Dcn. Tom McClelland's Homily:
        14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 9, 2006

Did that last line of the gospel surprise you?  "Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith!"  It makes me wonder what Jesus' reaction would be to our faith today.

Perhaps you remember the story about lack of faith that Fr. Mike told a few years ago, about a fellow hiking with a couple of friends along a narrow mountain trail.  They were in single file on this narrow rocky ridge with steep drop-offs, and this fellow's friends had gotten a ways ahead of him.  Suddenly, his foot slipped, and he tumbled over the edge and fell about 30 feet, until he grabbed onto a single branch jutting straight out from the cliff.  There he dangled in space.  Immediately, he hollered, "Help!  Help!"  He listened with all his might, but there was no reply.  Then he hollered, "Does anyone hear me?  Is there anybody up there?"  A few seconds passed, and then a deep booming voice replied, "This is God.  Just let go of the branch, and I will catch you."  The hiker closed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, "Is there anybody else up there?"

How much faith do you and I really have?  Do we let God lead our lives, or are we always in the driver's seat?  Based on your faith or mine, will Jesus be able to perform any mighty deeds in our lives?  In Mark's gospel, prior to returning to Nazareth, Jesus performed several amazing miracles.  He healed the paralytic, and people exclaimed in awe: "We have never seen anything like this" (Mk 2:12).  He calmed the storm with a simple command, and the disciples wondered, "Who is this, whom even the wind and sea obey" (Mk 4:41)?  But today we are told: "Jesus was not able to perform any mighty deed [in Nazareth], apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them."  This was due to their lack of faith.  So just how strong or how real is your faith?

Because today's scripture is about faith, it seems we ought to be able to say with some precision what faith really is.  What does faith mean?  One of the textbooks I have defines faith as "the assent of the intellect to a truth which is beyond its comprehension, but which it accepts under the influence of the will moved by grace."  Now, I studied that definition for an hour or so, and I think I understand it.  How many of you understood it right away?  To rephrase that definition in my own words, I would say that faith is fully accepting in my own mind a truth which I cannot comprehend — because, moved by God's grace, I will it, that is, I tell my mind to accept it.  Here's an even shorter definition of faith: with God's help, I will accept something as true even though I do not fully understand it.

Let me use the following example to help you understand the elements of faith.  As Catholic Christians, we say that we believe in God.  Making that statement is an act of faith — because God is a truth that we cannot comprehend with our minds alone.  We know that God is the creator of the universe — of all the stars and galaxies and the humongous clouds of intergalactic gas out there, thousands of light years away.  God also created us and all the wonderful creatures on the earth.  We know, too, that God is love, and that he is in our hearts even more than he is out there.  Now, does anyone fully understand God?  No!  But by faith we accept in our minds the reality and the truth of God because we direct our minds to do so.  This power to direct our minds is called our will.  In other words, we want to believe in God.  And it is by God's grace, God's good gift to us, that we want to believe in Him and can accept Him.  We must pray for an increase of His grace in us, for this desire to believe in him, so that our wills even more strongly will direct our minds to accept God and his Word.

One more little piece of definition is needed here if we want to understand faith, and that is "What is grace?"  We use the expression, "By the grace of God, something or other will happen."  We can think of grace as God's assistance freely given to us.  It is a pure gift of God's love and aid to us.  It is not based on any merits of our own.  It is through his grace that God helps us live in conformance to his will for us.  So, we should pray for grace — pray always for grace.  With an increase of grace, we will all the more want to believe in God, and we will direct our minds to accept his truth and see his presence in our life.  Yes, we definitely should pray for God's grace!

Another way to look at faith is trust.  In the story of the hiker, as he dangles on the lone branch, God is saying, "Put your trust fully in me."  There are times in each of our lives when things go wrong or get out of control.  These are times when we are tested, and we are asked to let go.  Earlier I asked, "How great is your faith?"  It is in times of testing that we find out how real our faith is.  If our tendency is to give ourselves each day to God, to converse with him routinely in prayer, and to gradually but firmly build real meaningful trust in him, then we will easily trust him and have faith in him when the tough times come.  God is worthy of our trust, but how hard do we work at routinely building our trust in him?

Part of the good news is that God is always present for us, no matter where we are in life or what we are doing.  Ezekiel, from our First Reading, was the first prophet called by God to prophesy outside the Holy Land.  The Israelites were captive in Babylon, but God did not abandon them there.  No matter where we are or in what condition, God is still present to us.  He wants to help us.  He wants us to depend upon Him.

The people living in Nazareth thought they knew Jesus well.  They had memories of him as a child as Mary's son.  They knew him as a carpenter.  They were very familiar with him and had many different associations with him.  So they took offense at him, because he seemed now to pose as someone much different than they thought him to be.  They did not put their faith or trust in him because they had their preconceived notions about him.  We, too, have preconceived notions about the way things ought to be.  Part of the message today, therefore, is for us to keep an open mind and not to jump to conclusions about new things that come into your life.

In our day and age, in this era after Christ's resurrection and ascension, we know that we are to see Christ in others — in those we meet each day.  Is your faith strong enough to let this happen?  Does your will direct your mind to accept this as true?  Vatican Council II taught clearly that Christ is present in four ways at Mass: in the Body and Blood of the Eucharistic sacrifice, in the Word that we just heard, in the person of the priest, and in the assembly — in each of you.  Do your preconceived notions about those around you preclude you from seeing Jesus present here in each of these ways?  Is Jesus prevented from working any miracles here because of our lack of faith?

I pray that you will welcome the grace of God in your lives — that you will seek and follow the real help that the Holy Spirit offers you every day.  May the grace you obtain, through prayer and the virtues of Christian living, mold your will toward accepting God more and more in everything that you do.  For when you allow God to be truly present in your daily life, and your faith in him is strong and healthy, all things will fall into place.  When the times of trial and testing come, you will let go of that branch sticking out of the cliff, and you will let yourself fall safely into the arms of God.