EXPERIENCING GOD THROUGH FAITH

EXPERIENCING GOD THROUGH FAITH
a journey for a practical atheist

We can live our daily lives indifferent to God, even if we believe He exists. Many nominal, non-practicing Catholics probably fall under this category; or even those who simply go through the motions of Catholic life, but without a serious desire to grow in one's relationship with God. Or again even those who say they believe in a higher power but profess no RELIGION whatsoever. This practical atheism, so common in our secular world today, may be due to many factors. One obvious reason, aside from the lure of the world, is perhaps the fact that we do not see God or experience Him the way we experience the material world. At the outset we may then say that the only way to experience God is through the virtue of SUPERNATURAL, LIVING FAITH.

But how do we arrive at such a faith? First we must acknowledge that faith is a gift offered to all. That some have no faith is not because God doesn't give them, but that the Word has not been preached to them (yet), or that they simply refuse the gift. Faith, (to believe), is a free human act. We may take it up, or opt for lesser aims and fulfillments in life.

Nevertheless, by reason alone we can all arrive at natural faith, which, if pursued, will lead to ‘saving’, supernatural faith. Merely reflecting on our “personal” existence will surely lead us to the existence of a loving and personal Creator. “With our openness to truth and beauty, our sense of moral goodness, our freedom and the voice of our conscience, with our longings for the infinite and for happiness, we question ourselves about God's existence. In all this we discern signs of our spiritual soul. The soul, the seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material, can have its origin only in God.” (CCC #33).

We may also marvel at how our hearts beat 24/7 without a battery or solar power, pointing to the presence of a spiritual soul activating the heart, which can only come from an Almighty Creator. Then we recognize within our hearts that undeniable longing for infinite happiness which only the Creator could have put in it, and which He alone can satisfy. This is the only reasonable meaning of our existence– we come from God (origin) and ought to return to God (destiny). Hence our very real experience of our spiritual soul is the very pathway to experiencing God, the Infinitely Perfect Spirit, Who is the Blessed Trinity.

Now the good news is that the God to whom our reason has led us revealed Himself historically, the climax of which is His full self-revelation in Jesus Christ, the God-Man. The INVISIBLE GOD became visible, for “in His (Christ's) body dwells the fullness of divinity” (Col 2:9). We also have all the external signs or proofs of the credibility of God's Self-Revelation: “the fulfillment in Jesus of the prophecies of the Old Testament; his holiness, miracles, and prophecies; the excellence of His Doctrine; the marvelous effects of His Doctrine in the world; the astonishing conversion of so many Nations to Christianity; the testimony of countless martyrs; the heroic virtues and miracles of many Saints; the astounding preservation of the Church, in spite of endless attempts to destroy it from within and without.” (from CREDO, by Bp Schneider) All these show the reasonableness of our obedience of faith. “The proofs for the truth of our holy faith are so clear that, as Pico of Mirandola says, a man must be wholly bereft of REASON to refuse them credence” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).

Moreover, God who revealed Himself in Jesus established His Church and structured it institutionally, endowed with human leadership, to which he gave power and authority to teach, govern, and sanctify. Thus Jesus, who ascended back to the Father, now acts through His Church, the custodian and dispenser of the Sacraments, by which we encounter God in Jesus. And through all these God offers us the ONLY satisfactory meaning to our lives, that is, a chance to share in His divine life now (by grace), leading to our full divinization and eternal happiness with Him in Heaven at our physical resurrection on the Last Day.

Through all these we now see that the invisible God who became visible in Jesus, the INCARNATE Word, now remains ‘visible’ sacramentally through His Church and Sacraments, especially in His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist.

As we yield to God's attraction (through our heart's desire for meaning) we begin to develop that INSTINCT of faith. We begin to see God speaking to us in all directions– in the world around us, in the events of our daily life, in our loving encounters with friends and family, in His Church and Sacraments– personal encounters with Him. He becomes the ATMOSPHERE in which we breathe. For “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We begin to experience God as a loving Father who guides and protects us, because He loves us and wants the best for us. We will never feel lost or alone again. Then we are moved to love Him in return and love others in Him.

This does not mean we will have an extraordinary and dramatic experience, at least not usually, although such is always possible. Still with or without such consolations we persevere in our faith. Moreover, having responded to God's self revelation by an act of total surrender, while striving to persevere in well-doing, we begin to experience deep peace and joy, even amidst trials and sufferings, because we look at the Cross of Christ in whom we find meaning in all our afflictions. This peace of soul coming from a clear conscience, this deep joy amidst tribulations, this vibrant hope even in desolation, all these are an experience of the invisible God IN FAITH. Truly we walk by faith, not by sight. “Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen” (Heb 11:1).

Thus if we find ourselves indifferent to God we can at least start from reason, which will surely lead us to the truth of His revelation. With an open heart and mind we will eventually be convinced of God's Truth. God will surely meet us where we are and build us up. For we know that if we seek God He seeks us all the more.

Or if we find ourselves a lukewarm Catholic, with no appetite for things spiritual, experiencing dryness, we can start with even a half-heartedly said prayer: ‘Come, Holy Ghost’, or ‘O My God, increase my faith’.

And for so many of us desirous on the path to holiness, it is well to be reminded of that constant disposition of “recollection of spirit”, or the constant union of the soul with God, aided by solitude, silence, and a lively sense of God's presence. For a “recollected” heart is most conducive to prayer– that habitual raising of our mind and heart to God in the midst of all our daily activities, leading to a deep constant communion of our soul with God. A soul constantly united to God will more and more experience Him deeply yet serenely. Our whole life then becomes a prayer, a communion with God, again even without consolations. We simply persevere in faith.

Let us also be challenged by St.Teresa: “Tear your heart away from everything else; then seek God and you will surely find Him.” “If a crystal vase is filled with earth, the rays of the sun cannot penetrate it. The light of God cannot illumine a heart that is full of attachments to the joys, the pleasures and the honors of this world.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori).

May we all intercede for one other's on-going conversion, and that of our loved ones.