“Just have faith!” Sometimes these words sound cheap as they are easy for us to say to each other, but hard to live out! Sometimes people have real problems, trying to find a mate, a loss of a job, difficult relationships with family and co-workers, or just an everyday difficulty. When people confide in us, we sometimes just pass them off and say “Just have faith!” What people want to hear and see is what does that look like in reality, having faith. We can point to today’s gospel reading (Matt 9:1-8) and we can also tell them about a time when we were able to express some kind of faith in our own lives and how that may have played out for us.

I remember a young beautiful Slovak girl in my parish in Calhan, who desperately came to see me on a Holy Friday, of all days, wondering if she will ever find a man to marry. I listened intently with a small grin on my face, and then eventually she noticed my grin and asked me “why are you grinning?” I told her to go home and look in the mirror and remind herself that she is a beautiful young Slovak lady, and that in time God will bring a man to her. I told her not to date anyone unless she would consider marrying him – otherwise a waste of time! I also told her that she needed to have faith that God would work on her behalf since she has been a faithful Slovak girl all her life. In just over two years from that meeting I was marrying her off to a great man – even though he was not Slovak!

When she came into the church on her wedding day, I reminded her of our conversation two years ago. She started to cry and apologized to God for not having faith. And also thanked God for what He provided for her! I instantly became the least popular man in the church as her makeup begin to run! That’s another story!

My young Slovak friend reminds me each time I go back to Calhan of all the events, conversations, and her wedding day. Now she is a mother of two and happily married! God desires that we allow Him into every aspect of our lives, even in getting married or even in finding a parking space! Try and think back to a time in your life when you may have given over something to God’s providence and He provided for you. My Aunt Betty who we buried in Calhan this last May, affected the lives of my children in the most beautiful way as a result God’s response to a tiny amount of faith I was able to muster. What that little bit of faith was? Well, that’s another story!