By Fr Gerald O’Collins, SJ
Faith is a living activity, a journey we walk with Jesus toward eternal life. Belief in Christ doesn't take away the pain of life; it strengthens us to endure it, confident God will fulfill his promises.

Christians have a pattern of busyness on Sunday that closely resembles the rest of the week. This is where the faith factor can make a meaningful difference in their lives.

Some years ago a journalist friend was looking around nervously for a key message to give a large gathering of clergy.

When he telephoned, I said, “Tell them to put their hand in the hand of the man from Galilee, and tell them to keep it there.” For good measure I added, “Yes, it is a very evangelical message, but that doesn’t stop it from being the best policy in life.”

What I might also have added is that this advice reflects what St Paul wrote: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7).

Faith is a journey that we walk with Jesus toward our true home. But without a deep and regular relationship with Jesus in prayer, we will not endure that journey with the peace, persistence and inner joy Christ wants us to enjoy. Paul was at his sensitive best in choosing the verb “walk.” Faith is, after all, something essentially “verbal” or dynamic. It is not a treasured object that we store in a closet, bring out occasionally and dust down every now and then.

Faith is a living activity that happens, like walking hand in hand with someone we trust utterly and love unconditionally. Another great theologian of the New Testament converges with Paul, even if he makes the point about the dynamic, lived quality of faith in a different way. In his Gospel, John always uses the verb “to believe” and never the noun “faith.” When you count up all the occurrences of “to believe,” you will find John using the verb 98 times.

The whole point of John’s Gospel is to help people believe in Jesus. And just in case any readers miss the point, near the end John addresses them directly and insists: “These are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (20:31).

For John, faith is an ongoing relationship with Jesus that feeds us and gives us real life, both here and hereafter. John’s Gospel also makes another very significant choice, this time between two possible words for “life.” It never uses “bios,” from which we get “biology” or the science of life, but always “zoe,” from which we get “zoology” or the science of animal life.

What’s the difference for John?

He wants to indicate that believing in Jesus does not bring us merely organic life; we have that anyway. What Jesus shares with us is something much greater: the deep life of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual life we receive even now and that will last forever.

Those who believe in me, Jesus declares, already have “eternal life” and “will live forever” (John 6:47, 51).

As our life coach, Jesus does something that ordinary life coaches cannot do: He helps us to find the right road on our journey of faith and gives us the vitality needed to make that journey.

On the eve of Pentecost Sunday, a dear friend died from a cancer that spread from his lungs to other parts of his body. Simon's children were at his bedside and his wife Isabel held his hand as he lay dying. Simon’s greatest security and reason for a peaceful acceptance of impending death, however, was a lifetime of efforts to be one with Christ — at home, at church, at work and in his community.

Simon loved Isabel, cherished their four grown children and their spouses. He also doted on his eight grandchildren. Physically powerful and handsome, always an amusing companion and endlessly generous to those in distress and need, Simon went through life drawing his boundless spiritual energy and rock-hard faith in Christ.

Of course his death was a painful blow to Isabel and all his family. But it was also another occasion for them to witness to those offering condolences the hope they shared for a reunion in Christ.

In good times and bad times, it is faith in Jesus that constantly shows us what life in all of its dimensions is all about.

Believing in Christ does not take away the pain and hurt of life. But it certainly does strengthen us to endure it, to look forward to God’s fulfillment of all of his promises for those who love him.