Have you ever noticed how we use different words in the English language to represent the same thing. Take the words religion and faith. If you were to ask someone or they were to ask you “what is your religion?”, the response might be… I’m Catholic, or Protestant, or Jewish, and so on. 

Other times, the question is phrased like, what’s your faith or what faith are you?  And without thinking, we answer the same as the “religion” question, probably because we think they meant to use the word religion and not faith.   

Without going into a deep theological explanation, we can say religion is “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices”. 

So how do we define faith? The Catechism defines it as a “theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that the Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself (CCC.1814). It continues, with “by faith, man freely commits his entire life to God. For this reason, the believer seeks to know and do God’s will.”

There are two parts to faith. The first is our belief. From Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, we can use reason to believe in God. The second is action. 

We hear several examples of faith in our second reading today. Each example starts with “by faith” followed by an action. One example we heard proclaimed today was… by faith, Abraham received the power to generate, even though he was past the normal age – and Sarah was herself sterile – for he thought that the one who made the promise was trustworthy. 

Abraham believed and trusted in God and because of his faith, he was able to do the things God wanted him to do. Abraham and Sarah conceived their son, Issac.

The second reading from St. Paul is just a small part of chapter 11 of his letter to the Hebrews. If you read the entire chapter, you will encounter many people of Old Testament times that had true faith in God and acted upon it.  “By faith, they did something.” He does not say because of their faith they did something. It was their faith that acted.  

The catechism states that faith without works it dead. We can’t just say we believe, or we have faith and not put it into action. We must allow our faith to act in and through us.

Faith is a relationship with God. It starts with his love for us. It is trusting him. Surrendering yourself to him and his will for you and allowing him to lead you. We believe and trust in his Word, because he is truth, and that he wants to lead us home to heaven. It’s our human weakness that when we doubt the trustworthiness of God that our faith can weaken. That’s where our fear can keep us from a closer relationship with God.

Faith continues in our Gospel as well. Jesus tells us, “do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.  He is telling us to trust in him.  And when he says to sell your belongings and give alms, he does not want us to give away everything. He tells us if we had no earthly possessions, we would lose nothing because as children of God, we will inherit heaven – something much greater than we can imagine. 

Jesus does not want us to worry about the things of earth, that will pass away, but focus on our preparation for heaven.  We all have things we need to do in this life. Perform those tasks with joy, love and trust in the Lord. 

Just like Abraham, by faith in God, we can do anything we are called to do, even if we don’t fully understand why we are called to do them or are difficult.  Let your faith in Jesus show in how you treat others and prepare yourself for heaven.  As the catechism states, “service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation” (CCC. 1816).

We know Jesus will come again. We know there is a place set aside for us in heaven. We know there is no pain, but joy in heaven. We know we are to spread the Gospel to everyone. How do we know?  Because Jesus told us and he is truth, and we trust him. Can we see heaven? Not now. Do we know the plan for us? Maybe parts, but not all of it. But by faith, we know heaven is there and by faith we do all we are called to do to obtain it.  So, keep the faith… and then increase it.