Fr Victor Darlington lectures in Sacred Scripture at St John’s Seminary, Wonersh. Victor originates from Nigeria, and is a priest of the archdiocese of Southwark, England, and parish priest of Camberwell in south London. He completed studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and at the Angelicum University in Rome.
Victor visited Gidea Park parish on 18th March 2017 in order to lead a study day entitled ‘The Journey of Faith in the Gospel of John: its relevance for Christians today’.
Victor began by surveying the faith situation in modern Britain with all its challenges. How can the stories of faith in the Gospel of John provide a way forward? Faith is understood as a gift. Even in the Prologue of the gospel we hear of those who accepted the Word and those who did not.
John sees belief as something active and dynamic. The whole purpose of writing the gospel is ‘so that you should believe’. The language of faith is often symbolic as shown particularly in the ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus. Fr Victor explores in some detail the story of the wedding at Cana when ‘his disciples believed in him’, and the three gospels of faith which have a major role in the preparation for baptism: the woman at the well in chapter 4, the man born blind in chapter 9, and the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11.