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be truly powerful, truly real, and thus not even
true, a love capable of delivering the bliss that
it promises. It would make no difference at all
whether we believed in him or not. Christians, on
the contrary, profess their faith in GodâÂÂs tangible
and powerful love which really does act in history
and determines its final destiny: a love that can
be encountered, a love fully revealed in ChristâÂÂs
passion, death and resurrection.
18.âÂÂThis fullness which Jesus brings to faith
has another decisive aspect. In faith, Christ is not
simply the one in whom we believe, the supreme
manifestation of GodâÂÂs love; he is also the one
with whom we are united precisely in order to
believe. Faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but
sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his
own eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing.
In many areas in our lives we trust others who
know more than we do. We trust the architect
who builds our home, the pharmacist who gives
us medicine for healing, the lawyer who defends
us in court. We also need someone trustworthy
and knowledgeable where God is concerned.
Jesus, the Son of God, is the one who makes
God known to us (cf.
Jn
1:18). ChristâÂÂs life, his
way of knowing the Father and living in com-
plete and constant relationship with him, opens
up new and inviting vistas for human experience.
Saint John brings out the importance of a per-
sonal relationship with Jesus for our faith by us-
ing various forms of the verb âÂÂto believeâÂÂ. In
