Can't learn this

In today's first reading (Revelation 14:1-3,4b-5) includes this cryptic reference (among the many, many cryptic references in this book):

No one could learn this hymn
except the hundred and forty-four thousand
who had been ransomed from the earth.

A relatively clear message of this verse is that faith, ultimately, is not something that can be learned by human intellectual effort alone: it is a gift.

From time to time, you and I may have trouble understanding or dealing with some aspect of the faith that has come down to us from Christ. This effort is often complicated by the dissonant voices and temptation that whirl about us on this earth.

Today's first reading is a reminder that faith is a gift and that we must always pray for the Lord to give us more of that gift: that we may understand more fully what Christ teaches more fully and live those teachings more perfectly each and every day of our lives.