Do You Need a Faith That Moves Mountains?

It’s no secret that religious participation in America is declining. The most frequent prayer intention we receive from listeners is that their loved ones would return to the Catholic Church. And study after study has shown that religious participation is declining and the number of the religiously unaffiliated is rising. According to Pew Research, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christian. But that’s down 12% in the last decade. And in the last decade the number of religiously unaffiliated rose from 17% to 26%.

These numbers might get you down, but it is no reason for despair. Jesus told his followers, “For God all things are possible.” And that is still true today. While many are losing their faith, your faith can still move mountains. Fr. Mark Matthias, a regular Morning Air® contributor, recently shared about the importance of faith, and of recognizing the powerful force that it is.

Jesus said that if you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can command a mountain to move and it will move. But for many people, their loved one’s lack of faith is the biggest mountain in their lives. And it seems immovable. It is a great heartache to recognize the gift of your faith, and watch as others lose theirs. And there is good reason to feel strongly about this. As Fr. Matthias said, eternity is at stake.

“The world that we live in, this mortal realm, is temporary,” he said. “If you’re lucky, it’s 80, 90, 100 years even. But the world we’re really living for is the eternal world. And this is what Jesus gives us. A guarantee for eternal life, to be with him in heaven, if we follow him.”

You desire to spend eternity with your loved ones, but guess what? God does, too. That’s what he made them for, and the story of our faith is one of God relentlessly pursuing humanity, even to the point of becoming one of us. If you have a loved one who has fallen away from the Church, let your faith give you hope that with God all things are possible.

“Part of being Catholic and being Christian is knowing our faith and knowing what the Bible says when it comes to faith,” said Fr. Matthias. Scripture and the lives of the saints are filled with miracles, and God still works miracles in our world. While not everyone receives the miracle they pray for, and while not everyone accepts the Lord’s invitation of faith, we can pray for the grace to overcome doubt and fear, and trust that the Lord can work miracles – even in the lives of our loved ones who currently have no faith at all.

“Miracles aren’t only found in the Bible,” Fr. Matthias reminded listeners. “There are miracles that happen all the time. God provides us tons of evidence of him being real, of Christ being real. The question is, are we prepared to share this information? Are we knowledgeable enough about our own faith and even our own experiences, to share with those who don’t believe to help them to believe?”

Relevant Radio is helping to bring people back to the Church, or into the Church for the first time. We have heard of countless ‘miracle moments’ where the Lord uses a Relevant Radio program to touch someone’s heart, and ignite their faith. But as a listener-supported apostolate, that can’t happen without you! Support our mission today by making a pledge to our Give From the Heart Pledge DriveEvery gift counts so make yours today!

Listen to the full conversation with Fr. Matthias below:

Morning Air can be heard weekdays from 6:00 – 9:00 a.m. Eastern/3:00 – 6:00 a.m. Pacific on Relevant Radio and the Relevant Radio App.

Stephanie Foley serves as a Digital Media Producer at Relevant Radio®. She is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, where she studied journalism, and she has worked in Catholic radio for 12 years. Stephanie is a wife, a mother of three boys, and in her free time she enjoys reading, running, and really good coffee. You can find more of Stephanie’s writing at relevantradio.com and on the free Relevant Radio mobile app.