Lumen Fidei - page 40

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they believed; in a word, they were able to peer
into the depths of what they were seeing and to
confess their faith in the Son of God, seated at
the right hand of the Father.
31. It was only in this way, by taking flesh, by
sharing our humanity, that the knowledge proper
to love could come to full fruition. For the light
of love is born when our hearts are touched and
we open ourselves to the interior presence of the
beloved, who enables us to recognize his mys-
tery. Thus we can understand why, together with
hearing and seeing, Saint John can speak of faith
as touch, as he says in his First Letter: “What we
have heard, what we have seen with our eyes and
touched with our hands, concerning the word of
life” (1 Jn 1:1). By his taking flesh and coming
among us, Jesus has touched us, and through the
sacraments he continues to touch us even today;
transforming our hearts, he unceasingly enables
us to acknowledge and acclaim him as the Son of
God. In faith, we can touch him and receive the
power of his grace. Saint Augustine, comment-
ing on the account of the woman suffering from
haemorrhages who touched Jesus and was cured
(cf. Lk 8:45-46), says: “To touch him with our
hearts: that is what it means to believe”.26 The
crowd presses in on Jesus, but they do not reach
him with the personal touch of faith, which ap-
prehends the mystery that he is the Son who re-
26 Sermo 229/L (Guelf. 14), 2 (Miscellanea Augustiniana
1, 487/488): “Tangere autem corde, hoc est credere” .