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Wise people know that before making judgments, it’s important to gather the facts. The same goes for growing in wisdom of the Scriptures. Knowing the context before and after a particular section helps enlighten the verses being studied, gaining for us insights that we can apply to our lives.
In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’” (Lk 17:5). Just before their request, Scripture relates that Jesus spoke about temptation, sin and forgiveness. And after their request, Jesus healed 10 lepers, yet only one gave thanks, to whom Jesus said, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you” (Lk 17:19).
Throughout Scripture, Jesus often said, it was your faith that healed you, your faith that saved you. Faith is everything. For without the virtue of faith, we cannot know, be healed or saved by our God.
Faith, one of the three supernatural virtues (along with hope and love) infused into our soul at baptism, is an extraordinary gift from God. And because faith is a gift, we cannot manufacture it. Hence, faith either increases or decreases in our life to the degree that we exercise it, like a muscle. Therefore, like the Apostles, we too need to keep asking the Lord to increase our faith, like the father of the ill child who cried out to Jesus, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24).
Our world needs more Christian disciples (clergy and laity) who give humble and courageous witness to their faith in Jesus Christ and his Church. For this, let me offer some faithful petitions:
Lord, increase our faith in the Scriptures. Lord, increase our faith in the sacraments (including confession and Eucharist). Lord, increase our faith in the commandments. Lord, increase our faith in your victory over sin and death. Lord, increase our faith in your mercy. Lord, increase our faith that the right to life, the foundation for all other rights, is the preeminent moral-social issue today. Lord, increase our faith in marriage (one man, one woman) and family as God’s plan for love and life. Lord, increase our faith that religious freedom comes from God, not from government. The list goes on and on.
For people of faith, it’s important to remind ourselves that God has given us everything we need today to live the Christian life. He’s given us his Son (Jesus), his mother (Mary), St. Joseph and all the saints, along with Scripture, the sacraments and powerful devotions, like the rosary.
Speaking of the rosary, if you really want to increase your faith, go to Jesus through Mary. For Jesus said at Calvary: “Woman, behold, your son … Then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother” (Jn 19:26-27).
Oct. 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. I encourage you and your family — fathers take the lead — to pick up this powerful spiritual weapon and unite in faith with our Blessed Mother for the salvation of the world.
In fact, why not make it a holy habit to come together as a family for as little as five minutes each day to pray one decade of the rosary. I am certain that, in doing so, your faith, hope and love will increase, as the late “Rosary Priest,” the Venerable Congregation of Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton always taught: “The family that prays together, stays together.”
Father Eilen is pastor of St. Patrick in Oak Grove. He can be reached at [email protected].
Sunday, Oct. 2
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
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