In today’s second reading, the book of Hebrews reminds us of the true meaning of faith: “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen”. From the above description, faith is synonymous with trust and confidence. In fact, confidence (hypostasis) is another Greek word for faith. Faith is not being sure where one is going but still going because one relies on God who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Faith as a gift calls us to put our trust in the goodness of the future since God is in control of it. Presently, our faith in the beauty of God’s creation is being tested. The back to back shooting fueled by hate and distrust in human goodness that happened last week, and so many other evils happening in our society, are all challenging our faith both in ourselves and God. At this moment, I just think about the little 2 month-old baby that was orphaned by the bullet of the shooter in El Paso that killed her parents while they were trying to protect her.
It is in the midst of these evils that Abraham’s faith is calling us today to know that God is still alive and in control. The world still belongs to him in spite all the evil that are found in it. Faith is calling each of us to try our best to make the world a better place. Abraham allowed God to fashion his future when he obeyed and moved when he was told to do so.
Faith therefore means the acceptance that God’s plan will work itself out in our lives no matter how difficult it may seem. As someone rightly said, “faith is making a journey without a map”. I remember being in a country with neither street mapping nor GPS. Every time I made a journey, I was totally dependent on people’s guidance. That is what faith is like. Though sometime people may mislead us, God does not and can never mislead us. His promise is always good news for us.
Brothers and sisters, faith therefore is a call for us to let go of the control we have over our lives in order to allow God to take control. That is what it means to be ready like the servants waiting for the return of their master. Jesus told us in the gospel “do not be afraid”. Like the Israelites in the first reading, let us wait for our salvation that is already near since God has promised us that if we remain faithful.