Before anyone can truly understand the Catholic Faith, two questions need to be
answered. What is Faith? Where does belief come from? What implications does Faith
have for me personaly?
What is Faith?
Faith means the submission of one's mind and intelect to God, who cannot decieve nor
be decieved. God gave us our senses, mind, and intelect to alow us to learn and know
the world around us. However, the metapysical world is beyond our knowledge. We can
imply certain things about God through our gift of reason, but we can never truly "know"
God completely by reason. Therefore if we are to know about God, God must reveal
himself to us in someway that we can comprehend through our senses. This revelation
happen through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Faith is knowledge. Because the source of Faith is God, we can trust and follow Him
fully and unreserved. Therefore, "Faith is the realization of things hoped for the evidence
of things unseen" Heb. 11:1 We trust our sight because the source is from the falible
function of the eye. We should also trust in faith, which comes from an infailable source,
God himself. If we know what we see, we certainly know what comes from faith.
Faith is a gift. When Peter proclaimed that Christ was the Messiah, Jesus stated "flesh
and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father" (Mt 16:17) It is also
true that no one may believe in the Son unless the Father draw him.(see Jn 6:44)
Faith is also a grace. Grace is a sharing in the life of God. Faith is a sharing in God's
life, for by faith we can know supernatural truths (Just like God). We can know the Father,
as the Son knows the Father, and share in God's life. We must constantly be thankful to
God for such a gift: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard....this God has
revealed to us through his spirit" (1 Co 2:9,10)
Where does the Faith come from?
Faith has as it's sole and complete source, God and His revelation. "In times past God
spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last
days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:1)
God's revelation begins with the calling of Abraham whom he promised to make the
"Father of Faith" God continued to teach the Jews, his chosen People, by the Law and the
Prophets. But all this was to lead to the complete revelation of truth through Jesus
Christ. As God promised " I will raise up for them a prophet...and will put my words
into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him." (Dt 18:18)
Because Jesus was God incarnate, His teaching is trustworthy. The gift of God made
man is a great and marvelous treasure: the truth about God, the truth about oursleves and
the truth about the world. The sum of Christ's teachings and revelation are known as "the
deposit of the faith". This truly is the "pearl of great price", to know God, as God calls us
to know him.
How does it get to me?
The problem that excites cynics around the world is percisely this question: "OK so
what if Jesus was God? This doesn't help me 2000 years later. I don't know what he
taught. How am I supposed to sort out between what Christ said and stuff some guy
added later."
We must trust, logicaly, that if God was to send a Messiah and reveal the truth, he
would in some way protect it for future generations so that all men may inherit it's fruits.
Otherwise the initial revelation was senseless. Christ himself promised this when he said
"The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name - he will teach you
everything and remind you of all that I told you" (Jn 15:26) The deposit of the faith is
preserved in two ways: Sacred Scripture, & Sacred Tradition. Both are entrusted to the
Magesterium of the Church for protection.
Sacred Scripture
All Christians hold that Sacred Scripture is inspired by God. It holds within it the history
of salvation and the early church. Although the writers themselves may not have known
they were inspired, all the writings in the scriptures were nonetheless inspired and written
by God through human hands. The writers did not lose their free will, but thier wills
were subjected to the will of God in a way that allowed them to write as God wished.
In reading the scriptures we must understand a few things that will alow us to properly
comprehend God's message to us:
We must read with the mind of the writer - This means we must try to understand what
the writer was trying to say by writing this. The first face or literal meaning of the
scriptures is not always the writers desired message. Many of the works use poetic,
symbolic and analogical means to demonstrate thier point. It is also important to
understand that translation of the scriptures to english, the texts lose some of thier
meaning. (Only the original texts were inspired, NOT the translations)
We must understand each passage in light of the entire deposit of the faith - We cannot
focus on one book in scipture or one passage. When reading the Old Testament we must
realize the fullfilment of it in the New Testament. We cannot isolate the sciptures apart
from each other or else we will change it's meaning. We must also understand the
Scripture in light of Sacred Tradition. Both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition
compose the word of God. To alienate Scipture from Tradition results in us missing over
half of Christ's message. Not even the doctrine of the Trinity is fully defended by Sacred
Scipture. If we read the sciptures in this way, we cannot fully understand God's message
for us.
They must be read with the guidance of the Church - "the pillar and bulwark of truth" (1
tim 3:15) Peter reminds us of this when he says: "there is no prophecy of scipture that is
amatter of personal interpretation " (2 Pt 1:20) If Christ left the Magesterium to be in
charge of the truth, we must trust it's judgements in interpreting the scriptures. We
reading the bible, it is best( and practicaly nessacary) to read a translation aproved by the
church. (Check for the Imprimatur and Nihl Obstat in the first few pages). This let's us
know that the translation is faithful to the original. Also most Catholic Bibles include
footnotes that help us understand various historical and theological references made in
the sciptures.
The Magesterium - Jesus left the 12 apostles to be the leaders and caretakers of the faith
when he pronounced to them "Whoever listens to you, listens to me. Whoever rejects
you rejects me." (Lk 16:10) and "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Mt 18:18) The 12 apostles
passed this authority down through apostolic succesion and the sacrement of Ordination.
The Magesterium is the whole of the bishops in union with the Pope. By virtue of the
Sacrement of Orders, they speak in the name of Christ when they speak publicly on
articles of faith and morals. They are given role of protecting and transmitting the faith
to future generations. We are called to remain faithful to the Magesterium in all we do.
This includes contraversial areas such as: Contraception, Abortion, Divorce &
Remariage, and Women's Ordination. When the Magesterium speaks, Christ speaks.
(remember Lk 10:16)
What does Faith ask of Me?
Faith entails surrender. Trusting in the teachings of Christ is not easy. It is certainly
counter cultural. Where the world seeks pleasure, Christ asks for pennance. Where the
world seeks wealth, Christ calls for sacrifice. Where the world seeks fame, Christ calls
for humility. We must not trust ourselves though, but the all knowing and all loving God.
Faith entails us to do more that just accept certain doctrines or precepts. Faith is a
surrender to the will of God. To truly have faith, our will must be subject to the divine
will in all our thoughts, feelings and works. We go where Christ calls us and do
whatever Christ wants. FAITH MEANS TO LET GO OF THIS WORLD AND TO
COMPLETELY SURRENDER TO A GOD WHO LOVES US AND HAS DONE
EVERYTHING FOR US!
Faith also seeks and desires understanding. It is our obligation to know and follow our
faith. We must research thouroughly areas of our faith that cause misunderstanding, and
doubt. We can do this in many ways. First by reading and studying sacred scripture.
Secondly by researching the Church's teachings on various issues. This can be done by
reading actual church documents themselves or books, comentaries and catechisms that
translate them to your personal level of understanding. We can also learn a great wealth
concerning the way to properly live out the faith by reading the works of the saints.
These can very in difficulty but show very brilliantly the path to truth and holiness.
Above all things we must remember that faith is a gift. It is a valuable treasure that has
been hidden for generations. The prophets desired to see what we see and didn't. Men
around the world seek to understand the mysteries of the faith but fail. Many souls are
lost and disfirgured by following wretched paths to God. None recieved these gifts but
we have.
God did not chose to reveal his truth by a prophet bring messages through visions and
voices. God did not chose to reveal himself by awesome miracles of destruction and fear.
God did not chose to reveal himself through the messages of the occult - the stars, the
dead nor the spirits. God revealed himself by becoming one of us and telling us by his
own voice, his own actions and own word. This is an amazing gift! Don't pass it up for
anything!!!!!
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