Karl Rahner's thoughts on Faith

Karl Rahner on the ‘veil of faith’.

        Have you ever kept silent, despite the urge to defend yourself when you were unfairly treated?

        Have you ever forgiven another although you gained nothing by it and your forgiveness was accepted as quite natural?

        Have you ever made a sacrifice without receiving any thanks or acknowledgement, without even feeling any inward satisfaction?  Have you ever decided to do a thing simply for the sake of conscience, knowing that you must bear sole responsibility for your decision without being able to explain it to anyone?

        Have you ever tried to act purely for love of God when no warmth sustained you, when your act seemed like a leap in the dark, simply nonsensical?

        Have you ever been good to someone without expecting a trace of gratitude and without the comfortable feeling of having been ‘unselfish’? 

  If you have had such experiences, Rahner asserts, then you have experienced God, perhaps without even realizing it. 

Extract from "Against An Infinite Horizon" by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI