https://soundcloud.com/dailymeditationselija/13-12-25-fight-for-the-faith/s-D7gQ0jSx7n4?si=fd851d10b02d4f05a97e6f1499c17292&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
“Contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
The great treasure of faith requires all our efforts to protect it. It is not only about the inner dimension—about fighting when we suffer temptations, when we succumb to our weaknesses, and when we encounter again and again the abysses of our hearts that have not yet been penetrated by the light of God.
In today’s passage, the apostle Jude exhorts us to defend our holy faith with all that this entails. It is a faith that has been handed down to us, a treasure that has been entrusted to us. Therefore, it is not a possession that we can treat as if it were our own. We have a responsibility before God and before men to ensure that the inestimable good of faith is witnessed to in the best possible way through our lives and our words.
What would our Father say if we began to neglect the faith, if we allowed the spirit of the age to corrode it, if we set it aside, if we turned away from His Son and turned to idols?
God has already spoken clearly, deploring Israel’s unfaithfulness time and again in the Old Testament. Will He act differently with us? Has our Father changed? Is it no longer so important today to live according to His commandments and to proclaim the One who is the only way that leads to Him? Can we simply allow the truth to be diluted?
Today’s passage gives us the answer: we are called to fight for the faith! We must proclaim and defend it. Whoever attacks it, whether inside or outside the Church, will meet with our resistance. This struggle can even lead to the witness of blood. The martyrs gave their lives for the faith, and they exhort us: “Now your time has come! Now it is you who must prove your fidelity! Do not be deceived!”
And our Father only has to remind us of the words of His Son: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you (…) on My account” (Mt 5:11). Then we will know what He thinks!