Faith is a gift of God, not something "acquired" by peoples' own efforts. The journey anyone makes towards recognising the Father and accepting His gift is mostly quite mysterious. But, like in every area of human life and activity, we always learn from and are influenced by other people, often unconsciously. We are encouraged and strengthened in our faith not only by the sacraments and the Word of God and the life of the Christian community we belong to, but also by all the many encounters with God which come to us through other people, and in the things that happen in our lives.

In the Gospel, Jesus uses two images of a city on a hill and an ordinary lamp-stand to describe the kind of people He wants His followers to be. You cannot but notice a city that's on a hill; and the whole point of a lamp-stand is to give light. He wants His followers to be noticeable - just as He was noticeable by dying on a cross on a hillside, and by being the "light of the world" expected by the prophets. Christians are to carry on His mission and be bearers of His message. And influence people. It's not a matter of having power or control or of being ostentatious. It is to allow the power of God's love to shine through our lives in such a way that people notice, are attracted, pay attention, not to us but to the presence of the Father in the meetings between us.