In
the Bible there are several characters who were called ‘blessed’
because of their faith. Abraham was told that he would have a
child when he was almost 100 years old and his wife was also an old
woman. By our way of thinking it couldn’t have happened, but
he believed and it did happen.
Zachariah
was told his wife Elizabeth would have a baby, even though she had
been barren all her life and was now also an old woman. When the
angel Gabriel told him this he found it hard to believe and said so
to the angel. The angel Gabriel wasn’t too impressed and said,
‘I am Gabriel who stand before God. Since you have not
believed me, here is a sign for you. You will be struck dumb
until the time comes for this to happen.’ And he was struck
dumb until after the baby was born. So even though he doubted, it
still happened!
The
angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would have a
child, but not by human means. She believed, even though she
didn’t understand, and it happened. The angel also reminded
her that ‘nothing is impossible to God.’
All
of these people and many others too, were told to believe, even
though it didn’t make any sense to them, but they believed even
though they didn't understand. When Mary visited Elizabeth,
Elizabeth said to her, ‘Blessed is she who believed that the
promises made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ I wonder
would many of these things have happened if the people involved had
refused to believe until they were sure, until they were able to know
these things were true; until they were proved?
At
times like these when there is so much upheaval in our Church, it can
be very difficult to believe. God seems to have abandoned us, or
we find ourselves asking, how could the Church be from God, from what
we are hearing. However, nothing could be farther from the
truth. It is difficult to believe at the best of times, but we
cling to our faith, because it comes from God. The Lord is with
us and has always been with us. We must not be afraid of earthly
structures that change or indeed collapse, because they are only
earthly structures. That is really what we are seeing: earthly
and human structures changing. Why is all this
happening? Because God loves his people and in his mercy He is
bringing about changes that are absolutely essential for us to
grow. It is the mercy of God that is allowing all this to happen
and it is for our own good. And even though it is difficult and
painful right now, that is where we are called to believe that God
knows what He is doing and will see us through all of this and out
the far side.
I
don’t understand but I believe. I believe that the Lord is
with us and will always be with us, so there is no reason to be
afraid. Perhaps a good thing to focus on now right now is the
mystery of Christmas in its simplicity. God visits his people in
the form of a totally helpless new born baby. Angels appear in
the sky to announce this strange event. But they don’t
announce it to the great people of the time, they announce it to the
poorest of the poor who are looking after the animals in the
fields. The king goes mad out of jealousy and fear and tries to
have the baby killed. All these things are quite bizarre and
seem almost like a fairy-tale from a human point of view. But we
believe them because it is God who has made them known to us.
In
this mass, in a few minutes, God becomes present to us in a tiny
piece of bread we call the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. How can this
be? Many people consider the such an idea pure madness. But we
believe it because it is the Lord who told us these things. There is
so much that we don’t understand, but God has never asked us to
understand these things, only to believe them, because He has
made them known to us. The Lord has promised us that He will
always be with us to guide us, and He has also promised us that the
darkness cannot overcome the light. If we believe that, then
there is nothing for us to be afraid of.
‘Blessed
is she who believed the promises made her by the Lord would be
fulfilled.’
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