Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[a] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[b] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. MEDITATION Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) In a practical way, we live by faith all the time. We have faith that our doctors are competent. That’s why we let them prescribe medicines and operate on us. Every time we board a plane, we are placing our faith in a pilot we don’t even know. Without faith life would be very difficult. We wouldn’t be able to trust anyone. Similarly, faith on a spiritual level has to do with confidence and trust. Commenting on today’s second reading, St. John Chrysostom said that faith is “a confidence that allows us to make our daily decisions about future hopes based on a certain amount of present evidence.” In other words, faith allows us to take the evidence that is right before our eyes—evidence of God’s presence, his goodness, and his love—and trust that our Father will not abandon us. Still, in the back of our minds, there’s always a voice telling us that there are no guarantees. “Cover your bases,” it whispers. “Keep your options open. What if God doesn’t come through?” Don’t listen to it! The faith that the author of Hebrews extols here is not the limited faith we have in doctors and bankers. It’s a radical, all-encompassing faith. It’s a gift from God—the supernatural grace to trust in the unseen just as Abraham, Moses, Ruth, and David did. It’s the spiritual influence that that convinces us that Jesus is who he says he is. It tells us that there will be a new heaven and a new earth and that we will be raised up to be with Jesus forever as long as we stay faithful here and now. Let the gift of faith move you today. Let it help you place your trust in things that are, for now, only a hope. And try your best to let the evidence that Jesus has already given you become the foundation for your trust in all of his future promises. “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 09:17:20 +0000
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