WALKING ON THE WATER
Many believers today feel the stormy weather, abandoned in the midst of crisis and general confusion. The pillars on which they traditionally supported their faith have been violently uprooted. The Church’s authority, the Pope’s infallibility, the Bishops’ magisterium can no longer sustain them in their religious convictions. A new and unsettling language has reached their ears, creating unease and confusion, things never before known by them. The ‘lack of agreement’ between priests and even among the very bishops has plunged them into disorder.
So many ask themselves with greater or lesser sincerity: what ought we believe? To whom should we listen? What dogmas must be accepted? What morality should be followed? And there are many who can’t respond to these questions with the certainty of past times, and they feel the sensation of «losing their faith».
However we mustn’t ever confuse faith with the mere theoretic affirmation of some truth or principles. Certainly faith implies a vision of life and a peculiar conception of humanity, our task and our ultimate destiny. But to be a believer is something more profound and radical. And it consists above all in a trusting openness to Jesus Christ as the final meaning of our life, the definitive criterion of our love for each other, and the last hope of our future.
That’s why you can be a true believer and not feel capable of formulating with certainty some determined aspect of the Christian conception of life. And you can also affirm with absolute surety the many Christian dogmas and not live given to God in the attitude of faith.
Matthew has described the true faith when he presents Peter, who «was walking on the water» coming close to Jesus. That’s belief. Walking on the water and not on firm ground. Supporting our existence in God and not in our own reasoning, arguments and definitions. Living supported not by our security, but by our trust in God.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
