WITNESS
5-31-13
“First Hand Faith”
In the IVth Chapter
Of
Jesus tells the story
Of a meeting
With a Samaritan woman
At the well
He tells her
He is the Messiah
But not to tell anyone
Of course she does
But her friends
Come to believe in Jesus
Not only on her word
But because they too
Experience Jesus for themselves
All faith/All knowledge
Starts out as second hand
Because we first learn of it
From someone
Or something else
The great Catholic Bishop
Bishop Fulton Sheen
Was once asked
If he had speech writers
He said, of course,
“Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John”
All of us
Have those same speech writers
And just because our knowledge
Is second hand
It does not mean
It is second rate
And just because
Our faith starts out
As second hand
It does not remain that way
By internalizing our faith
Into the everyday fabric
Of our lives
And by sharing our faith with others
In fact
Our faith becomes first hand
Faith makes us
Strong, loving, and wise
And having our faith
And sharing our faith
Means we are
Never alone
We will always have God
And the love
And faith of each other
Robert P. Wallman
7/22/10
Ps Witness May 31st, 2013
“For it is by GRACE you have been saved-THROUGH FAITH-and
this
NOT from yourselves-it is the GIFT of God-NOT by works-so
that no one can boast
For we are God’s workmanship-created-in Jesus Christ to do
good works-which God
Prepared in advance for us to do”
Ephesians 2:8-10
