“Twas the coldest night of the year when the heat went out…” Wow, that sounds like a good start to a Christmas novel, but in reality it is what happened last Saturday night. The house has been a bit cool for about a week, but we blamed it on the poor insulation and just threw an extra blanket on the bed. It all changed when on Saturday night the temperature in the house went down to 14˚ Celsius, and the temptation to start wearing a toque and gloves inside the house became a real thing. We tried to solve the problem with electric heaters, that is until all the lights went out because we blew the fuse. Long story short, after a few days of trying to diagnose the problem we have good heat in the house again. This incident made me think of the gift of faith, which can be compared to heat. We need the warmth of faith most when the cold front moves in, the cold of discouragement, negativity, frustration, etc. When our faith is not what it should be, we can be tempted to look for replacements to faith, we can surround ourselves with projects, with addictions to the material things of this world. The problem with these replacements is the same as the problem we discovered with electric heaters, eventually we will blow the fuse and the lights will go out. There is no replacement for the gift of faith, and we must take good care of it during the warm days or our spiritual life, so that when the cold moves in and when we need it most it will be in good working order to keep us safe. Our ongoing relationship with God may not always seem essential, especially when all is going well in our lives, but unless we maintain that relationship in good times, it will not be there for those difficult moments which tend to move in like a cold front, seemingly out of nowhere. So, let’s keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts through daily prayer, meditation on the Word of God, and reverent reception of the Holy Sacraments. Before we know it, the warmth of faith will keep us very comfortable. Fr. Wojtek Kuzma