Lent: Anna #22

 

 Without faith,

   it is impossible to please God.

   (Hebrews 11:6)

Dear Anna,

We enter the season of Lent that leads us to Calvary and Easter Morning. You can’t skip and just land on Easter morning. We are asked to participate in Christ’s sufferings. Even his Gethsemane struggles, when Jesus cried out, “Take this cup from me!” True faith cannot help but wonder, “Is it really true?” In faith, and with the unseen help of the Holy Spirit, we say, “Yes, it is really so!”

The tale of the ring reminds us that, chances are, we find ourselves born into a particular Faith: Christian or Jewish or Islam. What if I had been born a Jew? Or, what if I had been born a Muslim? In short, what if I had been born and raised in another Faith than my own? It is a fair question—the kind of questioning a mature faith requires.

Our Faith has its reasons—reasons enough to say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” For starters, only our Faith has Lent with Good Friday followed by Easter Morning. And, of course, before that, Christmas Morning. It is also interesting what our Faith does not have: no fast days, no dietary law, no circumcision, no required pilgrimages, no ethnic qualifications. Just you as you and Jesus as Jesus. That is enough.

In the midst of all other options, like Peter, we too confess, “Where else are we going to go? Only you Jesus speak words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). To ask for more would be to eliminate faith itself; for, as the Bible tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hb 11:6).

 Love, Papa