Psalm 14:1

Sometime we encounter someone who, seemingly, has no faith, but when that person is put in a worship situation he/she can be moved to tears. What is the reason for this? Why would a person of no faith be moved by someone of faith? Jean Jacques Rousseau, the great French philosopher, was an unbeliever, but he was moved to tears by the faith of his wife who was a devout Catholic.

Recently, Rabbi Marc Gellman of the God Squad received a letter from a man, an acknowledged unbeliever, who wrote: “Whenever I go into Church, I begin to weep immediately and sometimes can’t stop. Is this guilt and shame of having no faith?”

Rabbi Gellman wrote back: “My best advice to you is to try to understand more deeply the meaning of your tears. My suspicion is that your tears and your doubts are the result of a kind of spiritual paralysis in the face of the great contradiction between an evil world and a good God. We see war and we’re told to believe in a God of peace

You were brought up in a kind church and you’ve spent your life policing mean streets. I understand. Sometimes that contradiction is just too much for you, as it is for all of us.

Perhaps you might benefit by watching the news less and watching your daughter more. In her smiles and joyful play, you may come to remember that the world is filled with the traces of goodness every bit as much as it is filled with the traces of evil.

The problem is we receive the bulk of our evidence about life from news organizations, whose sad mantra is, “if it bleeds, it leads.” Volunteer to serve lunch at a soup kitchen. Help build a house for the homeless. Try to go to church again, even if you sit in the back row for a while.

In the Psalms, King David wrote, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.” (Psalm 130:1) Remember what David eventually understood: The depths are not ground level for the truth of life and love here on planet earth. Good is happening all around you, and a loving God is waiting to love you.

I pray that you may know this truth before Easter arrives, so that on that glorious Sunday you might once again remember how to smile in church.”

Comment:
We should never forget that faith is a gift; we cannot argue ourselves into it. God offers this gift to those who receive it, but no one merits it for it is a gift that is reserved, not to the wise and the clever but to God’s innocent ones.

Fr. Hugh Duffy