“This ordinary time of the year is a special time of grace. It’s a time for us to really attend more particularly to the growth of the Kingdom of God within us and within our world and so it’s that time of growing in virtue of that time of allowing the grace of God to continue to transform us and Jesus in the Gospel today obviously uses that image of nature, that farmer’s image who goes out and sews in the field and then what tremendous growth takes place day in and day out slowly, not in a great hurry, but for those who are patient, the farmers, they see where it sprouts and brings forth a tremendous harvest and Jesus uses that image because in the time of the early Church when this scripture was written the Kingdom of God was growing kind of slowly and there was some discouragement scripture scholars say among the early disciples, but they remember that Jesus said, ‘Don’t expect the full blossoming, the full growth right away.’ It’s a lifetime of transformation. It’s a lifetime of accepting and being transformed brought made new through that word, through that grace of Christ Jesus and so we are invited to reflect upon nature ourselves. Just a few months ago it was all bleak and dark and the trees were all empty and the bushes were just sticks there and yet what a beautifully manifestation of nature we have at this time and that it teaches us so much about being patient and allowing the blooms the blossoms to come forward for transformation to be there and we are invited to recognize that even with the COVID lockdown and with all the distancing and everything and how gradually there was a coming about and community there was a renewal at that time as we try to establish this new normal, but we go forward allowing things to unfold slowly, but nevertheless beautifully within our lives, symbols of new life, symbols of transformation, but the challenge of patience. The fundamental act that we are called to live is the act of faith. In the second reading today St. Paul says, ‘We walk by faith and not by sight.’ A very important recognition that ultimately our life is called to be one of faith that we don’t walk just by sight and the reason is, sight can give us tremendous insights. Sight can enable us to see so many things and yes, even if we look just with our eyes we can look beyond just the surface and see the beauty of creation which is the beauty of God himself, but our physical sight is not enough. It’s not enough for us. We must have spiritual insight. We must have that ability to have faith in God because faith speaks to us of the deeper things of life the things we will never see now with our eyes or touch with our hands, but rather they speak to us about purpose and meaning about our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us and the true dignity and the purpose and the meaning that we have within our life. That is what faith is about. Faith is both an active belief and a belief in someone. It’s an active faith. We make that belief in the what. What has God revealed to us? That definition of faith is accepting what God has revealed to us on the authority of God revealing it because God’s revelation goes beyond what our own human mind can ever know on it’s own because it gives us an insight in the very mind of our creator, the very hope and the direction of God’s action within our lives and so it is very important about accepting the Word of God because God has spoken that world. That is the fundamental act of faith, but secondly and just as importantly is that faith is a relationship. We believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It’s not just the fact of believing about, but truly having that trust that relationship with God that is so important and that that is a real challenge for us within our life is to continually move forward. Cardinal Newman from the 1800’s, he was a great theologian and he had tremendous insight particularly in the areas of faith and one of the things that he distinguished is what he called notional faith and real faith. Notional faith means we have a notion. We have an idea. We have a certain understanding. That’s notional faith and he says that’s never enough because that’s just knowing about. Real faith is knowing with whom, in whom do we trust? How do we allow faith to transform not just our mind, but our heart? And we all know that probably the longest distance in this world is the one foot between head and heart, but that’s what really faith is about. It’s moving into that transition of total trust in a God who loves us so abundantly and has revealed himself to us and obviously there’s challenges in faith and Jesus says so often that the seed is planted and it takes a long time to germinate and to bring forth, but obviously it needs to be planted it needs to be watered it needs to be tended in many ways and I know for almost probably all of us there’s friends and relatives who maybe have strayed from the faith. They’ve kind of wandered away, but God’s action can still be working within their hearts within their lives and we continue to pray for them that they can come to accept that working of God within their life to be transformed by that wonderful gift of God’s revelation in Christ Jesus. I know for many of you you struggle particularly with regard to your children who have maybe wandered from the faith and there’s a book I would recommend to you. It’s called Return and it’s put out by Word On Fire publishing, but it’s a great reflection particularly for parents or for other loved ones upon that process of maybe reawakening faith of allowing faith to continue to grow and to become ever more manifested in the lives of others. We’re all on a journey of faith. None of us is totally there.
I like to fly on planes, but my ideal flight would be one in which I’m sitting with an airplane and flying, but one foot is still on the earth and I think that’s an image that can speak to a lot of us in terms of faith. We still want to have control rather than allowing God to truly be God within our lives within our hearts and so it is that journey. I’m reminded of the individual, the man who came and asked Jesus for a miracle. He said, ‘Jesus if you can please heal my son.’ and Jesus kind of rebuked him and said, ‘If?’ And the man said, ‘Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.’ and I think that man speaks for a lot of us. Lord I believe, but I’m still in the process. Help my unbelief. Help me to have a deeper trust. Help me to have a deeper trust. Help me not only to know with my head, but to live with my heart. Help me to truly put my trust in you for in you is the fullness of freedom, the fullness of joy, the fullness of life.”