Faith Is More Than Knowledge—It’s an Encounter

I was adopted at the age of two and a half, and growing up, I often felt like I didn’t fit in. I was different from my adopted siblings, and kids made fun of me for my ethnicity and my big overbite. I heard adults call me a "crack baby" because my birth mom struggled with addiction. At the time, people assumed kids like me wouldn’t amount to much.

I struggled in school, had frequent outbursts of anger, and honestly, at the root of it all, I didn’t feel loved. I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere, especially in my family or community. I felt like an outcast.

But then, one hot summer day when I was eight, something happened that changed everything. I was at my parish with my uncle, cousins, and siblings, spreading mulch around the church grounds. As a kid, I knew one way to get out of work: by going to the bathroom. I figured it was a good excuse! So after I got permission, I tried the school/office building—but it was locked. I walked across the parking lot to the church building. The air conditioning felt like a great relief from the heat. I didn’t really need the bathroom, so I just wandered into the church sanctuary. I gazed up at the tabernacle.

And that’s when I first experienced God’s love in a profound way. I felt a deep peace and love stir in my heart, something I hadn’t felt before. It was the first time I felt truly loved and like I belonged. I knew a lot about God, but this was the first time I experienced Him. I sat down in a pew, and for the first time, I felt His presence and peace in a way I could never explain.

In Western society, we often emphasize the intellectual side of faith. While we need that intellectual understanding, it must be balanced with the heart. Blaise Pascal summed it up by saying, “Faith is God perceived by the heart.” Our minds are meant to guard our hearts, not replace them.

Today, let’s rekindle our love for the Lord by taking time to pray intimately with Him, remembering that we are each uniquely created in His image, as Psalm 139:13-14 reminds us: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”