Layered faith, Layered doubt (midweek)

 Gerard Hughes, S.J. (1924-2014)

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message

February 6, 2019

Layered faith, layered doubt

“One reason why most of us experience alternating consolation and desolation is because our minds have layers upon layers of consciousness.  At one level of consciousness, I may be full of faith that all power belongs to God and that without [God] I can do nothing.  Then my security is threatened in some way and I reach a deeper level of consciousness to which my faith has not penetrated and where I have been living in a state of unconscious atheism.  The moment of crisis is an invitation to grow in faith.  I may accept this invitation and for a few years I live in this deeper level.  Then another crisis occurs and become aware of an even deeper layer of atheism within me…  [T]he answer is in the pain.  We fear whatever causes us pain and try to escape, but in escaping we are running away from the answer…  Face the fears that haunt you.  In Jungian language, ‘Face your shadow.’”  (Gerard W. Hughes, God of Surprises, pp. 100-101)

Jesus teaches again and again that we are in God’s hands, and that we must always default to trust and faith.  But that does not mean ignoring our fears and pains.   This why Jesus teaches, “How blessed are the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, and those who mourn.” God is found in the very things that we fear and cause us pain.  Faith means boldly accepting them and confronting them since they tell us so much about what is going on deep inside us.   Talking through issues with a trusted friend or counselor, we are able to see what underlying deep fears fuel our surface angers, annoyances, isolation, or dreads. 

Not doing so, refusing to pick up that stone because we are afraid of what might crawl out, is a recipe for at best stagnation and at worst spiritual and emotional death. 

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Tony+