Posted on 09/15/2017 7:55:32 AM PDT by Salvation
As human beings we are very visual; there is a certain demand of our flesh to see on its own terms. But of course God, who is pure spirit, will not be seen in this way.
How can the human eye perceive what is spiritual? It is not designed to do so. We cannot see God as God any more than we should expect to be able to see justice sitting down to lunch with humility. These are not physical concepts; they are metaphysical ones. We may see evidence of their existence, but we do not see them physically—so also with God. We see a lot of evidence of His existence, but we do not see Him with our earthly eyes.
There is a well-known (but inaccurate) saying, “Seeing is believing.” Actually it is not; seeing is only seeing. When we see things physically, one of two things happens, either of which eliminates the existence of any sort of faith:
In either case, faith (human or supernatural) is set aside when we see something with our earthly eyes.
Therefore, as Scripture insists over and over again, faith is not a matter of seeing in a physical way.
St. Thomas Aquinas says, Faith is a habit of the mind whereby eternal life is begun in us, making the intellect assent to what is non-apparent (Summa Theologica IIa IIae 4 ad 1).
Therefore, faith is not about what is seen with our earthly eyes. It comes from hearing—hearing the Word of God.
That said, faith is a way of knowing and thus also a way of “seeing,” but more in the intellectual sense, such as when we say, “Oh! Now I see” when we grasp a point intellectually. Although we know and “see” by faith, spiritual theologians such as St. John of the Cross remind us that the seeing and knowing by faith is “obscure.”
Usually we think of the word “obscure” with a slightly negative connotation. If something is obscure, it is tricky or hard to figure out; we look for something to illumine the darkness, to scatter the obscurity.
Not so fast. Consider the deeply paradoxical notion that the darkness, the obscurity, actually helps us to see better! Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange explains it this way:
Obscure faith enlightens us somewhat like the night, which though surrounding us with shadows, allows us to see the stars, and by them, the depths of the firmament. … That we may see the stars, the sun must hide, night must begin. Amazingly, in the obscurity of the night we see to a far greater distance than in the day; we see even the distant stars which reveal to us the immense expanse of the heavens. … [And so] faith, although obscure, opens up to us the supernatural world and its infinite depths: the Kingdom of God, His inner life, which we shall see unveiled and clearly in eternity (The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Tan Publications Vol 1, p. 361).
In the darkness we see farther and deeper into space. Sunlight is precious, but it envelops us; it closes us in a much smaller world. We see better what is near; what is farther off and higher up is lost to us. From the perspective of our physical senses, faith is a “dark” knowing or seeing. By it, we see farther and higher, longer and deeper.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange continues,
Faith is obscure but it illumines our intellect … in a way very superior to the senses and to reason. … What is evident for our senses is sensible, not spiritual; therefore, it is not God himself. … Now faith makes us attain here on earth the inner life of God in the penumbra, in obscurity. Consequently, a man who preferred visions to infused faith would deceive himself … for he would prefer what is superficial and exterior, and what is accessible to our faculties, to what surpasses them. He would prefer figures to the divine reality (Ibid).
Therefore, we must be wary of the strong demand of our flesh to see on its own terms. Our earthly eyes cannot see God on the terms that our flesh demands. He is just too immanent, too transcendent, for that. Our eyes see what physically exists but not Existence Himself. If we yield to this demand of our flesh we are going to limit our world immensely. We will certainly see worldly and physical things well, but we will miss the greater portion of reality: the Kingdom of God and God Himself!
Welcome to the modern world; a small world increasingly closed in on itself; a world no longer enchanted and charged with mystery; a world that demands to see only in physical terms, preferring what is superficial and exterior, preferring the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
Ponder the great paradox of the “darkness” and “obscurity” of faith. In the humility of accepting the darkness, we see farther, higher, deeper, and longer. Jesus is the Light of the world, but we see Him in the “darkness” of faith; we understand Him most clearly not by the false light of this world, but by faith. Faith is obscure to our senses, but understood by our souls as a necessary condition to loving Him as our true and only Light.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Would it be so awful if He visited us every couple of generations, to let even the most benighted of us know that He’s about, and we should behave accordingly?
Please read the Book of Exodus again. YHWH was with the Israelites EVERY SINGLE DAY, and they still transgressed against Him!
Anyway, you get your wish! Jesus is coming next week! Make sure you have extra oil for your lamp!
When we walk by faith and not by sight, we ‘see’ Him in so many ways!!! Answered prayers, miracles, good outcome stories of health where no cure was expected, the contact of a friend we are thinking of, etc....!!!
We don’t have TV reception and haven’t for the past 3 years. I miss watching The 700 Club daily. I loved that hour where I could be centered on Jesus and what He is doing in His world!!!...as well as how to focus differently on ‘the news’. It really gave me many more thoughts on how Jesus is really working through His people to help bring more to Him and how that should be our goal in life.
Be still and know that I AM God! It works!!!
Be blessed!
I think that’s what the rich man wanted from Lazarus
I think that’s what the rich man wanted from Lazarus Oh, and it’s not a visit. He’s here 24/7.
But would it be so bad, that was my question. I can see the upside.
Mathew 24:36.
BTW, the NT confirms the OT.
Amen and THANKS be to God.
They are appointed feasts! Every one of them has a definite date.
Yet the Jewish High Holy Days begin at sundown Tuesday night next week.
No the year 5778 begins at sundown, in Jerusalem, on September 21, 2017. That is a Thursday. Sundown is at 6:37 PM. The twinkling of an eye is at some indeterminate time during the twilight.
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