Homily by Fr. Zenon Racki on the Fourth Sunday of the Great Lent

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Dear brothers and sisters,

Jesus Christ sent His disciples and told them to preach, to cast out demons, to anoint many of the sick with oil, and to heal them. And they did so. But then came the event about which we read in today’s Gospel according to Mark. The apostles encountered a person from whom they were unable to cast out the unclean spirit. And Jesus Christ tells them that this happened because of their lack of faith. Here a question also arises for us: How can we measure our faith? Indeed, it is very difficult to say how great our faith is.

Can I do this? Has the Lord, through my faith, done something in my life? Most of us understand well that faith is a part of our daily life. We call ourselves believers. We go to church, we pray, and we approach from time to time the Sacrament of Confession and Holy Communion. To some extent, some of us observe the fast. Some people believe in God less and do not make use of all these gifts that the Church offers through priests and through consecrated persons.

Many people have what I would call a limited faith: they believe in some things and do not believe in others. They live in their own way. They choose what they believe, and they also choose how they live. We know very well from the Gospel that faith is also a gift. In the Gospel of John we read: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

And so different thoughts arise from what Jesus Christ tells us. Faith is a gift, but faith is also a gift that requires us to cooperate with the Lord God in our lives. We respond to this divine calling. He has called us to believe in Him and to trust Him. And we, as sincere Christians, do this in our daily life. For, as the Gospel says, we cannot serve two masters. We trust in God, in His word, and in His love. We desire to be with Him, to believe and to live by our faith.

And here comes the fundamental question that we can ask ourselves very often, even every day: Why do we live? Do we live simply in order to live? Do we live in order to eat? Or do we eat in order to live? What significance do our possessions, our money, our property, and our material goods have for us? Are these the only goals for which we live? Do we pray only so that we may have material abundance in life? Is that the path of our life? Or is our life rather a journey toward the Resurrection, a path that leads us to our heavenly Father? God is our light, and we must be guided by that light, following it every day. Yes, we have many responsibilities, many laws—civil, ecclesiastical, and so on. But our life must be a union with Jesus Christ.

Each day we must encounter Him at every step of our existence. We meet Jesus Christ always and everywhere, especially through our neighbors. Therefore, as believers, we try to see every event and every action as part of the Lord’s will. The Lord acts through us and through other people. The Lord speaks through us and through others. The Lord wishes to bring His love to others through us.

Blessed is the person who has such faith in God. Blessed are the people who have faith and live by it. Where there is no faith, much is lacking. There are no answers to countless questions. The human heart remains constantly troubled. Why do we live then? And what will happen to us afterwards? We must make great efforts not to neglect this great gift that we received in Holy Baptism.

We must grow and develop it within ourselves. The seed of faith that is within us has been planted in our hearts by the Lord God. We must continually water it, care for it, and ask the Lord to grant us His grace so that we may feel His presence. So that in our lives we may be able to say, as the father of the suffering boy said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

See also

January 3 Homily by Fr. Zenon Racki on the Sunday before Theophany September 6 Homily by Fr. Zenon Racki on the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost July 8 Feast Day of the Parish of Saints Volodymyr and Olha in Woodville