Cleansing her by the bath of water with word, that he might present to himself the Church in splendor.
Ephesians 5:2a, 25-32
When (the mustard seed) was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.
Luke 13:18-21
Faith, simply put, is our being obedient to what God has revealed to us to be true.
Fr. James Sullivan
Faith is intertwined with obedience; obedience intertwined with discipline. The fruit of discipline is obedience; the fruit of obedience is faith; the fruit of faith will be felt throughout my life and those with whom I interact in my life.
But obedience is not easy. (Duh.) My problem with obeying God is the same kind of problem my daughter has obeying my husband and me. Any time I ask my daughter to do something (unless she is in a good mood & willing to do what we ask), she talks back, argues, and makes excuses. She'll say, "But I just want to do x,y,z" or "I'll just finish up doing x,y,z" or "But it's not fair!"
Oh, how many times do I say any and all of the above to God, and more. Except unlike my daughter, who does it because she doesn't understand, I do it because I don't always trust that God knows what's good for me and my life. I want to make excuses, I want to do anything other than God's will, I want to tell Him that it's not fair that I should have to do His will.
So first, we work on discipline. Then obedience. Then faith has a strong foundation.
Ephesians 5:2a, 25-32
When (the mustard seed) was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.
Luke 13:18-21
Faith, simply put, is our being obedient to what God has revealed to us to be true.
Fr. James Sullivan
Faith is intertwined with obedience; obedience intertwined with discipline. The fruit of discipline is obedience; the fruit of obedience is faith; the fruit of faith will be felt throughout my life and those with whom I interact in my life.
But obedience is not easy. (Duh.) My problem with obeying God is the same kind of problem my daughter has obeying my husband and me. Any time I ask my daughter to do something (unless she is in a good mood & willing to do what we ask), she talks back, argues, and makes excuses. She'll say, "But I just want to do x,y,z" or "I'll just finish up doing x,y,z" or "But it's not fair!"
Oh, how many times do I say any and all of the above to God, and more. Except unlike my daughter, who does it because she doesn't understand, I do it because I don't always trust that God knows what's good for me and my life. I want to make excuses, I want to do anything other than God's will, I want to tell Him that it's not fair that I should have to do His will.
So first, we work on discipline. Then obedience. Then faith has a strong foundation.