Youcat commented through CCC. Question n. 24 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 24 - Part I. What does my faith have to do with the Church?

(Youcat answer) No one can believe alone and by himself, just as no one can live alone and by himself. We receive the faith from the Church and live it out in fellowship with the people with whom we share our faith.      

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 166) Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbour impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith. 

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Faith is the most personal thing a person has, yet it is not a private matter. Anyone who wants to believe must be able to say both “I” and “we”, because a faith you cannot share and communicate would be irrational. The individual believer gives his free assent to the “we believe” of the Church. From her he received the faith. She was the one who handed it down through the centuries and then to him, preserved it from falsifications, and caused it to shine forth again and again. Believing is therefore participation in a common conviction. The faith of others supports me, just as the fervor of my faith enkindles and strengthens others. The Church emphasizes the “I” and the “we” of faith by using two professions of faith in her liturgies: the Apostles’ Creed, the Creed that begins with “I believe” (Credo), and the Great Creed of Nicaea-Constantinople, which in its original form starts with the words “We believe” (Credimus).

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 167) "I believe" (Apostles' Creed) is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe" (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. "I believe" is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both "I believe" and "We believe".  

(This question: What does my faith have to do with the Church? is continued)