Mercy of Faith

About Bishop St. Theophane the Recluse

About "old" and "new" calendar

October 21 (November 3)

2Cor. 5:1-10, Lk. 7:2-10

The centurion who came to Jesus — what a wonderful man he is! How could he develop his great faith which exceeded that of the Israelis [Lk. 7:9] who had been raised on the Divine revelation, prophesies and miracles? The Gospel does not say how; it simply describes his faith and the praise he received from the Lord.

Faith in the human soul has its own secret course. Who can trace with certainty even the course of his own faith, how it has grown in his heart? St. Paul speaks about it better than anyone else: “That is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” [Eph. 2:8]. And while faith is truly a gift from God, nonbelievers are by no means blameless: they have willfully turned away from this gift. The Lord would never send down His precious gift of faith unless there is a place in one’s soul to keep it: doing so would have meant wasting it.

It is hard to define the exact conditions for receiving the gift of faith. The centurion was a man of authority, virtue and strong reason — but there is also extreme humility clearly visible in him. Is it not humility in general by which we get a chance to receive this great faith-creating mercy of the Lord? Quite possibly so. At any rate, it is no secret that unbelievers are typically proud, and that faith first of all demands from the mind complete submission to its authority.

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