Three times in today’s second reading the phrase “by faith” is used. And in today’s first reading from the Book of Genesis we hear that “Abram put his faith in the LORD, ….” In any discussion of religion, the word faith is undoubtedly to come up, but what exactly do we mean by faith?
Often, when we think of the word “faith” we think about a list of things that we are to believe, such as there is only One God, but there are three persons in the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While I will not say that it is incorrect to use the word “faith” to collect the doctrines that we believe in, more properly that would be the content of our faith. Faith is something much more than just a collection of doctrines and dogmas.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes faith as, “ a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words” (#176). In other words, faith is a relationship, it is our relationship with God. Faith is also described as a gift, because while through our own intellect we can reason to the fact that there must be something greater than ourselves, that is infinite and without limits, on our own we cannot know God. Rather God, in His love for us reveals Himself to us, and invites us into a relationship with Him.
This relationship of faith also allows faith to be a method of knowing something. Often we think that the only way we can know something is through the empirical, scientific method. While empirical knowledge is very good, if you stop and think about it, most things that we know is not through the empirical method. You open a can of soup. How do you know that it is not poison? Do you put it through chemical analysis before you eat it? Of course not! You know because you trust the company that sells the soup. My mother tells me that she spoke to my niece who is visiting her mother in Hawaii, and Mom tells me that she just came back from surfing. How do I know that? I didn’t see my niece surfing, and I did not speak with her. I know it because my mother told me.
Faith is a way of knowing something through the testimony of a witness, so in order to use this method of knowing something we have to ask, first, is the witness in a position to know what they are talking about, and second, do they have any reason to want to deceive me. If they are in a position to know what they are talking about, and they have no reason to lie to me, then it would be unreasonable for me not to believe them. I know that George Washington was the first president not because I saw him get inaugurated, but because my teacher told me.
The common thread in all this is that faith is rooted in relationship -- whether in our parents, or the evangelists, or in God Himself. It was because of his relationship with God that “by faith” Abram was willing to leave his home to go to the Promise Land.
Let me tell you about two other people who did most things “by faith” -- Louis Martin and Marie-Azelie Guerin. Both were born in France in the early 1800s. Louis wanted to become a monk, but because he could not learn Latin well enough, he was turned away. He became a skilled watchmaker instead. Similarly, Marie-Azelie wanted to become a nun, but because of a breathing problem she was turned away from the convent. Instead she started her own lace manufacturing business.
Louis and Marie-Azelie met and fell in love. They were married only three months after meeting, and they had nine children, but only five survived to adulthood. In the joys and sorrows of their family life, Louis and Marie-Azelie witnessed a strong relationship with Jesus to their children. It was through their powerful witness that their children also received the Faith: not just the doctrines and dogmas of what the Church teaches, but a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Their five surviving daughters all eventually became nuns: Marie Louise became Sister Marie of the Sacred Heart, Marie Pauline became Mother Agnès of Jesus, Marie Leonie became Sister Françoise-Thérèse, Marie Celine became Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face, and their youngest, Marie Françoise-Thérèse, became Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face -- better known today as St. Therese of Lisieux. Because of the powerful witness of faith that Louis and Marie-Azelie Martin bore to their children, and to all those who knew them, on October 18, 2015, they were also canonized as saints, becoming the first spouses in the church's history to be canonized as a couple.
As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family today, we should reflect on how holy is our family? What values and lessons do we bear witness to “by faith”? As a family, do we talk about our relationship with Jesus, learning from each other and strengthening each other? Jesus, Mary and Joseph are the model par excellance of the Domestic Church, and it was by looking towards them that the Martin family learned about faith -- a personal relationship with God.
As we are about to start a new year, perhaps we can resolve to do more things “by faith.” Maybe we can take up the advice of Fr. Peyton, who was recently named ‘venerable,’ who taught “the family that prays together, stays together.” Maybe we can commit to a weekly family Rosary, or each week as a family watch a movie about one of the saints (there are several available for free from our parish’s subscription to FORMED) and then discuss how they can be an example for living our own lives. Let us resolve to live more “by faith” this coming year.