Private versus Public Faith Life

First Reading: Wisdom 18:6-9

The night of the passover was known beforehand to our fathers,
that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith,
they might have courage.
Your people awaited the salvation of the just
and the destruction of their foes.
For when you punished our adversaries,
in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.
For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice
and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:1, 12, 18-19, 20-22

R. (12b) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Second Reading: Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19
Brothers and sisters:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were well attested.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place
that he was to receive as an inheritance;
he went out, not knowing where he was to go.
By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country,
dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise;
for he was looking forward to the city with foundations,
whose architect and maker is God.
By faith he received power to generate,
even though he was past the normal age
—and Sarah herself was sterile—
for he thought that the one who had made the promise was
trustworthy.
So it was that there came forth from one man,
himself as good as dead,
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky
and as countless as the sands on the seashore.

All these died in faith.
They did not receive what had been promised
but saw it and greeted it from afar
and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth,
for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come,
they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac,
and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son,
of whom it was said,
“Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.”
He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead,
and he received Isaac back as a symbol.

Gospel: Luke 12:32-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock,
for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out,
an inexhaustible treasure in heaven
that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.
Be sure of this:
if the master of the house had known the hour
when the thief was coming,
he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,
the Son of Man will come.”

Then Peter said,
“Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”
And the Lord replied,
“Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants,
to eat and drink and get drunk,
then that servant’s master will come
on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour
and will punish the servant severely
and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
That servant who knew his master’s will
but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will
shall be beaten severely;
and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will
but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating
shall be beaten only lightly.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

NAB

aug 7

For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice
and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution.

This verse from Wisdom reminds me of what is also in the Gospel of Matthew: Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Mt. 6:6.)

Then later, Jesus tells the Apostles to "go forth and make disciples of all nations." Can we, can I, do both? How on earth do I evangelize without seeking attention in my faith life? The idea of doing and praying in secret feels comfortable and easy. No need to worry about making a fool of myself or being persecuted if I'm not going out into the hallways of school or being outspoken in my extended family about my faith. Keeping it private is easy and safe. I'm an introvert, after all, and I don't like to go "out there" and "proclaim from the rooftops" like so many amazing Saints.

I had a teacher in high school who taught us that "our faith is always personal but never private." The idea, of course, is that we must have a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus, but not keep it private, hidden away from the world. HOW does one make the two possible at once? I struggled with this for quite a long time.

I still do.

"In secret," I believe, refers to the deeply personal interior life between my soul and Christ. The parts of my heart that only He knows, of course, are secret. But what happens here, the sacrifices I offer, the prayers I lift up throughout the day, these may be "secret," but they ought to have an effect on the entire rest of my life.

The great Saints in Heaven didn't skip their personal, private prayer time. They also didn't keep mum about Christ's love for them. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta spent hours a day in prayer. HOURS! This was in addition to the continual service to the poor and teaching them about Christ. How can I imitate this, to bring about "the divine institution," the Kingdom of God?

It begins with prayer, of course. A strong, consistent, deeply personal prayer life which is my relationship with Christ. And then? Then my faith will spill over into my actions, love and grace will move through my words and relationships, and even if I'm not as outspoken as others, I'll share the light of Christ as I go.

Let faith will spill over into my actions, that I may share the let of Christ as I go.Click to tweet