Reflection
Seekers are people of faith even if they do not belong to a particular religion. Faith in this sense is deeper than one’s belief system. Belief systems belong to the level of pluralism; faith to the level of unity. Faith is constitutive of human nature itself. It is openness to Ultimate Mystery before it is broken down into various belief systems. It is the acceptance of authentic living with all its creativity and the acceptance of dying with its potential for a greater fullness of life.
Thomas Keating
Prayer
Blessed are those who have not seen but have believed.
John 20:29
Action
How broad is your faith? Is it open to Ultimate Mystery? Do old belief systems limit your concept of God? How do you define your faith? Is it a strength or a source of discomfort?
Suggested Reading
Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?
Matthew 8:26
From my point of view, God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us.
Pope Francis
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Thomas Aquinas
Faith is about reverencing precisely what we do not understand—the mystery of the Life Force that generates life for us all. It is about grounding ourselves in a universe so intelligent, so logical, so clearly loving that only a God in love with life could possibly account for it completely.
Joan Chittister
Believing is not seeing. As much as anyone, I imagine, I walk in the shadows of faith.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
When you are confronted by evidence that the faith in which you were brought up no longer provides an adequate explanation for the nature, meaning and purpose of your life, you have three choices. You can refuse to accept the evidence and continue as before. You can abandon the faith you grew up with, because it has proved to be inadequate. Or, third, you can accept the new knowledge and use it to develop a more mature understanding of what lies at the core of your beliefs.
Diarmuid O’Murchu
Our faith ought to be capable of filling our hearts with a wonder and a wisdom which see beyond the surface of things and events, and grasp something of the inner and “sacred” meaning of the cosmos which, in all its movements and all its aspects, sings the praises of its Creator and Redeemer.
Ilia Delio
Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.
Khalil Gibran