And there, in that simple but immortal scene, we have the perfect illustration of religious faith.  Faith is not something which we can create within ourselves.  It is a gift of God by which we are enabled to accept the truths he has revealed; and from accepting them to go further until faith culminates in accepting and trusting God himself as the Person who has revealed them.

Although the truths of the Christian religion are reasonable, none of them is so self-evident as to compel assent as does, for example, the two-times table.  For that reason a person’s belief in them must be formed by something more than reason or evidence alone.  So it is, when people are well-disposed towards God and acknowledge that the doctrines of Christianity are worthy of belief, they are given by God the inner spiritual vision by which they are able to recognise that those doctrines are in fact truths; and belief in them becomes an absolute certainty which forms the foundation of their day by day relationship with God (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-14).

Thus faith enables us to perceive the significance of what would otherwise be meaningless statements or events.  For example, without faith the Crucifixion is nothing more than the execution of an innocent man; but by faith we recognise it as the cost which Christ willingly paid to save us from the power of evil and to restore us to God.

So the Resurrection and Ascension are seen to be the evidence and the guarantee of the power and presence of the living Christ in our midst today.

So too, “faith, our outward sense befriending”, (1) the Blessed Sacrament is perceived to be his glorified Body by which in Holy Communion he and we become truly one.

Thus the gift of faith is not just the acceptance of certain truths, but is the basis of one’s whole personal relationship with God to whom those truths relate.