Today’s Gospel from Matthew, chapter 9, verses 18-26, although short, is full of action, and a real economy of language. We hear three things that we have heard in other places at other times, but they are compacted for us here.
In the space of 8 verses we hear about an official asking for Jesus’ help with his ailing daughter, a woman suffering from hemorrhages touching Jesus and being cured, and then Jesus gets to the official’s house where he encounters a crowd acting as if the girl is dead. He dispels that notion, and they mock him. That did not deter Jesus, and he entered the house, curing the girl.
The undercurrent of the entire matter is faith, which is coincidentally the essence of the new papal encyclical, Lumen Fidei. Faith – the essence of what we need, and yet, not something that we can understand with our intellect or with reason.
Which brings me back to today’s Gospel – full of action, and not so many words. Yet, we read, we ponder, we pray, we study. I started the encyclical, but I’m going slowly. In the meantime, how do we have faith? There is a question for the ages. Yet, some of us do. I think of mine as a gift, for which I am grateful.
What is faith to you?
There Will Be Bread 
Faith sustains me. It is my bungee cord, if you will, it is my duct tape. It holds me together securely even when conditions knock me around. I have it by plugging along with the ability to know that God is ahead of me, that allows me to smile. For this I am immensely grateful. Thanks Fran, I haven’t read the encyclical yet but will soon.
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Faith to me is knowing that God hears and answers my prayers. Sometimes I don’t get what I asked for, but I always get an answer. Faith is knowing that “Your will be done” is the perfect prayer.
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I believe Pope Francis describes it beautifully and perfectly in LUMEN FIDEI: “Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey.” AMEN!!!
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