Do you believe that I can do this? Yes Lord. He touched their eyes and said, "let it be done for you according to your faith." Their eyes were open. What struck me was the words that Jesus used, according to your faith. In effect I heard Jesus saying that anything and everything that happens with us is dependent on and related to the measure of our faith. Is the glass of our faith half empty or half full?
It was according to their faith that the two men were able to see. In the mind of Jesus, the measure of their faith enabled them to regain their physical sight. For others who are blind, they learn to see and act with their hearts and not their eyes according to their faith.
In his Letter to the Philippians St. Paul reminded them that God had begun a good work in them and would see it to completion. God has begun a good work in us and will see it to completion. At our Baptism we received the Holy Spirit. What have we done with this treasure? Did we bury it, did we use just a part of it or are we using as much as we possibly can according to our faith.
Earlier in the week we heard how John the Baptist went out to all the world to tell people about Jesus. He offered anyone who would listen a safe passage for all to see the salvation of the Lord. The saint we honor today did the same. Saint Francis Xavier, one of the original men to join Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, would write that he looked or desired nothing but to wear himself out in bringing about the salvation of souls. This he did in his missionary travels to India, Sri Lanka, Japan. All according to his faith. He could accomplish this because the measure of his faith was substantial.
I cite the Baptist and Xavier not because we are expected to do similar actions according to our faith. No. I cite them as examples of what can be accomplished in us according to our faith. Christ needs you and I to maximize the potential of the gift of faith that we have been given. For many of us that gift will manifest itself as good example. This is the everyday stuff that people see what we are made of. It need not be showy or dramatic, just good and kind and true.
It is said that during the pandemic people have been reevaluating their lives and there seems to be a resurgence for meaning and a turning back to God. These weeks of Advent God is offering us an opportunity to explore the good work he began in us and to assess what we have or have not been doing according to our faith.
