It seems to me that the life of faith, with its misery – when a person has a weak faith and, on top of that, so many scars – and with its blessing despite all that weakness, resembles the life of prayer: it leads to ever greater simplicity. Just as the soul on the path of prayer begins by praying with a whole palette of affections, but ultimately manages to pray only with an act of devotion, so it seems to me that faith, after exploring all possible areas of a person's life, returns to that simple, raw, but for faith so demanding set of a few letters that I found scratched on the wall in the Catacombs of Callixtus during my visit to Rome:
I C H T H Y S
Iesús Christos Theú Hyios Sótér
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior
I feel that my faith is becoming simpler, rawer, and more demanding, and I am concerned that I may embrace that ICHTHYS with my faith wholeheartedly.
(P. Benedikt Holota OFM /* August 5, 1922/,
conclusion of the text Witness of a Convert, Theological Texts 3/1990)
