Jesus shows today that faith in God is important, for God shows pity and mercy on all of His children, and those who believe in Him, He will save and protect. Those who put their trust in the Lord will not be disappointed. Jesus rewards the man’s faith with the healing of his son from certain death.

However, we must indeed be careful, for the Lord also warned us against believing only by entrusting in miracles and what we see. For such a faith is not a true faith, as we believe because we see great things that unravel in front of our eyes, and then we believe that this supernatural works must have been done by a divine being, that is Christ. This kind of faith is weak and is no true faith, for, as shown when Jesus was arrested and brought before the people after He was arrested.

The people who were there mocked Him and also called for His death. Why? Even though these were likely the same people that have listened to His preaching, His parables, and also witnessed His miracles and healings? That is because their faith is shallow, shallow and have not grown well, just like in the case of the parable of the sower, where the seed had been sown on a rocky and barren ground. The seed of faith found it difficult to grow in them, as their faith came mainly because of awe in the miraculous powers of Jesus.

When Jesus seemed to ‘falter’, which is by being arrested and accused by the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious body at the time, as being a heretic and blasphemer, these people lost their faith, and Satan took away their seeds of faith, just like those seeds that were eaten by the birds on an open road, a clear and easy opportunity for the evil one to come and take the faith away from them.

This is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to highlight to all of you, the very importance of nurturing our faith, of maintaining our faith, that not only that it will remain strong and unbroken, but even also bear fruit manyfold, like the seeds that fell on the rich soil, and produced much fruit. How to do so? By acts of love, justice, and compassion, that is by doing what God has commanded us to do, the commandments of love Christ had given us.

The commandments of love says that we have to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, with all our beings, and therefore not just with our eyes and senses, which will then lead into a true faith in God. But this is not enough, as we also have to love our neighbours, our brethren as much as we love ourselves, and as much as we love God. These are the good works that the Church has encouraged us to do, to live and make our faith in God manifest, in our good works for the sake of the less fortunate, the suffering, and the poor around us.

Remember that the Lord said that all that we do for the sake of these around us, we also do it for the Lord. That is because, through our actions, He can see indeed all our living faith, that is not dead, not superficial, and not mere words, and not mere profession of faith. For faith and service are inseparable, and bound to each other tightly in our journey towards the Lord, as the two pillars of strength supporting us in salvation.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive, especially in the perfect chance in this Year of Faith, strive to learn more about our faith, about the teachings of the Church, and the traditions of the Apostles passed down through the Church to us. By understanding all these, we can strive to grow deeper in our faith, and even more so through a solemn and active participation in the liturgy of the Mass, as do not forget that the liturgy of the Mass, when done properly and solemnly, can only serve to strengthen our faith in God our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

As the Mass is the very representation of the Holy Sacrifice Christ had made on the cross in Calvary, and united with that Sacrifice, through which we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, transformed from the bread and wine that we offered, we receive Christ into ourselves, that He will live in us, and reside within us, to transform us from within, that our faith in Him will ever be stronger. This is why it is important for us to participate fully and actively in the Mass by seeking to understand more the liturgy and the Mass.

Then of course, after that, let us all strive to make concrete and visible our faith in God through our service to our fellow brethren around us. It will not be easy, but little by little, beginning within even our own homes, our own families, our own friends, we can slowly begin to propagate acts of love, and acts in accordance with God’s will, that will make us justified before God, that is through our living faith, proven by our good works, and not just empty and dead faith, shown only by words and not true dedication.

May God bless all of us today, and bless our Holy Church, and of course, bless the Cardinal-electors and send the Holy Spirit to them that our new Pope will soon be elected. Amen.