Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Tim ReidyAugust 08, 2007
This Sunday is the nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Daniel Harrington writes about faith and hope. Sunday’s reading from Hebrews, he notes, "contains the only explicit definition of faith in the Bible: ’Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.’" Dianne Bergant also reflected on Hebrews in her column from 2001: "The phrase "seeing is believing" is well known to us all. It suggests skepticism; it implies that we will not accept the truth of something unless we can somehow see it. While the phrase may validly express a concern for verification, it contradicts basic religious ideas. To paraphrase the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews: ’Not-seeing is believing.’ In other words, we do not believe what we see; rather, we believe what we do not see. Confusing? But then so is real faith.’ And John Donahue noted that the reading from Hebrews has implications for the church today as it embarks on the job of formation: "Hebrews portrays faith as ’realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things unseen,’ and the Gospel speaks of true treasures. Every program of formation, from parish to seminary, must be, like Abraham’s journey in Hebrews, a pilgrimage of faith, which prepares a treasured person with a transformed heart." Tim Reidy, Online Editor
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025
First-grade students finish an assignment at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Tucson, Ariz., in this 2014 photo. Arizona has one of the nation’s strongest school choice programs, with vouchers available to every child in the state. (CNS file photo/Nancy Wiechec)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying state funds to a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. What should American Catholics be asking about public funding for school choice?
Beth BlaufussMay 23, 2025