{"id":2538,"date":"2018-05-31T07:22:22","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T11:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2018-05-31T07:23:29","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T11:23:29","slug":"seeing-with-the-eyes-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/seeing-with-the-eyes-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing With the Eyes of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u00a0 At the Annunciation, Mary found out she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus.\u00a0 Mary’s reaction is not one of pride<\/a>.\u00a0 She does not begin to brag that she has been chosen as Jesus’ mother.\u00a0 She does not expect people to wait on her as the mother of Jesus.\u00a0 Rather, hearing that her relative Elizabeth has also conceived by the grace of God, Mary goes to visit Elizabeth to share their joy at the life in their womb.<\/p>\n

As soon as Elizabeth hear’s Mary’s greeting<\/a>, the infant in her womb, John the Baptist, leaped for joy, and she cried out, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.\u00a0 And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?<\/em>”\u00a0 Elizabeth, “filled with the Holy Spirit<\/em>,” recognizes the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb.<\/p>\n

This is only possible by the grace of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Remember, Mary had only recently become pregnant.\u00a0 She probably wasn’t even “showing” yet but even if she was, there would have been no way for Elizabeth to know that it was the Messiah in her womb except by faith.\u00a0 Likewise, John, who leaped in his mother Elizabeth’s womb, could not see Mary with human eyes but also reacted with great joy at the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb.<\/p>\n

Do we recognize God’s presence in the things we do?\u00a0 We call the Bible God’s Word but when we listen to the readings, do we treat it as such?\u00a0 Are the stories just nice stories or do we see the stories as telling us about God’s love for his people, his love for us?\u00a0 When we listen to the words of the prophets, do we hear the words only as wise words or do we hear them as God speaking to us?<\/p>\n

Do we recognize God’s revelation to us?<\/p>\n

I have been reading\u00a0A History of Apologetics<\/em>\u00a0by Cardinal Dulles.\u00a0 In it he traces how the Church has carried out the work of Apologetics (defense of the faith) in different ages since the time of the early Church.\u00a0 One of the frequent topics is the quest of faith and reason.\u00a0 Do we believe only because of faith?\u00a0 What place does reason have in our faith?\u00a0 The importance given to reason changes in different time periods.\u00a0 In the end, I believe reason is always important to help us understand our faith but ultimately faith is a gift.<\/p>\n

To illustrate this, let me go back to the fact that from his mother Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist recognized the presence of Jesus in Mary’s womb.\u00a0\u00a0There is no way this could happen by human sight<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 He was in Elizabeth’s womb.\u00a0 He could not see Mary.\u00a0 John recognized the presence of Jesus because the Holy Spirit revealed it to him.<\/p>\n

We receive Jesus in the Eucharist.\u00a0 Even after the consecration, it still looks like bread and wine.\u00a0 In human terms (reason alone), there is no way to know it is Jesus.\u00a0 We know it is Jesus because he chooses to reveal<\/em> it to us in his words at the Last Supper when he says “This is my body…This is the my blood of the covenant<\/em>.”\u00a0 Jesus,\u00a0<\/strong>th<\/strong>ank you for revealing this to us and thank you for the gift of the Eucharist.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.\u00a0 At the Annunciation, Mary found out she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus.\u00a0 Mary’s reaction is not one of pride.\u00a0 She does not begin to brag that she has been chosen as Jesus’ mother.\u00a0 She does not expect people …<\/p>\n

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