Light, energy, that radiation by which we see, feel warmth, the life giving sunlight, all that we know seems to come through light. We use a word of light to describe someone who soars above the rest of humanity, who is freed, who is so full he shines with wisdom and compassion: enlightenment. In today's mass reading from Revelation God is described as stunning light, brilliant colours, that which we see shining but defies description.
Definitely not an old man with a beard looking down from the clouds.
The Christ is our en-light-ened being, that is, flesh shining, a man brilliant, God revealed on Earth. The Jesuits of Ireland describe this accurately in their homily today:
It is important for us now and again to be reminded of the utter transcendence of God.
Too often we reduce God to human terms and we can even identify the humanity of Christ with his divinity. But Jesus in his human nature gives us only the faintest idea of the reality of God in himself. What Jesus gives us in the Gospel is of priceless value because it tells us truths about God we might never have found for ourselves but what Jesus revealed to us was only a faint image of the whole God.
That is why when we have some experience in praying we find that the only thing we can do is to sit silent and motionless in a Presence that takes over our lives completely. Rather than trying to manipulate God to our own desires, we surrender to Him completely. As they say, “We let go and we let God.” (http://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/O2334R/)
Though we might never "see" God, we can know him, speak with him, be comforted by his presence and trust in that which we cannot see as an infinite source of love, compassion, grace and mercy. And for me this is the meaning of 'faith'.
Definitely not an old man with a beard looking down from the clouds.
The Christ is our en-light-ened being, that is, flesh shining, a man brilliant, God revealed on Earth. The Jesuits of Ireland describe this accurately in their homily today:
It is important for us now and again to be reminded of the utter transcendence of God.
Too often we reduce God to human terms and we can even identify the humanity of Christ with his divinity. But Jesus in his human nature gives us only the faintest idea of the reality of God in himself. What Jesus gives us in the Gospel is of priceless value because it tells us truths about God we might never have found for ourselves but what Jesus revealed to us was only a faint image of the whole God.
That is why when we have some experience in praying we find that the only thing we can do is to sit silent and motionless in a Presence that takes over our lives completely. Rather than trying to manipulate God to our own desires, we surrender to Him completely. As they say, “We let go and we let God.” (http://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/O2334R/)
Though we might never "see" God, we can know him, speak with him, be comforted by his presence and trust in that which we cannot see as an infinite source of love, compassion, grace and mercy. And for me this is the meaning of 'faith'.
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