When we give up too quickly, too easily, too quietly, we may be responsible for letting the whisper of the Spirit die, not only in us but in our world as well.

"Faith" is the gift we ask of God and the Church at our baptism through our parents. It is what we believe in and not simply what we do that in the end becomes real, if not around us, at least in our hearts. The sight of one believer makes the rest of the world pause and say, "Why not?" and "What if" and "Of course!" To see ongoing commitment in another makes us examine our own: Abraham's faith leading to unflinching obedience, Jesus' passionate beliefs leading to his trial, crucifixion and death. Believers are those whose soul is aglow with an idea that they live it into life. We call them 'obessed' but as a matter of fact, they are haunted by possibilities that the rest of us cannot yet see, yet expect through them. The Zen masters say, "No seed ever see the flower."

Faith makes us trust what God is doing inside of us, as well as what is expected of us by the people, the systems and the leaders around us. Someday, we will all be called to stand alone, validated only by the presence of God within us.