Lesson 15 - What is Faith?

(Lesson 15)

What is Faith?

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Heb 11:1

Discussion Guide:

Faith can be described as trusting in God and in the teachings of his Church. It is a gift from God and it brings us into a personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. Like the good Father that he is, God shows us the way to live our lives. We believe in Jesus Christ as the God and Savior of the world. We trust him with our eternal salvation. Keep in mind that faith does not just consist of believing that God exists. After all, even Satan believes that God exists and no one would dare say that he has faith. True faith not only consists of believing in the existence of God, but also believing in whatever he reveals.

Believing in the Catholic Church as the one Church that was established by Jesus is essential to our faith. We believe that the Church has been entrusted with what is called the “deposit of faith”. These truths have been handed down to us from the time of the apostles. Truth is not something that we make up as we go along! God reveals the truth to us. As Catholics, we believe that the teachings of God reach us in two ways: Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ and that its teachings are guided by the Holy Spirit throughout all time. We must also have faith that the Sacred Scriptures have God as their primary author. Christianity contains many mysteries that are beyond human understanding. We believe it because we believe that it is God who revealed it. There is no way that we could ever fully comprehend some of the mysteries of God. A doctrine such as the Holy Trinity had to be revealed to us by God because we would have never figured it out on our own. Moral teachings are also a part of the deposit of the faith. These are usually understandable by means of the human intellect.

Discussion points:

· We need to constantly pray for an increase of faith

· Faith is a gift from God that we must accept and cooperate with

· Without faith, it is impossible to please God

· We do not need to understand everything that God reveals to us

· We do need to accept all that the Church teaches with faith

· There are aspects of our faith that are beyond human reason

· There is never a contradiction between true faith and true science

· Morality is directly related to faith

· By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God (CCC 143)

The Letter to the Hebrews Chapter 11:1-31

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old received divine approval. By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named." He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his burial. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.


What is Faith?

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Heb 11:1

Opening Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit. Increase our faith and help us to believe all the truths that God has revealed. Help us to walk by faith and not by sight. Help us to place our trust in the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Theme:

Discuss the meaning of faith and explain the meaning of the “deposit of faith”. Faith must manifest itself in the form of action. If faith is not demonstrated by good deeds, it is a dead faith. There is an unbreakable connection between faith, deeds, and morality. Faith in Jesus Christ must change your heart.

Bible Readings:

John 20:26-29 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

James 2:24, 26 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone…. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

2 Corinthians 5:7-10 So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight….For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.

Explanation of the Bible readings: St. John’s account of “doubting Thomas” gives us a great insight into the way that Jesus Christ views faith. The Master says that Thomas would have been more blessed had he not required physical evidence in order to believe. By faith, he should have accepted the testimony of the other apostles regarding the resurrection. We often want to see concrete results or some kind of proof before we trust in God. Sometimes we say things like, “Lord, before I can believe in you, I want to see a sign” or “If you do this for me, I will start to go to church”. This is similar to the way that Thomas initially reacted. It did not please the Lord 2,000 years ago and I doubt it pleases him today! We need to accept the Catholic faith because we love God and we want to serve his Church. We need to ask God, “What can I do for you and for your people”? As St. Paul teaches us, we need to demonstrate our faith by our works. If faith does not manifest itself in good works done for the love of God, it is surely a dead faith.

Hebrews 11:6 We need faith to please God
Romans 3:28-31 We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ
Leviticus 6:1 Sin is a breach of faith

Teaching:

If we have faith, we will believe the teachings of the Church. Although it is perfectly acceptable to ask questions in order to seek understanding, true faith does not doubt the reliability of what God has revealed through his Church. It is accepted not because it makes sense to us, but because we trust the source. To disregard or dismiss any Church teaching as being “not from God” or “man-made” is not only arrogant, but displays a lack of faith, a lack of knowledge, or perhaps an unwillingness to repent. We cannot change the deposit of faith, especially regarding moral issues, to suit our own desires. People often compromise their faith because they have family members who are living in sinful lifestyles and they do not want to view people they love as sinful. We should pray for these people and we should certainly be there for them, but we must never believe that the Church is in error about its moral teachings because of our personal feelings. Faith and morality go hand in hand. If we have strong faith, we will always look to Catholic teaching for guidance in our decision making process. Only there can we always find the answer to the popular question, “What would Jesus do?”

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1814 Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God." For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by faith." Living faith "works through charity."

142 By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company." The adequate response to this invitation is faith.

143 By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith".

144 To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God…

146 Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen":7 "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Because he was "strong in his faith", Abraham became the "father of all who believe".

148 The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that "with God nothing will be impossible" and so giving her assent….

149 Throughout her life and until her last ordeal when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God's word. And so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith.

150 Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed…..

151 For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him….

152 One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. For "no one can say "Jesus is Lord", except by the Holy Spirit”…. The Church never ceases to proclaim her faith in one only God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

153 When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven". Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"

154 Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason.

155 In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: "Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace."

156 What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived". So "that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit." Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church's growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability "are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all"; they are "motives of credibility" (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is "by no means a blind impulse of the mind".

157 Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but "the certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives." "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt."

159 Faith and science: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason….

160 To be human, "man's response to God by faith must be free, and. . . therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. The act of faith is of its very nature a free act…..

161 Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. "Since "without faith it is impossible to please [God]" and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life 'But he who endures to the end.'"

162 Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith…..

2087 Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us….

2088 There are various ways of sinning against faith:

Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.

2089 Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."

Faith words:

Deposit of faith: The teachings of the faith that are entrusted to the Catholic Church and guaranteed by the Holy Spirit throughout time

Faith: The theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief

Heresy: The obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same

Incredulity: The neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it


Reflection Questions:


Can you think of a time when you needed to rely on faith in another person?








Give an example of a situation where a person would look to God with faith?










Describe a circumstance where a person can have his or her faith put to the test.








Pope John Paul II

General Audience March 18, 1998

3. In what does faith consist? The Constitution Dei Verbum explains that by faith, "man freely commits his entire self to God, making 'the full submission of his intellect and will to God who reveals'" (n. 5). Thus faith is not only the intellect's adherence to the truth revealed, but also a submission of the will and a gift of self to God revealing himself. It is a stance that involves one's entire existence.

The Council also recalls that this faith requires "the grace of God to move man and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth'" (ibid.). In this way we can see how, on the one hand, faith enables us to welcome the truth contained in Revelation and proposed by the Magisterium of those who, as Pastors of God's People, have received a "sure charism of truth" (Dei Verbum) , n. 8). On the other hand, faith also spurs us to true and deep consistency, which must be expressed in all aspects of a life modeled on that of Christ.

4. As a fruit of grace, faith exercises an influence on events. This is wonderfully seen in the exemplary case of the Blessed Virgin. Her faith-filled acceptance of the angel's message at the Annunciation is decisive for Jesus' very coming into the world. Mary is the Mother of Christ because she first believed in him….The faith of the Caananite woman was also bold and insistent. Jesus countered this woman, who had come to seek the cure of her daughter, with the Father's plan which restricted his mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Caananite replied with the full force of her faith and obtained the miracle: "O woman! Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire" (Mt 15:28).

5. In many other cases the Gospel witnesses to the power of faith. Jesus expresses his admiration for the centurion's faith: "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (Mt 8:10). And to Bartimaeus: "Go your way your faith has made you well" (Mk 10:52). He says the same thing to the woman with a hemorrhage (cf. Mk 5:34).

His words to the father of the epileptic who wanted his son to be cured are no less striking: "All things are possible to him who believes" (Mk 9:23).
The role of faith is to co-operate with this omnipotence. Jesus asks for this co-operation to the point that upon returning to Nazareth, he works almost no miracles because the inhabitants of his village did not believe in him (cf. Mk 6:5-6). For Jesus, faith has a decisive importance for the purposes of salvation.
St Paul will develop Christ's teaching when, in conflict with those who wished to base the hope of salvation on observance of the Jewish law, he forcefully affirms that faith in Christ is the only source of salvation: "We hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law" (Rom 3:28). However, it must not be forgotten that St Paul was thinking of that authentic and full faith which "works through love" (Gal 5:6). True faith is animated by love of God, which is inseparable from love for our brothers and sisters.