Illusions from Crisis of
Faith
(see
Mt 14:22-33)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The Gospel story tells us that the disciples of Jesus
confronting kind of tsunami when on board a tiny boat crossing the sea of
Tiberias of Galilee could not recognize their Master but thought that He was a
ghost.
That happened because of the following three reasons:
One, the disciples were so extremely frightened that they
failed to make full use of their good senses.
Unless there would be something wrong with our sight, the eyes always
capture the best image that no manmade camera can ever do. Unless there would be something wrong with
our hearing, the ears always provide the best sound that no audio hi-tech sensor
can ever do. Unless there would be
something wrong with our taste, our tongue always gives the best savor that no artificial
device can ever do.
So, it was not their eyes that went wrong in taking
picture of the Master walking on the sea water, but rather their mind filled
with fear and confusion that distorted the beautiful image of Jesus and turned
Him into the horrible darkness of forces of evil.
Two, bias or prejudice of all kinds from both within and
without can also end up in disfiguring real and objective information from the
outside world and changing it into wrong reality or a truth badly edited to fit
subjective viewpoint or selfish agenda.
One day, Master Kungfuzi, popularly known as Confucius,
was leading his disciples on a field study journey when they suffered a
shortage of food because the region where they visited was inflicted with a
severe famine. The Master assigned one
of his trusted disciples to cook lunch for the group. A colleague happened to see the cook eat the
rice before serving the Master and friends.
He immediately reported to the Master the scandalous act of
gluttony. The Master saddened by the
event could not help but openly express his disappointment, saying to the
disciple who was caught by the very shameful act of cheating, “My son, you have
betrayed my trust in you. Say good-bye
and go your way.” “Master,” replied the
person thought to be the culprit, “when the rice had been just cooked, I
realized that a portion of rice on the surface was mixed with dirt. I thought that it would be a waste of our
scarce food to throw the dirty rice away.
So I decided to consume that polluted rice in order that my Master and
colleagues might have enough and clean food to eat.” People could hear a very remorseful Master
cry out of repentance: “Oh, my God! So
pitiful am I! I have eyes but cannot
see! I have brain but am not able to
think!”
Three, the disciples were not able to recognize Jesus in
time of trials and difficulties because their faith was not strong enough. Pope Francis likes to describe the faith in
Christ which we Christians have as the compass of the ship. It is very risky for the ship of our life as
both individuals and communities to cross the stormy sea of this world without
a compass, meaning to say a strong faith in God, our heavenly Father and Master
of history of humanity and in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior of the
world. Without faith, we become victims
of the forces of evil in all forms and will end up in just seeing illusions
such as violence, hatred, killing, bloody war and death.
Together with the disciples, let us cry out to God, our
Merciful Father Who always listens to and watches over us His children for
help. Let us also pray to Jesus Christ
our Lord and Savior: “Lord, increase our faith so that we can survive this
life!” Amen.
Fr. Francis Nguyen Van Nhut, O.P.
