644 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ 07652

Simple and Strong Faith – By Father Andrew Bahhi

March 27, 2022
in The Word
No Comments
339

We are celebrating the annunciation of the Virgin Mary. I ask our heavenly father to bless all of us by her prayer, and we offer a special greeting to all with the name Mary, Maria, Mariam, etc. May the blessing of God with the ever Virgin Mary be upon all of us on this special day.

Then the angel said to the Virgin Mary, “for with God nothing will be impossible,” (Luke 1:37)

After asking the reason of this very special greeting that that the angel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary, he told her “Do not be afraid because what is happening to you will make you a very blessed girl that God chose you so that His begotten son be born from you.”

She was a young girl and did not know what this greeting meant.

In Luke, when our Lord said how impossible it was for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, he said “the things which are impossible with man are possible with God.”

Mary has a lot of characteristics, but above all, she is obedient and a very faithful woman.

In the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit came upon Mary through Gabriel who comforted her heart (Luke 1:26-38), and she made possible what the word may deem impossible. She had a very special and uniquely strong faith that made her worthy, and today we recognize these 3 traits in the Virgin Mary that guide us today.

  1. Her faith was a faith without doubt. She did not negotiate or refuse Gabriel. She accepted and said, “be it unto me according to thy word.”
  2. Her faith was without argument. She just surrendered and said “Here I am. I am the maidservant of God.” The simplicity of the faith is very important in our salvation. We must be like her and believe without conditions.
  3. She had faith without fear. This means having a very simple faith, but a very strong faith. The presence of God is very strong, but because the faith of Virgin Mary is very simple and without fear, she carried God in her womb.

I pray that God blesses all of us with this very strong faith. Faith in every area of our life is recommended. For example, we put bread and wine on the altar. After we celebrate the Holy Liturgy, God sends the Holy Spirit, and we make simple bread and wine into the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. And we cannot accept this at 100 percent without a strong simple faith.

Similarly, we believe as a baby is christened, we have faith they have become a Christian.

And even as we go to sleep, we have faith that we will wake up.

When we pray the prayer of confession and receive absolution from the priest, we have to have faith that our sins would be forgiven.

And also, when we send our children outside, we have faith that God will protect them.

And, finally, without faith, we cannot please God and go to heaven.

So can you see how important faith is in our life. And that’s why Virgin Mary is a role model through her strong faith.

Learn more in Father Andrew’s sermon video here.

share

Recommended Posts