
“I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine. I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown. I believe in God, even when he doesn’t speak.”
These words were found carved into the walls of a concentration camp barrack in Nazi Germany during WWII.
How can anyone see the good when they are in condition such as this person must have endured? What eyes could have endured such horrors and still believe in the goodness of God and creation? The only thing I can think of is that those eyes have chosen to see what is unseen.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his 2nd Epistle, “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.” I believe that Jesus asks us to make a choice. We either live by the empirical facts we see or to see by faith in our hearts.
I also believe in a third choice. We can see the science and we can straight up see the facts and we can see what is unseen by faith. For instance, when tragedy hits home, we can either see the negative diagnosis only and what the science can provide, or we can see what science provides as well as what science cannot provide and that is the strength of prayer and faith in God the Healer who has out back. That choice lies in our own hands.
The illustration (see above) for this post shows the range of light waves and the tiny proportion of which is visible. A similar chart for sound waves shows the tiny range of waves which are audible to the human ear. There is much more “out there” than we can perceive with our physical senses.
Below is an article I found out there by a Catholic priest by the name of Fr. Dwight Longenecker called On Seeing The Unseen.
“The aptly named Angelico Press have recently issued an excellent book on angels. The Other World We Live In is an accessible, pithy book about the spirit realm by a Brazilian theologian and convert Scott Randall Paine.
In the introduction he discusses “So Much We Don’t See” and points out to the materialist (who professes to believe only what his senses reveal to him –or what science can prove) that we all take for granted a vast realm of reality that we cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell.
He makes four points:
Spatially “there is far more world, more cosmos out there than your eyes can even approximately capture” Whether it is the expanse of the earth–I can’t see what’s going on in Swaziland– or the trillions of galaxies. Even with the best cameras and telescopes and satellites there is far more than you can see.
Chronologically – there are thousands-yea billions of years which we can never experience or see, but the effects of those events are real and there is even more unseen in the future.
Scientifically – In addition to Gamma Rays, X Rays, Radar, Radio Waves, Shortwaves etc. we accept that there are quadrillions of atoms buzzing within and around us but you can’t see them. Light itself is not something you can see. You see things because of light, but light itself is invisible. We can’t see the electromagnetic radiation that operates our cell phones or, for that matter, the electricity that powers our lives. Father Paine goes on to point out that science itself tells us that only 5% of matter is the stuff we can experiment on. 95% of “dark matter and energy” remains mysterious, invisible and unidentified. 95%!!
He concludes, “Thus on a material basis alone, any scientifically enlightened view of reality must concede that beyond the tiny slice of cosmos we are able to perceive there is incalculably more that is unseen.””
So, even materially, there is more that is unseen than there is seen. What does this say about the spiritual realm? I am still believing in the words of the Nicene Creed:
I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
I will look forward to seeing you on YouTube this week as we continue to stream our services. We are streaming live at 10:30 AM this Sunday. This will be the Second Sunday After the Epiphany, January 16, 2022. May God’s blessings, seen and unseen, be with you this day and always! Fr. Bill+
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