Faith: The Ultimate Gift.

Faith is a gift. We all know that. A gift that needs to be developed, grown, and used. The quote that ‘to those who are given much, much is required’....to some Christians that is about money. However, I think it more aptly applies to the gift of faith.

This does not mean that you run around hitting people over the head with the Bible, as some Christian disciplines do. I personally believe that is far from the utilization of the gift that He expects us to do. The proper use of that gift is much, much deeper and profound.

And, it is a gift. No doubt about it. I was able to sit down the other evening and watch the new Mel Gibson flick, “Hacksaw Ridge”. For those who don’t know, it is the story of Desmond Doss, a US Army combat medic who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest combat award our nation has, for action on Okinawa, toward the end of WWII. He is the only CMOH recipient who never carried a weapon, as he would not touch a rifle or a take a life due to his faith. He remained behind, alone, after his unit was pushed back in a brutal fight, remaining on the battlefield and removing from danger 75 wounded GI buddies. He carried a Bible in his pocket, praying constantly. After seeing the movie, and reading his story, one cannot help but think where does that sort of faith come from? Like believers that willingly went to their death over the centuries, running into the hell of battle without a weapon to defend oneself defies logic. But, it has been done, many times over in the past 2000+ years.

It has to be a gift. Has to be.

As I pondered this, and yes, I can ponder with the best of them, in the background I had EWTN, the Catholic Cable Network on, as I often do. It was 3pm, and all of a sudden the Divine Mercy Chaplet came on, as it does daily at this time. The Divine Mercy Chaplet is one of the most powerful, simple devotions, and is one of my very favorites. As the words repeated themselves, “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”, I weighed these words while pondering. The Mercy is a gift. Just like faith. It’s ours to have, and it’s totally free.

However, claiming it is hard. It’s really hard. Maintaining it, and allow Him to show you how to use it is harder. And, it is a responsibility as well. That is the rub. Look at Peter. He ran from his a couple of times, and he is the first Pope! The only person with total and complete faith was Our Lady, who was the Mother of Christ. She maintained total faith in a manner no other mortal ever has, before or since.

Not everyone has access to the education on faith, to the extent that others do. Christ chose, through His Church, to educate, distribute, and spread that faith. Parts of the world where the Church is non existent, where the leaders have chosen to abandon the flock, are not going to be judged in the same manner as others who know the faith and reject it may. Now, I’m not going to get into the natural law of St. Thomas Aquinas, as that covers a lot of ground, but basically that informs us that there is a natural longing for God within each one of us. In other words, one doesn’t have to have formal training to know that a grave sin, like murder is wrong. Those seeds are planted naturally through natural law. But for those who have been blessed enough to have full exposure to what Christ teaches are obligated. To whom much is given, much is demanded. Faith is that gift, not money.

The Catholic Church is like a big toolbox, everything is in it that Christ provided to protect that faith is provided with in the Church. Those of us who have been blessed to know this, and make the choice to take advantage of it, have also been charged with a great responsibility to pass it on, and to have it show in our actions. The greater the gift, the greater the knowledge, the greater the responsibility. I firmly believe that those who have not been genuine in their faith, and those who have abused it, have driven young folks away and destroyed the faith of other, may have some ‘splainin’ to do at some point in time. Clergy, teachers, those in a position of authority within Our Church who have behaved contrary to what Christ taught through His Church may have more ‘splainin’ to do than others, but we all are going to have to answer. The only way to do what is demanded, to even hang onto faith, is prayer. Constant prayer. If we rely on our own strength and logic to do it, we will fail. Every time.

It all comes down to this: At the end of the day, we have to realize that our very existence, and everything we do, is contingent on God. So, in the words of St. Joan of Arc, “Place your life in God’s hands, because that’s exactly where it is. Even those of us who choose not to believe it.”

That’s the fact.