It is right that we petition to receive an increase of faith. Nevertheless, we must also trust that faith is being set forth to do what we have been obliged to do.
It is easy for us to get caught up in the need for our faith to be increased, but it is easy to forget that Christ has already bestowed an abundance of grace upon us that this petition may be made into a reality.
From the 2nd letter of Saint Timothy we are told about the laying on of hands. In other words we are being instructed about the institution of the priesthood and how one receives it through the laying on of hands thus calling down the gift of the Holy Spirit upon that individual. Through the reception of this sacrament one is given an outpouring of grace that will always be at work within their ministry.
We too have the opportunity to come into contact with the sacraments. Each of which bestow the gift of grace upon us. Grace is a gift which we cannot give to ourself and it is thus a gift in which God alone can bestow. If we truly desire faith and thus the ability to do what we are obliged to do we must therefore trust in the healing power of grace.
The world in which we live is filled with many struggles. Within the world there are those who are poor, alone, and afraid. Nevertheless, God continues to look upon all of us as equals and thus continues to touch us with His healing hand. He gives us, no matter the state in our life, all the grace that is necessary for us to do what we are obliged.
Therefore doing what we are obliged to do is possible if we trust ourself to the outpouring of grace that God bestows upon us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs in paragraph 2010: “Prayer attends to the grace that we need for meritorious actions.”
This word, “merit,” does not mean something that we earn nor is it making something up due to something which was lacking from Christ’s offering of self upon the cross. We cannot earn our salvation nor was anything lacking when Christ died upon the cross. Rather, this word means that we allow ourself to be opened up to grace and thus allow ourself to participate in the process of salvation which conforms us to be more like Christ.
Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians instructs us: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Christ states in the Gospel of Saint John: “He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
