It’s about a personal relationship with God. It’s also about a relationship with God in community with others. Faith is not isolated to merely believing in God and the rest of the world can go to hell. It is not about serving others needs and forgetting about God. It is the delicate balance between the two.
If when I die and I see God’s face before me in my final judgment and do not recognize God then my eternity hangs completely in the balance. Reaching Heaven and eternal life is granted only by the great mercy of God. However, if I do not know Him and have a deep relationship with Him will I recognize Him in that moment? Will I love Him? Will He accept me?
I don’t attend Mass to avoid committing a mortal sin. I go to Mass so that I can know God better. I go to Mass so that I can celebrate the sacraments and find guidance about the way I can better live my life.
I desire to know God personally. I desire to be supported and to support a community of God’s children. I have faith and I want to live it out through my life. I want to move people closer to God. In that final moment I pray that I will recognize God and He will take my soul and hold me in His arms for eternity. That’s what it’s about for me.
What is faith about for you?
Your reflection today reminds me of the following bible verse from James 1:27:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
I had the great privilege of proclaiming this verse at mass a little over a week ago and it has stuck with me. I feel certain this verse is God’s way of reminding me about maintaining in my life the “delicate balance” of which you speak, and I know there is much for me to do on both sides of the scale. Like you, I pray that in that final moment “I will recognize God and He will take my soul and hold me in His arms for eternity.”