RBWords

     Shortly after his election as pope, Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI collaborated  on an encyclical entitled Lumen Fidei.  In the part written by Pope Benedict, he speaks of faith as an encounter with a love greater than any other love that we could experience.  Indeed, in the Gospel According to John, Jesus speaks of faith as "eternal life."  Faith, then, is what the Letter to the Hebrews (our second scripture for this Sunday) says.  It is the realization of what is hoped for.  

     The sad thing is that faith is often reduced to some kind of assent to a list of theological propositions or a collection of religious devotions.  It is neither of those.  It is a relationship.  God is not a boss or overseer to be kept at arms length.  God is love.  Yes, we do have sacramental expressions of faith which can enable us to experience physically the presence of God, especially the Eucharist.  But these, too, are expressions of a relationship of love.  To take these things for granted or participate in an overly casual way is to take God for granted.  If love is something that we desire, God is already loving us.  Is God's love to be unrequited?  Is our worship something like a perfunctory visit with an aging parent  to satisfy a vague sense of duty?

     A close relationship is not a matter of duty.  It is a gift that is reciprocal and demands commitment on all sides.  If love is what we hope for, faith is the way we realize it, and God is the ultimate love that awaits our faith.  AMEN