Nineteenth Sunday – C

The Letter to the Hebrews makes it clear that “faith” not only includes truths that we
believe about God but also the truth of God’s actions in our own lives. Hebrews
demonstrates this through the example of Abraham and Sarah.
The Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 11:1-2, 8-19) asserts: “Faith is confident assurance
concerning what we hope for and conviction about things we do not see” (Heb 11:1).
We have assurance about what we hope for, which is Jesus’ presence in our lives, even
though He is not seen. At times, we sense Jesus’ presence in our lives from our own
experiences. At other times, we see by faith without reassuring signs.
We sometimes speak about faith as if it is something we possess, like a wallet in our
pocket. In fact, faith is not an thing but a virtue. The Church has a very definite idea of
what a virtue is. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, a virtue is a disposition to act in a
good way (1a2ae. 55, 3). A virtue leads to action. What action does the virtue of faith
lead to?
The virtue of faith moves us to the act of faith. St. Thomas says: “The act of faith is to
believe” (2a2ae. 4, 1). What is an act of belief? Thomas explains that in our minds, we
have an intellect that knows and seeks the truth. Knowing the truth isn’t complete. Our
minds include a will that moves us to act towards what we know is good.
Faith, first of all, belongs to the intellect because we believe that something is true.
Thomas borrows St. Augustine’s definition of faith, which is “to think with assent” (The
Predestination of the Saints.).
Faith is also in the will because we choose to believe here and now. Thomas affirms:
“To believe is an act of the mind assenting to God’s true word by reason of the
command of the will as this is moved by God through grace” (2a2ae. 2, 9).
St. Thomas tells us that there are three ways that we can actively believe in relation to
God. First, we can simply believe that God exists.
Secondly, we can believe God. We believe that God is true so we can believe what He
reveals. St. Thomas calls God, “First Truth” (1a. 16, 5). In other words, God is so true
that He Himself is the foundation of truth. This is why we believe in the truths that God
has revealed to us, for instance the three Persons of the Trinity or Jesus’ presence in
the Eucharist.
The third way is to believe in God. This way of believing relates especially to God’s
actions because it is not only to believe there is a God or to believe that God reveals
truth but to believe that God acts in our lives.

This personal type of faith is very close to hope. Because we believe that God is in our
lives, we can hope in Him in the here and now. Hebrews says that “Faith is confident
assurance concerning what we hope for,” which is God’s promises in our lives and for
the future. Jesus affirmed, “It has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.”
The intellect seeks truth and the will moves us to the good. Faith is a virtue that seeks
truth but faith is also moved by the will towards the good, because God is not only First
Truth but also Goodness itself.
We assent in our intellects, as we say “yes” to God, even as we are moved by our will
towards the goodness of God (2a2ae. 2, 1, ad 3). The reality of God action in our lives
is not just an idea to which we agree but we believe in action in the here and now by our
hearts that move us to Him.
The Letter to the Hebrews gives us a good example of faith in Abraham: “By faith,
Abraham obeyed when he was called, and he went forth … not knowing where he was
going… By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country” (Heb 11:8-
9).
Abraham’s journey is a model for our own journeys of faith. A journey is a series of
steps. Each step is an act of faith. Each day, even each moment, and each situation
calls for an act of faith in Jesus’ presence.
Abraham and Sarah trusted that they would have a son, even though they were both
aged: “As a result of this faith, there came forth from one man, who was himself as good
as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the
seashore” (Heb 11:12).
Even when God tested Abraham, Abraham trusted God: “By faith Abraham, when put to
the test, offered up Isaac; he who had received the promises was ready to sacrifice his
only son…” (Heb 11:17).
Each one of us believes when we act by faith, trusting that God will fulfill His promises
even when we are confronted by difficult situations: “Faith is confident assurance
concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see” (Heb 11:1).
In today’s Gospel (Luke 12:32-48), Jesus tells us that our priority or treasure has to be
the kingdom of God: “Do not fear, little flock. It has pleased your Father to give you the
kingdom” (Lk 12:32).
God is our Father who wants to give us the kingdom but our energies and desires get
scattered on other things, which raise our anxieties. We have to ask ourselves what
God wants for us in this situation?
Like the servants in the Gospel, we need to bring our affairs into line with what God
wants. The Gospel speaks of servants who keep watch for the coming of the master, so

that they can open the gate when he comes (Lk 12:36): “Be on guard, therefore. The
Son of Man will come when you least expect Him” (Lk 12:40). In fact, Jesus is always
acting in our lives but we aren’t watching or opening the gate for Him.
Sometimes, we do good things with much anxiety because we are not being attentive to
what God wants. God isn’t asking us to be totally passive but to work with things the
way they are, in His Providence. Over and over again we have to surrender our efforts
into Jesus’ hands.
Actually, our faith grows as we repeatedly place our concerns in God’s hands.
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.,


References to the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas give the part of the
Summa, the question and the article. If the passage is found in a response to an
objection that Thomas has introduced in the first part of the article, the Latin word “ad,”
meaning “to,” is added with the number of the objection.

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