Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 322

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for 
and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were well attested. 

 T he word faith appears six times in today's first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, and a seventh time in the Gospel, when Jesus asks, "Do you not yet have faith?”

Hebrews recalls the heroic faith of Abraham as he and Sarah ventured with the LORD away from his ancestral home in Ur to "a place that he was to receive as an inheritance." 

This long tenth chapter of the Epistle, abbreviated by the Lectionary editors, repeats the same word, faith, forty-one times as it recalls the fidelity of more than a dozen holy ancestors. Clearly, faith is the key to our life as disciples of Jesus. We may have many other assets and be widely admired for them, some of them earned by hard work and others given as natural talents. But they are only accessories, baubles to delight the foolish. But they are not essential to our mission. We must keep the faith. 

Rather often -- too often -- I hear stories about various proofs of our beliefs. Some Catholics insist that the Shroud of Turin proves the resurrection of Jesus. They cite scientists who have shown this or that fact about the fabric and its characteristics. They insist that these results can only be the proof of divine intervention. Others point to innumerable "Eucharistic miracles," some outlandish or garish, others merely amusing.  

Scientific proof, as I understand, relies upon two pillars. It must be replicable and explainable. If a certain procedure works -- producing the desirable results time after time -- but we don't know how it works or why it works, it's not science. And, if it should work because all the facts and theories add up to a certain necessary conclusion, but it cannot be replicated, it's not science. 

When scientists do successfully replicate and explain their theory, they announce it to others who will attempt to replicate the same procedure and get the same results. And, if it works, they will search for other plausible reasons why it worked.  

Someone might have a wonderfully cogent explanation of the Lord's resurrection and its impact on linen -- as in the Shroud of Turin -- but their theory raises no one from the dead, it's not science. Nor does it prove that Jesus is the only begotten son of God invested with all authority in heaven and earth. Their explanation of Easter and the empty tomb may entertain the mind and delight the religious imagination, but it's not science. 

Nor do we need anyone's scientific proof. We have received our faith through the Church and from the Holy Spirit. Our doctrines have been confirmed by the Holy Spirit, and proven by the courageous, generous, patient fidelity we practice year after year, in good times and in bad. Why would we be amused by anyone's outlandish scientific proof? Does a child need scientific proof of his mother's love or his father's kindness? Can you prove that your neighbor loves his wife to her satisfaction? We accept our faith with its doctrines as gifts. We live by them, and are grateful for them. 

The proof we offer for our faith in the Lord, the Eucharist, the Virgin Mary, the saints and martyrs, the Bible, and our Roman Catholic Church is our personal witness. People are not persuaded by what we say; our arguments are silly. But they're persuaded by what we do. They watch our feet and hands, not our faces. 

I suppose there's little harm in entertainment, and these so-called proofs of God's existence are often entertaining. But let's put our best energy into our living witness of God's mercy -- especially to the widow, the orphan, and the alien.