Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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Faith beyond belief

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Faith beyond belief

What gets us through the really rotten moments of life is the confidence that no matter how hopeless a situation seems, God will give us the strength to hang on. That confidence is the fruit of faith.  It is trust in God’s promise that he will not abandon us.

Faith is more than belief in God, it is confidence in his promises. Belief and faith are not synonymous. The Epistle of James reminds us that the demons in hell believe. In addition to belief, faith must include trust in God.

Mary’s response to the incredible message of the angel Gabriel was: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38) Abraham had such confidence in God that in his old age he uprooted his wife and household and began a perilous journey to a distant and unknown land because God had told him to do so. (Gen 12:1-4)

Faith is habitual. It is a way of life not a Band Aid that is put on when we hurt. If our life is not grounded in faith, we are not likely to discover it in life’s darker moments. It has been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Foxhole religion is fear not faith. It flows from fear of eternal punishment not from trust in God.

A firm, confident Christian faith gives us a tranquility and stability during the difficult times as well as the good ones.

We learn faith in community. Pope Francis wrote: “Faith is not a private matter, a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it is meant to find expression in words and to be proclaimed.” For “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? [Rom 10:14]” (Lumen Fidei #22)

Faith comes to us through community and it cannot be hoarded, it must be shared. The Church must be more than a community of believers; it is called to be a community of faith.

Faithful Citizenship is Faith Filled Citizenship

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The Catholic citizen who goes to the polls is the same Catholic citizen that goes to Mass on Sunday. We cannot compartmentalize our lives or ourselves. We cannot turn off our moral compass like a television set without living a lie.

That moral compass is called our conscience. It is shaped over our lives by our parents, our family, our teachers, our priests, and our encounters with good and evil. We don’t buy a conscience readymade off the shelf. It is deep inside of us, part of our essence. A compass is a good analogy because just as a compass points north, our conscience points to God.

Most of us are not theologians, but we learned right from wrong, justice from injustice, selflessness from selfishness, honesty from dishonesty. We learned the Ten Commandments and we learned the Beatitudes. These are the points of our compass. These are the fundamentals of our conscience.

During an election campaign we are subjected to a plethora of promises and a cacophony of claims. Our conscience is our touchstone of truth. It is the measure of our faith.

Homily for the Mass to Open the Year of Faith – Transcript

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This is a transcript of the homily given at the Mass to Open the Year of Faith at Cathedral Guadalupe, October 14, 2012. Photo credit: Texas Catholic.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Two thousand years ago a young disciple of Jesus Christ came up to him and said “What must I do to possess eternal life?” and Jesus answered him in the words of the scripture that we have just read today. “You must know God, you must love God, and you must make the word of God become a reality in the world.” Fifty years ago, Blessed John XXIII, in his address to convene the Vatican Council, made the same comment. He said the world needs to know God, needs to listen to His word, and needs to put His word into practice.

We gather today to officially begin in our diocese this Year of Faith. Our Holy Father Pope Benedict wrote a letter almost one year ago called Porta Fidei or the “Door of Faith” in which he asked us all to take one year of our lives to reexamine and to convince ourselves that we too are on that journey towards eternal life. We too need to know what it is we are asked to do.

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What Do We See in the Mirror?

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Why do we look in a mirror? A mirror reflects reality. It shows us how we look. It reflects our good points and our bad points. It shows us how we appear to others. If we do not like the image we see in the mirror, we can decide to work to change it. The mirror cannot change anything.  It merely reflects reality. But the reality that is reflected may move us to make changes.

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Has Christianity Failed?

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Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

   G. K. Chesterton

 Too many of us feel a little guilty when we read Chesterton’s statement. To be a disciple of Jesus is not easy. Who wants to turn the other cheek? Which of us is willing to share another’s burden? Sell my possessions and give the money to the poor? Don’t  be ridiculous.

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