Of all the many gifts given to us by God, surely the gift of faith must be the most precious one. This is a gift freely offered to all, some choose to ignore this offer and live their lives in darkness, but we who have accepted this wonderful gift, live our lives in the light of Christ and in the blessings of the Eucharist. Unfortunately, faith does not make our lives any easier, or take away our pain and suffering and the suffering of many others in this world today, and sometimes our faith is tested to breaking point. When in many African countries we see atrocities committed, massacres, hunger and disease, I’m sure our faith sometimes “Wobbles a bit.”

Mother Teresa puts it this way: - “Our faith is meant to grow and to mature over the years. There are some people who are very well educated – yet their faith is still at grade one and they don’t find any real meaning in the world. They have probably never read the scriptures and never really got to know God. Without faith, we are not able to believe in things that are mysteries and beyond our capacity to comprehend. Faith is a gift from God and grows through prayer, as do hope and love – these are the three main virtues of our inner life.”

We have to remember that all things are decided by God and He decides when we live and when we die. We have to put all our faith in Him and do the work he has called us to do in this life, in preparation for the next one.


Lord, give us health enough to make work a pleasure. Wealth enough to support our needs and strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Give us grace enough to toil until good is accomplished and charity enough to be good to our neighbour. Give us love enough to be useful and helpful to others, faith enough to make real the things of God and hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.