In our Gospels for this Sunday (Luke 17:5-10), the apostles ask our Lord, “Increase our faith." Jesus gives them a curious response. "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you” (Luke 17: 5-6).
Faith is “both a gift of God and a human act by which the believer gives personal adherence to God who invites his response, and freely assents to the whole truth that God has revealed.” (CCC glossary). We know these “unseen” truths indirectly through credible witnesses whom we trust. [Read more: A Primer on Faith.]
The apostle’s request to increase their faith raises some interesting questions. Do some people have more faith than others do? Is it possible to increase the amount of faith we have?
Regarding greater or lesser amounts of faith, there are many examples in Scripture suggesting that faith varies from person to person. Jesus repeatedly chides his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel, calling them “men of little faith” (Matthew 6:30, 8:26, 16:8, 17:19-20).
Perhaps the most dramatic story about faith concerns Peter walking on water. Seeing Jesus walking on water, Peter too walks on the water, but becomes afraid and begins to sink crying out, “’Lord, save me.’” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘O man of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (Matthew 14:30-31).
Initially Peter’s faith is great, but it becomes weak through fear and doubt which degrade the firmness of the will. Faith varies from person to person. Subjectively, using the intellect brighter minds seize upon truth with greater certainty, and stronger wills may have a greater readiness for loyalty and devotion. Grace builds upon, and perfects nature.
St. Paul notes there is also diversity in God’s distribution of supernatural gifts of faith, they are given to each person “…according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned” (Romans 12:3).
How does faith increase? On one side of the equation, God created us with certain gifts and talents (our natural intellect and will) and has also gifted us differently in the realm of grace. All of this is God.
On the other side of the equation, we have our human response and cooperation. A fundamental change occurs with the full submission of our intellect and will to God, in the act of faith we call the obedience of faith. Following this, we grow in faith both naturally and supernaturally through our ongoing cooperation.
Some examples in the natural realm might be our cooperation through learning about our faith through reading the Bible, and other spiritual books. Many times, people who are struggling with their faith have false notions about God, Jesus Christ, and the church.
We also know that our will can be strengthened through the disciplines of regular prayer, penance and frequenting the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Confession. [Read more about the Graces of Frequent Confession].
No comments:
Post a Comment