Our struggle to keep our faith

Today's Gospel reading teaches us about our faith. If you're in church this Sunday, I hope you came because of your faith, not because you're being obligated by the Catholic Church or your mother or your family. Open your bible to Matt. 14:22-33 "22 then he made the disciples get into the boat and preceded him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.

25 During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. 27 At once Jesus spoke to them, "take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." 28 Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 29 He said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened and beginning to sink. He cried out, "Lord save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus stretch out his hand and caught him, and he said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" 33 Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."

With this passage, it is time to ask ourselves, do we still struggle with our Faith or are we losing our faith in the Lord? If we have faith, how strong or how weak is our faith? Do we pray to God because we have faith in him, that he would heal us but are just too impatient to wait that our healing can happen only in God's time? What about our priests? Do they also have faith or did many of them study to become priests even if they didn't have a vocation because their parents forced or asked them to be one? When we go to Holy Mass and the priest raises the sacred host for Consecration, how sure are we that the priest believes in the true presence of the Lord?

Of course everyone of us, including many priests struggle to keep up with our faith; after all, the best excuse we always give is, "We're only human… we are not perfect." If you read today's Gospel carefully, we're talking about an incident that happened with our Lord Jesus Christ and St. Peter and in that encounter, Jesus was walking on water and he told his terrified disciples, "Do not be afraid". I'm sure that when we die and we finally meet our maker face to face, he would give us this same greeting. Actually, the greeting of Jesus is to find out how deep our trust is in the Lord.

As we learned from this passage, St. Peter asked Jesus that he too would like to walk with him in the water and his wish was granted instantly. St. Peter walked on the same water with our Lord, but clearly St. Peter had little faith and doubted the Lord. He began to sink but the Lord caught his hand and saved him. What a great story! But it was a revelation to St. Peter and I am sure that this also goes with all the disciples, that they were men of little faith… even if they were in the midst of God himself!

Read the Gospel reading last Thursday in the Old Testament in Numbers 20: 7-13 and you will learn that Moses too had faltered in his faith. "Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the community and their livestock to drink." 9 So Moses took the staff from its place before the Lord, as he was ordered. 10 He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, "Listen to me you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?"

11 then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the community and their livestock to drink. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the Israelites, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them. 13 These are the waters of Meribah where the Israelites contended against the Lord, and where he revealed his sanctity among them."

Just think that both Moses and Aaron were not allowed by God to enter the Promised Land because they doubted the Lord. They were only made to see the Promised Land, but not step on it. Aaron died on Mount Hor and Moses died on Mount Nebo. We probably think that our God is a very vindictive God. On the contrary, no one on earth was given the privilege to speak with God face to face in the burning bush. Surely that should have given Moses a lock-tight faith, but he still faltered. So if you are struggling with your faith, the appropriate prayer for you is to ask the Lord for more faith in Him and I have faith that he would grant this to you!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com