|
Regarding faith, the late Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, of Mexico, writes: The obscurity of faith, to be sure, does not accommodate itself to our sensible tastes. We would desire, above all else, to feel; and faith is not for feeling and savoring, but for knowing (Secrets of the Interior Life).
What is this obscurity of faith? First, let us look at possibly the most-quoted biblical passage on faith: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11.1, AV). "Substance" refers to the essential being of a thing, while "evidence" refers to proof or conviction about something. Therefore, we can render Hebrews 11.1: Trust in the Divine Presence is the essential existence already of what is hoped for and the certainty now of what is unknown to the senses.
Love is the fount of all virtues, so of faith. Says monk and theologian, Maximus the Confessor (b. c. 580): ... Love gives faith the reality of what it believes and hope the presence of what it hopes for, and the enjoyment of what is present (mycopticchurch.com).
Christian faith, then, is only made present through the exercise of agape, or spiritual Love. The Love births trust in mysteries of the Christian Way, for faith pertains, then, not to sensible evidences but a mystery of conviction arising out of relationship with That Something that is Mystery. Ultimately, therefore, for like produces like, the Mystery of God issues in the mystery of all the Christian virtues, including faith. As one draws closer to God-as-God and away from attachment to ideas and images of this Godhead, the person draws closer to Mystery; consequently, the embodiment of the virtues of Christian life becomes more mysterious, more obscure, more like to God-as-Mystery~thus, more godly.
The obscurity of faith, then, is a contemplative grace that makes present the knowing that is an inward certainty unattainable by the senses and human reason. The emergence of spiritual faith is through a passive purgation of reasonable faith, which itself arises from a direct relationship with Grace (thus, contemplation), unmediated and, consequently, spiritual in the most true sense of the word.
The anomaly, therefore, is that a dark faith is the most enlightened faith. Why? In unitive contemplation, whereby the spirit is loved and graced directly by the Mystery of Love, a certainty is given that surpasses the mediated means that pertain to body and mind, each with its inability to encompass unmediated Presence with the accompanying direct-impartation of graces.
Faith, in contemplation, is simply the communication of the Mystery of God by the Mystery of God, for true, spiritual faith is of the same substance as God in Wholeness and Simplicity. The more, therefore, one receives of God by God, the more he or she receives of this mystical faith.
Now, back to Love, the fount of this mystical faith. The more a person loves another creature, the more the person allows for the mystery of the recipient of his or her love. Not only does one allow, one rejoices in and is in awe of the mystery of that other. So, with the Divine. Love is linked in our union with Divine Presence in a like manner to our relationship with any creature.
Faith, then, can be seen as the active turning toward God, and this turning is the fruit of Love and issues in Love. And this turning to Only-God, from perception of God, is the spiritual contemplation:
Be it known to all manner of people in this wretched dwelling place of exile abiding, that no man may be imbued with love of endless life, nor be anointed with heavenly sweetness, unless he truly be turned to God. It behoves truly he be turned to Him, and from all earthly things be altogether turned in mind, before he may be expert in the sweetness of God’s love, even in little things. Soothly by ordinate love is this turning done; so that he loves that that is worthy to be loved, and loves not that that is not worthy to be loved; and that he burn more in love of those things that are most worthy, and less in them that are less worthy.
*Richard Rolle (b. 1290). Fire of Love. Trans. and Ed. Richard Misyn. 1920 Ed.
So, in the Simplicity of God there is no difference between any of the virtues, including love and faith. In God imparting God-Self, in gracing, Grace, which is God, divides into the graces, and this is godliness. We can, hence, in contemplation, know in directness of communication of God by God faith as love and love as faith, and the two as God and one with all in Who is God-as-God.
* * *
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, and their fish, Hope, in Southwest Florida. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper, increasingly-fulfilling relationship with the Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and the renewal of the focus on the Church toward prioritizing seeking to meet the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with diverse spiritual traditions.
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
Continued... |
