Don’t Stop Believing. Hold On.
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. Luke 18:1-8
29th SUNDAY Ordinary Time Cycle C
“O come all ye faithful” are the first words of the Christmas carol many of us are familiar with. Faithful is the name we give people in church. In fact, we call our beloved dead “faithful” departed. We can rightly say therefore that a Christian is faithful or is full of faith.
But what does it mean precisely to have faith or to be faithful.
St. Paul in his letter to Timothy advised us to remain faithful or to believe by proclaiming the word in inconvenience or in convenience. 2 Tm 3:14-4:2 Thus, to be faithful is to never stop preaching whether it is easy or it is hard.
Spouses must be likewise faithful to each other. They must not stop loving whether it is easy or hard for they had vowed to love in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer. Whether the partner is good or bad, they must never stop loving or forgiving. Divorcees instead are those who have stopped loving and forgiving.
Therefore, to be faithful is not to stop but to continue, to persevere, to persist. If you believe you must never give up. Like the widow who never stopped going to the corrupt judge because she believed she was right. Like Aaron and Hur who continued to hold the arms of Moses who kept on praying, or Joshua who did not stop fighting till the Amalekites were defeated. Ex 17:8-13
This Sunday we are told not to stop because stopping is a sign that we do not have faith. Thus, the question of Jesus is: will He find faith at the end of time when He would return? Will people then would have stopped or would have continued believing?
Is there someone you know who have stopped going to church, for mass and the other sacraments? Have you yourself stopped praying? Have you stopped giving chances to the wayward and estranged? Have you stopped loving someone who hurt you? Have you stopped hoping for a change in yourself? Have you stopped taking your medicines to be healed?
“Don’t stop believing” was sung by Journey in 1981. This is a good advice to be faithful.
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