An old monk prayed his whole life for a vision. At last, one day, a vision appeared to him. However, just as it appeared, a bell rang, signaling that it was time to feed the poor, who gathered daily at the gate. It was the old monk’s turn to share with them whatever food was on hand for the day. The monk was torn between his heavenly vision and his earthly occupation.
Then he sighed, turned his back on the vision, and went outside to feed the poor.
When he returned after fulfilling his prescribed duty, the vision was still there. As he bowed in thanksgiving, the vision said, "Had you not gone to feed the poor, I would not have stayed."
For the monk, faith and work went together. His faith in God led to good work.
In today’s first reading, Saint James says, faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. It is dead if a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and you do not give them the necessities of the body. James goes on to say, I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
In today’s Gospel Jesus reminds us that if we want to follow Him, we must do something. We must be ready to imitate Jesus, who set an example of laying down His life for His sheep.
Friends, like the monk in the story, we are invited to live out our vertical faith in God by reaching out horizontally, direclty helping and loving those in need. We are invited to grow closer to our Lord and increase our faith in Him.
We not only need to look up to Heaven and have faith in God, weWe need to reach out to others on this earth to meet our physical and material needs as well as our spiritual and emotional needs.
As disciples, we must make our Lord the center of our lives and walk behind Him. That is why He said, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me."
What can you and your family do, to live out your Heavenly faith in God, by reaching out to who is in front of you, who is next to you, here on earth?
