Seering God in faith

PRESENCE OF GOD - I recollect myself in the presence of God living in my soul, to learn how to seek Him by the light of faith.

MEDITATION

1. “He that cometh to God, must believe ” (Heb 11,6), says St. Paul, and he gives us this definition of faith: “Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not” (ibid. 11,1). In heaven we shall see God by the light of glory, but on earth we know Him by the light of faith.

We must not base our interior life, our search for God, on sentiment or spiritual consolations, but on an intensive practice of the theological virtues. St. John of the Cross gives this advice to a soul seeking God, “Hear a word full of substance and unapproachable truth: it is that thou seek Him in faith and in love, without desiring to find satisfaction in aught” (SC, 1,11). Therefore, we must learn to seek God without any desire for pleasure, consolation, satisfaction, even though it be purely spiritual; we must learn to walk in the path of “naked faith.” Faith, more than any kind of knowledge or of reasoning, puts the soul into direct contact with God Faith is “the proximate and proportionate means whereby the soul is united with God; for such is the likeness between itself and God, that there is no other difference save that which exists between seeing God and believing in Him” (J.C. AS II, 9,1). Faith places us before God as He is; it does not make us see Him, but it makes us believe in Him, and thus puts our intellect in contact with Him. By means of faith, “ God manifests Himself to the soul in divine light which passes all understanding. And therefore, the greater the faith of the soul, the more closely is it united with God” (ibid.). Faith unites the soul with God, even though it experiences no spiritual consolation; on the contrary, God often deprives the soul of all spiritual consolation that it may exercise itself more in faith and grow in it.

2. “Faith and love are like the guides of the blind which will lead thee by a way which thou knowest not to the hidden place of God” (J.C. SC, 1,11). Faith is an obscure but firm adherence to the divine Word which reveals the supreme greatness of our God, who is so sublime, so omnipotent, but also so good and merciful. Faith says to the Christian soul, “You are the temple of the living God”; and the more lively the soul’s faith, the more it believes Jesus’ words, “ If any one love Me...My Father will love him and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him” (Jn 14,23). By faith the soul believes in the infinite love of God, who deigns to lower Himself to His creature even to making His dwelling within it, inviting it to live in intimate union with Him. “And we have known and have believed the charity which God hath to us” (1 Jn 4,16). This is our great act of faith, by which, although we do not see or experience by our senses, we proceed with the confidence of one who does see. “When the soul finally comes to believe in this ‘ excessive love’ of God, we may say of it what was said of Moses, ‘ For he endured as seeing Him that is invisible ’ (Heb 11,27). “ What does it matter to the soul that is recollected in itself. . . whether it feel or does not feel, whether it be in light or in darkness, in sensible joy or not?” (E.T. JJ, 4). It believes in His love. “ For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him” (2 Tm 1,12). This is the cry of a soul of faith who perseveres in its search for God in spite of darkness and aridity. But to attain such unshakeable faith, we must practice it and pray: “I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief” (Mk 9,23). “ Increase my faith” (Lk 17,5)!

COLLOQUY

O Lord, give me a pure, ardent, strong faith to sustain and guide me in my continual search for You, and to make me adhere to You with perfect confidence although You remain hidden from my sight.

Only by faith can my soul adhere to You, as You really are—infinite, omnipotent, and merciful, unity in Trinity: thus faith presents You to my soul. Faith comprehends You as You are, in Your divinity, Your mysteries, and Your works—all of which it proposes to my belief, so that in faith I find You completely, and in the act of faith, even though I do not see You, I possess You truly. If faith holds You hidden and veiled, if it permits me to see You only “through a glass in a dark manner” (1 Cor 13,12), I am certain, however, that it does not deceive me; it proposes You to me as You have revealed Yourself. How shall I not believe, Lord, in Your word, since You have spoken to us not only by the mouths of the prophets, but by the mouth of Jesus, Your Incarnate Word?

Even if faith presents mysteries and wonders to believe which my poor mind cannot understand, I shall not be bewildered. What mystery is greater than that of Your infinite charity which has loved me from all eternity, created me by an act of love, redeemed me by the Blood of Your Son, and made my poor soul the temple of the Most Holy Trinity? “ On Your word alone, I believe with full certitude. I believe everything the Son of God has said; there is nothing more true than the Word of Truth” (St. Thomas).

“O God, far from being astonished by Your works, they are for me but one more reason for praising You. The more difficult they are to understand, the more they arouse devotion in me; and the greater they are, the greater is the devotion.... So the less of a natural foundation these truths of the faith have, the more firmly I hold them and the greater is the devotion they inspire in me. Since You are almighty, I accept all the wondrous works which You have done as most certain, and in this respect I have never harbored a doubt” (T.J. Life, 28 — 19).

I want to seek You, O God, in this ardent faith, and cling to You always, even if such faith is “naked” and stripped of every consolation. “ Nothing shall affright me, neither wind nor rain; and should impenetrable clouds come, O Jesus, to conceal You from my eyes, I shall not change my place, knowing that beyond the dark clouds the sun of Your love is still shining and that its splendor cannot be eclipsed for a single instant” (T.C.J. St, 13).