1. “Faith is the foundation of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).
These are the words of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews in today’s second reading.

Faith, which brings man from the world of visible things to the invisible reality of God and eternal life, resembles the journey to which Abraham was called by God - and for this reason he is called "the father of all who believe" (cf. Rom 4:11-12). Later in the Letter to the Hebrews, we read: "By faith Abraham, when called, obeyed and went out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived in the land of promise . . ." (Heb 11:8-9). Yes, that is how it is. Faith is the spiritual pilgrimage on which man sets out, following the word of the living God, to reach the land of promised peace and happiness, union with God "face to face"; that union which will fill the human heart with the deepest hunger and thirst: the hunger for truth and the thirst for love.

Therefore, as we hear later in today's liturgy, the attitude of mind that befits the believer is one of vigilance: 'You too must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him' (Lk 12:40). Such vigilance is also an expression of spiritual aspiration to God through faith.

[Pope John Paul II, Angelus, 10 August 1980]