How often have we said or heard others saying to children who are beginning to get restless or bored, “Would you like to play a game of make-believe?” Their eyes light up as they become the center of attention, but also because they are so simple and easy to please.
A game of make-believe doesn’t really have any fixed rules. All it takes is one’s imagination and creativity to bring to life a story, a character or a simple setting to draw the child’s attention away from boredom and restlessness. Sometimes, this is something better than simply distracting them with video games in a Tablet or cell phone.
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However, when it concerns believing what our Faith teaches God isn’t suggesting that we play a game of make-believe. He is in fact, really inviting us to enter into a life that one day we will fully possess in union with Him. Thus, He gives us the gift of Faith as the key that opens not a fictional life but a supernatural one which one can now start enjoying here on earth.
Even before the gift of faith, God already created man with a natural desire for Him. St. Augustine’s says thus, “You have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Moreover, “even if this desire is often ignored, God never ceases to draw man to himself because only in God will he find and live the fullness of truth and happiness for which he never stops searching. By nature and by vocation, therefore, man is a religious being, capable of entering into communion with God.” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2)
This creational link between God and man is so intimate that it can never be totally forgotten. “Starting from creation, that is, from the world and from the human person, through reason alone one can know God with certainty as the origin and end of the universe, as the highest good and as infinite truth and beauty.” (Ibid., no. 3) This is why an atheistic or free-thinking stance towards this invitation of God is more unreasonable than entering into both a human and supernaturally fruitful relationship with God Himself.
God, however, wasn’t satisfied with His divine self-introduction or revelation to man. He took a further initiative of love by Incarnating His redeeming message in the Person of Jesus Christ. “The full and definitive stage of God’s revelation is accomplished in his Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the mediator and fullness of Revelation. He, being the only-begotten Son of God made man, is the perfect and definitive Word of the Father.” (Ibid., no. 9)
In Christ, our faith is no longer based on simple words or ideas, but in Someone like us, Jesus who is perfect God and perfect man. St. John of the Cross says, “In giving us his Son, his only and definitive Word, God spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word, and he has no more to say.” In His One Word, God became silent because it was now time for man to speak to God. Now it is our turn to respond with our act of faith in Christ.
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Before this wonderful reality, how can ‘believing’ be F.U.N.? There are many ways which each one can personally go about discovering, but here are a few ideas:
a) Start with Scripture. Begin growing in your faith by reading daily the Gospels. Use your imagination to enter into the scenes and parables narrated by our Lord. Be one with the Apostles, and allow the Holy Spirit to ignite the fire of your faith through this simple but vital encounter with Christ.
b) Playing in Prayer. The lights gained from Scripture can fuel our daily dialogues with Jesus. He loves being reminded and talked about the Life He had lovingly spent with us and continues to spend with us. Strive to keep concrete appointments with Him, tackle specific topics and enjoy the lights of resolutions He and the Holy Spirit will suggest to you.
c) Synch with the Sacraments. Faith grows with Scripture and prayer further empowered when synched with the sacraments. This is because they are the principal channels of grace, especially when in the Holy Mass one receives Jesus who is the author of Grace. Moreover, there is confession that doesn’t only forgive us our sins, but revitalizes us by purifying our faith and effectively orients us in the spiritual combat.
d) Memorize your Catechism. Scripture and prayer are wonderful sources to grow in faith. But they are enriched with the salt and light offered by the rich doctrinal points of the Catechism and its Compendium. Set a goal of points to memorize every day. Don’t worry, there’s no exam at the end of your life, except one will have to make an account of how he has lived these points to love God and neighbor.
e) Spread the Blaze. The fun about our faith is sharing it with others, both those who may still be weak in their faith and others who may not yet know Christ’s love and mercy. This reinforces our convictions and allows us to be enlightening witnesses of the presence of God through the light of faith in the midst of the world.