The Reality of Faith

I dare to think that all people who call themselves religious, or spiritual, in some sense believe that there is more to life, to reality, when that life and reality seem utterly meaningless. In regards to this issue, I believe that what is unique to Christianity, is that that belief is made concrete in Jesus Christ. He was humiliated, tortured, and killed, as have been many throughout the world, and throughout history. Yet, death was not the end. On the third day, when all hope had been lost, he resurrected from the dead. In dying he offered his life, so that we all may have life. Neither, humiliation, torture, death, (and these can be psychological, and spiritual, as well as physical) are the end. He who was from the beginning became one like us, endured the evil of this world to the end, and yet he came out of it victorious in His resurrection. His suffering was real, and so was his death. But even more real is His resurrection. In it, He wants us all to partake of His life. The most commonly used phrase of St. Augustine is the line from the confessions “You have created us for yourself Oh God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” What comfort is there in resting in Jesus! In knowing that all the questions that torment us in life are not the end if we cast ourselves upon him.

Faith then is not “believing something you know to be false” or merely believing something you cannot prove, but it is casting of your whole self on Him in spite of disease, a world who appears hostile, and a universe that seems impervious to us.

“Without faith there is no hope, without hope there is no strength, no fortitude to continue fighting. Faith is everything; it's what gives meaning, especially faith in Christ.” These words sound wonderful, and yet, one may still doubt, and think that they are fantasies of a theologian disconnected from the real world. But these words are the words of Ingrid Betancourt in an interview after she was rescued. She was a presidential candidate in Colombia who was kidnapped in 2002, and had to endure years of separation from her family in horrible conditions in the jungle for 6 years. I have written what I wrote in the previous two paragraphs inspired by her words.

Carlos J. Medina