Living Vs Dead Faith

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Dead faith or a living faith.

Dead faith is when we say we believe in God and Jesus and the different things of Catholicism but really these are just abstract ideas not concrete reality. And because they are just ideas and not reality, we don’t take them seriously and we don’t apply them to our live. We don’t live our faith. Its not a living faith.

Until I was 22 I had a dead faith. I believed in Jesus and the things of the Catholic Church, but they were just ideas. But I did not live as though they were true.

Then I learned that Mary had been appearing all over the world in places like Lourdes and Fatima and that she was reported to be appearing right now in Medjugorje. I said, “Wait a minute. If Mary is real, then Jesus is real, then everything about Catholicism is real. Oh man, I need to change. I need to be living according to reality.”

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See, that is what happens. We believe in God, but it is just an idea, and we don’t live our lives as if its real because we tend to lose the feeling something is real when we can’t experience it concretely through our senses of sight, or hearing or touch. We know ideas but we can’t touch them so were not sure they are real. But a tangible reality is something we can see and touch and feel.

The miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, the Miracle of the Sun witnessed by 70,000 people at Fatima, the apparition of Mary in Zeitoun Egypt seen by 1 million people simultaneously and captured on video, these things bring our faith into the concrete, into reality. And if Jesus and Mary are real, then we need to live our lives according to reality, by what Jesus teaches us.  That is one way we go from a dead faith of abstract ideas to a living faith based on a tangible reality we experience is real rather than just knowing it is real by ideas.

But when we experience something of our faith expressed concretely it helps us move from a dead faith – where things are just ideas – to a living faith

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Dead faith is learning the ideas of Catholicism without experiencing they are real. We need to move out of the realm of ideas and into the realm of reality. To do this we need a catalyst. For some people seeing that the order in the universe is inexplicable unless that order has been arranged by Someone takes them from ideas to reality. For others it has been the concrete answer to a prayer that gave them the experience of the reality of God. If you have ever been with a loved one when they died, this can be a powerful experience of the reality that the soul is real, it is immortal, it goes on and is still alive even if they body is dead. Many people when they go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and see and touch the physical places from the life of Jesus, when they go into the empty tomb or place their hand on the spot where Jesus was born, they get it, this is not just an idea, it is real. And then their life changes. I’ve experienced and seen the same thing by taking people to St Peter’s in Rome where Peter and Paul, the two great apostles are buried. Eucharistic Miracles that you can see with your own eyes – All of these things are concrete manifestations of the abstract truths we believe but didn’t seem real until we experience them and once we experience it as real, it changes our life, because we want to live in reality. We were made for reality, not for an illusion.

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How can we go from a dead faith to a living faith?

To move from a dead to a living faith it can help to experience a concrete manifestation of the abstract idea we profess. A Marian Apparition, pilgrimage to the Holy Land, learning the of the Eucharistic miracles…These experiences help to make the abstract ideas concrete. Once we see something as concrete and real, then we are more apt to live according to that reality. But then we need to cultivate an awareness of that reality because it will fade back into the realm of ideas if we don’t. We cultivate an awareness of the spiritual reality by talking to God in prayer, reading the lives of the saints…what are other practical suggestions???  

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Experiencing public gatherings of faith can be a powerful catalyst for a living faith.

The Icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa lives in a monastery in the town with the same name in Poland. Each night 1000s of local people come to the Church to sing goodnight to Our Lady before they close the icon. Seeing this huge crowd of people who came freely because of their love for Mary strengthened our own faith.

When we see other people living the faith concretely it can help us realize Christianity is not just an abstract idea but reality.

Either in intensity of the expression, as is the case of a martyr or a saint or in the quantity of the expression, such as a mass gathering of the faithful.

People who saw the intensity of the faith of a martyr who gives up his life for Jesus say, “Whoa, Jesus wasn’t just an idea to them – He was so real they were willing to die.” And that concrete expression of faith helps them to also believe Jesus is real.

Those who met or saw the intensity of faith in St. John Paul II or Mother Teresa were moved by this experience to understand that Christ was real and their own faith was enlivened.

This can happen not only through intensity but also quantity.

Many people who experienced World Youth Day experienced a conversion when they saw this huge mass of people who really believed that Christianity was real.

So when we see other people living the faith concretely, either in intensity as in the case of a saint or martyr, on in quantity, such as World Youth Day – it helps us see that Jesus is not just an idea but reality and our faith is strengthened.

A wave moves us more than a drop of water.

Children, family and friends who see you as a person lives the faith is very good. But one person is a drop of water. For them to see 1000’s of people who believe gives them more of a sense of reality than an individual. Again a wave moves us more than a drop.

Why come to the event on May 23rd? Two Reasons:

1.  No person is impervious to discouragement that comes from the news and social media that tells us Christianity is dying and we need to get off that train. If we try to live our faith individually or only in small groups we get feeling very isolated and alone. We all need to be encouraged by witnessing 1000s of people who believe come together and so that we can say to ourselves, “Thank God, I am not crazy and I am not alone for believing in Jesus.” We all need to be strengthened by the witness of many.

2.  Since this is true – we have the responsibility to be one of the many drops that gather to make the wave. Other people need your presence and witness. If everyone says to themselves “I good – I don’t need that.” That is selfish – they are not thinking of the good that is done to strengthen the faith of others by gathering together.

We need to gather as a large public crowd to strengthen our own faith and to strengthen the faith of others.