Tuesday 24 April 2007

Faith

Faith is the light of time, it alone recognises truth without seeing it, touches what it cannot feel, looks upon this world as though it did not exist, sees what is not apparent. It is the key to celestial treasures, the key to the unfathomable mystery and knowledge of God. Faith conquers all the fantasy of falsehood; through faith God reveals and manifests Himself, defying all things. Faith removes the veil and uncovers eternal truth. When souls are given the understanding of faith, God speaks to them through all creation, and the universe becomes for them a living testimony which the finger of God continually traces before their eyes, the record of every passing moment, a sacred scripture. The sacred books which the Holy Spirit has dictated are only the beginnings of divine guidance for us. Everything that happens is a continuation of the scriptures, expounding for us what has not been written. Faith explains the one through the other. It is an abstraction presenting the vast extent of divine action summarised in the scriptures, in which souls can discover the key to all its mysteries....Faith is only living at its best when sensible appearances contradict and attempt to destroy it.... To find God in the trivial and most ordinary events as in the greatest; is to have not an ordinary, but a great and extraordinary faith....How delightful the peace one enjoys when one has learned by faith to see God in this way through all creatures as through a transparent veil. Darkness becomes light and bitterness sweet....There is nothing that faith does not penetrate and seek out. It passes beyond darkness, and no matter how deep the shadows, it passes through them to the truth which it always finally embraces, and from which it is never separated.

Jean-Pierre de Caussade

1 comment:

Susan said...

What awesomely beautiful thoughts and words. I especially liked:

"Everything that happens is a continuation of the scriptures, expounding for us what has not been written."