Faith is Another Way of Knowing, Like a Third Eye

ME

Good evening everyone! Today, I would like to journey through a reflection on what we consider Truth before moving to the Transfiguration.

The first part of life is often characterized by finding meaning and truth in being successful and healthy, driven by a strong emphasis on the scientific method of knowing.

In my first part of life, I used a scientific framework to come to understand and know the world. I have a degree in aeronautical engineering, studied at the Italian Air Force Academy and was a pilot for a long time. When I flew airplanes I knew exactly what was happening when I advanced the throttles of the engines - electric signals are sent to nozzles, fuel is sprayed in the combustion chambers, oil pressure goes up, temperature in the turbine goes up. If any of that didn't happen I knew something was wrong. That’s how I saw the truth - scientifically. I am sure many of you can relate to this kind of approach.

This is the way of knowing that I had for the first part of my life. The scientific method. There is nothing wrong with it, it has allowed technology to develop in many fields and help our lives immensely.  

However - This is not the only way of knowing. Faith is a way of knowing too. It is like a third eye that we have. This third eye often opens in the second part of life seeking to find meaning in our deeper inner identity.

The way of knowing through faith is validated by experiences and the fruits in our lives - it is a different type of validation from the scientific one. This way of knowing is very real, deeply personal and life changing. It transforms us at a very deep level. There is mystery, a sense of magic, or enchantment in the way of knowing through faith, it is never outside the intellect, in the sense that we can validate this through real lived experiences and the fruits we see in our lives.

Something special happened to me when I was on my final silent retreat in Subiaco before my diaconate ordination. One evening I walked to the Abbey to pray, the hall was dark, illuminated with a dim light and with the side of my eye I noticed a white rosary on a table. It had a handwritten note that said “This rosary has been blessed by Pope Francis, if you think you need it, it is for you.” In situations like this I often think there is someone else who needs it more, but this time I heard a voice telling me - this is for you to take. As I walked back to my room I had high hopes. 

Maybe this will be the time that I will come to know, learn and love the rosary! Believe me when I say the Rosary hadn't been a devotion I was attracted to, it had always been difficult for me, so much so that I started to worry about it a little bit - as I knew it is an integral part of the service rites that deacons are called to celebrate.

I cannot explain what happened but that night I prayed the rosary and since then I have been praying it every single day - now it is more than a year and half and it is an integral part of my daily prayer life.

It is a mystery that the rosary blessed by Pope Francis, united with the love of the person who donated it, transformed my devotion to Mary and to the Rosary. 

Enchantment, something magical about it - yes to all of them. 

I have no scientific explanation for it.

YOU

Do you truly believe in the mysteries that we profess? That miracles are real, that prayer can be answered, that Sacraments change your soul, that receiving a blessing can bring reassurance of God’s healing, and a promise of divine help?

That we might receive beyond what we can imagine with our rational mind?

GOD

The Gospel today tells us the story about the “Transfiguration”, sometimes also called “transformation.” Jesus called Peter, James and John to go up on a high mountain to pray with Him. As they were praying Jesus was transformed in such a way that left them dazzled with light and beauty, speechless and happy beyond what they could imagine. Infact Peter hardly knew what to say, and filled with wonder and joy he said, 

“It is good that we are here!”

What did they see? They saw Jesus's divine nature. God’s divine nature, that is Pure Love. Because Love is the divine nature.

Our nature is being human. God’s nature is Love. 

What Peter, James and John saw and experienced was Love. Jesus’s true essence that was normally hidden behind his human flesh.

Jesus together with the Father and the Holy Spirit has been “Love” for eternity - because Love is what God is. In the incarnation Jesus temporarily assumed human flesh - and so he retained both human nature and divine nature - that is Love.

Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, is the Word that became flesh! Love that became flesh.

In the event of the Transfiguration it is as if Jesus lost his human flesh for a moment and revealed to Peter, James and John a foretaste of the deep union with Jesus that is stored for us in heaven - a union of total joy.

Is this true? We know that this has to be true for two reasons. The first reason is that the Father said very clearly - “this is my beloved Son - Listen to Him!” The second reason is the fruit that this revelation brought to the three apostles. 

With time they came to believe everything that they heard and experienced  from Jesus. They became different men, transformed in Jesus’ s Love and willing to give their lives to proclaim Jesus’s Truth.

They remember the transfiguration - They did listen to him!

YOU

Do you believe everything that Jesus told us? Even the Truth that is not scientifically proven?

It is not that hard to come to believe that not all truth is scientifically proven. There is a Truth that goes beyond scientific evidence that we come to know because we are transformed into something better.

Wonders do exist. Miracles are real too.

US

If divine nature, Love, was hidden in Jesus’s flesh then Jesus' s real presence can be in the Eucharist.

How do we know for sure it is true ? Because Jesus told us.

​​"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" (Jn 6:56). This is the union that Peter, James and John experienced.

Go, and receive his body and blood and believe that you will be transformed more closely to Jesus, in His Love. Because it is good that we are here.