Matthew 17: 20
Jesus said to his disciples, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say
to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will
be impossible to you.”
*
I
used to think that the word ‘faith’ was a noun, but I have come to understand
that faith is both a noun and a verb. Faith is something that we proclaim as a
community in prayer at Mass and in our worship services, but faith doesn’t come
alive until we carry it out through the church door and live it day after day
in the world.
The
Second Vatican Council reminded Catholics that whatever we do in liturgy must
“ritualize a lived reality.” The bread and wine becoming the real presence of
Christ on the church altar only takes on meaning when that presence is subsequently
made manifest in the world ─ especially to those most suffering and in need, those who are alone and unwanted, those who are unloved and excluded.
It
is there in the world that our faith is transformed from a noun into a verb. It
is there in the world that our faith is made active through us, with us, and in us, just as salvation is active through Him,
with Him, and in Him.
One
of the great Catholic theologians of our time Karl Rahner speaks of the three
tables of the liturgy: the table of the word,
the table of the Eucharist, and the
table of the world. We come together
at church in community to be nourished with the Lord’s word, and his body and
blood, so that we might in turn go out into the streets, the offices, the
factories, the schools, and the malls and bring that nourishment to the world.
Sister
Mary Collins, another theologian, tells us about the “theology of the door.”
She calls us to come to terms with the church door ─ a door that swings both
ways between the altar and the world.
Our faith doesn’t stop with the ‘dismissal’ at the end of Mass; it
starts there. It comes alive when we go out into the world and become Eucharist for
others.
Faith
can indeed move mountains but it first needs to be transformed within us from a noun to a
verb. As we leave Church this weekend, as we pass through the church door, let
us be mindful that we are moving from the table of the Eucharist to the table
of the world — a world that needs redemption; a world that desperately needs
each one of us to be the hands and the feet and the eyes and the voice of Christ.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just
to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life
Synchronicity
as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and
Pastoral Ministry
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