Stability in Faith
Stability in Faith
By Fr Michael Casey
Palm Sunday begins with a procession that, weather permitting, sees us walking outside the church, waving palm branches and singing "Hosanna!". In spirit we join ourselves with the welcoming throngs in Jerusalem so long ago, giving thanks to God for his gifts in Christ Jesus.
St Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us, however, not to be too carried away. "From the same people, in the same place, at the same season – separated by only a few days – first Christ was received with such great triumph and then later he was crucified." Our present enthusiasm for Christ and for spiritual reality can be swept away swiftly by unexpected temptation. Underlying our positive feelings, faith can be very fragile and precarious. This is, no doubt, why we pray daily as Jesus taught, "Lead us not into temptation."
The liturgical reading of Mark’s account of the final days of Jesus reinforces this sense. We hear Simon Peter boldly asserting that nothing will separate him from his attachment to Jesus. Jesus responds wryly that in a few hours everything will change. We may feel like the young man covered only by a skerrick of cloth who, when challenged, loses even this and runs away naked. Our faith is so frail that it is easily plucked from us. We can do no more than stand and watch from afar, like the women who followed Jesus, as the source of our faith and comfort is destroyed.
Yet, as Jesus will remind his disciples on the way to Emmaus, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer. It is also necessary that our faith undergo several severe transitions in the course of a lifetime, when our enthusiasm wanes and everything on which our commitment and devotion were grounded seems to be pulled away from beneath us. This will be the time for our testing. Will we succumb to the temptation and run away naked, or will we, though stripped of all support, stand firm? We have lost everything – so it seems. What remain are our interior qualities: our integrity, our honour, our fidelity to our commitments, and that invisible and sustaining hope that is at the heart of genuine faith.
St Benedict asks of his monks that they practise stability – that they learn the art of standing firm when hard times come, as they inevitably will come. To learn patience and develop the skills of endurance. Not to become disheartened when everything seems to have gone wrong. Never to lose hope in the mercy of God. This is real-life Christian commitment, remaining faithful to Christ long after the Hosannas cease to be heard. The gravest temptations we face are not so much incitements to wrongdoing as failing to rise after we have fallen. Some sin is inevitable – even the just fall seven times a day – the real test is whether our confidence in God’s forgiveness is so complete that even when we have done wrong, like the Prodigal Son, we do not fear to throw ourselves on our compassionate Father’s mercy and begin again. In our life there will be many deaths but, by God’s grace, there will also be many resurrections, not of our own doing but by the power and love of God.
"The God of all grace who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will, after your brief suffering, restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To God be glory for ever. Amen" (1 Peter 5:10).
St Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us, however, not to be too carried away. "From the same people, in the same place, at the same season – separated by only a few days – first Christ was received with such great triumph and then later he was crucified." Our present enthusiasm for Christ and for spiritual reality can be swept away swiftly by unexpected temptation. Underlying our positive feelings, faith can be very fragile and precarious. This is, no doubt, why we pray daily as Jesus taught, "Lead us not into temptation."
The liturgical reading of Mark’s account of the final days of Jesus reinforces this sense. We hear Simon Peter boldly asserting that nothing will separate him from his attachment to Jesus. Jesus responds wryly that in a few hours everything will change. We may feel like the young man covered only by a skerrick of cloth who, when challenged, loses even this and runs away naked. Our faith is so frail that it is easily plucked from us. We can do no more than stand and watch from afar, like the women who followed Jesus, as the source of our faith and comfort is destroyed.
Yet, as Jesus will remind his disciples on the way to Emmaus, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer. It is also necessary that our faith undergo several severe transitions in the course of a lifetime, when our enthusiasm wanes and everything on which our commitment and devotion were grounded seems to be pulled away from beneath us. This will be the time for our testing. Will we succumb to the temptation and run away naked, or will we, though stripped of all support, stand firm? We have lost everything – so it seems. What remain are our interior qualities: our integrity, our honour, our fidelity to our commitments, and that invisible and sustaining hope that is at the heart of genuine faith.
St Benedict asks of his monks that they practise stability – that they learn the art of standing firm when hard times come, as they inevitably will come. To learn patience and develop the skills of endurance. Not to become disheartened when everything seems to have gone wrong. Never to lose hope in the mercy of God. This is real-life Christian commitment, remaining faithful to Christ long after the Hosannas cease to be heard. The gravest temptations we face are not so much incitements to wrongdoing as failing to rise after we have fallen. Some sin is inevitable – even the just fall seven times a day – the real test is whether our confidence in God’s forgiveness is so complete that even when we have done wrong, like the Prodigal Son, we do not fear to throw ourselves on our compassionate Father’s mercy and begin again. In our life there will be many deaths but, by God’s grace, there will also be many resurrections, not of our own doing but by the power and love of God.
"The God of all grace who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will, after your brief suffering, restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To God be glory for ever. Amen" (1 Peter 5:10).
