Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 18, 2017 - Saturday in the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 11:1-7 and Mark 9:2-13]SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2017 SATURDAY IN THE SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [Hebrews 11:1-7 and Mark 9:2-13] Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible. [Hebrews] We have come to an end of the first scriptures from Genesis, but the lectionary adds the reflection from the Letter to the Hebrews which speaks of figures from Abel to Noah as being "attested to" by God through faith. The opening lines seem like something out of the Gospel of John when they speak of faith as the realization of what is hoped for since Jesus says in that gospel that the one who believes in him HAS eternal life. The rest of that opening sentence is important for my purposes today: "evidence of things not seen." So much of what is important to us is intangible: faith, love, hope. We may feel these things but we cannot measure them or make commodities of them. Modern advertising tries to market products that they claim will give us these important intangible things (I hesitate to use "thing"). But no man-made product can substitute for faith, hope and love, or for the great moral virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude. These are all intangible but become incarnate in the virtuous person. In reflecting on Genesis this past few days, we have done what today's passage from Hebrews speaks to when it says, "By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible." God's gifts are immense! AMEN
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