Faith: A Pet Rock or What?

by Rev. Tom Coughlin

I went to a souvenir store in Georgia and saw various smooth rocks for sale. One contained an inscription that says: “May your faith be as solid as this rock.” I thought it was a good one because sometime I felt that my faith was not as solid as a rock.

When we think about our faith in God and the Catholic Church, we ask ourselves whether our faith is truly firm and solid like a rock or is it soft and fluid like water that becomes solid ice in good time or slushy liquid in bad times. Does the texture of our faith change whenever we encounter different seasons in our faith experience?

Very often, when things go well, we may feel that our faith is rewarding us for being faithful to God’s ways. However, when we experience bad times such as illness, loss of a job, death of loved ones or some kind of distress and depression, we may find ourselves wondering if our faith in God is worth the effort or perhaps we have gone astray, deserving God’s displeasure? Perhaps for some people, faith serves as a balm or comfort in their difficult times. However, many lose faith during their bad times. Some become very angry at God for a bad experience such as losing a child in death. I know of a young couple who left the Church on account of the death of their three year old daughter to leukemia. They could not forgive God for allowing their beloved daughter to die. They have chosen to abandon God because they felt that God had abandoned them and their heartfelt prayers for the health of their sick child.

If we have faith as solid as rock, we may be able to go through difficult times as well as good times. But let us look at our faith more closely. Have you ever thought that your faith in God could possibly be more or less like a “diamond in the rough?”

Exactly what is a “diamond in the rough?” It is a rough gem found in the rocks which require a great deal of time and efforts to be polished and grinded into perfection by a gem specialist. However, the formation of diamonds require hundreds of thousands of years and immense heat and pressure in the mountain or ground before they could be converted from simple rocks or lava into rough gems or diamonds

When the stone digger finds a diamond in the rough, he takes it to a diamond cutter who files away the rocky part of the stone, transforming a simple and unfinished gem into a fine and expensive diamond.

God is very much like a professional diamond cutter when it comes to polishing and grinding our solid rock faith. Naturally God is always pleased with our rock solid faith, but yet, God goes further…He subjects us to years of pressure, heat and trials to transform us from unpolished rocks into diamonds in the rough. Then, as when our faith becomes like a diamond in the rough, God continues to grind and polish us so that the texture of our faith can sparkle with the brilliance of the light of Christ.

God is never satisfied with the texture of our rock faith. He always tries to transform our faith into something beautiful as a diamond. If we experience the grinding and cutting pain of our faith experience in whatever situation we find ourselves in, it may be that God is trying to transform our simple faith into a vibrant and living faith. If we resist God’s efforts to transform our living faith by not moving deeper into experiencing God’s love, we will always remain as a rock, perhaps something like a pet rock on a dusty shelf in an antique store.

Would we want to spend the rest of our life as a pet rock? Or will we be willing to take up the pain of being pressured, cut, grinded and polished by God’s hands so that our faith may shine like a brilliant diamond? When our faith is polished and becomes beautiful as a diamond, the light of Christ will sparkle in all directions in us and everyone who sees the light of Christ in us will appreciate the mystery and beauty of God’s love all the more.

“Let your light shine so that all may see and give glory to God.”