Have Faith
“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.’”John 14:1
What’s troubling your hearts right now? What is causing you to be anxious and worried? What is keeping you from fully living life? Jesus tells us in the Gospel “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” This is the Gospel passage that is most commonly proclaimed at funeral masses. I can imagine why. The death of a loved one may induce in us worry, fear, pain, anxiety. “What should I do now?” “How can I continue on living?” “I can’t do this alone.”
Jesus says to you, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in my Father and in me.” Jesus begs you to have faith in Him. Do you believe that He walks with you through your sufferings and the storms of your life? Because He does and He wants to. It can be so easy to turn inwards and shut everyone and everything out when things are not going as well as we had hoped, but it is very dangerous to do so. We think this is the way to find peace. There have been times when I have done that and I always found myself alone, unhappy, and feeling hopeless. Then this loneliness and hopelessness turned into despair and I found myself very agitated and irritable, feeling the world owed me something. This was not peace. This was the breeding ground for the enemy to make his attack. Don’t let him.
Instead of turning inwards, let us to upwards. Instead of turning to loneliness and despair, let us turn to our faith. Jesus asks you today, “What is troubling your heart today? Show me and let me wash it over with my peace.” Have faith and know that you are loved.
