Faith is open ended

 Reflection on Today’s Readings, Monday of 5th Week of Lent, April 6th, 2022
Texts: Daniel 3:14-20.24-25.28; PSALM    Daniel 3:29-34; John 8:31-42
Faith is often projected as something logical, that is, having one result. We often leave out the truth that faith is open ended. It is a truth about our faith that we often push behind. This has, many of the time, made our faith unhealthy. To have a healthy faith we are to embrace faith as an open-ended question. It is different from reason in which the result can be worked out from the beginning. Before we add 2 to 2 we know that the answer is going to be 4. In faith one plus one could be one and it could be two; one plus one plus one could be one and it could be three. This is clear in the words of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up” God may save and He may not save them. Whichever way, whether life or death, it does not change who God is, it does not change the fact that He is able to save His own. That God does not heal me when I pray to Him does not mean that God does not answer prayer. Silence does not mean inability to speak, so also when we do not receive what we ask, it does not mean prayer is impotent or worthless.  
One thing that is certain in faith is the love of God; whatever happens, He loves. Faith could give us anything we do not expect. A healthy faith is open to all possibilities which God could offer: death and life, good health and ill-health, wisdom and simplicity, happiness and sorrow, etc. In opening to all possibilities, a healthy faith sees the love of God in every situation and that is where the joy and peace lie. The beauty of faith consists in seeing the love of God in every situation of life, in both life and death, happiness and sorrow, wealth and poverty, strength and weakness. The love of God gives meaning to everything in life.  
We thank God that in the story of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, God chose saving them from the furnace to praise His name. He could as well choose their martyrdom to praise His name as He had done to many saints and today we honour and praise God for their martyrdom. Just as the salvation of Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego won souls for God, so also the martyrdom of the saints won souls to God. Whichever way God chooses to deal with us, His name will still be praised and honoured through it. God could decide to win glory through our death, He could also decide to win glory through our life. That is the God we serve. It is sometimes difficult for us to understand God in this manner.  
Jesus Christ, in today’s gospel reading, tells us that to be His disciple is to continue in His word. To continue in His words is to constantly living by His word. His word is the truth but to discover it as the truth we are to live by it and the truth will set us free. Do we want to know the truth, let us continue in His word. Do we want freedom, let us continue in His word. In His own words: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The freedom we are talking about here is a spiritual freedom, freedom from sin. It is clear in the words of Jesus Christ: “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

 
Enlighten, O God of compassion, the hearts of your children, sanctified by penance, and in your kindness grant those you stir to a sense of devotion, a gracious hearing when they cry out to you. Amen (Collect)

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke