SUPREME KNIGHT’S MESSAGE FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER – ADAPTED FROM ARCHBISHOP MATTHIAS KOBENA NKETSIAH ADDRESS AT THE WESTERN REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF KNIGHTS & LADIES OF MARSHAL (WESTERN) AT ST.
JOHN’S SCHOOL, SEKONDI, ON SATURDAY, 23RD AUGUST, 2014
What is faith? The word “faith” has its roots in the notion of a person placing himself in the care of someone who is stronger, trusting in the person’s assistance. To have faith in God, therefore, means turning our whole life over to Him with complete confidence, believing that He is all powerful, and loving, and will take good care of us.
To fully appreciate living our faith as Marshallans, it is necessary to understand the length and breadth of what constitute faith. Faith has five elements. It is like a hand with 5 fingers.Faith is Grace: “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; and this
is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:8:9). We are not saved through our own strength or righteousness but by the grace of God, which is made real in our lives through faith. Faith is Truth: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith; be man of courage, be strong” (1Cor 16:13). It is not only important that we believe, it is important what we believe.
There is a body of truth which encompasses God’s revelation to us in Jesus. This is the truth which is the ground of our faith. Faith rests on the declared work and word of God in Jesus, and on the revealed truth contained in the teaching of the Catholic Church. Faith is a Gift: “…to another the gift of faith is given by the same Spirit…” (1Cor 12:9). To say that faith is a gift means that God initiates it. The human person cannot create, initiate, or completely control God’s unconditional offer of love.
Faith is still free, but not in the sense that the act of faith can be made through human effort alone. It is a free response to God’s grace.
Faith is Power: Whenever we hear of faith in the Scriptures something powerful is happening. God is there showing his power and breaking into the darkness of Satan’s kingdom. Look at how many times Jesus speaks of faith, and the results of it: people healed from all sorts of diseases, people set free from the bondage of Satan, miracles worked in supernatural power (Mt 18:18; Mt 21:22, Mk 11:22:23, Jn 14:14, Act 3:16).
Faith as Victory: “That is the victory that has overcome the world; even our faith” (1Jn 5:4) expresses it. Men of faith have always been those who have known the secret of the overthrow of the world’s system. They have known how to withstand the enemies of God’s kingdom. The secular world is fast changing. Politics are becoming more global, with each country and nation having an impact on every other. Economics are becoming not only international but transnational, a law unto itself, beyond the reach of even the most powerful national government. Societies are disintegrating. People are asserting their autonomy and nations are being restructured. There is much moaning and groaning today about the sad state of our world, of our nation, of our culture.
Everything seems to be going downhill. There is a complete amoral society. In the world and in the Church today, we are confronted with many challenges:
(1) Relativism and Secularism as opposed to the one true God
(2) Dual Faith practice or Syncretism
(3) A worldwide cultural crisis
(4) Disengagement of the youth
(5) Breakdown of marriages and family life
(6) High rate of poverty and dehumanization
(7) Difficult economic times
(8) Problem of social injustice – all of these and others.
In this challenging world the most important thing to do is keep our faith and trust in God. We have to live and practice our faith in daily life. It should shape our decisions, big or small. Our faith should permeate our whole being as persons and influence the way we act and live. First, our faith should bring a self-transformation in us. Through the act of faith, we should come to an awareness of ourselves and our relationship to God, to others, and to the world.
Second, our faith should transform our relationship with others. Our life should become a life of love and service of others, of giving of self to others, being concerned, like Jesus, for the poor and the marginalized in society. Thirdly, our faith should have the capacity to transform the world itself by transforming the structures of society. We should be working to overcome the political, social, and economic forms of oppression and injustice which exist in the world today.
In this challenging world, the mission of lay faithful is clear. You must bring the Gospel to bear on all aspects of life. It is easy to understand why for Saint John Paul II, “The Church today ought to take a giant step forward in her evangelizing effort, and enter into a new stage of history in her missionary dynamism” (Christifidelis laici 35). It is easy also to understand why John Paul II spoke out
forcefully on the role of the lay faithful in the Church’s missionary effort: “Only a truly consolidated effort to assume responsibility by all members of the Church, both individual and communities, can lead to the hope of a more fruitful response” (Christifidelis laici 35).
As baptized Catholics it is our duty to participate in the new evangelization. The new evangelization is all about Jesus Christ and living out the faith that draws us closer to him, as well as helping others to continually develop a relationship with him, too. But it is also about the many approaches available to do so, and the fervor with which we embrace this challenge in today’s secular and relativistic culture. As John Paul II wrote in Redemptoris Missio, the new evangelization is, in part, for “Catholics (who have) lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church.”
An easy way to think about the new evangelization is to break it down into three parts: know the Faith, live the Faith, and share the Faith. It is necessary for each of us to engage in all three areas and do so on a constant, unending basis. As Catholics (the largest religious body in the world) our number, our percentage is dropping. In 2010, the Catholic population share in Ghana reduced from 15.1 percent to 13.1 percent. Statistics show that over the same decade (2000-2010) only 374,582 effectively became Catholics. It seems we are indifferent to sharing our faith with others. Other faiths are zealous in “outreach” but we are not. Is it because we are indifferent? And therefore we don’t bother to evangelize? Is it because we are ignorant of the message of our faith? We need to be fired up.
This starts with knowing the Faith. Do you have a deep knowledge of the essential elements of the Catholic Faith? We’ve got a lot of catching up to do! We should spend time on our unending quest of studying and knowing as much about our Catholic Faith as possible. Our hunger for the truth should drive us to question our misunderstanding and incomplete knowledge and seek out answers that the
Church readily provides.
We have to know the Faith, but if we stop at just knowing the Faith without living it out, then we’re just talking the talk and not walking the walk. Therefore, the second aspect of the new evangelization is living the Faith through reception of the sacraments (especially the Eucharist and reconciliation) as well as striving to be Christ to others in this challenging world. It is finding ways each day to actually
implement the teachings of the Faith through our thoughts, words, and actions.
Lastly, if we just know and live out our faith without sharing it with others, we are not living out our faith with zeal of the first apostles. Faith, said John Paul II, is not a possession to be hoarded for oneself but rather a trust to be passed on. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others (Redemptoris Missio, n.2). Some practical ways to know the Faith:
1. Pick one short book from the Bible and read it all the way through.
2. Learn more about the Eucharist by reading, studying, and praying over John
6 (especially the Bread of Life discourse).
3. Read Church Documents (like Humane Vitae by Pope Paul VI).
4. Read the Catechism’s explanation of the Nicene Creed to better understand
the words we recite at Mass.
5. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom.
Some practical ways to live the Faith:
1. Make it a regular practice to go to Confession. Seriously.
2. Clean out your closet and find some items to donate or give away.
3. Go sit in front of the tabernacle and commune with Jesus.
4. Pray for others, especially people you don’t like.
5. Anonymously give money to someone in need or support worthy cause.
Some practical ways to share the Faith:
1. Invite someone to Adoration, especially your children or spouse.
2. Forgive someone who hurt you.
3.Buy Catholic newspaper and magazine subscriptions (like Catholic
Standard) for other people.
4. Eat dinner as a family and always start with a prayer.
5. Make sure every person in your family has a Bible and rosary and offer to
help them learn how to use them.
Faith was given to us as a gift of God through the Sacrament of Baptism. Let us treasure our Catholic Faith. We have to do all we can to increase it. We can increase it, like any other grace; first by prayer, after the example of the Apostles, when they cried out, “increase our faith”; again by receiving good formation; further more by a continual exercise of it, doing everything in a spirit of faith, so
that we may live by faith; as it is written, “the just shall live by faith.” If we are penetrated with it, we should never sin; we should pray well, be humble and modest in prosperity, strong and courageous in trials and temptations; we should do even the smallest thing with the greatest care, with pure intention and ardent love; in one word, we should excel in virtue and live like saints. It is evident, says
the Apostle, that “no one can please God without faith.”! (Heb 11:6a).
It was read by VERY REV. Fr Awortwe-Dadson
Delegate of the Apostolic Administrator
Diocese of Sekondi-Takoradi