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jcrichton
Guest
It is what the Oral and Written Traditions attest to: the Church is the Deposit of Truth!
Maran atha!
Angel
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Maran atha!
Angel
J
jcrichton
Guest
I think I do understand.
It happens the same way as in the film/s; the young Jedi comes into the gift with all sorts of baggage (fear, hatred, anxiety, apprehension, disbelief…); the force has already reached out for him (as a young man being able to accomplish things beyond his years and capability; destroying the death star…); yet, Luke is not quite there yet… he does not understand that the force (Faith) is his inheritance (although here it is the inheritance of all of mankind, not just a specific bloodline/s) and that he is immersed in it; as he tries to understand it, his own preconceptions blind him and bind him (he could not lift the X-wing from the swamp and could not understand how two-foot frail Yoda could); then as he allows the teaching (of the Apostles) to take charge he eventually understand that the force (Faith) is not only his allay but his connection to everything around him (the world) and the universe (God).
The Word of God Points to Christ (God) when we Believe (deposit our Faith) in God we can then see/feel the Truth (Christ).
Still, as the Jedi, our trek can be tumultuous, long-lasting, and freeing!
Maran atha!
Angel
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JanetF
Guest
Faith is the gift from God.
J
jcrichton
Guest
Right!
We have been Saved but we need Sanctifying Grace to remain (Abide in) in Christ. Look at how Christ puts it:
So our Faith, which is a Gift from God, brings us to Christ and allows us to, through Faith in Him, turn to Him so that God can make us into an image of His Son, in Whom our Eternal Salvation is hidden!
Our Salvation is Christ not Faith!
Maran atha!
Angel
V
Vico
Guest
Key dogmas of faith (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Ludwig Ott):
- There is a supernatural intervention of God in the faculties of the soul, which precedes the free act of the will.
- There is a supernatural influence of God in the faculties of the soul which coincides in time with man’s free act of will.
- God gives all the just sufficient grace ( gratia proxime vel remote sufficiens ) for the observation of the Divine Commandments.
- The Human Will remains free under the influence of efficacious grace, which is not irresistible.
- There is a grace which is truly sufficient and yet remains inefficacious ( gratia vere et mere sufficiens )
- The sinner can and must prepare himself by the help of actual grace for the reception of the grace by which he is justified.
- The justification of an adult is not possible without Faith.
- Besides faith, further acts of disposition must be present.
- Sanctifying grace sanctifies the soul.
- Grace cannot be merited by natural works either de condigno or de congruo .
- Internal supernatural grace is absolutely necessary for the beginning of faith and of salvation.
- Without the special help of God the justified cannot persevere to the end in justification.
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spockrates
Guest
Well said! Thanks! Also, I do like Augustine’s quote, which isn’t something to the effect: Our lives are restless, O Lord, till we find our rest in Thee.”spockrates:
Yes! The New Covenant is about the triune God indwelling, as was always intended as the right order of things for man (“Apart from Me you can do nothing”, John 15:5), and He then doing a work in us, of justifying us, of molding us into the beings He created us to be, a feat we cannot achieve on our own even as we must cooperate in this endeavor.
But only He, our Creator, can accomplish this- while the message of the Fall is a message of man separating himself from this vital relationship, of man seeking autonomy from God in the moral sphere, of man becoming his own “god”, so to speak. The most important New Covenant prophecy is Jer 31:33-34, where God promises to do what we fail to do, to ‘put His law in our minds and write it on our hearts’, as He becomes ‘our God, and we His people’. Verse 34 speaks more of this new or re-established relationship between man and God:
"No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
This speaks of something different, of the intimate relationship man was always meant to have with God; of communion, and this begins, from man’s perspective, with faith, a gift. So, understood this way, faith is not the equivalent of justice or righteousness for man, as if my profession of trust in God is sufficient to save me, or as if faith is all He wants from, and for, us. Rather faith is the beginning of our justification as the Church teaches; we’re “justified by faith” because we’re justified through or via faith because it opens the door to God, to this relationship that we’re lost without. Justice, itself, involves all three virtues: faith, hope, and love, with love being the most important as St Paul tells us in 1 Cor 13. Love truly defines man’s justice which is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are. This is what faith is meant to lead to, but doesn’t necessarily. So St Paul could also say in 1 Cor 13:
"… if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."
and Augustine could say:
"Without love faith may indeed exist, but avails nothing."
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