            <div id="father_cummings_title">Father Cummings Homilies</div>
            <div id="father_cummings_excerpts">Excerpts</div><br/><br/>
            <div id="father_cummings_homily_title">The Light of Christ's Face</div>  

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                <p>
                    <i>Do you believe in the Son of Man? Who is He Lord?</i> What marvelous 
                    openness of heart. It merits the reply: <i>you are looking at Him</i>. 
                    The once-blind man bowed down and worshiped. Have we all encountered Christ 
                    in this personal way, face to face, giving us the unshakeable conviction 
                    that He must be the Lord of our lives? The tragedy of the Pharisees is 
                    not that they were blind, but that they refused to be enlightened by Christ. 
                    They refused to admit their blindness, but said <i>We see</i>. </p>
                  <p>Christ is constantly following after us, knocking on the doors of our 
                    hearts, whether we have plunged back into the darkness of sin or whether 
                    we are simply living a mediocre life. The Church reminds us constantly, 
                    and certainly every Lent, that we must never cease striving to open up 
                    our heart to Christ. As St. Paul tells us: <i>it is the God who said, 
                    "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give 
                    the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 
                    (2 Cor 4.6)</i> The mystery of God and the way of salvation are visible 
                    on the face of Jesus Christ, the Holy Face. He who dwells in inaccessible 
                    light became the light of the world visible for all who have eyes to see. 
                    As a result, we who have looked upon Christ, become light to others as 
                    He Himself tells us <i>You are the light of the world.</i></p>
                  <p> Especially during Lent, let us seek the face of Christ. First, we can 
                    find it in scripture, where "the face of the Nazarnene emerges with a 
                    solid historical foundation". The details presented by the gospel will 
                    nourish our prayer, where in meditative silence we gaze upon Him in love, 
                    according to the words of the Song of Songs: <i>O my dove, in the clefts 
                    of the rock in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear 
                    your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely. (Cant. 2.14)</i> 
                    Secondly, in Lent let us seek his face by walking after Him on the road 
                    of self denial. Even a little fasting or sacrifice will bring to mind 
                    the same face, suffering for us, with no comeliness in it, but covered 
                    with bruises and blood. Finally, let us seek his face in the poor, lonely 
                    and sad by performing readily and cheerfully good works and almsgiving. 
                    This is Lent: prayer, fasting and good works. Seeking thus the face of 
                    Christ will prepare us for the sight of the face of Jesus, Risen from 
                    the dead - first in faith at Easter and one day in Heaven, when we see 
                    Him face to face, the object of our gaze for all eternity. 
                  </p>
    
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