The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied,
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
'Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

“How long, O Lord?” (Habakkuk 1:2). 

That’s a question we have probably all asked God at one time or another. The prophet Habakkuk was waiting for God to rescue Israel from violence and destruction. You might be waiting for a reconciliation with a loved one, for healing from a chronic disease, or for a child to return to his faith. And the longer you wait, the more tempted you might be to get frustrated and lose hope.

But waiting doesn’t have to be a passive, dreaded time. As difficult as it can sometimes be, you can use this time to exercise your faith and let it grow actively. For example, you can try to shift your focus from waiting for something to happen in the future to open your eyes to what God is doing in the present moment. How does he love, encourage, and bless you or the people you are praying for? The more you recognize the ways God is acting, the more you will realize that he has not abandoned you; he is with you even in your waiting.

Another way to exercise your faith as you wait is to fight the temptation to doubt or despair. You might not know what God is doing or when he will do it. But you can place your trust and hope in the promise that he is always at work, even behind the scenes, to do something far greater than you could ever imagine. So even if you’ve been waiting for a long time, don’t lose hope. God’s vision for your life is pressing on to its fulfillment. And just as he told Habakkuk, so he tells you: this vision “will not disappoint; . . . it will surely come” (2:3).

We must place our hope and trust in God, believing that he knows all our pain. He knows all that we long for. We have to believe that he desires more for us than we do for ourselves. He’s never indifferent to us. Let us also pray for all those who are suffering. And more, let’s be instruments of compassion and liberation for them. After all, we are his hands and feet. 

Lord Jesus, I place all my trust in you.

With Love and Blessings,

Fr Damian

Faith is a very misunderstood word.  What is it really?  Bishop Barron explores ways to understand faith. His framework is important for us to understand if wee are ever called to defend our beliefs.