The Quiet Work of Faith

We are surrounded by noise. Every company, person, group, whatever, wants our attention. To do this, things become flashier, more extravagant, less realistic. We are taught, by the world, that we must do this too. To have value, we must be popular and recognized, so we must be flashier, more “original” (whatever that means…), more extravagant. This can even creep into our spiritual life.

But it is all a lie. The life of true faith is not flashy. It is a lot of work done quietly with God. The flashy stuff, the recognition, I promise you from my experience, just makes it more challenging. Look at how Christ heals the paralytic in Matthew 9: he forgives his sins - something invisible to people - he only heals his paralysis because of the blasphemous faithlessness of the pharisees. This is always Christ’s way: forgive sin, then heal.

At some level, we know this is true. We know that we first must work out our salvation in the quiet of our hearts with God. We even want to do it. Like the son in Matthew 21, we say, “Yes, Lord,” and then we don’t put in the time and work. Or perhaps we just say no, like the other son. But eventually the emptiness of the attention economy or the loneliness of popularity strikes, and the only thing we’re left with is the thing we tried to avoid: the quiet of our heart, and our fear of what we might find when we approach God in that silence.

So. Let us turn away from the flashy, the odd, the extravagant, the unrealistic and live simple lives of faith. What does this mean?

• SUNDAY MASS - We get to commune with God, all the saints, and all the holy angels. It’s so much better than any big, emotional community event.
• CONFESSION - the Fathers say raising Lazarus was less of a miracle than one forgiven sin. It is more powerful than any exorcism or dramatic penitential practice. Aim for once a month. (Remember that when we had minor orders, exorcists were near the bottom of the hierarchy.)
• PRAYER, DAILY - especially Adoration, Scripture, and the Rosary - these lead us to God more than any celebrity or priest or popular YouTube video ever will, and prayer is more trustworthy than any supposed vision or prophecy. St. John of the Cross instructed us to ignore visions and put our faith in God!¹ We can’t trust or understand them, and we shouldn’t always assume they’re from God.

If these practices are the foundation of our life, we are well on our way to union with God here, and in Heaven.