Youcat commented through CCC. Question n. 21 – Part III.

YOUCAT Question n. 21 - Part III. Faith what is it?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Faith is knowledge and trust. It has seven characteristics: Faith is a sheer gift of God, which we receive when we fervently ask for it. Faith is the supernatural power that is absolutely necessary if we are to attain salvation. Faith requires the free will and clear understanding of a person when he accepts the divine invitation. Faith is absolutely certain, because Jesus guarantees it. Faith is incomplete unless it leads to active love. Faith grows when we listen more and more carefully to God’s Word and enter a lively exchange with him in prayer. Faith gives us even now a foretaste of the joy of heaven.       

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 158) "Faith seeks understanding" (St. Anselm, Prosl. prooem.: PL 153, 225A): it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has revealed; a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love. The grace of faith opens "the eyes of your hearts" (Eph 1:18) to a lively understanding of the contents of Revelation: that is, of the totality of God's plan and the mysteries of faith, of their connection with each other and with Christ, the centre of the revealed mystery. "The same Holy Spirit constantly perfects faith by his gifts, so that Revelation may be more and more profoundly understood" (DV 5). In the words of St. Augustine, "I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe" (St. Augustine, Sermo 43, 7, 9: PL 38, 257-258).    

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 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" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II 171, 5, obj. 3). "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt" (John Henry Cardinal Newman, Apologia pro vita sua (London: Longman, 1878) 239). (CCC 161) Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation (Cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:36; 6:40 et al.). “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.’” [Dei Filius 3: DS 3012; cf. Mt 10:22; 24:13 and Heb11:6; Council of Trent DS 1532].

(This question: Faith what is it? is continued)