Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Youcat commented through CCC. Question n. 21 – Part II.
A deepening through
CCC
(CCC 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 are contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in
human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons
tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for
example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one
another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield
by faith the full submission of... intellect and will to God who reveals"
(Dei Filius: 3: DS 3008), and to
share in an interior communion with him. (CCC 155) In faith, the human
intellect and will co-operate 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" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh
II-II, 2, 9; cf. Dei Filius 3; DS
3010).
Reflecting and
meditating
(Youcat comment)
Many people say that to believe is not
enough for them; they want to know. The word “believe”, however, has two
completely different meanings. If a parachutist asks the clerk at the airport,
“Is the parachute packed safely?” and the other man answers casually, “Hmm, I
believe so”, then that will not be enough for him; he would like to know it for
sure. But if he has asked a friend to pack the parachute, then the friend will
answer the same question by saying, “Yes, I did it personally. You can trust
me!” And to that the parachutist will reply, “Yes, I believe you.” This belief
is much more than knowing; it means assurance. And that is the kind of belief
that prompted Abraham to travel to the Promised Land; that is the faith that
caused the martyrs to stand fast till death; that is the faith that still today
upholds Christians in persecution. A faith that encompasses the whole person.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 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" (Dei Filius 3: DS 3008). 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” (Dei Filius 3: DS 3009). 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" (Dei
Filius 3: DS 3008-3010; cf. Mk 16 20; Heb 2:4).
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