Faith that is "active"

Today's Mass Readings

Today is the feast of St. Andrew the apostle. The theme of today's readings is the necessity of gospel being preached. In today’s first reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans, we find St. Paul’s important discussion of what it means to have an "active" faith in Christ. We need to believe in Jesus in our heart, but such belief is not sufficient for St. Paul, since he emphasizes that we must confess with our mouth. Mere beleiving without a confession of that faith would be a "passive" faith. The necessity of one's confession of faith in Christ is emphasised by St. Paul in a series of rhetorical questions: how can someone call upon Jesus if they have not believed in him? And furthermore, how can anyone believe in Jesus if they’ve never even heard of Him? And how is anyone expected to hear about Jesus if no one preaches about Him? And finally, how will anyone go and preach about Jesus if they are not sent out to preach?

We find an implied answer to these questions in today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke. In today’s Gospel reading we find Jesus calling His first two disciples, Peter and Andrew. These fishermen, Jesus explains, will follow Jesus and become fishers of men. They are called to an "active" faith in Christ. They are called not only to believe in Jesus ("Come after me" Mt 4:19) but, in effect, Jesus is also sending them out so that they can preach the message of Christ ("I will make you fishers of men").

As Jesus’ disciples, our faith must also be an "active" faith. Our faith must express itself in a confession. The answer to Paul's question, "And how can people preach unless they are sent?" )Rom 10:15), is that Christ himself has sent us to be witness to the gospel message of salvation. We are all called to go out and preach the message of Christ. We do not always need to preach using words, sometimes our kind gestures are sufficient. At other times, however, we will be called upon to explain the faith to someone else. In this way people will be able to hear about Jesus and come to faith.

Let us go forth then to boldly, but most importantly lovingly, share Jesus with those around us.

- Jeff Morrow