“If the certainty of faith were dependent upon scientific-historical verification alone, it would always remain open to revision.” – Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week
In my most recent column I closed with a quote from St. Thomas how sin impedes faith. Before I go further on that, I will circle back to the virtue of faith. Why? Because this is how, according to St. Thomas, we come to “know” what is referred to as “Real Presence.”
Faith will no doubt mean many things to many people. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is the surest way for people to be on the same page. I will quote a few paragraphs.
CCC 143 says, “By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith.”
Consider how sin and concupiscence affect our intellect and thus impede our faith.
CCC 148: “The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith.”
Some might be tempted to say she was born “full of grace” and didn’t have sin and concupiscence like we do to drag her down. Guess what: So was Adam and Eve and look what happened.
I could quote more. Sometimes our best way to understand what faith is is by the example of others.
In Exodus we read a number of occasions of Pharaoh’s heart hardening. The “heart” is where our “will” resides.
Sometimes Pharaoh is hardening his own heart. This may be attributed to plain obstinance or stubbornness, denying the reality of events. Other times we read how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
Commentators have used an analogy to explain this. Think of God’s grace as being a hot sun. Our heart (our will) has two choices. We can either have a heart of clay that hardens in the heat, which is a lack of faith in God. Or, we can have a heart of butter that melts as our will responds in faith to God.
Second, we read in John 2:23-25, “Now when he (Jesus) was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs (miracles) which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man.”
Strange? They believed in Jesus; Jesus didn’t believe them. CCC 473 says, “The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts.” Translation: He really knows our heart; we are weak and can easily deceive ourselves.
Now I invite you to read John Chapter 9, the “Healing of the Blind Man.” In here you can see faith growing in an individual.
First, note that the man never asks for anything, let alone to be healed. It would be natural to think an expression of faith would be necessary for healing (see Matthew 13:53-58). We don’t know what was in the blind man’s heart, but we should be joyful with the graces God pours out for no obvious reason.
We don’t know when or how he gets to the pool. Perhaps helped by others? Do we help others get to the pool?
After the healing, he appears to others to be a “different” man; people don’t recognize him. We should be different after encountering our Lord.
Unlike the invalid in John Chapter 5, the blind man knows who cured him – Jesus. Note how the blind man responds to queries on who cured him, referring to Jesus as “the man,” just an “ordinary Joe.”
This event would naturally cause a stir among the people, so the Pharisees investigate the healing, and they don’t quite know what to make of it.
The Pharisees ask the man (we never hear his name) what he thinks of Jesus, and he responds, “He is a prophet.”
So, after a period of time and testing, his faith increases, from Jesus being “a (mere) man” to now “a prophet.”
From the text, that answer doesn’t go over well with the interrogators. They don’t believe him. They call him in a second time, telling the man that Jesus is a sinner and to give God the praise.
The man, of course, couldn’t know if Jesus was a sinner, but he does know that he was blind and now can see. In his dialogue with the Pharisees, you can sense he’s being tested and doesn’t care for it. He thinks the evidence (sign) speaks for itself.
The exchange gets heated. The man, again using his intellect (expressing faith?), says, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing (verses 31-33).”
The man gets “cast out.” Consider Luke 6:22, “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!” Are you willing to be “cast out” for your faith?
Verses 35-38: “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe;’ and he worshiped him.”
We see the blind man’s faith journey going from knowing who healed him (Jesus), identifying Jesus as “the man” to “prophet” to “from God” to “God.” He experienced pressure and persecution, yet he both persevered and increased in faith. He was open to God’s grace.
“Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” – James 1:2-4
