“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go” (Heb 11:1,8).

The biblical story of Abraham begins with his father, Terah, moving his entire family from Ur (modern-day Iraq) to the land of Canaan (Israel). Stopping short of the goal, Terah settles his family in Haran (Turkey). Here God reveals Himself to Abram, saying, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Gn 11:27-12:3).

Abram immediately obeys without further clarity on the front end of his journey. Leaving behind his earthly inheritance and receiving a new name, Abraham enters a divine covenant with God, obtaining understanding along the way with an abundance of opportunities to trust his heavenly Father. As a result of unwavering obedience, he steps into God’s promises, which not only affects his life but the lives of all who place their faith in God! For this reason, Abraham is rightly called “the father of faith” (Heb 11:8, Rom 4:16).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, ‘the obedience of faith.’. . . By faith ‘man freely commits his entire self to God’” (CCC 143, 1814).

I first stepped into this “obedience of faith” as a young man who had fallen away from the Church and then was evangelized by the bold witness of a Spirit-filled, non-Catholic believer. I experienced a powerful baptism in the Holy Spirit that reactivated the baptismal graces I received as a child! Soon afterward, one of the most defining moments of my own faith journey occurred when a missionary vocation began to stir in my heart, and I heard the God of Abraham invite me to go to a missionary training school in Sweden. I had never left my country, nor did I have the money to do so. After prayerfully wrestling through all my excuses, I decided to trust the Holy Spirit to lead me one step at a time, and I freely committed my entire self to God.

First, I sent my application and was accepted to the school. Next, I applied for my first passport and residence study visa and received them both. I worked a summer job but still did not have enough money to live overseas. I prayed, “Lord, this isn’t enough. What do You want me to do?” I sensed Him challenging me to give an offering from my insufficient funds towards someone else’s ministry and to trust Him for provision. Much to my surprise, after I stepped out in faith, a family member gifted me a one-way ticket to Sweden! I had what I needed for that initial directive from God to “go.” I departed America with that one-way ticket, approximately $1000, a suitcase, a backpack, and faith in God.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the weight of my decision (undoubtedly intensified by jet lag) came crashing down on my mind as I argued with myself: “Anthony, you only have a thousand dollars! You can’t work here on a student visa! It’s just a matter of time before they deport you back to America! What have you done?”

Fear and doubt gripped my heart. Instead of giving in to fear, I opened my Bible and began to pray. The fight of faith had begun (1 Tm 6:12).

Taking one step of faith after another, I experienced God’s provision one day at a time, sometimes in supernatural ways and sometimes at the very last possible minute. The next two years proved to be a challenging, exciting, and purifying season that unified me with God’s specific plan and will for my life. One small step of obedience opened the door to the vocation of international mission, marriage, family, my eventual homecoming to the Catholic Church, and so many divinely orchestrated opportunities that continue to this day! Most importantly, every step of faith has led to greater purification and deeper union with God Himself.

Why would God call Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Apostles, all the saints throughout Church history, and you and me to step into the unknown and trust Him in ways that defy human logic? Why take the risk to believe and obey before knowing all the details? Why would anyone say yes in moments like these?

The deepest longing of every human heart is a “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10). None of the heroes of faith received the fullness of what had been promised this side of heaven, but “having seen it from afar” they walked as “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb 11:13). They became detached from the logic and fading pleasures of this world because they were “seeking a homeland” (Heb 11:14). They desired “a better country, that is, a heavenly one,” and as a result heaven began to spill over into their present (Heb 11:16).

This is why Abraham left Ur and Moses fled Egypt. This is why the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and encircled the walls of Jericho. This is why Rahab helped the spies and hung the scarlet cord from her window. This is why Gideon led an army of three hundred against thousands. Their faith was the substance that laid hold of and united their heavenly hope of tomorrow into their today.

This is why some endured torture, mocking, scourging, chains, and imprisonment. This is why others were stoned, sawn in two, killed with the sword, and wandered in deserts, mountains, dens, and caves of the earth destitute, afflicted, and ill-treated. They believed they would “rise again to a better life” (Heb 11).

The world has never been, nor will it ever be, worthy of people whose lives are marked by the substance that is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). This substance called faith is the “victory that overcomes the world” (1 Jn 5:4). It enables us to obtain the future fulfillment of all our deepest longings: heaven.

Along the way, in the here and now of our earthly pilgrimage,” faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a ‘not yet.’ The fact that this future exists changes the present; the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things of the future spill over into those of the present and those of the present into those of the future” (Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi 7).

Let us heed the advice in Hebrews to “lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:1-2). We do this because He is the “Alpha and the Omega . . . who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rv 1:8). Jesus is heaven spilling over into our lives today. Even so, come Lord Jesus! (Rv 22:20)