"LITTLE FAITHS"
Make me see that
the way to attain Your rest is to trust in You, to rely on You, to put my whole
life in Your hands with confidence and joy.
It
is said that one can survive longer without food than they can without water.
Water is absolutely necessary not only for humans but all living things on this
earth. I think we can appreciate how the Israelites felt without water,
especially in the desert. Miraculously, God produced the water needed for life
from the rock and they survived. St. Paul, in commenting on this passage, sees
the rock as a sign of Christ himself, the source of our life.
There
is no similarity between Christ and a rock, however miraculous. The point is
that Paul understood that the favors and blessings of God upon His people in
the long history of Israel reached their fullness in Jesus Christ. Water from
the rock in the desert gave the people renewed life, and we ought easily to
think about the water of Baptism whereby Jesus Christ has given us a share in
His life and made all of us members of His Mystical Body, the Church.
Today
we honor Saint Sixtus II and companions, who were martyred. Pope Sixtus
championed the belief that only one baptism was necessary in life. Once
baptized in Christ Jesus, you always will be. That permanence can provide great
fortitude and make extraordinary sacrifices possible. Jesus did not end with
giving life; He also gives the means of strengthening this life through the
Holy Eucharist wherein He nourished us with His own Body and Blood.
In
the Gospel today, all of us at times, including the early prophets and
disciples, are "little faiths," to use Matthew's favorite phrase.
Jeremiah offers hope both to them and us. The newness of the new Covenant lies
in a new capacity on the part of God's people, from least to greatest, to know
the Lord Who will remember their sin no more. At the Psalmist's urging, let us
bring our contrite hearts before the One Who will not spurn them. Let us pray:
Lord,
make me accept; make me believe. Make me see that the way to attain Your rest
is to trust in You, to rely on You, to put my whole life in Your hands with
confidence and joy. Then we can live without a care and die in Your arms and
enter Your peace forever. Make it so, Jesus. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
We
cannot survive without water anymore than the Israelites could in the desert.
God cares for us in our human needs, but He has also called us to a fuller,
higher life. This is a gift which will lead us, not to a promised land, but to
a destiny: an eternal life of happiness with Him in Heaven, our ultimate home.