Shadows and light

By Fr Ralph de Hahn

What we see and live each day is not the ultimate reality. This world has developed a concept of reality that excludes reality’s translucence to God; here the only thing that counts as real is what can be experimentally proven.

So says Pope Benedict XVI. We also have St Paul testifying that “our life is a matter of faith and not of sight”.

We live in the shadows of something far greater, way beyond our comprehension or imagination. Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians 13, emphatically states: “Once perfection comes all imperfect things will disappear. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror, but then we shall see [ultimate reality] face to face. The knowledge I now have is imperfect but then I shall know as fully as I am known.” Paul is deeply aware that we are living in the shadows of some future life which is perfection, and continues in chapter 15 that “whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life….the thing that is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable…and this mortal nature must put on immortality”.

We find the collaborating text in John 12, spoken by Jesus himself: “Unless the wheat grain falls on the ground and dies it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it will yield a rich harvest.”

There is something far richer beyond the shadows of this earthly existence. St Paul reminds us that “the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared to the glory to be revealed for us” (Rom 8:18), and that no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard the things God has prepared for those who seek him.

What are we being told? Shadows will give way to the ultimate everlasting Truth, to the ultimate Reality. It is a staggering, thought-provoking meditation that the beauty we behold now is only a dim reflection of Beauty in its Reality; that the love we feel and exercise in this life is only a tiny drop in the ocean of love that awaits us; that this power called knowledge and human wisdom is only a passing breeze in the face of the Ultimate and eternal Wisdom beyond; that the light we enjoy here is only a tiny flicker of that Light that created the sun.

Psalm 63 reminds us that “great men are only an illusion”. Therefore, says Paul, “if our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people”(1 Cor 15.19).

We can easily be absorbed by living in so wonderful and so glamourous a world; often we are hushed by its unspeakable beauty. However, a seeking and discerning mind will feel the cosmetic nature of it all, for everything is passing away, all things are corruptible, nothing is forever, nothing escapes uncertainty!

Nature is our impressive teacher. Look at the magnificent change of seasons, how dying produces new life, the rapid passing of time never to be recaptured; the endless stream of ailments interrupting our ageing bodies. Nature is teaching us all the time that there is death and resurrection. In fact, the eye of faith will detect that blazing forth daily from the pages of human life are the unforgettable events of the incarnation, Calvary and the resurrection.

What is also intriguing is that sacred scripture very clearly speaks of shadows and fulfilment. All the dominant figures and events of the New Testament are foreshadowed in the pages of the Old. The more we delve into the scriptures, the more light will bewilder the seeker.

The author of Hebrews tells us that only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the Realities that remain at present unseen. Here it speaks of faith, but also of hope; and it is in this hope that we see the invisible, feel the intangible and achieve the impossible.

Again, Hebrews 13:14 reminds us that we do not have a lasting city, but seek a home that is yet to come. Speaking of the exemplary faith of our ancestors, it recognises “that we are only strangers and nomads on earth…in search of our real homeland (11:16). John, confirms this when he writes: “Beloved we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him” (1:3).

St Paul believed that he was living the life of Christ (Gal 2) — his suffering, death and resurrection — that after all his many trials and agonising adventures as a missionary he would pass through these earthly shadows to the fulfillment of this dream of the Ultimate Reality. St Gregory the Great adds that it is abundantly clear that faith provides the proof for the things that cannot be seen; for visible things do not require faith; they only command recognition.

Pope Benedict, reflecting on the parable of the Sower and the Seed writes: “The mustard seed, which is the image of the kingdom of God, is the smallest of seeds; yet it bears a whole tree within it.”

The seed is the presence of what is to come in the future — but that which is to come in the future is already there in a hidden way. Remember Jesus told us: “The kingdom  of God is within you.”

There is some consolation for all of us in the beautiful Psalm 84: “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord God of Hosts; my soul is longing and yearning for the courts of the Lord”.

St Augustine, reflecting on this subject, strongly urges us to build up this strong desire — this insatiable longing — to behold and enter the magnificent Kingdom of the Ultimate Reality.