Faith is not a means but an end,
and your formal refusal of it comes only from a lack of humility. You are refusing the most powerful help that
can be given! All the same, I understand
this very well, because I used to have the same reactions. We do not want to see. We need to take only a little step, but it
means leaving behind bitterness and pride and surrendering to the will of the
One who can do everything. You
especially… who are so unhappy and so alone!
“Come to me, all you who labour
and are burdened, and I will give you rest…”
What more do we want? What are we
chasing after, if not relief from our misery?
O Creator, have pity on your creatures.
Consider that we do not understand ourselves, that we do not know what
we want, that we have no idea what we are asking for. Lord, give us light.
How hard it is to love someone
who does not love you, to open to someone who does not knock, to give health to
someone who enjoys being sick and cultivates illness! “Have pity on those who
have no pity for themselves!”…
You see, when I did not believe,
I imagined that faith was merely autosuggestion, and that a person could come
to belief simply by saying “I believe”.
My reasoning was based on my feeling that understanding was impossible,
and on the contradictions I thought I had observed. I was sure that this reasoning was logical
and true and so it strengthened my conviction that God did not exist.
Now, I no longer understand how I
ever managed not to believe. It all
seems so far away. The most judicious
reasoning and deductions, which used to attract me, now seem vain and above all
“highly Improbable!”
Because of this, I can see that
faith is truly a gift of God. One
believes with the heart, without knowing why or even seeking to know. The intimate certitude that fills one is
enough. Of all things, love is the most
powerful.
Jaques Fesch ( + 1957) was a murderer who experienced a profound conversion before his execution in a French prison.
No comments:
Post a Comment