Anna Karenina E.

Sanglay THEO 11J-Q1 Reflection Paper

204558 19 September 2020

The Luminous Bridge of Faith

Faith is an interesting human phenomenon that inevitably manifests itself inside all of the
beliefs, perspectives and theological positions that all of us carry. Therefore, in one way or
another , faith is a sense of complete trust that we firmly hold in the things that we believe in. So
yes- I, myself, have faith the same way that the entirety of humanity held faith with intrigued
eyes, a pair of gentle but protective hands, and a heart that remained insatiable in understanding
and valuing this trust: the trust that connected all of us to the numinous presence that showed
itself and remained prevalent throughout the many generations even until now.
The history of humanity is documented with the stories of evolution and change. Numerous
tales of grand victories and tragic defeats are still remembered and discussed about. And yet, from
the very beginning when our lips could barely even utter a single word and our hands clumsily
explored the unknown Earth, up until now when mankind has already created and conquered
thousands of cities, destroyed and formed various cultures- all of those pinnacle points of
changes had one thing in common: the presence of the Holy making itself known.
Despite the differences that exist within each individual, the desire in finding the meaning
and purpose of our lives is a universal feeling that lives within all of us. This creates the search
for the vision of wholesomeness in order to appease and fill the void that exists in the deepest
parts of our soul. This vision of wholesomeness becomes the goal that all of us seek through
different ways through our religious faith. Once we set out on our own journey in finding
meaning, we keep our faiths - almost the same reason that we keep food to appease our hunger
and drink water to quench our thirst- as our source of strength, direction and to sustain our life.
Faith is not just the complete trust that we have, but it is also the very way to let our souls
have the strength to find the reason of its existence against all sorts of adversities and obstacles
we will encounter.
We also keep our faith not only to let it replenish our vitality but to also let it be the bridge in
creating, developing and sustaining a relationship of love, friendship and intimacy with the
numinous presence that we believe in (also pertained to as the Holy). This numinous presence
may present Himself in many names, Yahweh, God, Allah, etc. but His love, mercy and comfort
remains all the same.
This numinous presence- an enigmatic totality that humanity will never fully understand- is
as enchanting as it is mysterious. All of us have encountered it in the different points of our lives.
We all have memories of feeling this calming and soothing sense of love and comfort, but only
we if we allow ourselves to open our hearts and surrender ourselves to the Holy. Once we let our
faith be the bridge in accepting God into our lives and allowing his presence to heal our wounds,
carress our weary hearts and provide answers to our minds that are constantly asking the words
“Why?”, that is when we will feel the numinous presence in our lives.
God’s love will make itself known when we look at the stars of the night sky when the
evening remains heavy with sadness, when we reach out to others and they do the same, when we
laugh and enjoy the wamth of happiness, when we have sudden helpful realizations when we read
the scriptures and doctrines and when we feel what we need to feel, learn what we need to learn
and do what we need to do in order to calm the waves in our hearts and find clarity in our
thoughts.
We will never fully grasp the entire identity of this numinous presence, but what we can only
know is that is a mystery, A mystery that constantly stays by our side and guides us through the
good and the bad. There are so many things which are left unknown about this numinous
presence, but isn’t that just the same with every friendship or relationship that we all have? This
very mystery then creates the opportunity of surprises which can make the relationship that we
have deeper, closer and more intimate than before.
The faith that we have becomes the bridge to the vision of wholesomeness, to the numinous
presence that is the living God, and most importantly, this becomes the bridge in actually living
the words and messages of God.
Once we allow our hearts and bodies to relive the meaning of the words of God, not only do
we strengthen and establish our faith but it also affects the lives of others. Our actions become
those of who are filled with the love and meaning of God’s words which will spread through the
lives of others. Allowing them to also experience the faith that we have.
Faith is truly a beautiful bridge that allows our souls to be connected to the truly important
things that become the reasons of our vitality, strength, meaning and direction. Faith is a bridge
that opens the doors to realizations. Faith is a bridge that allows room for us to change and to
create our own paths. Faith is a luminous bridge that opens our hearts not just to ourselves, to
others but also more importantly, to the living God that becomes the light that saves us from our
darkness and provides a warm light of love and kindness.