Faith of Our Fathers

One of the most recognizable hymns of our Catholic tradition, and one of my personal favorites, is “Faith of Our Fathers”. I won’t subject you to my attempt to sing from it, but I’m sure you know its famous refrain: “Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith! We will be true to thee till death.” It was written in the mid-19th century by Fr. Frederick Faber, who was a Catholic convert from Anglicanism. He wrote the hymn to commemorate the Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation: those men and women who laid down their lives rather than abandon the Catholic faith. As the hymn reminds us, we believe that our faith is our most precious possession, and it is our guiding light in times of uncertainty, difficulty, and even persecution.

Today’s readings also tell us about the faith of our spiritual fathers and mothers, from times even farther back in history than the English Reformation. In the reading from the Book of Wisdom, we hear how the Israelites, though still enslaved in Egypt, had faith in the coming Passover of the Lord, believing that God would destroy Pharaoh’s dominion over them and would free them and establish them in their own land. And in the second reading, the Letter to the Hebrews goes even farther back in time to remind us of Abraham, whom we call “our father in faith.” God called him to leave the land of his birth for a new country where he would become the father of many nations. And Abraham responded to God’s invitation with faith; he made the journey and accepted a covenant with God. The fullness of God’s promise wasn’t fulfilled during Abraham’s lifetime, but he believed in it, nonetheless, because of his faith.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus also speaks of a coming reality, one not yet seen but one which he nonetheless calls us to believe in: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock. Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” Just as the Israelites believed that God would free them from slavery in Egypt, just as Abraham believed that God would make his descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore,” so too the Lord Jesus calls us to believe in the nearness of the heavenly kingdom of God. It is Jesus, and he alone, who by his Cross and Resurrection has at last established a new homeland – a heavenly one, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us – so that those who have faith in him will no longer be “strangers and aliens on earth” but will arrive at last in the eternal city that God has prepared for all those who believe.

Still, we might ask: what exactly is “faith”? First, we should say what it isn’t. Faith is not primarily a feeling or a sentiment – something that we have at certain times but not at others. Faith is not a luxury or a hobby – something that we engage when we have the time, or when we feel like it. Faith is not a cultural heritage – something that we receive from our families, via our backgrounds, but which we personally and individually may or may not be all that interested in. No — faith, as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, is “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” In other words, faith is spiritual knowledge that assures us and helps us to understand that which is true and certain, but which is not yet visible – that which lies ahead. Faith is a gift from God that gives us insight into the future, so that we may understand what God is doing and what he will do, and to believe in it although we do not yet see it.

If this gift of faith is so important, then it is also important to be aware of how we can lose it. One way we can lose our faith is by what Jesus warns us about in the Gospel: spiritual short-sightedness. Those who heard Jesus preach were attracted to what he said, because he spoke to the deepest desires of their hearts. But Jesus also told them that the fulfillment of those desires – the final unveiling of what God promises to those who believe – is not going to come right away. It is guaranteed to come, but we will have to wait for it, and if we’re not mindful, if we don’t persevere and take the longview, then the waiting might cause us to become careless in the meantime. In Jesus’s parable, the servants are caught off guard by their Master’s return because they have grown lax in staying vigilant. The steward of the house, also, has become lazy and, even worse, selfish, thinking that he can indulge his desires because he thinks his Master won’t return anytime soon. In contrast to them, the faithful servants are not distressed by their Master’s long delay but instead hold fast to what they believe: that he will return, and when he does, they will be rewarded.

The Martyrs of Gorkum (1867) by Cesare Fracassini 

Jesus encourages those who hear him – “little flock” he calls us – to believe firmly and eagerly that the Father will give us a share in his kingdom. The heavenly kingdom to come is real, and certain, and we can know this by faith, even if we don’t see it right now. But to reach it, we must wait, and persevere in waiting for Jesus our Master’s return. In our waiting, we have to be on guard against becoming careless, or growing impatient, such that we seek the more immediate pleasures of this world rather than the joys that he promises to his faithful servants. Instead, like Abraham, like the Israelites in Egypt, like the Catholics of 16th century England, like all of our fathers and mothers in faith, we must hold fast through present challenges and difficulties – even persecutions, if it comes to that – to reach the heavenly homeland that God has prepared for us.

Friends, this week, perhaps each of us can do a little examination of conscience about our own faith, and about where we find ourselves in our journey of faith. Do I take my faith seriously, not just as a habit or a luxury, but as my most precious possession? Do I seek to be a faithful servant of the Lord, through daily prayer, weekly Sunday Mass, and regular confession, through loving my neighbor and caring for the poor? Do I try to guard myself against spiritual impatience, carelessness and laxity, making sure that each day I busy myself with seeking the things of heaven and not the allurements of this life? Surely, there is room for improvement for all of us, in one or another of these areas. It’s better to identify our areas of weakness now, and to make preparations for our Master’s arrival now, so that we may not be caught off guard later.

As we prepare for this Eucharist, let’s ask the Lord Jesus to make our faith stronger, so that he will find us ever vigilant as we await his return. May the graces of this Sacrament help us not only to sing but also to live: “Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith! We will be true to thee till death.”