On my First Reading of 'Lumen Fidei'

Do you need to be told that whatever has been, can still be?- T.S.Eliot

http://truthpouredout.com/2013/07/lumen-fidei/

http:///2013/07/pope-francis-visits-pope-benedict-asks-him-to-join-wyd-in-prayer/

I am totally entranced reading the first encyclical of Pope Francis, "Lumen Fidei". In fact, it is a Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI co authored encyclical. “Wow!” is all I can say of this little but profound book! It starts with a brief discussion on the erroneous teachings of the existential and atheistic think tanks of the last two centuries that faith is something that belongs to darkness. The Soren Kierkegard phrase “leap of faith” is mentioned , so also is Nietzsche’s advice to his sister Elizabeth, encouraging her “to take risks,  to tread new paths … with all the uncertainty of one who must find his way " because according to him “this is where humanity’s paths part: if you want peace of soul and happiness then believe, but if you want to be a follower of truth , then seek”. The Encyclical thus enlightens us of the fallacy of the so called existential thought pattern, how that had criticized Christianity as having dimmed the fullness of human existence, “stripping life of novelty and adventure.”Nietzsche condemned faith as an “illusion of light, an illusion which blocks the path of a liberated humanity to its future.”

Here the Popes take their stance on faith, that Faith is a Light by itself. 

It is not illusory, it is real. Faith is a light that can illuminate. “We come to see that faith does not dwell in shadow and gloom; it is a light for our darkness. Dante, in the Divine Comedy, after professing his faith to Saint Peter, describes that light as a “spark, which then becomes a burning flame and like a heavenly star within me glim-mers”. It is this light of faith that I would now like to consider, so that it can grow and enlighten the present, becoming a star to brighten the horizon of our journey at a time when mankind is particularly in need of light."

 How inspiring,  how exalting!!!! 
   In section 13, there is an elaboration on what Faith is not. The description of idolatry, which is the flip side of Faith , is an extraordinary passage I must say. Let me quote,

  The history of Israel also shows us the temptation of unbelief to which the people yielded more than once. Here the opposite of faith is shown to be idolatry. While Moses is speaking to God on Sinai, the people cannot bear the mystery of God’s hiddenness, they cannot endure the time of waiting to see his face. Faith by its very nature demands renouncing the immediate possession which sight would appear to offer; it is an invitation to turn to the source of the light, while respecting the mystery of a countenance which will unveil itself personally in its own good time. Martin Buber once cited a definition of idolatry proposed by the rabbi of Kock: idolatry is "when a face addresses a face which is not a face".[10] In place of faith in God, it seems better to worship an idol, into whose face we can look directly and whose origin we know, because it is the work of our own hands. Before an idol, there is no risk that we will be called to abandon our security, for idols "have mouths, but they cannot speak" (Ps 115:5). Idols exist, we begin to see, as a pretext for setting ourselves at the centre of reality and worshiping the work of our own hands. Once man has lost the fundamental orientation which unifies his existence, he breaks down into the multiplicity of his desires; in refusing to await the time of promise, his life-story disintegrates into a myriad of unconnected instants. Idolatry, then, is always polytheism, an aimless passing from one lord to another. Idolatry does not offer a journey but rather a plethora of paths leading nowhere and forming a vast labyrinth. Those who choose not to put their trust in God must hear the din of countless idols crying out: "Put your trust in me!" Faith, tied as it is to conversion, is the opposite of idolatry; it breaks with idols to turn to the living God in a personal encounter. Believing means entrusting oneself to a merciful love which always accepts and pardons, which sustains and directs our lives, and which shows its power by its ability to make straight the crooked lines of our history. Faith consists in the willingness to let ourselves be constantly transformed and renewed by God’s call. Herein lies the paradox: by constantly turning towards the Lord, we discover a sure path which liberates us from the dissolution imposed upon us by idols.

Here is another paragraph - Para 58- where the Pope gives us the proper direction on how to look at suffering with Faith.

Nor does the light of faith make us forget the sufferings of this world. How many men and women of faith have found mediators of light in those who suffer! So it was with Saint Francis of Assisi and the leper, or with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her poor. They understood the mystery at work in them. In drawing near to the suffering, they were certainly not able to eliminate all their pain or to explain every evil. Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey. To those who suffer, God does not provide arguments which explain everything; rather, his response is that of an accompanying presence, a history of goodness which touches every story of suffering and opens up a ray of light. In Christ, God himself wishes to share this path with us and to offer us his gaze so that we might see the light within it. Christ is the one who, having endured suffering, is "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Heb 12:2).

            In the concluding pages of the encyclical, the author/s even quote from T.S. Eliot's pageant play, 'The Rock' 

Do you need to be told that even such modest attainments

As you can boast in the way of polite society

Will hardly survive the Faith to which they owe their significance?

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/375068

Let me also conclude my thoughts here, quoting from the Chorus of 'The Rock' by T.S.Eliot:

  

Light
Light

The visible reminder of Invisible Light.
Be not too curious of Good and Evil;
Seek not to count the future waves of Time;
But be ye satisfied that you have light
Enough to take your step and find your foothold.
O Light Invisible, we praise Thee!
Too bright for mortal vision.