at the dinner table, all she did was smile.  And what an amazing smile she has.  

It's obvious to see that family life would be so different if they did not have their little Faith.  At Sunday Mass, mom and dad still look at her every time the priest, after the consecration, says, “Mystery of Faith”.

Why do I mention this story?  Because today, unbeknownst to me, the Holy Father inaugurated “The Year of Faith”.  I couldn’t believe the coincidence.  I should have known better!

Faith is our response to God’s grace.  I can take it or reject it.  And I do so knowingly or woefully.  Faith is an act of the intellect.  It is not an act of the emotions.  It is not “wishful” thinking.  It is
“thankful” thinking.  I am grateful to Him. 

I can honestly say I believe in God more than I believe in man because I have seen what man can do without God, and what God can do regardless of man.

I am a very logical person, but I am also a person of faith.  I can put the two together like faith and reason, truth and forgiveness, love and enemy, science and God, the mystery of our faith and the mystery of Faith. 

I can love when there is no reasonable reason to and have Faith when there is no logical reason to.

Lord, give us Faith to see what no eye could see, ear could hear and love could not reject.