("Entering the house, they found the Child with Mary His Mother..." 

Picture taken in the Church of St. Teresa, Avila, Spain)

Yesterday was the third Sunday after Epiphany in the traditional Catholic calendar. I was privileged to listen to a sermon on the virtue of faith, and then later that afternoon, during a snowstorm, I read the following quote, also relating to faith!

"The miraculous star conducted the wise men to Jerusalem and there disappeared; here they might reasonably have expected to see the city illuminated and to hear nothing but acclamations of joy at the birth of the Savior; but to their great surprise there was not a word or sign about the object of their long journey. Their faith is not shaken, nor their courage abated. Through the streets, even at the gates of the palace of Herod, a monster of cruelty and dissimulation, they inquired for the Messiah, they cried out, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East, and are come to adore Him.' 
"The true Catholic glories in his faith, courageously professes it before kings and courts, and is ever ready to defend it, even the shedding of his heart's blood. O Jesus! grant us, and guard in us till death, this living and lively faith."

~ Rev. T.H. Kinane, P.P., The Lamb of God, imprimatur 1880.

In the sermon, we were admonished to do three things to acquire the virtue of faith. 1) Pray fervently for it, as in "O Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!". 2) Avoid the persons, places and things that will take this virtue away from us. 3) Read about and study our holy Catholic Faith. We will never in this life get to the point that we can say, "I have learned enough about my Faith."

O Lord, increase my faith day by day, hour by hour, until I meet Thee face to Face, when faith will no longer be necessary.