Faith is a divinely infused virtue by which man believes, on God's authority, what God has revealed and teaches through His Holy Church.
Faith is the foundation of our hope.
The proofs for the truth of our holy faith are clear...Consequently, unbelievers have no excuse for refusing to submit their reason to the teachings of our holy faith. "He who believes not is already condemned," says our Divine Savior.
Faith gives us knowledge which surpasses in dignity all scientific truths.
Our holy faith is a treasure of unspeakable value. That which we perceive with our senses or comprehend with our reason may and often does lead us astray. The truths of faith, on the contrary, are revealed by God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Faith supplies us with an abundant source of merit...for the merit of faith consists in this: that we accept and believe the truths proposed, freely and without constraint. "Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed." (Jn 20:29)
OUR SHIELD AND PROTECTION
"This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith." (1 Jn 5:4) God has created us simply to labor at our souls' salvation and to become holy. "This is the will of God, your sanctification." (1 Thess 4:3)
Faith puts us in a position to overcome all obstacles...such as human respect, inordinate desires of the flesh...all the temptations of hell. The devil is very powerful, no doubt, and his temptations are calculated to inspire us with fear and dread.
But the man of faith triumphs over all his attacks.
"In all things, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one." (Eph 6:16)
"My just man liveth by faith," says Holy Scripture (Heb 10:38). By means of faith, [man] sustains himself in the life of grace. When faith grows weak, virtue is in danger; when faith is lost, virtue departs with it. Accordingly, when we are assailed by a temptation to pride or sensuality or any other vice, for self-defense we must instantly arm ourselves with the principles of holy faith...[We must think on] the account we shall have to render on judgment day.
Faith preserves our peace of heart amid the trials and tribulations that beset us, for in all the crosses of life, faith gives us the assurance that patience and resignation will merit eternal joy.
Let us therefore thank God...Let us thank God unceasingly for this wonderful grace and be ever mindful of the words of the Psalmist: "He hath not done in like manner to every nation." (Ps 147:20)
AN OFFERING OF THE INTELLECT
Once we are convinced that the truths we are asked to believe really come from God, we are obliged to submit our reason and, on the strength of God's word, to accept as certain the truths proposed, though we may not or cannot understand [all of] them.
"As newborn babies desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation." (1 Pet 2:2)
FAITH NOT OPPOSED TO REASON
The mysteries of holy faith are not in opposition to reason, but they transcend its power of comprehension. "Faith," says St. Augustine, "is characteristic not of the proud but of the humble."
If you are tempted by the evil spirit against some truth of holy faith, do not stop to consider the difficulties suggested by the devil. Make an act of faith without delay and protest before God your willingness to lay down your very life for the truths of your holy faith.
St. Francis de Sales was very ill, he was grievously tormented with doubts in regard to the Blessed Eucharist. Never for a moment did he stop to argue with the devil, but he fought and overcame him with the holy Name of Jesus.
Often turn to our Divine Redeemer and address Him in the words of the apostles, "Lord, increase our faith." (Lk 17:5
"Bring into captivity our understanding unto the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor 10:5)
This does not, of course, prevent us from considering the motives that make for the credibility of our holy religion. On the contrary, God wishes us to use our natural powers of intellect to be convinced of the reasonableness of our faith.
PROOFS OF FAITH
1.) The truth of our holy faith is loudly proclaimed by the prophecies of Holy Scripture...prophecies uttered hundreds of years ago. For example, it was prophesied that the Jews, in punishment for the deicide, would be driven from the templte and the holy land, and hardened and obstinate in sin would be dispersed throughout the world.
2.) The truth of our holy faith is evident from the miracles which were wrought by our Lord, by His apostles and the saints of the Catholic Church. If a religion has real miracles to show in confirmation of her doctrine, that religion must be divine, for it is impossible for God to sanction and promote a false religion by the performance of genuine miracles.
"Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do he also shall do; and greater than these he shall do." (Jn 14:12)
In the early days of the Church, miracles were more numerous than they are today, since they were necessary for the spread of faith. Still, they have never been wanting in any age, and they have constantly aided in the conversion of heathen and infidel nations.
By what right do you refuse to believe such men as St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. Gregory and others when you willingly accept what a Tacitus, a Suetonius or a Pliny has said?
3.) The courage and constancy of the martyrs. Under the reign of Diocletian, 17,000 Christians were executed in a single month.
According to Genebrard, 11,000,000 martyrs were put to death during the ten great persecutions....30,000 martyrs for each day, subjected to every imaginable torture.
The number of those willing and anxious to die for their holy faith was never diminished but always seemed to increase.
Now I ask, if the faith of these valiant martyrs were not the True Faith of Christ, would they ever have been able to endure those frightful torments and to delivery themselves up freely and joyfully to a cruel death?
[Two accounts are written as follows:]
"I will rather suffer death at the hands of the executioners or at your own hands than refuse obedience to God; I will not cast myself into Hell for the sake of pleasing any man..."
"I know what Heaven is worth; and since a martyr's death is the shortest road that leads me thither, I choose it with joy, and I esteem my earthly life as little as dust beneath my feet."
A mother continually called out to her son who, like herself, was fastened to a cross: "Courage, my son, courage! We are on the way to heaven. Continue to call on Jesus and Mary."
4.) We consider that from the time of the apostles down to our own days, our faith has continued unaltered. The apostles and their successors were careful to preserve the doctrine of our Divine Redeemer in its primitive purity and integrity.
"Going therefore, teach ye all nations; teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."(Mt 28:19-20)
"Let that which you have heard from the beginning abide in you." (1 Jn 2:24)
"Let there be no schisms among you; but be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Cor 1:10)
These admonitions of the apostle have always been strictly adhered to by the pastors of the Church, for, in the words of St. Augustine, "What they found in the Church they have preserved, and what their fathers handed down to them they in turn left as precious legacy to their sons."
The doctrines she teaches today are the same that were taught and believed in the first age of the Church. The sects, on the contrary, that have separated from the Catholic Church, have not remained unchanged in the doctrines which they propound.
There you will find a record of ever-changing tenets of the Protestant denominations. The pride that caused the founders of these sects to refuse obedience to the true Church of Christ has led their followers to turn to refuse obedience to them, and thus countless new doctrines and new religions have sprung into existence.
A LIVING FAITH
"It is certainly great folly not to wish to believe the Gospel of Christ; but it would be greater folly still to believe and to live as if you did not believe it." (Pico of Mirandola)
"O my brethren," exclaims St. James, "what shall it profit if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him?" (Jam 2:14)
Many Christians believe without doubt that there is a just God who will judge them; that endless happiness or eternal misery await them; and yet they live as though there were no God, no judgment, no Heaven and no Hell.
St. Bernard says, "show by your deeds that you believe; by a virtuous life a Christian must prove that he has faith."
If a man firmly believed that the grace of God is the highest and best good he could possess, and that sin robs us of grace and is the greatest evil in the world, he must of necessity change his life.
St. Bernard says, "He who acknowledges God with his tongue but denies Him in deed, dedicates his tongue to the Lord and his soul to the devil."
Faith without works is dead. (Jam 2:17)
There are Christians who willingly accept those teachings of our holy faith that are confined to the sphere of the intellect, but who give no proof whatever that they believe the truths which affect the will.
St. Paul writes, "Try your own selves if you be in the faith; prove ye yourselves." (2 Cor 13:5)
Blessed are they that suffer sickness and temporal loss or some other misfortune with patience and resignation. Blessed are they that suffer persecution because they flee from sin or endeavor to promote the glory of God!
He who from human respect neglects the practices of piety and the reception of the Sacraments and is wholly absorbed with the attractions of the theater and ballroom can have no valid claim to the title of a faithful Catholic.
There are many who imagine that a life in harmony with the precepts of our holy faith must necessarily be a sad and joyless life. The devil pictures our holy religion to them as a tyrant who imposes only burdens and cares upon her children, forces them to constant self-renunciation and interdicts the gratification they desire.
The law of Jesus Christ commands us to battle against our inordinate inclinations, to love our enemies, to mortify our bodies, to be patient in adversities and to place all our hope in the life to come. But all this does not make the life of the truly faithful a sad and sorrowful one.
Ask those who lead a life of faith if the renunciation of this world's goods makes them sad! They will answer without hesitation, "No no! we desire but God alone and nothing else."
Should anyone object that a life according to faith is opposed to nature, I answer: It is, no doubt, opposed to nature - but to a depraved and fallen nature. It is burdensome, yes, but only for those who rely on their own strength and resources. But for one who trusts in God and begs for His assistance, the observance of the law of Jesus Christ is sweet and easy. "Taste and see how sweet is the Lord." (Ps 33:9) "Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you and learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest in your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light." (Mt 11:28-30)
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