Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The last sentence of the second reading from the prophet Isaiah reads: “Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!” This reminds me of what is said in chapter 1, verse 6 of the Epistle of James: “…for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind.” Both of these are true; unless our faith is firm we will not stand, but will be driven like a wave before the wind. Yet we all have doubts; at times our faith falters. This is even normal and natural. We are human and part of the human experience is to have things go wrong, and this leads to doubt.
However, rather than feeling bad about our faltering faith, we should look upon this as an opportunity to grow. We should practice holding firm in our faith when we are tempted to falter. This will strengthen our faith. Even more, we should pray, asking God to strengthen our faith, and giving us opportunities to grow in faith. This will give God the opportunity to act in our lives and help our faith to grow stronger. And gradually, we will find our faith growing stronger, and we will be more and more able to stand firm.
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections