Encouragement for faith

In the midst of the summer months, here is a reflection on the importance of keeping faith alive.  These are the words I offered to the community at prayer today.

Encourage, endure, expect

These are the days of summer.  These are days for weddings and parties, for relaxing with friends, for reading a good book, for taking life at a slightly slower pace, for sitting peacefully at the water’s edge and for recharging the spirit.  In truth, such an idyllic vision is indeed a reality for some, even as it might only be a hope for others.  Leisure time such as this is also a special time for those of us who are disciples of Jesus to listen with new ears for his voice, to be attentive to the ways in which he encourages us, helps us to endure, and fills us with expectation as we await his coming.

Today’s first reading recounts the persecution that the prophet Jeremiah endured when he dared to challenge the beliefs of the officials of his time.   They did not hear his words as an invitation to believe in a new reality, but rather as discouragement for the soldiers and for the people.  Because of the threat of his words, they threw him in a well and tried to starve him.  How many people in our world are punished even today for speaking words of faith, words which are meant as encouragement.  We know of some throughout history who have worn a martyr’s crown for having spoken in this way, but there are many others who are unsung heroes of the faith.  We who have come to believe must never take our faith for granted; we must always be willing to encourage and pray for those whose beliefs are being challenged, and we must always be willing to courageously speak of our faith in order that our children and others who seek might come to believe.

The letter to the Hebrews speaks today of the great cloud of witnesses: those who by their words and by their lives have encouraged others in their faith.  Each of us is invited to bear witness to our faith, as part of the company of saints.  We do this by coming to know Jesus, the one who endured the Cross, disregarding its shame because of the joy that was to come.  If Jesus endured such suffering out of love for us, how much more should we be willing to endure the struggles which we face: struggles against sin, struggles against those who might question or mock our faith; struggles against the temptation to leave our faith here in the church while we enjoy the benefits of summer?  Dare to endure all that we must face; answer the questions that others might pose with gestures of love and words of faith; respond to the doubts of our day with the steadfastness of hope founded on the promise of eternal life which we celebrate in faith.

From the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus called the disciples to follow him.  He instructed them in the ways of faith.  He encouraged them to believe in the words he spoke.  When they faced doubt and fear, he helped them to endure, and he filled them with expectation as he spoke to them of the kingdom of heaven which is yet to come.  When we live in expectation of the kingdom, the anticipation fills us with a fire, the fire of faith.  This is the fire of which Jesus speaks in the gospel today: a fire which motivates us, which enlivens us, which makes us want to share the good news of our hopes, our dreams and our beliefs with others.  Not everyone will welcome this news, not everyone is ready for it, but for the sake of those who do, Christ needs you and me to be ambassadors of faith.

Disciples of Jesus, aflame with this enthusiasm do not speak of the peace of summer relaxation as a means of getting away from the craziness of life.  They might however speak of summer as a time to listen anew for the voice of Jesus which encourages us as we walk the road with him, an opportunity to help our families and friends to endure the challenges of a world which would rather deny the importance of faith, and to live as a people of hope as we look forward in expectation to the fulfillment of a promise yet to come.