More than two thousand years ago, the Jewish people lived under the rule of the Seleucid Empire, where King Antiochus IV outlawed Jewish religious practice and desecrated the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Led by Judah Maccabee, a small group of Jews defeated a much larger army to reclaim their city.  When they entered the Temple, they purified it and prepared to relight the menorah—but found only enough ritually pure oil to burn for one day. Trusting in the certainty of the Light rather than the limitation before them, they lit the menorah anyway. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, long enough to prepare more. Hanukkah remembers both the victory of faith over oppression and the enduring truth that when we act from spiritual certainty, the Light continues to shine beyond what reason predicts.

This story is a stirring metaphor for the unequivocal power of faith. What is this faith that is so certain that it cannot be extinguished?

Did you know that the power of faith is an innate gift we all possess? It cannot be taken away. It is interrelated with belief. Faith, as scripture tells us, “…is the substance of things hoped for.” However, although faith is innate—but it can be misplaced. Misplaced faith becomes fear and doubt. Fear is faith turned inside out.

If we are listening and involved in the conditional world, we are witnessing a great many atrocities. There are wars, political upheaval, dishonesty, and humanity’s inhumanity to itself. We might feel that we no longer know whom to trust or who is telling the truth. And yet, could it be that beneath all of this, something is stirring—something waiting to be born? I believe it is. I believe that everything happening in our world is calling us to remember who we are. If we place our faith in fear, we will never awaken to our Truth.

Just yesterday, there was yet another mass shooting. I felt deep sadness and discouragement once again about the state of our world. I wondered if meaningful action will ever be taken regarding gun control. While this work is important—and we must continue advocating—it alone will not heal the deeper wound: the loss of faith in life, in hope, in self-love, in compassion, and in our own power to create a life we desire. Within the masses, there is a loss of faith in goodness, in trust, in abundance, and in the possibility of a thriving life.

When the Jewish people were overrun by King Antiochus IV, what did they do? First, they rebelled. They acted. Their uprising came from a deep desire to be free—their right to practice their faith and live according to their spiritual values. They would not be contained. They held faith that freedom was possible, and indeed, they succeeded. But it did not end there.

Because of their belief system, they knew they must cleanse their Temple. This act was more important to them than anything else. It represented the life they desired to express. And then came the question of the oil. Would there be enough? There had to be. They trusted that God would not abandon them as they did what they knew was theirs to do. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for…” They believed deeply enough and so it was done.

This is not a mystical “woo-woo” experience. Science is the new mysticism, and it tells us that when we elevate our energy and emotion into a state of knowing—into certainty—we magnetize to ourselves everything necessary to manifest the desire. This is why we say, “And so it is,” at the end of our Spiritual Mind Treatments. As Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, would say: even if it were in the furthest reaches of Africa, it would have to find its way to us. I may not know how the oil burned for eight days, but I do know this—it was faith that lit the flame.

What is it that we truly want? I say I want peace in the world. I say I want an end to gun violence. If I genuinely desire these things, I must have faith that they are already unfolding. I must see the outcome as done—and I must also begin to embody nonviolence in my own life. I must act as if it is already so.

I believe there are multiple timelines occurring simultaneously, and I believe we get to choose which one we live in. I recently heard a student interviewed after a school shooting who shared that, since the tragedy at Sandy Hook, he had repeatedly affirmed that he would never be part of such an event. Yet years later, he found himself in one. He had been affirming what he did not want—and by doing so, keeping it alive in his consciousness. His faith remained fixed on the reality of school shootings, and eventually, he encountered that very experience. This is not a matter of blame. He did not create the event; however, he did find himself experiencing that which he dreaded. As was written in Job 3:25: “For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.”

In the Science of Mind and in quantum science, we know that everything is Consciousness. In other words, our thoughts and beliefs are our life. I do not want my life to revolve around avoiding tragedy. I want to live with faith in the power and presence of God that lives and breathes me—so completely that it becomes my prevailing awareness. Then, if I encounter something tragic or disturbing, I will have the faith to move myself through it. If, as Ernest Holmes teaches, all challenges and suffering are the soul’s journey back to itself, then I can meet the conditions of the relative world as just that: part of my journey back to my inner faith and the knowing that God is all there is. This is how I must think. It is the only way I know that will carry me through this world of conditions and continue the evolution of my soul.

So today, I choose the timeline where I remember who I am. I set my attention and intention on love, compassion, abundance, creativity, and perfect health. I place my faith in the knowing that the greater expression of our humanity is overcoming and dissolving the lesser powers of hatred, anger, and resentment. These lesser powers are not truths; they are effects—and effects change when we change consciousness. The cause can only be shifted through belief in the power of Love transforming chaos to peace.

We must keep keeping on. As we act from this place, we begin to live in a new timeline—one where solutions arise through love in action. As Emma Curtis Hopkins, author, mystic, and healer, wrote in Radiant I Am:

“I am a tower whose radiance sheds abroad protection for infinite kingdoms.
That which speeds forth as my radiance is the Holy Spirit of Revelation.
The I AM is the unending, peaceable defense of the whole universe.
By me all that have name or shape are safe and secure—running or walking or flying forever.
They shall not fear. They shall not be attacked. They shall not be hurt.
The days of hurting have flown away. The dreams of danger are past.
Things wake as mighty elixirs spread through them, borne on the streams of my word, my thought, my writing, my life-breaths.
They rise themselves. They are safe forevermore.
They shall not hurt or kill or destroy in my holy mountain.”

Emma knew who she was and her lives and the lives of those she touched were healed by her powerful consciousness. She knew that it all began with her and how she looked outward.

I will remember the story of Hannukah as a powerful example of the certainty of faith. Let us remember that when fear sought to extinguish faith, a small band of devoted souls stood firm against a mighty empire and reclaimed what was sacred. They did not wait for proof; they trusted the certainty of the Light itself. And in that act of faith, the flame endured.

Through this story, I am reminded that when we choose faith over doubt and fear, the Light responds—sustaining us beyond what we can see, calculate, or predict.

Holiday Blessings,

Rev. Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Founding Spiritual Director CSL Kaua’i, Founder of the Red Dress Movement, Co-Host of the From Woo Woo to Wow Wow! Podcast
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