Ten Signposts to Faith and Trust
A Reflection
‘Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen.’ Hebrews 11:1
‘Oh man of little faith, why did you doubt?’ Matthew 14:32.
1. The Resurrection Appearances
The four gospel books and the book of Acts make a unique and astounding claim: that a dead man is alive and will live forever. Luke records Peter’s astonishing message: ‘God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that.’ Acts 2:32. There is no doubt Jesus’ tomb was empty, despite being guarded by Roman soldiers: Matthew 27:66. There is no doubt that the Jews in the Sanhedrin could not find Jesus’ body. Otherwise they could have destroyed the threat to their authority from the apostles’ outrageous claims that they and ‘hundreds’ of others saw an dead criminal alive: 1 Corinthians 15:6
2. The World’s Greatest Religion
These resurrection appearances transformed frightened and despairing disciples into evangelists and martyrs, who created a completely new form of worship (the Eucharist) on a new ‘Lord’s Day’ (Sunday), not the Jewish Sabbath. They created Christianity, by far the world’s largest religion, with 2.2 billion followers today. They created the Church, the largest and the oldest organisation in the world; surviving 2,000 years. The Church is the biggest charity in the world.
No man ever, let alone an executed criminal, has left such a massive legacy, transforming billions of lives. As the wise old Pharisee, Gamaliel, observed: ‘If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God.’ Acts 5:38
3. The Miracles
The stories which tell of Jesus’ deeds (‘signs’) and words are surely unique. ‘The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness’ John 10:25. Consider the miracle and healing stories in the gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles. ‘They, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.’ Mark 16:20. Consider the ‘miracles’ that have happened since then in many lives including, for example, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. ‘Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles.’ Psalm 104:5.
4. The Life, Conversion and Epistles of Paul
Consider the astonishing conversion of Paul (Acts 9:1-21), his remarkable life, his travels and his writings, unparalled in literature or theology. Everything flowed from his
encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. ‘Jesus Christ meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience.’ 1 Timothy 1.1
5. The Lives of Saints and Martyrs
Examine the lives of those with faith, dedicated to God and others, saints past and present. Despite hardships, many are happy, unselfconscious, holy people, flowing with serenity and ‘the peace which passes all understanding’ Philippians 4:7. These believers ‘…are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described.’ 1 Peter 1:8. Consider the selflessness of recent saints, such as Mother Teresa or St Maximilian Kolbe, the Franciscan friar who volunteered to die instead of a stranger in Auschwitz. ‘By their fruits you shall know them’ Matthew 7:16. .
6. Life has Meaning
Why is there something, rather than nothing? We humans are wired to believe that life and events are not purely random but have a purpose. Our life has meaning, beyond simply its existence. Faith gives our lives and the universe meaning and purpose. ‘We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.’ Pope Benedict XVI. So life becomes a journey, not just physically (as ‘we blossom and flourish like leaves on a tree, and wither and perish..’),.but spiritually. Life becomes a journey towards holiness and wholeness. Life has meaning. .
7. Suffering has Meaning
Faith gives us, uniquely, a positive interpretation of suffering and death. Without Christian faith, these are simply enemies which defeat us. ‘What grief is there which the grace of the Resurrection does not console?’ St Ambrose. Without Christ, suffering is pointless; death is pointless, death is a disaster. Faith shows us why Christ died: to show us that God shares suffering and death with us: ‘Being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.’ Philippians 2:8. God in Christ showed us that suffering and death are not the end. ‘He offers us the opportunity…that in our sufferings we find inner peace and spiritual joy.’ Pope John Paul II. ‘You could bemoan your fate, you could curse God, you could lash out at others in resentment, or you could see it as a vehicle that will bring you to God.’ Bishop John Barron.
8. The Mystery of Creation
‘The fact that anyone exists at all is so astronomically improbable...The fact that you’re here to live and breathe and enjoy a sunset – what an unbelievably unlikely thing.’ Robert Frank ‘Success and Luck’. ‘The most fundamental reason in favour of postulating an extra-cosmic agency of any kind is surely the need to explain the origin of the universe itself.’ Antony Kenny. The mystery of creation puzzles every generation. ‘Who has set all the ends of the earth firm? What is his name, or the name of his son, if you know it?’ Proverbs 30:5. The psalmist provides a bold answer: ‘The heavens proclaim the glory of God; and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.’ Psalm 18:1. ‘By his word the heavens were made, by the breath of his mouth all the stars...He spoke; and it came to be. He commanded; it sprang into being.’ Psalm 32: 6,9. The New
Testament asserts the same: ‘Through him all things came to be.’ John 1:3. For ‘his everlasting power and deity – however invisible – have been there for the mind to see in the things he has made.’ Romans 1:20. Our very existence, our consciousness and our intelligence point us towards a Creator God. ‘And then once more the quiet mystery is present to me…the mystery that there is anything, anything at all, let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything rather than void: and that, O Lord, Creator, Hallowed One, You still, hour by hour, sustain it.’ Denise Leverton
9. The Nature of God Creator is Love
Our deepest need is to love and be loved. ‘There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.’ Thornton Wilder This conclusion is consistent with Christian faith: ‘Love does not come to an end:’ 1 Corinthians 13:8. The two ‘new’ commandments, to love God and neighbour, put love at the centre of human existence. The way to happiness, fulfilment and peace is seeking to follow Christ’s example of self-giving, rather than pleasure and riches. ‘If we don’t think about God, everything ends up flat, everything ends up about ‘me’ and my comfort. Life, the world, other people, all of these become unreal, they no longer matter, everything boils down to one thing: having…Those who run after nothing become nothing.’ Pope Francis. Christ demonstrates the fundamental nature of the Creator, so that we can ‘begin to move out from our own self, in order to be there for others…Faith is a liberation of my I from its preoccupation with self. Faith is a breaking out of the isolation that is a malady of my I. Faith is a new Yes that becomes possible when we are touched by God. Faith is the finding of a You who upholds me and gives me the promise of an indestructible love.’ Pope Benedict XVI. Selfless love is surely the pinnacle of human nature: ‘He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again’. 2 Corinthians 5:15.
10. Religious Experience Leads to Faith
The world of our experience consists of two parts, objective and subjective. Subjective or mystical experiences of an encounter with God may be a strong foundation for faith. Reason alone is never sufficient: ‘We walk blindly, not knowing where we are, and whither God is leading us. Reason understands nothing of it…When God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son to him…if Abraham had reasoned upon an order apparently so opposed to the law of nature...Abraham would have left the way of faith.’ Fr Jean-Nicolas Grou SJ (1803). St Thomas Aquinas, one of the most brilliant theologians, had a mystical experience and wrote: ‘All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.’ As Cardinal Basil Hume wrote: ‘In ecstasies and agonies his voice is unmistakable to those prepared to listen and look.’
Geoffrey Bignell
23.5.17
A Reflection
‘Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen.’ Hebrews 11:1
‘Oh man of little faith, why did you doubt?’ Matthew 14:32.
1. The Resurrection Appearances
The four gospel books and the book of Acts make a unique and astounding claim: that a dead man is alive and will live forever. Luke records Peter’s astonishing message: ‘God raised this man Jesus to life, and all of us are witnesses to that.’ Acts 2:32. There is no doubt Jesus’ tomb was empty, despite being guarded by Roman soldiers: Matthew 27:66. There is no doubt that the Jews in the Sanhedrin could not find Jesus’ body. Otherwise they could have destroyed the threat to their authority from the apostles’ outrageous claims that they and ‘hundreds’ of others saw an dead criminal alive: 1 Corinthians 15:6
2. The World’s Greatest Religion
These resurrection appearances transformed frightened and despairing disciples into evangelists and martyrs, who created a completely new form of worship (the Eucharist) on a new ‘Lord’s Day’ (Sunday), not the Jewish Sabbath. They created Christianity, by far the world’s largest religion, with 2.2 billion followers today. They created the Church, the largest and the oldest organisation in the world; surviving 2,000 years. The Church is the biggest charity in the world.
No man ever, let alone an executed criminal, has left such a massive legacy, transforming billions of lives. As the wise old Pharisee, Gamaliel, observed: ‘If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God.’ Acts 5:38
3. The Miracles
The stories which tell of Jesus’ deeds (‘signs’) and words are surely unique. ‘The works I do in my Father’s name are my witness’ John 10:25. Consider the miracle and healing stories in the gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles. ‘They, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.’ Mark 16:20. Consider the ‘miracles’ that have happened since then in many lives including, for example, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. ‘Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles.’ Psalm 104:5.
4. The Life, Conversion and Epistles of Paul
Consider the astonishing conversion of Paul (Acts 9:1-21), his remarkable life, his travels and his writings, unparalled in literature or theology. Everything flowed from his
encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. ‘Jesus Christ meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience.’ 1 Timothy 1.1
5. The Lives of Saints and Martyrs
Examine the lives of those with faith, dedicated to God and others, saints past and present. Despite hardships, many are happy, unselfconscious, holy people, flowing with serenity and ‘the peace which passes all understanding’ Philippians 4:7. These believers ‘…are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described.’ 1 Peter 1:8. Consider the selflessness of recent saints, such as Mother Teresa or St Maximilian Kolbe, the Franciscan friar who volunteered to die instead of a stranger in Auschwitz. ‘By their fruits you shall know them’ Matthew 7:16. .
6. Life has Meaning
Why is there something, rather than nothing? We humans are wired to believe that life and events are not purely random but have a purpose. Our life has meaning, beyond simply its existence. Faith gives our lives and the universe meaning and purpose. ‘We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.’ Pope Benedict XVI. So life becomes a journey, not just physically (as ‘we blossom and flourish like leaves on a tree, and wither and perish..’),.but spiritually. Life becomes a journey towards holiness and wholeness. Life has meaning. .
7. Suffering has Meaning
Faith gives us, uniquely, a positive interpretation of suffering and death. Without Christian faith, these are simply enemies which defeat us. ‘What grief is there which the grace of the Resurrection does not console?’ St Ambrose. Without Christ, suffering is pointless; death is pointless, death is a disaster. Faith shows us why Christ died: to show us that God shares suffering and death with us: ‘Being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.’ Philippians 2:8. God in Christ showed us that suffering and death are not the end. ‘He offers us the opportunity…that in our sufferings we find inner peace and spiritual joy.’ Pope John Paul II. ‘You could bemoan your fate, you could curse God, you could lash out at others in resentment, or you could see it as a vehicle that will bring you to God.’ Bishop John Barron.
8. The Mystery of Creation
‘The fact that anyone exists at all is so astronomically improbable...The fact that you’re here to live and breathe and enjoy a sunset – what an unbelievably unlikely thing.’ Robert Frank ‘Success and Luck’. ‘The most fundamental reason in favour of postulating an extra-cosmic agency of any kind is surely the need to explain the origin of the universe itself.’ Antony Kenny. The mystery of creation puzzles every generation. ‘Who has set all the ends of the earth firm? What is his name, or the name of his son, if you know it?’ Proverbs 30:5. The psalmist provides a bold answer: ‘The heavens proclaim the glory of God; and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.’ Psalm 18:1. ‘By his word the heavens were made, by the breath of his mouth all the stars...He spoke; and it came to be. He commanded; it sprang into being.’ Psalm 32: 6,9. The New
Testament asserts the same: ‘Through him all things came to be.’ John 1:3. For ‘his everlasting power and deity – however invisible – have been there for the mind to see in the things he has made.’ Romans 1:20. Our very existence, our consciousness and our intelligence point us towards a Creator God. ‘And then once more the quiet mystery is present to me…the mystery that there is anything, anything at all, let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything rather than void: and that, O Lord, Creator, Hallowed One, You still, hour by hour, sustain it.’ Denise Leverton
9. The Nature of God Creator is Love
Our deepest need is to love and be loved. ‘There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.’ Thornton Wilder This conclusion is consistent with Christian faith: ‘Love does not come to an end:’ 1 Corinthians 13:8. The two ‘new’ commandments, to love God and neighbour, put love at the centre of human existence. The way to happiness, fulfilment and peace is seeking to follow Christ’s example of self-giving, rather than pleasure and riches. ‘If we don’t think about God, everything ends up flat, everything ends up about ‘me’ and my comfort. Life, the world, other people, all of these become unreal, they no longer matter, everything boils down to one thing: having…Those who run after nothing become nothing.’ Pope Francis. Christ demonstrates the fundamental nature of the Creator, so that we can ‘begin to move out from our own self, in order to be there for others…Faith is a liberation of my I from its preoccupation with self. Faith is a breaking out of the isolation that is a malady of my I. Faith is a new Yes that becomes possible when we are touched by God. Faith is the finding of a You who upholds me and gives me the promise of an indestructible love.’ Pope Benedict XVI. Selfless love is surely the pinnacle of human nature: ‘He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again’. 2 Corinthians 5:15.
10. Religious Experience Leads to Faith
The world of our experience consists of two parts, objective and subjective. Subjective or mystical experiences of an encounter with God may be a strong foundation for faith. Reason alone is never sufficient: ‘We walk blindly, not knowing where we are, and whither God is leading us. Reason understands nothing of it…When God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son to him…if Abraham had reasoned upon an order apparently so opposed to the law of nature...Abraham would have left the way of faith.’ Fr Jean-Nicolas Grou SJ (1803). St Thomas Aquinas, one of the most brilliant theologians, had a mystical experience and wrote: ‘All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.’ As Cardinal Basil Hume wrote: ‘In ecstasies and agonies his voice is unmistakable to those prepared to listen and look.’
Geoffrey Bignell
23.5.17
