Endurance and faith

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us that endurance is required in our faith journey even as we keep in mind that God is the agent of change for transformation of our way of living and the effect of our example on others is governed by His Grace.

The journey with some challenges

The Letter to the Hebrews urges us to look back at our conversion as an incentive to continue to seek fullness of life in Christ.

 There was a time when the spirit of their community caused them to welcome and share their sufferings (Heb 10:32–34). To revitalize that spirit is to share in the courage of the Old Testament prophets (cf. Is 26:20; Heb 2:3–4), the kind of courage that must distinguish the faith of the Christian (Heb 10:35–39).1

In the Gospel from Mark the parable of the sower and the mustard seed underline our ignorance of the way the plan of God is brought into effect in partnership with our small acts of faith.

 * [4:26–29] Only Mark records the parable of the seed’s growth. Sower and harvester are the same. The emphasis is on the power of the seed to grow of itself without human intervention (Mk 4:27). Mysteriously it produces blade and ear and full grain (Mk 4:28). Thus the kingdom of God initiated by Jesus in proclaiming the word develops quietly yet powerfully until it is fully established by him at the final judgment (Mk 4:29); cf. Rev 14:15.2

Tamora Whitney comments that a man tosses out some seeds, maybe like Johnny Appleseed, and maybe doesn’t cultivate or water or anything, but next thing you know there are apples.

 And this is like the Kingdom of God.
A word, an action, an act of charity, some little thing, can have a big effect, maybe one that we won’t even see. Like the man who scatters a seed and suddenly it seems has a huge tree, some small activity, some little deed, can turn someone to the Lord. It seems amazing that something so small can have such an amazing result. But it’s up to all of us to be good role models, be good examples, so we can be good stewards. We don’t know whose lives we might touch and what effect we might have.3

Don Schwager quotes “God gave us what was most precious,” by Isaac of Nineveh (a Syrian monk, teacher, and bishop), 613-700 A.D.

 "The sum of all is God, the Lord of all, who from love of his creatures has delivered his Son to death on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it. Not that he was unable to save us in another way, but in this way it was possible to show us his abundant love abundantly, namely, by bringing us near to him by the death of his Son. If he had anything more dear to him, he would have given it to us, in order that by it our race might be his. And out of his great love he did not even choose to urge our freedom by compulsion, though he was able to do so. But his aim was that we should come near to him by the love of our mind. And our Lord obeyed his Father out of love for us." (excerpt from ASCETICAL HOMILY 74.28)4

The Word Among Us Meditation on Hebrews 10:32-39 asks “Did you know that the Christian life is a lot like rowing a rowboat?”

 In other words, the best way to grow in your faith is to look back at all the good things the Lord has done. Let these memories propel you forward through rough waters. Let the lessons from your past guide you as you encounter new challenges. Take the words of the saints who have gone before you as advice for the future that awaits you. And always—always—keep the ancient teachings and stories of Scripture in the forefront of your mind.5

Friar Jude Winkler introduces a change by the author of Hebrews from doctrine to moral teaching. Grace is mysterious and we have to surrender to it. Friar Jude suggests that the Kingdom of God starts in small actions like our sacrifice of Love for another.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that for most Christians today, Jesus is totally divine, but not really human. When we deny what Jesus holds together, we can’t hold it together in ourselves! And that’s the whole point: you and I are also children of heaven and children of earth, children of God and children of this world. Both are true simultaneously, which defies all reason and logic. The Incarnation overcomes the split in us and creation.

 Christianity is saying that we need a model, an exemplar, a promise, and a guarantee (words used in Pauline letters) to imagine such a far-off impossibility. For us, that living model is Jesus. In Scholastic philosophy, we call this an “Exemplary Cause”; which is exactly how Jesus “causes” our salvation. He models it and it rubs off on us when we gaze long enough. Salvation is not a magical transaction accomplished by moral behavior or joining the right group. The only salvation worthy of the name is a gradual realization of who we are already in this world—and always have been—and will be eternally. Salvation is not a question of if nearly as much as when 6.

The journey in our faith sometimes requires that we look back and pull hard even as we live in the confidence that we sow in faith and God reaps the harvest.

References

1	(n.d.). Hebrews, chapter 10 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/10
2	(n.d.). Mark, chapter 4 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/4
3	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
4	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
5	(n.d.). Mass Readings and Catholic .... Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/
6	(2019, February 1). Fully Human, Fully Divine — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://cac.org/fully-human-fully-divine-2019-02-01/