Believing and Seeing Jesus
- SAINT JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN
True faith is what may be called colorless, like air or water.
It is but the medium through which the soul sees Christ; and the soul as little really rests upon it and contemplates it as the eye can see the air…. As God's grace elicits our faith, so his holiness stirs our fear, and his glory kindles our love….
Divine worship is simply contemplating our Maker, Redeemer, Sanctifier, and Judge…. The Ancients worshiped; they went out of their own selves into the Infinite Temple which was around them. They saw Christ in the Gospels, in the creed, in the sacraments and other rites; in the visible structure and ornaments of his house, in the altar, and in the cross; and, not content with giving the service of their eyes, they gave him their voices, their bodies, and their time, gave up their rest by night and their leisure by day, all that could evidence the offering of their hearts to him….
Unwavering, unflagging, not urged by fits and starts, not heralding forth their feelings, but resolutely, simply, perseveringly, day after day, Sunday and weekday, fast day and festival, week by week, season by season, year by year, in youth and in age, through a life, thirty years, forty years, fifty years, in prelude of the everlasting chant before the Throne—so they went on constant in prayer, after the pattern of Psalmists and apostles, in the day with David, in the night with Paul and Silas, winter and summer, in heat and in cold, in peace and in danger, in a prison or in a cathedral, in the dark, in the daybreak, at sunrising, in the forenoon, at noon, in the afternoon, at eventide, and on going to rest, still they had Christ before them; his thought in their mind, his emblems in their eye, his name in their mouth, his service in their posture, magnifying him, and calling on all that lives to magnify him, joining with angels in heaven and saints in paradise to bless and praise him for ever and ever. Blessed John Henry Newman
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Acknowledgement
John Henry Cardinal Newman. "Believing and Seeing Jesus." from Prayers, Poems, Meditations.
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's writings are in the public domain.
The Author
Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman was born on 21 February 1801, and died on 11 August 1890. Through his published writings and private correspondence he created a greater understanding of the Catholic Church and its teachings, helping many persons with their religious difficulties. At his death he was praised for his unworldliness, humility, and prayerful contact with the invisible world. Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman is the author of many books including, Parochial and Plain Sermons, Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, Difficulties of Anglicans, The Idea of a University, Fifteen Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford Between A.D. 1826 and 1843, and Apologia Pro Vita Sua.
