Faith as the author...

The spiritual journey is so often paradoxical — seemingly contradictory. A paradox is something similar to the advice Jesus gave to the Rich Young Man where he tells him in order to be truly rich he has to become poor. That is a contradiction or what is more properly termed, a paradox or seeming contradiction. Much of the commentaries of Nathanael seem to be pointing to these paradoxes in our faith. In this reflection he argues "faith" is the author or wellspring of life. It's our faith which helps to reveal to us what the purpose of our lives is. The "purpose" of our lives is not some set of instructions that are emailed to us by God, rather Nathanael argues, the purpose is revealed by the very process of endeavouring to discover what the purpose is. But the author of our being is always present within us (through our faith). He argues it is this author (or faith) "which enables our life to reveal its purpose for being alive". To reach outwards (i.e. to reveal the purpose of our life, and live it) the paradox is that we have to reach inwards (i.e. towards the author of our life — our sense of faith). The well-lived or "faith-filled life" is revealed in the joy we radiate as we age which, again paradoxically, seems to come as a reflection or reward from how much we reach out to others in need.

Faith is the growth factor that irrigates the life of the person who lives in the certain knowledge that life's journey is life creating. Faith is a process of deepening understanding of the sacrifices and rewards that living in faith will reveal to those who choose to embrace the infinite resource of life's journey, for those who live in faith.

The resourceful person of faith recognises that it is in sacrifice of self, that he or she is rewarded with the wisdom that lives to create a productive life for those who live in faith of its willing joy in loving all, for its own sake.

It is in adversity that the hidden face of wisdom reveals its hand of help, for those who recognise that awareness of all that is consciously working to assist those in the depths of their troubles. In our desperation we sense within our person another consciousness inviting us to listen to its advice on how we should live our life. In fragile trust we take that first step in faith. It is then that our confidence begins to grow, as a result of our faith revealing the rewards that our faith return to us, in recognition of our choice to continue trusting in that which reveals itself through our faith.

The author of our self is always present within our life. It is the means that enables our life to reveal its purpose for being alive. In its willingness to write our story, our inner conscious reality of helpfulness embraces our troubles, as its means to enable us to deepen our relationship with its love of us, no matter how deep our pit of desperation has become.

The written word is also to be seen as the result of our life-building experiences. It is the pen that writes our life that reveals its wisdom, through our choice to be its writing paper on all that it wishes us to reveal our purpose in serving all who share our journey through life. It is in the revelation of our reason for living as we will, that our life becomes the rewarding experience of our life time. For the inner life is always a reflection of its purpose in granting us life, in order to reveal its creating need to serve its reason for being.

The human person best serves itself, in its purpose-filled life of living for the needs of those with whom it shares its life. Sharing is the result of life spreading its joy in fulfilling the needs of those who are in need, with the excess of those who are already sharing.

A life that has been worth its efforts, is always witnessed in the lives of those whose old age reveals its satisfaction in its overwhelming joy, in continuing to benefit the lives of all whose journey has just begun to flourish.

Faith seeds its rewards in the understanding that it is the author of life who creates our harvest, in order that we share its fruits with all who live in God's orchard.

Photo Credits: The images used as background to this article come
from stock.xchng the free web photo source – www.sxc.hu
Top photo: Sunset at Assos, Nevit Dilmen, Istanbul, Turkey
Bottom photo: Walk Away, Torli Roberts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Nathanael Theologos is the pen name of a Catholic priest and clinical psychologist based in the Mediterranean.

Nathanael Theologos can be contacted at:
theologos@catholica.com.au

Brian Coyne can be contacted at:
editor@catholica.com.au

[Theologos Archive]