Questo articolo è disponibile anche in:
Italian
English
Spanish
Good morning Father Angelo,
I am a 21 year old girl and I have always led a Christian life. In recent years, however, I have realized that having faith in God is something much deeper than simply going to church or saying daily prayers. I discovered that our relationship with the Lord is an all-encompassing one, which affects even the tiniest parts of our day, even while we carry out the most diverse activities. Yet sometimes it is not easy, or rather, not effortless, and if you become just a little distracted you find yourself far away, in low spirits, and having to start working all over again to feel close to Him, and I mean really close.
Now I wanted to ask you this question: is faith a simple thing?
Sometimes I get the feeling that it is something difficult. Rationally, I think it shouldn’t be difficult, but I don’t understand why it feels difficult to me at times… maybe there’s something wrong with my reasoning, or maybe I’m simply overthinking it? What do you think, Father? And what can I do?
Thank you very much, I hope to hear from you soon!
Benedetta
Answer from the priest
Dear Benedetta,
1. I am happy for you because you received a gift from the Lord: to have a faith in which Christ is alpha and omega, the starting and arrival step of your life and also of your individual actions.
2. What is the difference between your faith now and before?
There is a difference between what is at an early stage and what is more mature.
Or, if you will, between imperfect faith and perfect faith.
3. Speaking of perfect faith seems an exaggeration, because only in Saints, and primarily in the Virgin Mary, do we find perfect faith.
4. We should specify that, when speaking of faith, we are not simply referring to belief in the truths revealed by God, because, at least implicitly, you adhered to all the revealed truths even before the spark was struck that lit your fire.
We rather speak about the life of faith.
And even more accurately about that life of faith where one is almost continuously in the presence of God, just as God had ordered Abraham to do when he said to him: “I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).
“Walk in my presence” means: “be in my presence”.
5. I spoke about a spark that lit a fire.
Yes, when faith begins to mature and one begins to understand that Christ is the starting and arrival step not only of life in general, but also of individual actions, it is as if everything suddenly is enlightened.
6. The fact that perfection of the life of faith consists in this is clearly pointed out in Sacred Scripture when it says: “All things were created through him and for him” (Col 1:16).
When a person begins to live like this, it is as if they had found that Christ is the treasure buried in a field, so, after hiding it again, they sell all that they have and buy that field (see Mt 13:44).
7. When faith is not mature and is still in a more or less early stage of growth, Jesus Christ appears as one of the many assets of one’s existence, almost as if Christ were not the goal of everything we do.
When it becomes mature, Christ is everything.
8. The spark that makes you more mature is certainly also a gift from God.
It is a gift that does not replace the personal commitment to grow faith to maturity and live according to the directions given to us by God through St. Paul: “Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others” (Col 3:23); “to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing” (Col 1:10).
9. The Second Vatican Council, speaking of Jesus Christ, says that he is “the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human history” (Gaudium et spes 10).
Well, Christ must also become the key, the focal point, the goal of our entire personal life, to the point of saying “Jesus meus et omnia”, “Jesus is my God and my everything”.
10. We then understand how pushing Jesus Christ to the margin causes a large drift in the horizon of our life.
Hence the need to always be in the presence of God.
Hence also the wish that many others may experience that, which is a kind of foretaste of heaven.
With the hope that it will grow more and more in your life, I bless you and remember you in prayer.
Father Angelo