The Mist of Faith
Pope Benedict XVI declared the Year of Faith to begin this Thursday, October 11th. Our Visitandine contribution will be to focus on the Salesian perspective of faith, guided by our Saints, St Francis de Sales, St Jane de Chantal, St Margaret Mary and the Founder of the Oblates, Bl. Louis Brisson.
St. Francis de Sales chose to illuminate faith from the depths of our interior life, when he states in the Treatise on the Love of God, (Book 2 Chapter 14) about the deep intimacy God has with us in our faith lives:
“When God gives us faith he enters into our soul and speaks to our spirit, not by manner of discourse, but by way of inspiration, proposing in so sweet a manner unto the understanding that which ought to be believed, that the will receives therefrom a great complacency, so great indeed that it moves the understanding to consent and yield to truth without any doubt or distrust, and here lies the marvel: for God proposes the mysteries of faith to our souls amidst obscurities and darkness, in such sort that we do not see the truths but we only half-see them.
It is like what happens sometimes when the face of the earth is covered with mist so that we cannot see the sun, but only see a little more brightness in the direction where it is. Then, as one would say, we see it without seeing it; because on the one hand we see it not so well that we can truly say we see it, yet again we see it not so little that we can say we do not see it; and this is what we call half-seeing. And yet, when this obscure light of faith has entered our spirit, not by force of reasoning or show of argument, but solely by the sweetness of its presence, it makes the understanding believe and obey it with so much authority that the certitude it gives us of the truth surpasses all other certitudes, and keeps the understanding and all its workings in such subjection that they get no hearing in comparison with it”.
Think about it:
According to St. Francis de Sales, God Himself personally delivers faith to our soul. Faith therefore, already reveals deep intimacy with God. It is His gift to us and with it he also gives His very self, entering our souls with the gift of faith. He communicates, speaks to us, through our own faculties, through the Holy Spirit, in inspirations with tenderness and sweetness in fullest capacity as it is from God our Creator himself.
St. Francis de Sales associates pleasant and attractive sentiments with faith. The effect of God’s entrance into our souls with this gift of faith creates a spiritual ambience, an environment of great sweetness, and docility to the gift, influencing our understanding and our will, penetrating these faculties and enhancing their receptivity to the gift of faith.
Yet faith remains fully itself, expressed so poetically by St. Francis in his images of obscurity, cloudiness, fog or a gentle mist, because we do not yet clearly see, but are prompted to believe.
Just picture that: faith is like a mist, a cloudy morning driving to work, or a jaunt in the mountain or valley regions when the fog rolls in. Is it not true that faith is like that? We understand, we believe yet we don’t always see each point clearly. So we “take it on faith” we believe it is so, that something is there, a dogma is true, even if we don’t see it or fully understand it.
In this passage of St Francis de Sales, the mind seems to second the experience of faith, as faith’s union with our inner spirit is enacted through the ambience of its feeling, its sweetness and it is that that brings us to consent to that faith with certitude, with surety, with belief, with our own personal YES. Yes I believe!
Argument cannot compete with experience and the experience of faith is so much part of our own inner being and uniqueness, so united with our own essence as a person that nothing can take it away from us, especially arguments or conversation. This reality is an anchor for us to grasp as we are challenged by others on faith issues.
Faith is reality because it is God’s actual presence in our soul, so unshakable faith clings to a reality that the mere eye cannot see. Faith is rooted in the depths of the soul, grounded in the only REALITY that ultimately remains–GOD; therefore it is unshakable.
Reflection/sharing:
St. Francis de Sales highlights the sweet experience of God in our souls as a harbinger of faith.
What is my experience of coming to faith; of retaining faith, of hoping for greater faith?
Which insights of St Francis de Sales are new for me and how do they expand my understanding of faith? How does his approach affect my faith?
How does this experience change our attitude, outlook, and approach to others throughout the normal course of our day?
How does St. Francis’ explanation square with the image of Jesus in the Gospels – sometimes meek, sometimes harsh?
Would reading Scripture – the Gospels in particular – help in my reaching the experience St. Francis describes?
How would studying the faith – the Catechism of the Catholic Church – broaden this experience?
After reading this, how do I thus respond to others who demand scientific evidence of God’s presence, or who just say they don’t experience it and cannot relate to it?