Once, when the Italian film director, Franco Zeffirelli, was interviewed, he was asked if he believed in God. He immediately answered ‘yes’. Then the journalist asked, “Have you always had faith?”
Zeffirelli replied without hesitation: “I have never stopped believing; I feel the divine presence.”
It seems that the journalist was not very religious and so doubted his answer. He insisted: “Even when things go wrong?”, to which Zeffirelli responded: “Especially when things go wrong.” Then he shared this anecdote from his life: “Twice I was nearly executed a firing squad. I told God: ‘You created me, You have the power to destroy me. Sooner or later, You will call me to Yourself.’ So, I remained calm.”
Then, the journalist, somewhat surprised by this response and due to his own lack of faith, asked: “Is faith a gift?” “Yes,” Zeffirelli replied without hesitation and added, “like love.” “So, everything is a gift,” said the journalist. Zeffirelli responded: “No. The Kingdom of Heaven must be earned. Human struggle, suffering, pain, and doubt will always exist, but we live enveloped in the presence of God.”
Faith is a gift from God, as Zeffirelli says; however, it is a gift that we must cultivate so that it helps us to, using Zeffirelli’s words, “earn” heaven. Many use faith imperfectly, or in order to gain things in this world—particularly to have God miraculously solve the various situations we face in daily life.
Many even abandon faith when God does not grant the miracle they asked for and then begin to deny God because they mistakenly reason that: “God does not exist because He did not give me what I asked for.” There are also those who remember God exists only when they need a favor, when they need help in a difficult situation they are facing, etc.
Faith is not for that; rather, it is for something far more important. Faith is to help us journey through life as children of God and thus reach the Kingdom of Heaven. What we should ask for with faith in those difficult moments is the strength to be faithful to God’s Will, and ask ourselves: What grace does God want to give me through this suffering, this struggle, this difficulty, etc.?
