In search for his identity, a salt doll traveled thousands of kilometres until he came across the sea. Fascinated by the sight of something he has never seen before, he asked:
- Who are you?
- I am the sea, it replied.
- I don't understand, how can I know you?
- Come closer and touch me.
And as soon as the salt doll put one foot in the water, it was gone.
-What have you done, you cut off my foot!
-To get to know me, you have to involve yourself, give something of yourself. And the more you give, the more you know me and the more you know yourself.
The salt doll drifted into the sea until a wave swallowed him up and he just had enough time to say, “The sea is me…”
(...) what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life -- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it (...) we declare to you that we have seen and heard, (1John 1:1-3). The testimony may be more or less plausible or credible, but it is always a testimony and not a scientific proof; the recipients, i.e. those who witness it, will never be fully convinced, so accepting, believing, having faith will always be a choice.
It is then, and only then, after you have taken a step into the dark that you see the light, open the door and begin to see, touch and feel, to experience. It is therefore not "seeing is believing" as it is often said, but rather "believing is seeing". Those who see no longer need to believe; but those who believe, those who take the risk of having faith, then somehow experience the confirmation that it was all worth it, that it was not a hoax.
"Fides quaerens intellectum" (faith seeking understanding) St. Anselm used to say or "Credo ut intelligam" (I believe so I may understand). Faith precedes, motivates and seeks knowledge and not the contrary. I believe in order to understand; faith is the gateway to new understanding and a new way of knowing; those who not take this step by choice are barred from knowledge. "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants". (Luke 10:21)
With things, we get to know them and then decide whether or not we like them; with people and with God, it is the opposite, love precedes knowledge: first we love and only after we get to know them, because to love is to be involved with the other; the more love, the more understanding and vice-versa. Anyone who wants to know without making himself known is ill-intentioned. It is against this that the popular song says: Let no one disclose his heart, no matter how great the pain, because whoever discloses his heart is a traitor to himself...
When I was little, after enjoying the liturgies of Holy week, especially with Easter triduum, I became annoyed with the resurrected Jesus; I thought that he should have shown himself alive to Annas and Caiaphas, to Pilate and Herod and to all those who had shouted, “crucify him”, so to expose their error. It was only later that I realized that Jesus only appeared, only revealed himself, to those who loved him, starting with those who loved him most, Mary Magdalene and his disciples.
Faith is the door, the pathway, the process that leads to having an experience of God and also to having an experience with other people; once we have had experience, we no longer need it. Faith is the rocket that overcomes the powerful force of gravity, that is, the reason, and puts us in God’s orbit; once in orbit, it is His gravitational force that moves us and we no longer need the rocket.
That day the master simply said: I do nothing but sit on the bank of the river and sell you water; you buy it because you do not see the river, but the day you see it, you will no longer need to buy it.
The missionary’s preaching awakens faith. Faith puts us on the train that naturally, if we don't derail, takes us to a knowledge of God, in the person of Christ, and to an intimate relationship of love with him. Once here, preaching and faith remain. It is of this experience of having seen and lived with the dead and risen Christ that the apostles proclaim, not about their faith (1 John 1:1-4).
For his part, Karl Rahner says that the Christian of the future is either a mystic or not a Christian. One is not a Christian by having heard the word of Christ or even by practicing his doctrine; one is a Christian when one lives in intimate symbiotic union with Christ to the point of being able to say like St. Paul: "It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me." (Gal. 2:20)
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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