NGUYEN: Faith, fact or feeling?

(Photo by Joshua Applegate/Unsplash)An ancient Chinese parable recounts a tale of three men — Fact, Faith, and Feeling — walking along on the top of a wall. As long as Faith keeps his eyes on Fact ahead of him, all three keep walking forward with no problem. However, when Faith takes his eyes off Fact and turns around to look at Feeling to see how he’s doing, both Faith and Feeling fall off the wall. But Fact never does. 

This parable illustrates our Christian faith journey and, like all parables, expresses a life lesson: Jesus gifts us with faith, which is based on the divine revelation of facts. At the same time, the Devil strategizes ways to tempt us by misconstruing our personal feelings.  

Jesus is the Fact, and every Christian is the Faith. We Christians are not robots; we are human beings with feelings and emotions, which makes our faith journey a strenuous challenge, especially in this age where belief in God is often questioned. We Christians must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and His teachings. 

The most challenging teaching of our Church is the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. What a timely call for our recent National Eucharistic Revival! At the National Eucharistic Congress, many hearts rekindled a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. The Congress has launched the U.S. into a Year of Mission, encouraging Catholics to go and share Christ’s love to the world. We cannot share Christ’s love unless we are convinced of His love for us.  

In Scripture, Christ’s love through the Eucharist is exceedingly real and profoundly true. When something is real and true for all times, it is ratified as a fact.  

The person of Jesus Christ is real. Jesus Christ was a historical figure who was born and lived in a particular time (first century) and place (Israel). For centuries, He, with Mary and Joseph, like many other Jews, celebrated the memorial of the Passover of Egypt, remembering how God rescued them from the wicked pharaoh. Then, at Jesus’ final Passover, He did something extraordinary.

During the meal, instead of speaking about the past exodus from Egypt, He revealed His future suffering and death. That night, instead of explaining the meaning of the flesh of the Passover lamb, Jesus identified the bread and wine of the supper as His own body and blood, the new sacrificial Lamb.  
As theologian author Brant Pitre describes the scene, Christ commanded the disciples to become “sharers in his Passover” (CCC 1337) to eat and drink. “The Last Supper — and, by extension, the Christian Eucharist — are nothing less than the new Passover of Christ.”  

Our Church’s Eucharistic teaching is firmly rooted in the Jewish tradition. The Eucharistic covenant — the new Passover — is the sign of God’s love for humanity. Jesus had to go through suffering, death, resurrection and ascension to save us. At every Mass, this Eucharistic love is made present to strengthen our faith. 

Therefore, Faith (Christians), fix your eyes on Fact, regardless of how you feel, and be assured that Jesus’ love is always “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb 13:8). Are you up for the challenge of the Year of Mission, to be sharers of Christ’s Eucharistic love? I pray that you are. 

Sister Maria Goretti Thuy Nguyen, OP, is an associate director with the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.