The Catholic Calendar for Friday, August 4, 2006
Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. John Vianney, priest

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Jeremiah 26:1-9
Psalm 69:5, 8-10, 14
Matthew 13:54-58

A reflection on today's Scripture. . . .

"He did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith."
(Matthew 13:58)

Today's readings reveal how having or lacking faith can affect lives. Jeremiah told his people they lacked genuine faith, causing them to break the divine laws. Taking offense at this criticism, the priests and prophets sought his death. We next read the psalmist's cries of pain from the insults and abuse heaped upon him for zealously proclaiming God's word. In Nazareth, Jesus, though personifying God's truth and loving power, was seen only as the carpenter's son, thus forfeiting His blessings. Faithlessness blinds us to truth.

Faith comes to us when we see a need for seeking life's purpose. It develops through our awareness that we must transcend our animal aspect, that to live in the peace and justice we crave, our existence requires more than mere personal survival. Many will then be led to study Scripture, read volumes of writings about world religions, yet this work will amount to nothing unless it is done in the humble realization that in our own power we cannot live in harmonious love toward one another. Only through obedience to God can humanity learn and fulfill its purpose, to participate in divine goodness, joy and glory. If we seek this by invoking Christ's Spirit of grace, He will give us both the will and power to live in holiness.

Secular humanism usurps God's dominion over man; selfishness, self-will, comfort and pleasure now replace His love within many human hearts. We needn't wonder why marriage and family are deteriorating; for in God's absence, we foolishly seek to fill our emptiness with useless activities or through imperfect, sinful beings such as ourselves. Faith, on the other hand, is God's gift to those seeking Him in prayer. He progressively nourishes them, fills their inner void with His own perfect life. He satisfies our hearts' desires with an imageless, silent, knowledge of Himself called "faith" which will grow in strength and depth as it imparts to us the ability to love as He loves--boundlessly and unconditionally.

Blessed Lord, source of all love and holiness, gift us with a true, living and loving faith in You. May our hearts then bear You to all those lost and seeking a new, better life. Amen.

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)