Faith is the ability to believe in what another person tells you even when you are not sure. To use the Language of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it is the total submission of one's will and intellect to God. It is a supernatural virtue given to those who obey i.e., those who listen and hear the voice of God. It is the ability to trust God even in those moments when we think things are impossible. It allows one to accept both good and difficult circumstances in life knowing that all will be well. Seeing the dark moments of life with the hope that it will be okay even when you do not see the way through.
     It’s not only about praising and trusting God when everything in your life is flourishing so as to sing “How Great Thou Art” but, it also involves praising and trusting God in the desert of loneliness and uncertainty. It is not only the ability to trust God’s love when the family has been blessed and all are gathered in good health around the holiday table, but also in those times when one of the chairs of the family circle has been made empty by some tragedy in life.
     Faith is trusting in God in all circumstances of life: good times and bad times, valleys and mountains, pains and joys, despair and ecstasy. It is trusting that God is present, loving and good to us in every circumstance. It is seeing the beauty of God in every creature, it is loving and caring for those who are in need, seeing the image of God in the poor and the homeless. Seeing God when you are being persecuted. Allowing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Loving God and preaching his name to those who do not want to hear the truth. This is Faith; seeing with amazing clarity a reality that others don’t yet see because they haven’t been given the grace yet.
      Faith is knowing that I have no control over life. It is the realization that God is the author and source of everything. Faith comes from God, it is a gift which must be nurtured by asking God to increase it in those dark moments through prayer, reading of Scripture and going to Mass. The time is now to make God's dream our dream, God's vision our vision, God's plan our plan, God's purpose our purpose.
     Faith is our most important link with God; through it, the created and the creator are connected. Faith is the channel through which the strength of our creator flows unto us, the created. The strength of our God, who created the heavens and the earth, who delivered our forefathers from the bondage of slavery, who placed His Son of Jesus in the womb of Mary, and who raised up Christ from the dead, comes into our lives through faith. Faith is not just an act in which we reach out to God but also an act in which we allow God to enter into our lives.
     That's it! That's what Jesus was saying to his disciples. Just do it! Make a difference right now. All you have to do is get started.
     Thank you for helping me to increase my faith during this internship here at Visitation of Our Lady. Be sure that I will pray for you all, and do not forget that all of us are called to be missionaries of Christ.