Not Needing to See to Believe

"The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:8).  From the commentaries, the ancient Christian writers point to this verse as the freedom of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that the will of the Spirit is one with the Father.  I'd like to look at this from a slightly different perspective which St. John Chrysostom alludes in his homily.

Just because you do not and cannot see the wind it does not mean it does not exist.  Furthermore, it does not mean that you do not know or do not believe that it exists.  As Chrysostom said, "If then you do not complain when you cannot see this body (the wind) and you still believe, why, when you hear of 'the Spirit,' do you hesitate and demand such exact accounts?" We should not need to "see" God to know that He exists.  Like the events that happened in history - some of us may not have been alive when World War II broke out, and yet we believe it happened.  We believe it happened because we have been told by people who we trust as well as the eyewitness accounts.  Our parents and families tell us about how we were when we were younger, but how do we know it's really true?  We believe.  We were not there when we were born, yet we know we exist.  We do not need to have been "there" to know that it happened.  The Scriptures is the Word of God, the Living Word as well as the eyewitness accounts of the Resurrection.

The wind - we cannot see it, but we can hear the sound it makes.  We cannot see God with our bare eyes, but we can hear Him speak to us in the silence of our hearts - if only we listen.  God is present.  Though we cannot see Him with our sight, we know He exists and is present by faith.

Let us ask the Father for the grace of a deeper trust in Him and all that He is - love and being its very self.  

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