Honest Talk on the Benefits of Faith
Gerald Waris, my lifelong best friend, and about 34 of his cousins recently held a reunion in which participants were invited to share memories of their childhood and their long-ago interactions with their larger family.
Gerald’s mother was second-generation Irish. His father was born in Lebanon and the gathering of cousins were from his side of the family. They grew up on kibbe, unleavened bread and stuffed grape leaves, and there was plenty of talk about food.
But what struck me, listening to a CD of their comments, was their unanimous view on the importance of faith in their family. Gerald’s father, two brothers and a sister were partners in the wholesale fruit and vegetable business in the former market area of St. Joseph, Mo., and even there – amid haggles over the price of sweet corn and apples – were hung pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, reminding them of the relevance of their faith.
One cousin talked about the woman who raised him and his five siblings as a single mother. He marveled at her work ethic, but most of all, that she never gave up on God’s ultimate oversight of the family. The lessons she provided, he said, were not lost on her children who now have families of their own.
“Religion is a great gift,” he said.
In this age when faith seems under attack, this kind of comment is rare. Even when people feel grateful for a religious upbringing, they’re reluctant to say it for fear people will think they’re out-of-touch or weird.
This may especially be true for Catholics, who are reeling from the latest revelation of the clerical abuse of children and its cover-up. They may be tempted to think that it proves the uselessness or evil of organized religion, but they would be missing the point. Although faith requires love of neighbor, it doesn’t depend on the virtue of others, including the clergy.
The older I get, the more I’m convinced of the benefits of faith. Among the best things you can say about it, I think, is that it makes you happy.
“What?” you may protest. “With all its demands and counter-cultural norms, it makes you happy?” So how, exactly, does it do that?
For one thing, it gives your life meaning. It definitively answers, in the negative, the question, “Is this all there is?” Believing in God means you’re never alone, no matter how isolated or burdened with sadness or anxiety. And it means knowing that evil, ignorance and isolation won’t have the last word.
Another fulfilling benefit of faith is finding a community where the liturgy is actually celebrated, where you leave joyfully, and not because the Mass or service has ended. These communities also exist, as my wife and I experienced this past weekend. And they remind you why you go to church.
But you have to get past the stereotypes. You have to know people who actually live their faith, and experience it yourself. You have to part with the idea that religious people are more hypocritical, more biased, less tolerant and more set in their ways.
What’s In the Heart
And you can’t imagine that it’s simply a matter of fulfilling rituals and adhering to doctrine. It may include those, but to God, it’s what’s in the heart that matters.
If you’re like me, you may have an intellectual problem with faith. You may struggle with the kinds of questions typically asked by atheists and agnostics. But while those questions may make you feel intellectually honest, do they honestly represent who you are or who you want to be?
So thanks to the Waris cousins, and all such families, for reminding us who are searching for God of the benefits of faith. Given life’s distractions and temptations, we need it.
