We, Malaysians glory in food! We have our favourite food stalls, we discuss about them, even the newspapers tell us where to go for the best nasi lemak or teh-tarik. What is your favourite food? Mine is a good plate of Penang Char Koay Teow without taukey (bean sprouts). I know of a stall that will never fail me, a place to talk about to my friends.

Faith in Jesus is something like that. But much more! We cannot but want to share the excitement of discovering Jesus and his effect in our lives. This year our Catechetical Sunday theme is,
“Faith in Christ – to know Him, to love Him, to share Him.”

What constitutes faith in Christ? Why and what do I believe?
“Because of God’s gracious favour, and through nothing of my own, I am empowered to transcend myself to respond to God’s call to become his daughter/son in Christ Jesus”. ‘Faith is a gift from God’ (Eph 2:8-9), it is not obtained by using our mind/thought or our feeling/emotion. Faith in Jesus compels me to repent of my sins (Mk 1:14-15) because my heart and soul must be kept pure as a sacred repository of the love and grace of the Son of God who is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14: 6).

For us Christians, our faith begins and ends with Jesus. This faith is expressed, nurtured and nourished through God’s Word and the Sacraments, through our prayer and worship and through our witnessing.

It isn’t easy to live out an authentic Christ-centered faith in the midst of great challenges that our nation’s facing today: the threat of Islamisation, racial polarization, religious extremism, dialoguing with people of other faiths and various forms of socio-political and economic issues. Confronted with such challenges, how do we respond?

Is our faith built upon the truth of Scripture and Tradition? Yes, both teach us to stand firm, hold fast and understand our faith. With Scripture and Tradition we come to know Christ, love Him and trust in His word. By knowing, loving and sharing our faith in Christ, we encourage and strengthen one another to find purpose, meaning and joy in life.

This Catechetical Sunday, let us deepen our knowledge of God and make a diligent effort to grow in our faith and to share our exquisite experience of Christ with others – perhaps over a meal with family and friends!

Mary, seat of Wisdom, help us in our pursuit of the knowledge of the Lord. (Hosea 6:3).

(Adaptation from the message of the Malaysian Catechetical Commission)