In the "Preciousness of Faith" column of the Catholic Peace Weekly, a seminary professor offers insight into the potential dangers to seekers of truth.
When studying theology, you meet great theologians and spiritual leaders, are amazed by their prophetic insights, and sometimes feel as if your faith has been upgraded to another level. Studying theology indeed helps your faith. However, there is always the risk of pride and failing to appreciate the faith of ordinary believers who have not studied theology.
Theology does not automatically increase your faith. Instead, the experiences in life, both the good and the bad, depending on our responses, can help us grow spiritually. As you grow older, you gain wisdom and your faith deepens. Therefore, he recommends that students studying theology meditate on the following words of Jesus:
"I give you thanks, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to foolish people. Yes, Father, this is your good pleasure." (Matthew 11:25)
The greatest weakness of the wise and learned is that they rely only on the wisdom and knowledge they possess. As a result, they believe that only they are right and disregard the words and thoughts of others. Naturally, it is difficult to entrust everything to the will of God. However, people like foolish children often find it easier to entrust everything to God.
As a priest, the columnist has interacted with many believers over the course of time. He has become increasingly convinced that the people with the most profound faith are not famous theologians or preachers, but rather ordinary people who live quiet lives of faith. They are people who have acquired the wisdom to entrust everything to God. That is why, like Jesus, they can rejoice in the Holy Spirit and taste the joy of being thankful for the fulfillment of the Father's will.
The Lord gives even the most insignificant and ignorant among us the opportunity to see His face. Of course, it is not a matter of seeing the Lord with one's own eyes, but there are those who, without even realizing it, have encountered the Lord and entered deeply into His mystery. They unknowingly reveal the image of God. The God who shines upon them is humble and poor, without pretense or deceit, pure, revealing His heart as it is, without hesitation or reservation, flowing like water.
The truth of life and the truth of God are contained in their lives. We live our faith to become like God. Not to appear noble and holy on the outside, but to become people who exude sincerity and overflow with genuine humanity. The ordinary parishioners we meet in our churches are precisely such people. We need eyes that can recognize the face of God in them.
He concludes the column by asking the Lord for the freedom of heart to entrust ourselves to the Lord like innocent children, the courage to reveal ourselves without reservation, the wisdom to consider another person's circumstances before pointing fingers and judging, the resolve to reach out to those in need, and the sense of responsibility to speak up for what is needed for a better tomorrow.
