Faith is our relationship with God

My Dear Parishioners,

This week we are faced with a question: But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)

The best definition of Faith is that Faith is our relationship with God. Yes, we do believe in the “Deposit of Faith,” which are the teachings of the Church, but Faith itself is our relationship with God.

Faith is a relationship initiated by a God who loves us because He is love (1John 4:8). So, this relationship begins in God and from God.

This relationship flows from God’s loving desire that we become His children in this life and then live with Him forever in the life to come. Faith is then rightly understood as a Divine gift of a loving relationship with God. This is why Faith is listed among the Theological Virtues.

On our part, we are free to say yes or no to God’s offer of a relationship. We have the freedom to accept or refuse that gift we call Faith. The mystery of our free will is tied to the mystery of love. True love depends on true freedom. True love comes from the power to say yes or no to love. To accept the offer of Faith is then to really say yes to love, Divine Love. “If we are steadfast in our faith in Christ and in our love for him, we win the victory he has won, we receive what he has promised.” St. Leo the Great

When we accept the Virtue of Faith, we then allow God to open our hearts and minds to all of the good things which He wishes to give us, including and maybe most importantly the gift of eternal life. “It is by faith that God dwells in our hearts, in our memory, our intellect and penetrates even into our imagination.” St. Bernard

Since the gift of Faith comes directly from God, Faith is not something that we naturally possess. No, Faith comes from another gift, the gift of Baptism. In Baptism, we are truly “born again” (John Chapter 3), Origin Sin is washed away, and we receive the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. At that moment, the Rite of Baptism says that we are rightly called children of God, for so indeed we are.

The Rite of Baptism then goes on and teaches that the gift of Faith must be safeguarded and nurtured and allowed to grow. This is at first the responsibility of parents and godparents, but then as we mature, it becomes our own responsibility. Faith then becomes a life-long journey and a beautiful adventure, as long as we continually say yes to love, to Divine Love. “By itself faith accomplishes nothing. For even the devils believe and shudder. No, faith must be joined to an active love of God which is expressed in good works.” St. Maximus the Confessor,

Thankfully, God, in His great love for us, gives us so many helps to continually say yes to Him: the Deposit of Faith (the Sacred Scriptures and Teachings of the Church), the example and prayers of the Saints, the example and prayers of the good people that God has placed in our lives, and maybe most powerfully, the Holy Eucharist.

We remember that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes to us continually in the Holy Eucharist. He does so in order to fill us with Divine Life and Divine Love: God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him (I John 4:9). By doing so, He gives us the Graces and Blessings from Heaven needed to safeguard, nurture, and grow our relationship of Faith: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6: 51, 57).

Let us continually give praise and thanksgiving to a God who loves us so much that He has given us the beautiful gift of Faith, the beautiful gift of Baptism, and the beautiful gift of the Holy Eucharist that feeds our Faith. With praise and thanksgiving, when the Son of Man comes, may He find Faith in our hearts, Faith in the hearts of our families and friends, and Faith at the hearts of all we know.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church, and our Patron, pray for us!

Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor

October is both the month of the Most Holy Rosary and Respect Life Month. I thank all who continue to pray the Rosary for end of abortion and that all will embrace the Gospel of Life. I also thank all who continue to support our monthly baby drive. This monthly baby drive helps mothers to make the only right choice, the choice for life. Let us reflect on this statement by our bishops on Respect Life Month:

With great joy we celebrate October as Respect Life Month amid the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope. This Jubilee Year “offers us the opportunity to appreciate anew, and with immense gratitude, the gift of the new life that we have received in Baptism, a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama.”

The life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope. Through Christ, our sins are forgiven, death is overcome, and life is victorious. Yet, the daily headlines remind us of how desperately our world is thirsting for the hope that only God can provide.

Every day we witness the overwhelming disregard for human life: through rising rates of abortion and assisted suicide; the killing of innocent school children, even at prayer; the mistreatment of our immigrant sisters and brothers as they endure an environment of aggression; and political and ideological violence inflicted against unsuspecting victims. These attacks threaten life precisely when it is most vulnerable and in need of protection.

Despite these realities, the gift of human life exists as a sign of hope to our world today, defying the powers of darkness and the culture of death. It is of the utmost importance that we work to ensure that every life, in every stage and circumstance, is protected in law.

Earlier this year, history was made when Planned Parenthood and other big abortion businesses were banned from receiving federal Medicaid dollars for one year. I thank Catholics across the country who have embraced a nationwide call to prayer for the end of all taxpayer funding of abortion centers, and I ask that we continue those prayers throughout the month of October.

This Jubilee Year we are challenged to be agents of hope to those whose hearts are burdened by trial, difficulty, or suffering, offering them the hope that comes from Christ Jesus alone. Walking with Moms in Need and Project Rachel Ministry are just two examples of how the Church continuously reaches out with love, compassion, and mercy to those most in need of a message of hope.

As we begin Respect Life Month, together we embrace the words of Pope Leo XIV, “How important it is that each and every baptized person feel himself or herself called by God to be a sign of hope in the world today.”

Each of us is called to be a witness to the Gospel of Life, proclaiming in word and deed the innate goodness and dignity of every human person.

RESPECT LIFE MONTH STATEMENT October 2025

Most Reverend Daniel E. Thomas Bishop of Toledo Chairman, USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities