The Face of God

God the Father

Imagine that we are faithful Jews living in the time of Jesus. We pray faithfully to God. We know God as our protector and deliverer. We know him as our shepherd, our light, and salvation. We offer all of our prayers to him. And as the Psalms especially describe, we have a longing to see the face of God.

Here, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’
My heart says to you,
‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’
Hide not your face from me (Psalm 27:7-9)

But all we Jews “see” of the Lord is perhaps the incense rising inside the Temple, the glorious colors of a beautiful day, or the unblemished lamb offered as a sacrifice. None of these reveal the actual face of God. It is just a symbol or representation of God who is invisible. But with the gift of faith, we believe in and worship the one God. We know all the signs and wonders that God makes for Israel, from parting the Red Sea, to the collapse of the great city of Jericho. Our invisible God is visible by guiding our people with a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day. Yet, we still do not see the face of God. Only his works.

Is it enough?

It seems that our Lord finds it too little for us to know just the works and representations of God the Father. In fact, we are so loved by the God who is three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that the Son is sent to live among us.

Let us continue to imagine that we are faithful Jews who suddenly come across a man named Jesus. He claims to be the Son of God.

As the Gospel of John says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Word that we have heard proclaimed in the Torah and the writings of the prophets is no longer a simple reading. It is no longer a description of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father (John 1:14).

At last, we can see God-made man. Jesus. He has a face; a body; he is totally human. Yet, he is still the divine God we have been worshipping along with our fellow Israelites for centuries before. The God who spared Abraham’s sacrifice of his son, Isaac, was taken and fulfilled by Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice. The God who had Samuel anoint David as king, came down to earth as the Son of David and our eternal King.

We imagine that our Father, who we have prayed to all our lives, finally has an image. Especially throughout the Book of John, we see the face of the Father in Jesus. We now know the Father, because we have seen and loved his Son, Jesus. “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

God the Son

Let us imagine Jesus as he repeatedly talks about the Father. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Furthermore, “If you had known me; you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him” (John 14:7).

As nice as it is to imagine seeing Jesus, the reality is that we are 21^st Century Catholics. We do not see the face of God—the face of Jesus Christ—or do we?

If we have trouble imagining Jesus, the face of the Father, we can watch some movies and shows that are good portrayals of him, such as The Passion of the Christ, Risen, The Chosen, and Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, there are many portrayals of him in art. For example, there are the portrayals of Jesus the Divine Mercy. We can look up images on the internet of the image of Jesus (painted at the request of Jesus to St. Faustina) with the phrase on the bottom of the image that says, “Jesus, I Trust in You.”

Another outstanding way to envision God who became man is the Shroud of Turin. We can look up some pictures of the Shroud—it is believed to be the shroud that Jesus himself was wrapped in for burial, leaving marks on the cloth so that we can now see the imprinted lines and the wounds of Jesus’ body.

God the Holy Spirit

Let us go back to imagining that we are 1^st Century Jews and are now disciples of Jesus. We find ourselves confused when Jesus goes back to the Father. The tangible Jesus, whose face we clearly see, ascends into heaven. But not without the promise of the Advocate. The Advocate is the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon us at Pentecost, we see God’s face, but in a totally different way. We still have the Father and the Son, but with the Holy Spirit, God becomes even more tangible. We see Jesus in every face of every person, for all are children of God. We witness signs and wonders by the Spirit of God and we hear the voice of God in tongues that are familiar and unfamiliar.

Now, with the gift of faith, given by the Spirit, we believe in the Eucharist. We can imagine ourselves and our fellow early Christians celebrating the feast in which we are given the Body and Blood of Jesus. We look at our brothers and sisters as they do good works, proclaim the good news, and pray for the world.

The same goes for us, 21^st Century Christians. We see God in the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit reveals the face of God in those we know and meet. Wondrously, the Holy Spirit is present in every act of love and in every gesture of prayer. So, even at this current moment, let us behold: The face of God!

This is not the end of seeing God’s face. For the Lord will reveal his face to us in the kingdom of heaven. When we reach heaven, we will more clearly, and more tangibly than any possible way on earth, see God. With hope, we know that one day, Jesus will come again and establish a new heaven in which

they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:4-5).

So, in this current time, we are seeing Jesus in his disguise of bread and wine as well as the Church and every person on earth. Still, we have hope in the fact that the veil will be drawn and we will see God’s glorious face that is so bright, night will vanish.