The Lord is with us.
There is something about the face-to-face encounter that is irreplaceable. No image, at least none that I know of, can replace what can be communicated face to face. An encounter of this kind can make possible something which is only remotely possible otherwise: the true communion of persons.
So, when the Scriptures speak of seeing God face to face, something which in one way is not possible, but in whatever way it is possible, it means communion of great depth. Until there is such a communion, one does not really know a person, and, analogously speaking, one cannot know God.
One of the psalms where this desire comes out most clearly is Psalm 27(26). The relevant verses go as follows: Hear my voice, Lord, when I call: have mercy on me and answer me. Come, says my heart, seek God’s face; your face, O Lord, do I seek! Do not hide your face from me, do not repel your servant in anger. You are my help; do not cast me off; do not forsake me, God my savior! Even if father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in.
The New Testament speaks of this encounter in various ways. For example, take the first letter of St. John, Chapter 3:2-3: 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, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.
St. Paul describes this reality so beautifully in 2 Corinthians 4:15-18: To this day, in fact, whenever Moses is read, the veil lies over their hearts, but whenever the person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory as from the Lord who is the Spirit.
I have quoted somewhat extensively from the Scriptures simply to help us drink in the communion in love with which the face-to-face encounter is synonymous. One might ask the question, is it really possible to have a face-to-face encounter with God himself?
Most of us do not experience visions of God’s face. Icons, if done properly, contain an element of this, and great graces are given through the contemplation of them and of the presence of the person that they convey. But this can also happen in other ways. (At least, that is my experience.)
As I’ve written on one or two occasions before in my Restoration columns through the years, I came to Madonna House specifically to find out if the Lord were truly alive. I knew that somehow my own salvation was dependent on finding this out and that there could be no substitute for it in any other religion or work of man.
By the grace of God, I did meet the living Lord in such a way that there could be no further doubt. This was an encounter so real, so eternal, that it is still with me today as if it had happened only a few days previously, even though it took place 50 years ago. It happened by means of a word God spoke to my heart, answering in a flash my heart’s deepest questions.
It was followed not by a vision but by my imagination depicting the face of Christ. This face of his was not created by human hands, nor was it an image on a veil of some kind. Rather, it was a living face. And he was looking into my eyes.
Those eyes gazing at me with such steadiness were filled with compassion, trust in the Father, peace, and a regal authority. It seemed that he was saying to me, “Give me your bitterness and receive my trust; give me your anger and take my forgiveness,” etc.
I understood this would go on as long as I lived. And even though I’ve never had such an image again, all of life could be seen as an expression of or rejection of this great and wonderful truth of salvation in Christ.
Lately, I’ve been reviewing the columns I’ve written for Restoration since 1983. Although the columns have had different titles emphasizing one point or another, I have begun to see that they’re all about this one thread of truth weaving its way through all of life.
In other words, through ordinary days and extraordinary ones, through days of bright light and nights of utter darkness, the crucified and risen Lord is with us, offering himself in exchange for what is sinful or sickly in us.
And as we surrender in faith to this mysterious grace, we find ourselves face to face with the One who has loved us to the end. It’s not that we “see,” but in faith we “see without seeing” and “know without knowing,” as Catherine Doherty was fond of saying.
In a sense, life goes on as usual. But within life is the greatest treasure of all — Jesus with us as Lord, Savior, Brother, and Friend. What we see other than this will vary according to what the Lord desires. But what we all receive is the peace that comes from the fact that God is with us always, till the end of time.
This peace is not simply the end of all worries but, rather, the starting point for the Christian. It is the Lord’s paschal gift to all who turn to him, seeking a glimpse of his face, the one eternal light in the shadows of life’s journey.
Would you believe I am trying to put my more relevant articles into a book, to demonstrate the twists and turns of the journey of faith through life? Twists and turns, yet always at the service of the great mystery of love in which we are all invited to partake: Christ in us, our hope of glory. May his Name be praised forever! Amen!
[Icon of Christ Our Savior, by ©Zoyla Grace, Madonna House]
