Hebrews 11, 1-2

St. Paul states in his letter to Hebrews “that faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.” He then goes on to recount the extraordinary deeds and accomplishments of men and women of faith in the Old Testament. Faith, therefore, is not to be separated from good works. As St. James so well reminds us “faith without good works is dead.” St. Augustine, bringing these two aspects of faith together, could say: “faith is believing what you do not see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.” Faith is more than a notional assent to the good news of the gospel. For faith to be real, it has to find expression in what you do.

To declare ourselves a people of faith; to be a people who believe in Jesus and in His message; means taking a stand, making a decision. It means deciding that our inner support in life is the good news of the gospel and then acting on it. To many people, making such a declaration appears too demanding. It seems as overly responsible as the wise virgins in the gospel story who are pictured wearing their aprons, lighting their lights, and tending the hearth while the master is away. Yet, that is precisely what good Christians do. By their daily choices they are saying that their actions are motivated by the good news of Christ, just as surely as if He were there in their midst.

It must be said that a person’s faith defines his very self; it describes who he is at the deepest level of his being. Faith is an essential element of life and of living. It is the key to who we are as Christians. More than brains, beauty or brawn, it is faith that gives us drive and direction like the great people of faith St. Paul writes about in Hebrews, chapter eleven.

There is a line from a hymn that says: “We walk by faith, and not by light.” This is a kind of theme song for Christians. It doesn’t mean that we are stumbling around. Just the opposite. It means that the path we walk is one of ultimate trust. To walk by faith is to be responsive to the good news of the gospel, and to the concerns of others; ready to support them on their journey and eager to have them join us on ours.

But, to do this, we need to have faith; we need to be convinced that an unseen God is on our side, guiding and protecting us, all the way, in good times and in bad.

Fr. Hugh Duffy