Faith in the Power of Jesus

Homily for Friday of the First Week in Advent

“Do you believe that I can do this?” The question that Jesus poses to the two blind men in today’s Gospel was meant for all of us. Do we believe Jesus can do what we ask of him? There are so many things we want, fewer that we truly need, and so many petitions we sent up to God. Would we ask if we did not believe that God can do this?

But what happens to our belief when it seems God does not deliver? Where does our faith go when a child dies or a trusted relationship is betrayed? These questions are not easy to answer. However, let us not forget that God never said they would be easy. God said that we are loved. We can trust in this. It does not mean everything will happen just because we want to get to happen. It does mean that God hears us; we can see the work of God in our midst.

Faith itself is a gift. It is ours for the taking. The gift does not evaporate, does not go anywhere. At the same time, we must all admit that we struggle to see it; to hold onto it; to believe it is indeed the Lord waiting upon us and caring for us in our every need. All of human history is made up of these moments.

In today’s Gospel account, Jesus does cure the blind men. When things do not go our way, even when we pray earnestly, we need only to ask for the grace of sight to see God’s love in the difficulties we are going through. The Lord, and the gift of faith which have been given to us, are there, waiting to take whatever load we wish to lay upon them. The crux of the matter – quite literally, actually, since “crux” is Latin for cross – is whether we are able to see that the gift of faith is something to which we can turn in good times and in bad. With the psalmist we pray: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?”