Fait

The one who is to be baptised is asked, “What apply?” And the answer is, “Faith!” “And what will faith give you?” “Eternal life.” Our Cyril and Methodius Mass song nicely sums up the need for faith in these apt words: “Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6); the rose of virtue it flourishes by faith, faith opens the gate of paradise, and by faith God comes to the heart.” In the gospel, we still read how Christ, the Lord, demanded faith from everyone who approached him. Faith is required as a condition for the healing of the sick: when Jesus saw their faith, he told the paralysed… (Mk 2, 5). Daughter, your faith has healed you (Mark 5:34); this statement is spoken to a woman with a flow of blood. He touches the eyes of two blind people. Jesus said, “Let it be done to you as you have believed” (Mt 9.29). If Jesus asked for faith from all people, so much more he demanded of the apostles. He forgave them everything except their lack of confidence. We do not know how the words sounded in the original language, but the translation of this remorse seems extremely harsh: An unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? Until you should, I still suffer? (Mk 9:19). You don’t even have faith (Mk 4:40). Where is your faith? (Luke 8:25). When St Peter went to the lake on the water to Christ and began to dive, he did not hear the encouragement but the reproach: Painter, why did you doubt it (Mt 14:31)? Spreading to the whole world ends with an essential programmatic statement: Go to the entire world and preach the gospel to all creation. Who will believe and be baptised will be saved; but he that believes not shall be condemned (Mark 16:15-16). The excerpt from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians – the light of reason and God’s enlightenment now (1 Cor 13) is called the “Song of Love” of the New Testament. The eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews could be called a “song of faith”. “When we believe we have it what we hope, faith gives us a firm conviction about things we don’t see. Our ancestors received praise for them. We know by faith that the world was created by the word of God. By faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice to God as Cain … By faith Abraham listened … »Next, the faith of all the great men of the Old Testament is calculated, and it ends with an exclamation: By faith they conquered kingdoms, administered righteousness, obtained promises, their mouths quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, and became mighty out of the rulers. There were times when faith was taken very seriously. At least that way it might seem from the fact that there were religious wars and that they burnt, imprisoned, and testified to the unbelievers. In reality, however, there was a danger of merging religion with the state system. Today, fortunately, the situation is quite different in most of the world. Democratic states will enjoy religious freedom for all their subjects. The judiciary must then be limited to external acts. Individuals’ intuitive thinking does not fall under the law (de internet con indicate praetor). We must therefore live with high tolerance for different faiths and even for unbelievers. This public tolerance means undoubtedly significant progress in Christian love as well. However, each positive aspect has its shadow side. That’s it manifests itself here as well. People quickly consider important only what the public authorities are dealing with and what the disputes are about. Because the state deals only with external deeds regardless of internal convictions, many have the impression that faith has become something secondary. In reality, however, the B God of the created by Christ (and not identified with the state) is primarily within man and is a kingdom spirit and truth. So thinking here is more valid than an outward act of thinking. Hitler allegedly said that one action is more than a thousand theories. Perhaps the lowest species can be expressed no more rudely than materialism, which even materialists are ashamed of. In this notion, the only fact is moving hands and feet, building a reality that weighs in kilograms. The activity of the soul, the movement of thought, means nothing more than cigarette smoke. How differently do those who know the soul is immortal and spiritual see it? The pyramids can last for thousands of years. But the soul is eternal. Her thinking, agreement, and disagreement shape its inner form, the form in which it stands before God forever. It is therefore incomparably more important what we think than what we do with our hands. Faith then means adapting human thinking to the truth. It is, as theologians say, the beginning of eternal vision. So far, this knowledge is, according to the apostle Paul, only obscure, as if in a mirror (1 Cor 13:12). Yet here are the essential features of reality that we will one day see face to face: God in three persons, all-penetrating and active in everything. This is characteristically explained by the story of a saint who was told that a miracle had happened: that the blood of the Son of God springs from the Holy Ghost on the altar. Then the saint did not go to the church to look at the miracle, and just said: «I still believe in the presence of the Son of God in the host, what new could I do there see you later! » Visions and miracles, if true, are only a glimpse into a reality we already know from faith. In this sense, Byzantine authors like to explain the meaning of Jesus’ revelation on the hill of Tabor. Peter saw the Light of Reason and God’s Enlightenment eyes, which he had previously professed by faith: ‘Thou art the Christ, Son of the living God’ (Mt 16:16). For a Christian, death is the ultimate entrance to the top of Heavenly Camp. Our eyes will open, and we will see what we believed.