faith is _____
Jesus "could work no miracle there, apart from curing a few who were sick by laying hands on them, so much did their lack of faith distress Him." —Mark 6:5-6
Jesus questioned His apostles: "Why are you lacking in faith?" (Mk 4:40) He told the woman who had been healed of hemorrhaging: "Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you" (Mk 5:34). After Jairus received word of his daughter's death, Jesus told him: "Don't fear; only believe" (Mk 5:36, our transl). In Jesus' home town of Nazareth, He cured only "a few who were sick by laying hands on them, so much did their lack of faith distress Him" (Mk 6:5-6).
Jesus obviously wants us to have faith in Him under any circumstances — when it's storming, when we're bleeding, when family members have died, or when we're surrounded by unbelievers. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8; see the Catechism, 183).
"Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see" (Heb 11:1). "By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God" (Catechism, 143). "Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed" (Catechism, 150). "Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of the Holy Spirit" (Catechism, 179). Come, Holy Spirit!
Prayer: Father, may I grow strong in my "holy faith through prayer in the Holy Spirit" (Jude 20).
Promise: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him." —Ps 103:13
Praise: St. Ansgar evangelized Scandinavia and was instrumental in converting the King of Sweden to Christianity.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, July 23, 1998
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 27, 1998