Faith is “Believing in Something Which You Cannot See”

“Knowing God, although it is Night.”

“God’s streams are so overfull that they fill the whole range of creation—from the highest skies to all the earth and even, in a daring phrase, to the lands of hell.”

 Two “streams” proceed, and they are, we can appropriately interpret, the Son and the Spirit.

Two wonderful aspects of this triune spring are the way it runs through all of reality, and the way it is the source of indomitable hope.

I know that its streams are so brimming
they water the lands of hell, the heavens, and earth,
although it is night.

I know well the stream that flows from this spring
is mighty in compass and power,
although it is night.

I know the stream proceeding from these two,
that neither of them in fact precedes it,
although it is night.

So, through living faith, St. John knows wonderful secrets about the life of the eternal Trinity. He confesses our dogmatic faith that each of the three is coeternal: even though the Son and the Spirit proceed or come forth from the Father, they are not less than the Father; they are coeternal and consubstantial—“neither of them in fact precedes” the Father. This eternal Trinity touches the earth it has created. And more: God’s streams are so overfull that they fill the whole range of creation—from the highest skies to all the earth and even, in a daring phrase, to “the lands of hell.” 

“Indeed, the faith that knows illuminating truths “although it is night,” can even more confidently declare that it is happy and overjoyed because it is night.”

“God the Father’s love runs throughout all of reality in what theologians call the “missions” of the Son and the Spirit, such that this eternal spring courses through everything. And thus, we who cannot fathom the divine plan concerning the tumults of the day or the pains of our lives can choose to believe that God is bringing all things to perfection. And we can do this precisely “because it is night.” The darkness of faith yields the light of hope, all of it suffused with the power of divine love.”

*Clips of Words of Saint John and from his poem “Song of the Soul”

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