Unshakable Faith!
When it is a matter of speaking about faith I immediately add an adjective: unshakable. Unshakable in the promises of the Lord, but above all unshakable because there is a relationship of friendship with the Lord. At first sight faith appears to be an adherence to the promises of the Lord. His word is as stable as the sky and therefore it is essentially true, that is, it is fulfilled. This adhesion is not fundamentalism, a sticking to the letter of the law, but an acceptance of the thoughts and actions of the Lord. Scripture affirms that our God is not like Man who changes his opinion, but His thinking is stable (cf.Nb.23:19; Ps.118:89). This thinking of God signifies all of God’s own being which cannot change: God is and will remain faithful to his project to save and bless Man. The Sacred Scripture testifies and seals this faithfulness that manifests itself in various forms in our history. It is our own history of mankind that attests to the faithfulness of God. Therefore faith means to accept with gratitude and in peace that God is faithful. In Jesus the Father manifested his truth, that is, the faithfulness and truthfulness of God (cf. Jn.1:17). Unshakable faith is not mere intellectual adherence, it is to live the stability of God. If God is stable, then His promises are stable! But at a deeper level it means being in a relationship of friendship with the Lord. Faith is a relationship of friendship. It is here in the intimacy of the heart that this unshakable faith is born. Then faith becomes trust and this cannot be anything else but unshakable. It is like the parable that Jesus tells (cf. Lk.11:5-8) in which a friend goes at midnight to his friend to ask for some bread because of an unexpected visit. Does he get up to give it to him? The response is affirmative: he will get up because of his friend’s insistence. This friend had an unshakable trust in the other and for this reason he insisted and obtained. This is how Jesus continues his explanation of the parable: a father gives good things to his son.
Before the Lord I feel like this, like being in front of a Friend who I cannot and don’t want to disappoint: I have unshakable trust in Him and in His promises.
Fr. Ricardo Argañaraz
A new time of faith and hope
The years that I leave behind me at this point have passed through moments of great hope, of great joy but also of sorrowful situations, sometimes to the limits of supportability…. However much all this has indelibly marked me, however many have been the tears that have flowed from my eyes every time that I think them, I have the privilege of having also experienced in those moments a deep sweetness deriving from communion with the lord and with my brothers. From this experience of deep and true koinonia a new way of seeing things was born, a sapiential way of beholding the facts that unfolded around me. It is then, in the darkest moments, that I spurred my gaze to look beyond. I have learned that the promises of the Lord never fail and that they are not always concretized in the moment that you receive them. Instead you need to be patient “…although it may take some time, wait for it, for come it certainly will before too long” (Hab2:3) says the biblical prophet. It is in this exercise of faith that I have pushed my community in these last years. I said to them “it is the time of the fatted cows”, using a well-known biblical expression from the book of Genesis, wanting to encourage them in looking beyond in precarious times. I continue to tell them “it is the time of the fatted cows” right up to the end of this year 2006 because spurring their gaze to look beyond the New Year, into 2007 which has already begun, I see, by virtue of my experience already mentioned, that this year will be a year where the realization of the Word of the Lord will be enjoyed; namely, an astonishing prosperity in every area of life.This is my most heart-felt greeting: a prosperity that rises up, that obtains, that is enjoyed in accordance with faith and communion with the risen Lord.
Fr. Ricardo Argañaraz
