INTERIOR FAITH

INTERNAL FAITH

Tear doubt out of your heart! Never allow doubt to hinder you from praying to God by possibly thinking to yourself, “How can I ask anything from the Lord? How can I receive anything from him since I have sinned so much against him?

Never think like this!  Instead, turn to the Lord with your whole heart. Pray to him without wavering and you will come to know his great mercy. He will never desert you. He will fulfill your heart’s request because God is not like people, who harbor grudges. No, he does not remember evil, and he has compassion for what he has made.  

Those are the words of Harmas, a first century Christian, written around 140AD. 

I was struck by his supreme confidence in God’s mercy.  Jesus said that whoever is not against us is for us. That means that, despite what one might profess, there is no neutrality or indifference when it comes to God, since God dwells within. 

Think now of how Harmas reached this conclusion.  He may have read the writings of the Apostles or heard from other people, but until he felt it inside he could never have been so sure. 

Faith that is only the result of teachings by others is not faith. True faith is interior. True faith is the product of the connection between a person and the Spirit of God, that is, the recognition and acceptance of the presence of God within.  

The question I have now, is how did we get so far afield from the conclusions of Harmas?  When I was growing up, sin was talked about a lot.  We were constantly reminded of our sins and how easy it was to offend God.  We were told that God would be angry with us and that we had to go to confession a lot and that we were always on the brink of hellfire.  I say this with absolute certainty, no one ever told me about the infinite mercy of God. 

If we, whose faith is interior, do not relay this message to everyone, the world will go on mistrusting God and fearing God and never knowing that he is forever loving, compassionate and merciful.  That he does not countenance violence against people in his name.  That fear of him means awe and respect, not terror.

It’s not complicated.  It’s really simple.  God is. We are.  God is in everything and the Spirit of God is at work in the world all the time.  We can only reach this level of belief through prayer, which means our words, no one else’s, to God within. 

Once we consciously form that bond, it can never be changed or destroyed.  

It is and always was God’s will for us. 

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA