Act of Faith

“Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim when it is in your power to do it for him.”

As a general biblical principle, we know that God commands us to do only what He Himself would do. He is the perfect Lawgiver because He can actually keep all the of laws that He gives. And this command is no different: “Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim when it is in your power to do it for him.” We can legitimately apply this reading as a command for us to care of the sick, the poor, and the marginalized.

But it also applies to God because we have certain claims on goods on account of our status in Christ; God will not refuse any of the goods on which we have a claim. And what is that claim? The claim that we are His sons and daughters. So long as we live in the state of grace, we can be sure that God does indeed have responsibilities to us that He must keep. As His children, God has a responsibility to love us and to give us the grace to continuously respond his imitation to come after Mass. He even has a responsibility to answer the prayer that He Himself taught us: “deliver us from evil.”

If it’s the case that God has responsibilities to take care of us, why is it that bad things happen to good evil? Today we celebrate the feast of St. Padre Pio, and today he gives us a clue: He said, “The greater your sufferings, the greater God’s love for you.” And this seems counter-intuitive; it seems unfair. And yet, it is fair when we consider the fact that God does have one human being whom He loves above all the rest. And that person is Jesus. Jesus is God’s Only-Begotten Son, the Heart of the Father Himself, and even he had to endure the greatest sufferings.

Bad things happen to good people precisely because it’s through those bad things that Christ emerged victorious! Likewise with us, God gives us difficult trials because He knows those are our ways to holiness. Christ sanctified the whole world with his Cross; we have an opportunity each time we suffer to commend ourselves in faith. Padre Pio also said, “The most beautiful act of faith is the one made in darkness, in sacrifice, and with extreme effort.”

If we can endure those trials, those crosses in our lives, if we can make an act of faith in those moments, we have a beautiful gift we can offer to the Father. And that beautiful gift, if we share it in Christ, that beautiful gift is also salvific. Bad things happen to good people because God knows that those good people will use those bad things to save the world.

Now knowing that an act of faith is beautiful to our God, let’s make an act of faith together:

O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them, who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

In this faith, I intend to live and die. Amen.