Pope Calls Us All To Live Our Lives By Faith and Not Be Afraid to Go Against the Tide

1/24/2013

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seeing everything as a gift. This is also the spiritual condition of those who agree to follow the Lord, who decide to leave, accepting His call, under the sign of His invisible but powerful blessing. And Abraham, the "father of believers," accepted this call, in the faith.

St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans: "He believed, hoping against hope, that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "Thus shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body as [already] dead (for he was almost a hundred years old) and the dead womb of Sarah. 20He did not doubt God's promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God 21and was fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do"(Rom 4.18 to 21).

Faith leads Abraham to on a paradoxical journey. He will be blessed, but without the visible signs of blessing: he is promised he will become a great nation, but with a life marked by the barrenness of Sarah his wife; he is brought to a new home but will have to live there as a foreigner, and the only possession of the land that he will be allowed will be that of a piece of land in which to bury Sarah (cf. Gen 23.1 to 20). Abraham was blessed because, in faith, he was able to discern the divine blessing going beyond appearances, trusting in God's presence even when His ways appear mysterious to him.

What does this mean for us? When we say, "I believe in God," we say, like Abraham: "I trust you, I entrust myself to You, Lord," but not as Someone to run to only in times of difficulty or to whom to dedicate a few moments of the day or of the week. Saying "I believe in God" means grounding my life in Him, letting His Word guide each day, in the concrete choices without fear of losing something of myself.

When, in the Rite of Baptism, we are asked three times: "Do you believe?" In God, in Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church and the other truths of faith, the triple response is in the singular: "I believe," because it is my personal existence that reaches a turning point with the gift of faith, it is my life that must change, convert. Each time we participate in a Baptism we should ask ourselves how we live the great gift of faith every day.

Abraham, the believer, teaches us faith, and, as a stranger on earth, shows us the true homeland. Faith makes us pilgrims on earth, inserted into the world and history, but on the way to the heavenly homeland. Believing in God makes us carries of values which often do not coincide with the prevailing fashion and opinion, it requires us to adopt criteria and a conduct which do not belong to the common way of thinking.

The Christian should not be afraid to go "against the grain" to live his or her faith, resisting the temptation to "conform". In many societies God has become the "great absentee" and there are many and diverse idols now in His place, above all possesion. And also the significant and positive progress in science and technology have created in humans an illusion of omnipotence and self-sufficiency, and a growing self-centeredness, which has created many imbalances within relationships and social behaviours.

And yet, the thirst for God (cf. Ps 63.2) has not been extinguished and the Gospel message continues to resonate through the words and deeds of many men and women of faith. Abraham, the father of believers, continues to be the father of many children who are willing to walk in his footsteps and set out in obedience to the divine call, trusting in the benevolent presence of the Lord and accepting His blessing to be a blessing for all.

It is the blessed world of faith to which we are all called, to walk without fear following the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes it is difficult journey, one that even knows trial and death, but one that is open to life, in a radical transformation of reality that only the eyes of faith can see and enjoy in abundance.

Saying "I believe in God" leads us, then, to set out, to continually go beyond ourselves, just as Abraham, to bring the certainty that comes from faith: the certainty into our daily reality, that is, the presence of God in history, even today, a presence that brings life and salvation, and opens us to a future with Him for a fullness of life without sunset.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Faith, Abraham, living by faith, counterculture, holiness, year of faith, Pope Benedict XVI

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1 - 10 of 10 Comments

vance
4 months ago
Great article. This is encouragement for us to firm our resolve to live our faith and promote our faith in an ever hostile environment.
Tom McGuire
4 months ago
Abraham had two sons. When Sara did not produce an offspring she encouraged Abraham to have a son with Hannah. Ismael, son of Abraham, also is to share in his inheritance. That means that those for centuries considered enemies of followers of Jesus share in the faith of Abraham. Instead of the condemning, what about going against the culture of violence and find a way to reconcile with our brothers and sisters who are considered descendants of Ismael.
DLL
4 months ago
It is actually people of faith who are in and out with the tide and going with the current as that is Gods natural order for things. Today the heathen culture has reversed things so that going against the current is what they are trying to make everybody do. This is the chaos of our times. The only leader that I have full respect for is Pope Benedict. Praise God for the good Popes in my lifetime. Popes Paul.John Paul 2 and the present one. They represent the voice of reason. Very good post Mike Robertson. We must pray for the President and Democrats because they simply are full of themselves,thinking they are HOT and they are NOT. Today the press will ignore the march for life as will the President. If a million people were at the march it would still be magically ignored. This is how we can now judge our government as inherently evil as it is confirmed in sin as some sort of a strange human right. It was not long ago that self righteous groups like the KKK were hanging and burning blacks and calling it the right thing to do because they didn't consider them human anyway. That friends happened in our good old USA. So forget the old adage that says my country right or wrong. According to Disney David Crockett was supposed to have said be sure you are right than go ahead. Is the USA right about abortion should they go ahead with the practice? The issue was a lie to the medical community in the first place because viability was determined 24 weeks because with nursing care after that it was possible for the baby to survive outside the womb. It was evidently always okay to abort at any time during the pregnancy. If people knew that 40 years ago abortion might not have been so readily approved. It is too bad ultrasound has been a tool for abortionists. Such a wonderful tool now in the hands of demons. Still don't lose hope even in our fellow Catholics as still we are one body in Christ. Still as Catholics we all will never be one completely,until we learn the meaning of the words"Jesus I Trust In You". That is why we all must go to Mass as current affairs are what they are but Jesus is the 2nd person of the most Holy Trinity. Jesus Saves as He has taught us all that God is Love.
mike robertson
4 months ago
It is Faith which will enable us to survive what we face today. We have a chilling atmosphere as Catholics in America which I have never had to endure in my 50+ years of life. Thanks to Catholic democrats, we have a "leader" who voted for the killing of girls and boys outside of their mom's womb even after they survive the attempt to kill them in the womb. The Catholic democrats' candidate is trying to shut down Catholic and other Christian institutions under his "health care" plan. He has a frightening aversion to the Holy Name of God. He would not allow it at the inaugural invocation and refused to thank Our Lord on Thanksgiving. He calls marriage what God calls an abomination. He boasted to a Muslim audience that America is not a Christian nation. He has a frightening aversion to economic progress. We see the brutal consequences of his Third World socialist basket case policies: higher unemployment and poverty along with lower incomes and wealth. If this is what Catholic democrats call "compassionate, social justice", please keep it to yourselves and allow those of us who want to work to have a free market economy which will provide jobs.
rafaelmarie
4 months ago
WELL IN THAT CASE WE NEED TO DENOUNCE ISLAM AS COMING FROM HELL!

AND WE NEED PAPAL EXCOMMUNICATION ON ALL PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA BECAUSE THEY HAVE COMMITTED A MORTAL SIN FOR VOTING FOR A PRO-ABORTION PRESIDENT AND COMMITTED ANOTHER WORSE SIN OF SACRILEGE BY GOING TO HOLY COMMUNION IN THAT STATE!

I WILL LEAVE IT TO THE CLERGY WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO FOR ALLOWING IT!

GOD KNOWS WHAT HE WILL DO!
Robert
4 months ago
Attn Bill Sr:

Thank you. Thank you for saying what needs to be said.
Bill Sr.
4 months ago
Our Lord came and was seen as a humble but faithful servant of Father in heaven teaching the ways of the Father of Love but also acknowledging the ever invisible presence of the devious deception of Evil opposed to His Will, promising us that whoever would believe in Him shall be worthy of the unseen Glory of God awaiting redeemed mankind.
We may consider what we see as our modern western society the height of human achievement and marvel at our accomplishments but at the same time are we not also witnessing the unforeseen collapsing of it both morally and structurally?
Far too often in recent history we seen how leaders have avoided the moral challenges in the light of truth and chosen do their work in the cool comfort of darkness where their deeds are less visible and the sleepy eyed gatekeepers have often been unwilling to sound the alarm for fear of disturbing the peace. As a result decisions have been made, choices are in place, and worst of all we have changed our language and vocabulary to fit an agenda contrary to our conscience. An unborn child is no longer a human being. Killing it is not a crime it is a right. Pregnancy is a disease or at the very least, as our own president has declared, it is a punishment for poor hygiene practice. Preventing pregnancy is praised and to be rewarded by a benevolent Federal government with free contraception for women and young school aged girls. All the while the same government disallows any mention of God in all its public schools and buildings. Religious liberty is no longer constitutionally protected but subject to the interpretation of bureaucrats in Washington. Free speech is soon to be a thing of the past as power hungry elitists and legislators have assumed the role of judges of vocabulary allowed to determine what can be publicly permissible speech. Every Christian value which helped build the shinning city on the hill is being challenged or cast aside to establish the Utopia of fools and it is time for us to unmask and reveal the Evil presence in the public policies proposed by the blind or misguided individuals perpetuating the corruption of our culture. The most potent weapon of Evil is our unwillingness to recognize its existence among us.
Pray the hearts of the faithful will be opened that they may be able to see the unseen and unmask and reveal the Evil presence among us today.
jh
4 months ago
Beautiful explanation.
abey
4 months ago
That indeed is where the challenge lies today, the challenge against a complacent living, which life is but to the Apostasy against the very soul. The challenge to keep the word of God in the Spirit & Truth of it which is but to go against the tide of the day, to the race against time, for the pitfalls to the complacency come not from the front but from the rear like a sweeping Boar tide unaware, to run against it & this can only be done through the word of God. The way to resist, the call that was given in the very beginning to keep away from the forbidden fruit by the commandment of God, to the Power of Resistance. This is still the call of life unto this day against the tides of temptations both in the body & spirit, to not making it into a mere "intellectual" poetry but to the Challenge by the heart & soul in the spirit & truth of the word like St Jerome by his vision standing before the Council of Christ , observed.
Sister claudia Rodriguez S.deM.
4 months ago
Personalmente me gusto mucho por que nuestro Santo Padre Benedicto XVI nos alienta nos fortaleze y sobre todo esta guiado por el Espiritu Santo, Es nuestra guia nos ensena con su ejemplo a confiar solo en nuetro Senor Jesucristo.
Que Dios los bendiga.

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