Do You Know Your Catholic Faith?

[Sister_Helena]

How much do you love your Faith? You cannot love something you don’t know much about, can you? So, how much do you know. If you want to learn more about the teachings of your Faith, stick with us, and we learn together!

 

[Lancer]

Sister…like your blog and concur with your comment that you can’t love what you don’t know or understand (even to know that something is a mystery beyond our comprehension such as the Trinity…is knowledge that helps you to love the Trinity…in awe… regardless of understanding the mystery) …without sound knowledge and understanding…love becomes less fulfilling for yourself and the other other person (fellowship…marriage…and especially if the Other Person is the Lord Jesus Christ…who reveals and teaches us who our heavenly Father is…really is (Prodigal Son parable really about Jesus telling us who our Father in heaven really is…Agape!

God bless and Pax Christi

 

[Mark77]

God Bless You Sister, you are 100% correct.

We must learn the Truth of Jesus, our Catholic faith!!

I drifted away from the teachings of Jesus for many years, ignorant of my Catholic faith.

I led myself to sin and eventually to a stint in prison because I bought into society’s lies,“I am my own god, I decide what is right and wrong”.

There are eternal consequences to our actions.

Our loving Savior Jesus Christ is Merciful and forgives us of all our sins if we repent and forgive others. He is eternally waiting for us.

I reluctantly returned Home, initially looking for the easy way to Jesus and trying to disprove what the Catholic Church teaches.

After initially believing some of the false claims from Protestant and Muslim brothers against the Church, I finally read the Holy Scriptures in their context, not with out of context quotations. I also read the Catechism (2 + times) and read the writings of the Early Church Fathers. Finally, it was the Holy Eucharist that truly opened my eyes!

Suddenly, the perfect beauty of the teachings of Jesus Christ, complete and without error, were revealed to me in His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The beautiful gift of Love that I had thrown away, was returned to me, more precious than life itself.

Miracles do happen. I am living proof.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

Mark

 

[Sister_Helena]

Dear Mark77

Welcome Home! You are an example of how the Truth can set one free!

 

[Sister_Helena]

Let us start a discussion: What do you mean when you say “I believe in God?”

 

[DebChris]

Let us start a discussion: What do you mean when you say “I believe in God?”

I start with accepting that God exists. That, of course, is simply a beginning. It is statement of faith that may be simply intellectual.
In my own life, this belief has moved beyond simply believing to knowing and experiencing His presence at a level that I never expected. It is this knowing that draws a person into deeper and deeper intimacy.
While we can read about God, we learn who He is accepting the Love and forgiveness He has for each of us.
Our Catholic Faith can be summarized within the Nicene Creed. We may know the names of the Sacraments and other basic facts. We have read the life of Christ and the lives of saints who gave up all to follow Him. Again, that is only a beginning. The faith of those who precede us adds to the richness of our own faith with their prayers. Within the course of our lifetimes we may never know all that God has to offer through His Church.
We can learn about a person from reading his/her biography. We do not know the person until we spend time with him/her and share what we possess. We can use this analogy when it comes to God. We may read the stories of the saints. We may listen every Sunday to the Scriptural readings. It is only in prayer, in sitting at the feet of Jesus, as Mary did, that we come to know the God in whom we believe.

 

[Amelia_Lewis]

When I say, “I believe”, I mean, “we believe”; that is, I mean that I believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches and holds to be true. In other words, I am declaring myself to be united in belief with the Catholic Church.

I believe that God speaks through the Catholic Church. I also believe that God does not lie or decieve. Therefore, I believe that everything the Catholic Church teaches has to be true.

I may at times have difficulty with certain teachings - for example, I would love it if my cats had immortal souls and I do not understand why it is that they don’t, but I know that they don’t because of what the Church teaches - and as St. Thomas Moore said, “ten thousand difficulties do not one doubt make”.

In places where I find myself having difficulty with teachings of my Faith, I still embrace said teachings as the Truth and seek to understand this Truth rather than to refute it.

When I say, “I believe”, I am making a pledge of fidelity and obedience to the Catholic Church. I am choosing to co-operate with the grace of God which would unite me to the Corpus Christi, I am making a choice to accept God’s Truth. As paragraph 155 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, when I say “I believe” and mean it truly, my intellect is making “an act… assenting to the divine truth, by command of the will, moved by God, through grace”.

And this is where my Faith finds its strength; it is irrefutable, it is a choice that I have made and whether or not I feel like believing, whether or not it’s easy to believe, I have made that act and choice to believe, to trust even in the darkness that Christ is with me every time I receive Him in the Eucharist, that Christ forgives me and heals me every time I come honestly to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that regardless of my feelings or my difficulties, I am a Catholic who believes exactly what the Catholic Church teaches.

 

[DebChris]

Our Sacred Tradition, the teachings which the Apostles received directly from Christ are protected through the ages by the Holy Spirit. It I accept the Truth, which cannot change, than I accept that the Holy Spirit will protect that Truth.
From today’s homily, “The Truth does not change, but the Truth can change us” if only we allow it the opportunity, if we are open to the Spirit of God dwelling within us.
I too find belief to be an intellectual choice that we make. We choose to accept or reject that which we have been taught, even those mysteries that we cannot understand.

Re: the OP. I am reading The Education of Little Tree to the fourth graders I am student teaching. There is an interesting discussion in the book about kinship. The original meaning is understanding. Our kin are those closest to us, not simply by blood, but because we understand them. We cannot love that which we do not understand. When we love somebody we strive to understand that person, to understand why they may act the way that they do. As we grow in understanding, so do we grow in love. A person who does not understand cannot love.
Our own understanding is limited, and therefore so is our love. On the other hand, God knows and understands what is in our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves and so He embraces us with His infinite Love, whose depth we cannot fathom.

 

[Sister_Helena]

We have had a sufficient response to the question “What do you mean when you say I believe in God?” God is not just an idea, an intellectual product of study or perception. He is Truth but our understanding of the Truth is limited because we are limited.

Our next topic for discussion: What do you personally declare when you claim “I believe in Jesus Christ?”

 

[kyria]

? You cannot love something you don’t know much about, can you? So, how much do you know.

All I had to do was love him and by doing so I learnt to love the Faith, and as each aspect of the Trinity revealed itself to me, I learnt through them what the Faith truly is and what the True Church really is. The theology just had to catch up with the mystical.

How much do I know? probably very little from a Catholic Religious standpoint, but I’ve compensated via other means by being directed into the mystical first. However in saying that, as one finds greater understanding via the supernatural arena, one realises at the end of the day they know very little indeed.

I am glad I went from the supernatural heights to the bottom when it came to my religious understanding of the Catholic Faith because it taught me to seek and find where I really wanted to end up. And that was sitting one the floor at the Father’s feet.

I’ve realised that knowing a lot about the Faith does not necessarily equate with knowing a lot about God and the individual aspects of the Trinity.

I’ve gone about it backwards but I’d never have it any other way. To have been blessed enough to sit on a mountain and kiss his neck and say yes, and finally in myself know what truly following his will was all about, is to me, what my Faith is all about and has been about.

I think the greatest disservice I ever got when it came to my RE as a child, was no one blending in our Church teachings with stemming from God. Once I met God in my heart and soul, the Faith all came together, and an understanding that I previously never knew was able to be applied to any learning of the Catholic Faith I’ve been taught since.

As a Mother teaching my children about our Faith isn’t enough. I want them to know God deeply in their hearts and souls. I want their hearts and souls converted in a way that a good enough reason will never draw them away from him. For now they are young and are learning about the Faith, but at some stage I want them to climb the mountain like I’ve been blessed to have done so. To know the aspects of the Trinity because they know they can.

If you can tell me how to get them zapped like I was Sister, that would be great. I want them to know HIM. Does that make sense?

 

[Sister_Helena]

Kyria, you wish for your children what everyone would wish for someone they love. it is what God our Father wants us to do, to love Him unto folly! But your children were endowed with individual intellect and will. They will use them freely as they grow and mature. You can only work at setting a good foundation now while they are young. Set an example for them. You know what they say, good example can preach like no words can. Pray hard for them. Remember Saint Monica who prayed hard for St. Augustine’s conversion? And was she heard! Teach them to love virtues and to recognize sin. Introduce them to devotions that are proper for their age. Devotion to Mary is my advice. They will have their own experiences that will expose them to both the good and the bad of this world. But if the foundation is strong and built on rock, the house will not fall.

 

[Sister_Helena]

What do you mean when you say “We believe in One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Blind obedience? Informed consent? Both?

 

[DebChris]

All I had to do was love him and by doing so I learnt to love the Faith, and as each aspect of the Trinity revealed itself to me, I learnt through them what the Faith truly is and what the True Church really is. The theology just had to catch up with the mystical…

Rereading this, I am reminded of the story of the salt doll. The salt doll wandered the earth looking for its identity. At last it came upon the ocean. Entering it began to dissolve, exclaiming “Now I know who I am!”
Scripture promises in taking up our cross we will discover who we are.

 

[kyria]

Rereading this, I am reminded of the story of the salt doll. The salt doll wandered the earth looking for its identity. At last it came upon the ocean. Entering it began to dissolve, exclaiming “Now I know who I am!”
Scripture promises in taking up our cross we will discover who we are.

That is a lovely story, thanks for that. I don’t think my daughter would agree though. She has a belief she is sugar and spice and all things nice, so she’d probably be under the impression if she walked into the sea she’d turn into a Princess Bratz Doll.

 

[LilyM]

What do you mean when you say “We believe in One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Blind obedience? Informed consent? Both?

In the words of St Augustine, ‘seek not to understand so that you may believe, but to believe so that you may understand’. Faith in God will cure our ‘blindness’ in regard to matters of faith, if we submit our intellect to His guidance, which He gives through His church.

 

[brigid12]

In the words of St Augustine, ‘seek not to understand so that you may believe, but to believe so that you may understand’. Faith in God will cure our ‘blindness’ in regard to matters of faith, if we submit our intellect to His guidance, which He gives through His church.

I agree with this wholeheartedly and I’m a skeptical sort who has to play the scholar (I was one of those that looked forward to going to school). Before I converted I read the entire CCC, listened every afternoon to CA on the radio for an entire summer and read anything about the true teaching of the Church I could lay my hands on. I know that as much as I read/learn about the Church, there is always something that I don’t understand and that in order to understand those things I need to first believe and be obedient - then the understanding comes. Actually, I’d been praying the Dominican rosary for 5 years before conversion (and I have no idea as to why I started it - Mary:thumbsup and looking back now I can see practically a beeline toward the Church during that time. I credit my conversion to praying the Rosary daily and the learning was a mere tool.

 

[Sister_Helena]

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that those who are either away from the Church or inside the Church but are not practicing Catholics, are the way they are because of lack of knowledge or have the wrong knowledge of what the Church is suppose to be. In other words, they are not maliciously out of the Church just for the fun of it. This maybe a naive observation and judgment on my part.

John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have brought the Catholic Church into a maturity that I don’t think we ever had as a Church. Both Popes challenged us to dig deeper into the truths of our Faith so that when confronted by non-believers we can provide an answer for our hope and beliefs. They also gave us an example of courage to proclaim in the marketplaces the articles of faith. It is wonderful to see the rise of Catholic Apologetics in our modern age. We can no longer remain timid and shy about what the Catholic Church teaches. But to do all this we must know our Faith, our traditions and the reason why we believe the things we believe in. Even in convents, where the norm is unquestioning obedience, our spiritual life must be firmly supported by orthodoxy and theology, rather than plain sentimental devotions.

 

[brigid12]

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that those who are either away from the Church or inside the Church but are not practicing Catholics, are the way they are because of lack of knowledge or have the wrong knowledge of what the Church is suppose to be. In other words, they are not maliciously out of the Church just for the fun of it. This maybe a naive observation and judgment on my part.

John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have brought the Catholic Church into a maturity that I don’t think we ever had as a Church. Both Popes challenged us to dig deeper into the truths of our Faith so that when confronted by non-believers we can provide an answer for our hope and beliefs. They also gave us an example of courage to proclaim in the marketplaces the articles of faith. It is wonderful to see the rise of Catholic Apologetics in our modern age. We can no longer remain timid and shy about what the Catholic Church teaches. But to do all this we must know our Faith, our traditions and the reason why we believe the things we believe in. Even in convents, where the norm is unquestioning obedience, our spiritual life must be firmly supported by orthodoxy and theology, rather than plain sentimental devotions.

However, I want to put forward that knowledge of Truth is not all that is needed. Although I also sincerely doubt that anyone is a non-Catholic (including those who are non-practicing) due to any malicious intent to deny the Truth on their part, there is a lot of anti-Catholic information around from non-Catholic religious groups and the secular culture that is likely to be “learned” instead, if there are not enough prayers and grace. So my assertion would be that along with correct catechesis we also need plenty of the Eucharist, Adoration, Confession, Rosary, prayer (and fasting), obedience to the Magisterium ourselves,… Just giving adults and/or children book learning is not going to cut it, IMHO.

 

[Sister_Helena]

However, I want to put forward that knowledge of Truth is not all that is needed. Although I also sincerely doubt that anyone is a non-Catholic (including those who are non-practicing) due to any malicious intent to deny the Truth on their part, there is a lot of anti-Catholic information around from non-Catholic religious groups and the secular culture that is likely to be “learned” instead, if there are not enough prayers and grace. So my assertion would be that along with correct catechesis we also need plenty of the Eucharist, Adoration, Confession, Rosary, prayer (and fasting), obedience to the Magisterium ourselves,… Just giving adults and/or children book learning is not going to cut it, IMHO.

True knowledge of the Catholic Faith will eventually lead to love of the Sacraments and a filial obedience to the Magisterium. We love what we do understand. Understanding does not mean scholarly understanding and scholarly studies. Our devotions, excellent as they maybe, must be grounded on theology and orthodoxy, or they will be like “bodies with no soul.” A house built on sands cannot withstand the assaults of anti-Catholic arguments. I agree that reading by itself will not cut it, it is understanding what you are reading that will.

 

[brigid12]

True knowledge of the Catholic Faith will eventually lead to love of the Sacraments and a filial obedience to the Magisterium. We love what we do understand. Understanding does not mean scholarly understanding and scholarly studies. Our devotions, excellent as they maybe, must be grounded on theology and orthodoxy, or they will be like “bodies with no soul.” A house built on sands cannot withstand the assaults of anti-Catholic arguments. I agree that reading by itself will not cut it, it is understanding what you are reading that will.

Well, in my own experience - praying the Rosary for 4 1/2 years had to soften me up to receive the knowledge of the Catholic Church, plus it was St. Anselm who spoke of “faith seeking understanding”. Charles Curran and numerous theologians of his day had a lot of book-learning, but not a fully formed conscience and I am possiting that it is through prayer and grace that the book-learning becomes His Truth. Prayer and grace are often not enough in and of themselves ordinarily - although nothing is impossible to Him! The poor catechesis and the number of fallen-away Catholics post about '67 show that, however I think a lot of that has to do with the liturgical changes then - lex orandi, lex credendi.