Low Sunday 15.4.07 Faith
Faith comes to different people differently.
I wonder why Our Lord did not appear to the unbelievers like Caiphas and Pilate etc. Would that not have converted them?
He appeared only to His own disciples, to confirm rather than convert them.
There are two types of conversion required. The proud need humbling and the timid need reassuring.
The latter is much easier to achieve. Our Lord worked on this group, His timid disciples, and put new heart into them
As for the proud and the rebellious, they would need a lot more work. Some of them would be beyond any reaching, having sold out to the devil long ago.
Others no doubt were converted, eg, as at Pentecost, those who were cut to the heart at Peter’s words.
But the initial appearances were not for the rude gaze of the public but reserved to those who had established some sort of right to the see the Lord – those who at least had some love for Him.
They were reassured and given the gift of strong faith, although they still needed Pentecost to make really sure.
Our Lord’s plan was to build up strong disciples who in turn would convince others, even some of the proud and rebellious.
He was not ignoring the proud, just approaching them indirectly. They would have their chance to repent, but for now it was vital to get the Church up and running.
So it has been ever since. We are the Church, we are the collection of timid and doubting apostles who need reassuring. The way we operate sometimes we could not convince a flea of the truth of Christ’s resurrection!
So He comes to us; He convinces us of His reality. Touch and see, it is really I.
And we are convinced, partially at least, and so the Church becomes at least a little bit stronger and we have more chance of converting some of the hard cases.
The battle is fought at two levels.
The Church itself has to believe. That is one major battle.
And then the Church has to convert the world. That is another major battle.
Both are hard to win. If we could win the first the second would go a lot better.
As it has been so far for 2000 years the Church has limped into the battle with only moderate faith and has had only moderate success in converting the world.
The more we believe these things to be true the more powerfully we will proclaim and live the word.
And the converts will come rolling in, as they have at various times in Church history – eg St Francis Xavier.
So our task today, and in this Mass is to let ourselves be convinced by the Lord’s appearances to us.
He does not directly appear but comes to us through the infallible word of scripture and through His real presence in the Sacraments.
It is not through the physical senses that we are convinced but through the soul and its faculties.
Why does He not appear physically to us? It would help us no end.
Blessed are those who have not seen… Their love is greater for having had to do it the harder way.
What He denies us in sense experience He supplies other ways.
He can move in our souls to give us the certainty of faith, to form us into apostles who will go through fire and water for love of Him and to convince others.
No more doubt. We can’t afford it, either for ourselves or for the harvest of souls that is waiting the word of life from us.
