The Power of Faith

I think that sometimes we have a mistaken idea about faith. Often we equate it with magic, thinking that "if I believe hard enough, it will happen." If that were true, the Lord would never have been crucified ("Take this cup away from me"). Faith based in Jesus Christ is very different. It is always grounded in the will of God. ("Not my will, but yours be done"). By this I mean that the primary and most fundamental belief must be that whatever God wills for me is always and everywhere best. And God's will always has eternal happiness (sainthood) as the ultimate goal. Now, getting to that goal is where our cooperation with God's will comes in. Every day we are called to make a multitude of decisions, all of which should be based in faith. Practically speaking, this means that I have to ask myself which choice is best in conformity to God's will for me. And once we do that, we can move on in faith, confident that any decision to do God's will is the right one. It may not be the easiest thing or even the one I think is best, but doing  what God wants is always the right thing to do. Having made a decision to do what God wants me to do is really tapping into the power of faith. I can go forward, confident that I am moving toward sainthood. These small, everyday decisions to do God's will are what made those who are officially recognized (canonized) as saints models for others. And that power of faith in the will of God is what will keep us on the right path as followers of Christ.
I want to give a quick "shout-out" to several others who have inspired me to undertake this blog. A dear friend, Fr. Stanislao, has been and online presence for several years, and his site keeps getting better and better. Check it out his Heavenwards website here and his blog here. His ministry, insights and  friendship challenge me daily to be a better  priest. Another friend has a well-known site called Whispers in the Loggia. Rocco keeps me up to date on what is happening in the Church, but , more importantly, challenged me to think about how I can use technology to proclaim God's word. I am grateful to both of these men for helping me find the courage to take the plunge and expand my ministry into cyberspace!