What is Faith?

My second oldest daughter loves riddles. She recently asked me this one…

“You can’t see me,

You can’t hear me,

You can’t feel me,

But you know I’m here around you.

What am I?”

The answer is air. It made me stop and think “hmmm” Yes you can’t see, hear or touch air yet we breathe without thinking about proving that it is real. We have faith that air is always there to sustain us and keep us alive. We just trust it is there, and don’t ask for the scientific explanation of how air works. You just have faith that the air will fill your lungs and continue about your day.

Faith. What is faith? The dictionary says it is the complete trust and confidence in someone or something. What does the bible say faith is? Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So to say you have faith that air will fill your lungs is true in both the secular and biblical definitions. In this upcoming week’s gospel, Thomas does not have faith. When Jesus visits the other disciples, Thomas says he will not believe until he can touch the nail marks in Jesus’s hands. When Jesus visits the disciples a second time, he tells Thomas to touch his wounds. Jesus then says, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Which brings me back to air. Do you not believe in air because you cannot see it? Or do you faithfully inhale and exhale all the days of your life?

Why would believing in Jesus be any different? We cannot see God, touch God, but we can feel God. I feel him all the time. During Easter Mass Father Bob spoke about God moments. I bet you have had one, they happen all the time. My most profound God moment is a true miracle. After fighting off a very rare, aggressive and fast moving cancer, I was told that I would need IVF to successfully have another child. To understand what this diagnosis meant to me is to understand that the cancer I had was formed from a miscarriage. We hoped to have our sixth child. Having four daughters, and the youngest was a son, I yearned for a brother for my son. Accepting that another child was not in the cards for us, I was so surprised when I discovered I was pregnant… and with a boy! But really should I have been surprised? I prayed devoutly for the chance to have a son. When we told our children the news, one of my daughters leaped up and announced she had been praying for a brother. I was told it wouldn’t happen and it did. And it was the son I prayed over and over for daily. But God wasn’t done yet letting me know my prayers were heard. When I went to the doctor’s office, I was told my due date was Easter. If that wasn’t a clear sign then I’m not sure what else could be.

Some God moments are not always so big as the birth of a long awaited child. Many are little moments we may not even recognize. While speaking with a group of teens on their confirmation retreat, we spoke about God moments. Something as little as the right song just happened to come on the radio exactly when you needed those lyrics to speak to you… God moment. When I told the teens that, they perked up. Sometimes you just need to have faith and believe in what you cannot see. You need to trust fall into God’s arms. And sometimes, you need to be reminded that you can feel God around you. There is scientific proof of God, just as there is for air, but we need to believe and have completely trust in God just as we do in air. Rest assured that every time you breathe that God is with you.

God Bless and Be Faithful,

Kate Federico