Human existence is a succession of life experiences which make the Men we are. That is to say, a group of human beings shaped over time by a succession of life and faith experiences that justify a desire to see before believing, touch before feeling, taste before confirming, and listen before having a faith that also needs reason to produce more fruit.
Men should not be content to adhere to the faith of the apostles because they saw Christ perform miracles and because they themselves performed miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Even if Men is sometimes called to believe without having seen, he will always need tangible facts during his journey of faith, in order to remain firm in a choice that only God can strengthen, through a set of concrete actions in his life. This is the reason why Jesus Himself came to show his hands to Saint Thomas, who doubted that it was He who appeared to the others nine apostles in his absence.
Men wants to taste before confirming because he has the ability to recognize a salt that has flavor, and another that does not; that is to say, an act that does not glorify the name of God. If he wants to listen before believing, it is because faith is born from a listening that predisposes the one who listens to experience by himself afterwards, the wonders of God in his own life, which is a particular framework of life among many others where God always manifests Himself concretely, in order to strengthen the faith of all those who choose to become new creatures in Him through Jesus Christ. He who has not witnessed the resurrection of Christ, and who has accepted Him in his life as his God, will always have the signs of that resurrection in his daily life. He must be able to learn to know, and make Christ known personally, through his daily joys and sorrows, or simply by performing acts which are in fact daily confessions of faith, which are part of a logic of extending the reign of God's love on earth. Indeed, “I believe” is a subjective declaration with multiple connotations which in the domain of faith would mean that I trust and I act. In other words, I have confidence in the One in whom I have placed my trust, and I act on the basis of that faith, in a world where everyone has their use, because there is no action without a goal, and even less faith without action. He who says that he believes in something, and who acts on the basis of what he believes in, is part of a dynamic of action with a strong impact in a set of societies which need the contributions of everyone, without distinction of religions, fields of expertises, and social scales.
In the second chapter of his letter addressed to the Christians of Jewish origin in the community under his care or under his authority, the apostle Saint James lets us know in the 18th verse of his second chapter that a faith without actions does not exist.
"Show me how anyone can have faith without action. I will show you my faith by my actions."
This means that to believe is to espouse a cause, a project, a doctrine, and translate in a concrete way, the relationship that we maintains with God, through the exercise of a freedom of action on the basis of the faith that we have freely chosen to confess. In other words, whoever confesses that Jesus is Lord, must demonstrate it through everything he does for himself and others, because that is also what mean, to have faith. It is the same in all others religions. We do not believe only for ourselves; we also believe for others, by praying for them, through each of the actions we perform, because it is through everything that Men does or freely chooses to do in society, that the world will change. This is the reason why it is strongly recommended to proclaim the Gospel by the quality of our lives. The experiences of daily life can contribute enormously to the deepening of the faith not only of Christians, but also that of all Mens. A person's faith can be further strengthened, thanks to actions performed by one or more people who are not from the same religious obedience with him.
If it is a whole assembly of saints who rejoice when there are newly baptized in a strictly Christian framework, it must be said that this faith, which must be further strengthened in a Christian context, will also need the actions and testimonies of non-Christians, to strengthen itself further. Anything that contributes to changing lives in the positive sense of the term is never too much. Whether he belongs to a religious chapel or not, Men has a vocation to perform acts whose positive impact in society transcends the scale of a set of religious frameworks whose main objective in society, namely to promote social harmony, in a set of societies where the efforts made to restore peace or improve the living conditions of a group of people in particular, always have greater reach, because they are underpinned by a divine grace that promotes the creation of catalysts of well-being and social cohesion, which will always perform commendable acts in society. It is not only about making donations or more explicitly about clothing those who do not have clothes, or giving food to those who are hungry, and caring for those who are sick, among other things. It is about doing with love what we have freely chosen to do. And this is where we must mention the hymn of love of the apostle Saint Paul and in particular the second part of the second verse of the 13th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians which says this:
"If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."
In other words, the act can be done and even be a reason for satisfaction for others, without however bringing anything more, in the personal relationship of the sender with God, because it is possible to act without love. And when we speak of love in this particular case of donations in kind or in cash, we want to clarify that the media coverage of an act of charity does not necessarily mean that the authors are seeking their own glory. What we want to emphasize here is that any act inspired by a God who welcomes everyone, and does everything possible to ensure that many people as possible have tangible proof of his love in multiple ways, will always be of great value in the deepening of faith of those who give, and those who receive.
We remember a very sick Christian who did not have the financial means to pay for surgery, to get rid of a cancer against which he had fought for several years, and who found the solution to his problem by becoming a Muslim. We also think of those Muslims who, without becoming Christians, received the grace to experience God's grace in their lives, in the name of Jesus. Indeed, where some see only opportunism, theft, and wavering faith, we see rather, the hand of a God who welcomes, saves, and heals. In many ways, He allows Men to experience the wonders of His love by using all those who are in His service, because they have made the choice to do everything possible to prove to the world that God is God, and that He has satisfactory solutions to all problems. Moreover, God makes Men go through many happy and unhappy circumstances of life, not only to increase the good quality of his faith, but also that of others, because the story of some, which is a testimony of life and faith, can also deepen the faith of many other people.
Be a child of God is to perform actions that confirm what we proclaim. A word without actions is ineffective because the word, which is itself the consequence of an action, cannot have meaning without actions. It is actions that complete the work begun by the word, by giving this same word, which is an action, an unshakable foundation that strengthens the faith of believers. The words spoken and even written are the product of an action that requires additional actions to save souls. In other words, it is a need for complementarity which says that there cannot be one without the other. The word is an act that always leads to action, and the quality of the actions, and their impact on society depend on the quality of the relationship we maintain with God.
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Biblical references used are from The Good News Bible with Deuterocanonical Books 2004, and The New American Standard Bible 1977
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