Beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Our cry all our days is like the apostlefs, as they ask Jesus to “increase our faith.” We ask for God’s blessings to us and moan like the Israelites to God when things don’t go our way. When we pray to God to increase our faith, we are also asking God to lead us according to His will, not our own. As we live in our world, we acknowledge that our time is not God’s time. We come to understand that we will endure in the face of hardships because of our faith in God. The prophet Habakkuk hears God say, “The rash one has no integrity, but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
We have with us, Jesus the Eucharist, Emmanuel, God with us. As we participate in the celebration of Mass, we receive this holy gift, Jesus the Eucharist, and we are joined with all the angels and the communion of saints to praise God with thanksgiving, for God does not leave us to increase our faith on our own. United with the heavenly liturgy, we anticipate eternal life, where God will be all in all.
Faith is not a one-time event, instead it requires continual tending and building up like a flame burning. This jubilee year, we sing about the journey of our faith, living as pilgrims of hope, as we pray the words, “Like a flame my hope is burning, may my song arise to You: Source of life that has no ending, on life’s path I trust in You.” This continuous attention to our faith means that we will not become lukewarm in our understanding of God and how to live according to His Covenant. Our living will become a desiring for God, that we bring forth His goodness to all the people. St. Paul exhorts us that God provides us with the gift of courage, sustaining us on the journey that our faith will abound in His divine love.
Pope Leo XIV said, “A very widespread ailment of our time is the fatigue of living: reality seems to us to be too complex, burdensome, difficult to face. And so we switch off, we fall asleep, in the delusion that, upon waking, things will be different. But reality has to be faced, and together with Jesus, we can do it well. At times we feel blocked by the judgment of those who claim to put labels on others. Let us go to Jesus. He can heal us. He can revive us. Jesus is our hope!”
Here we must pause to assess how we are living our faith. In today’s world, it is easy to compartmentalize. We pay attention to our faith during the celebration of Mass and absorb the words of Scripture. When we leave the sanctuary of the church building, we may turn off our faith and forget to pray together as a family, or offer groceries for those in need, or smile at a co-worker or neighbor. Jesus’ presence, yesterday, today and forever, is not self-serving, but outward serving. Jesus’ presence is about invitation, bringing others to Him by our care for one another, and offering His goodness as a treasure each moment. St. Irenaeus said, “Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist, in turn, confirms our way of thinking.”
Living our faith is life changing. Our interior spirituality spills over into our daily living and people notice the treasure of God within each person. We pray with gratitude for our permanent deacons and their families. Our deacons will be participating in a convocation on Oct. 4, 2025, to strengthen their faith and by that strength, they bring forth God’s goodness within their families, their parish communities, and beyond. On Oct. 11, at the annual Harvest Ball, we greet with joy the people served by Magnify of Central Florida, through Bishop Grady Villas and other opportunities. These are the people of God’s perfection who grow that we also might cherish their special gifts.
St. Francis, whose feast day we celebrate Oct. 4, 2025, teaches us that as a rich man of earthly treasure, he had nothing. When he found God, he had everything and needed nothing else. May our journey of faith profess our belief of God’s matchless love.