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Lumen Fidei - Day 5 - June 13, 2014

“Faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his own eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing.” In going through the Theology of the Body, seeing as God sees has come up many times as a measurement for how close we are to that original innocence. Here we see it in relation to Faith. Having faith means seeing as God sees, as we saw in the beginning, before the fall and before that separation caused by losing faith, losing trust in God.

I think there is a big distinction when it comes to belief that is often glossed over. Believing in Jesus and believing Jesus. (I am not I see the difference between “believing that what Jesus said is true” and “believing Jesus”) We here people ask if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. This would be believing in Jesus. But there are those that would say they have, but then ignore His straightforward teachings, for example, on divorce. They may believe in Jesus, but they don’t believe Jesus. How else can you ignore His teachings. (It is probably a whole other discussion as to whether you can truly believe in Jesus and not believe Him, but another day perhaps.)

“Far from divorcing us from reality, our faith in the Son of God made man in Jesus of Nazareth enables us to grasp reality’s deepest meaning”. I think the world would scoff at this statement. The world sees religion as a complete separation from reality, a way to escape the world and rely on something supernatural. Pope Francis urges that faith in Christ brings us into the very foundations of reality. As we go through The Theology of the Body, you realize how much our experiences in the world shape how we see ourselves and humanity. Seeing the world with faith in Christ gives a clearer vision of what is actually real. The world will never fully grasp reality without God because God is a real part of reality. The physical alone will only get you so far and without acknowledging God, you will be left with partial understanding. The world, with its Godless views, in fact, is the one divorcing themselves from reality.

“Once I think that by turning away from God I will find myself, my life begins to fall apart (cf. Lk 15:11-24). “ Isn’t this what we do so often when things don’t go our way? At the first sign of difficulty we try to fix things on our own. At the very moment when we need God the most, we try to rely on ourselves, and what may have been a small thing will become larger because “life begins to fall apart”. It is our challenge to turn to God at all times, but especially in need. Don’t wait until He is all we have left, until you are at rock bottom and God is all you can turn to. When you have that first incline that God is not working fast enough, when you think you can manage on your own, when you are losing patience, which is the moment to turn to Him the most. Before you go down the wrong path, before that first step, stop, step back, rely on Him, wait patiently for that Light of Faith, and listen.