"Pizzaonia Emerging" Courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Museum, Abe Straction, curator
Faith – a continuing discussion:
Recently, Brother Franco and I concluded a month long series of discussions that centered on the concept of faith. While Pizzaonians share a variety of religious and humanistic traditions, much of the activity centered on what faith means from a Christian perspective. What follows is a brief synopsis of the ideas we shared.
What is faith? This question has been with us since we humans began to reason. We can read; we can become scholars, no matter how much we learn and meditate as to what the word means beyond its dictionary definition, we always end up in the same place.
Faith is a belief system we cannot prove factually. I know many say there is truth beyond facts. Nonetheless, truth beyond facts becomes faith – something we hold dear and cherish as a personal belief that cannot be proved. It seems coming to this conclusion early would save each of us a long intellectual journey.
However, it just maybe that without the journey we could never have come to our emotional understanding of what faith really is nor the personal growth to intellectually accept it as an important part of our lives.
Eventually, we need to get beyond the word and understand how our faith is directly affecting our lives. For most of us, faith is about religion. If you ask a person, “Are you a person of faith?” They presume you are asking them about their religious convictions.
Once when visiting a religious shrine that attracted many pilgrims I was deeply affected by their unquestioning conviction in what they believed. I envied them. Like millions of believers, I struggle with the concept of improvable religious beliefs. This should not be construed as a non-belief. On an intellectual level, I am deeply committed to my faith. However, it is the emotional connection that is often missing.
One of the most interesting passages in the New Testament is when Jesus asks Peter, “Who do you say I am?”* When Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ Peter is told that he could only know this because His Father in heaven revealed it to him. This being the case, from a Christian perspective, faith then is gift given to each us by a loving God.
I would prefer to believe that this gift is offered to everyone who seeks it. How we receive the gift becomes the fulcrum that defines the extent of our personal commitment. In what manner we choose to live always answers the question for us.
However, there is a catch. God gives us the gift, but he expects us to receive it without restrictions as an act of our free will. He sets the gift before us and needs us to make the first move on our own. Without his help, he expects us to embrace His gift of faith without reservation or doubt. When we do, from that point on, He walks with us, but not before, at least not in the fullness that we need or expect.
Unfortunately, many of us will never complete the first step.
Christianity is no easy road. It demands commitment and sacrifice. Perhaps the most difficult of all is to appreciate that all of our actions and thoughts must flow from the perspective of love – for your God, for your neighbor and this is often left out, and for yourself. It is obvious that none of this works if we do not love ourselves equally. And that love is justified since we are already loved beyond our comprehension by our heavenly Father.
Love in this purest sense is synonymous with sacrifice – the complete giving of ourselves for the well-being of others. Obviously, most of us fail to meet this level of commitment. We simply have to see the suffering in the world to be confronted with how shallow our faith often is.
Yes, we do have our saints. They loved their God and acted accordingly. They remain the example for all of us that it can be done. It seems the issue for us is to decide how ready we are to embrace the gift of faith we have been given freely. This is what we all must determine honestly and without reservation.
When we accept the gift without reservation, we can continue our journey to be “Christ like.”
Brother Giovanni, commenting for GiovanniandFranco.Com, a division of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, editor.
*Mathew 16 - 13-20"