Sometimes I feel as if my faith is not really the *virtue *of faith as much as it is an intellectual assent to this or that doctrine of the church. That is, sometimes I doubt that my “faith” is the faith defined as total adherence to God and the revealed truths taught by the church. Rather, it is more of intellectual reasoning to particular doctrines, even the existence of God or Resurrection of Jesus.
**How does one know if he or she really has the virtue of faith as opposed to this more purely intellectual assent? **Anyone can see the reasonableness of certain Christian truths and event assent to such truths. But how do we really know when we have the virtue of faith?
I have a feeling that the virtue of faith is much more consoling, much more all-encompassing. What some have called a “fundamental option” ordered towards God. What I have now is often an anxious, shaky “faith” in this teaching or that teaching. And not even necessarily Catholic doctrine but more general truths about Jesus and God. Should I be concerned?
Here is an overview of what comprises ‘faith’ per the CCC:
*Part One: The profession of faith
14 Those who belong to Christ through faith and Baptism must confess** their baptismal faith** before men.16 First therefore the Catechism expounds revelation, by which God addresses and gives himself to man, and
the faith by which man responds to God (Section One). The profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man: as the Author of all that is good; as Redeemer; and as Sanctifier. It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church (Section Two).
Part Two: The
sacraments of faith
15 The second part of the Catechism explains
how God’s salvation, accomplished once for all through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is made present in the sacred actions of
the Church’s liturgy (Section One), especially in
the seven sacraments (Section Two).
Part Three: The
life of faith
16 The third part of the Catechism deals with the final end of man created in the image of God:
beatitude, and the ways of reaching it—through
right conduct freely chosen, with the help of **God’s law and grace **(Section One), and through conduct that fulfills
the twofold commandment of charity, specified in God’s Ten Commandments (Section Two).
Part Four:
Prayer in the life of faith
17 The last part of the Catechism deals with the meaning and
importance of prayer in the life of believers (Section One). It concludes with a brief commentary on
the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (Section Two), for indeed we find in these the sum of all the good things which we must hope for and which our heavenly Father wants to grant us.*
And defined:
FAITH: Both a gift of God and a human act by which the believer gives personal adherence to God who invites his response, and freely assents to the whole truth that God has revealed. It is this revelation of God which the Church proposes for our belief, and which we profess in the Creed, celebrate in the sacraments, live by right conduct that fulfills the twofold commandment of charity (as specified in the ten commandments), and respond to in our prayer of faith. Faith is both a theological virtue given by God as grace, and an obligation which flows from the first commandment of God (26, 142, 150, 1814, 2087).
Point being however, the concept of ‘faith’ covers the majority of the CCC.
If it were as easy as ‘Faith = x’, there would be no need for the CCC. Or at least like 90% of it.
Saints have dedicated their lives to searching and seeking for the meaning of faith, and elaborating on it, and shedding light on this extremely challenging concept.
TBL, ‘faith’ is simply not a check-the-box deal. It’s not “…
yeah, I got the faith thing covered, and the love thing covered, check, and the do good to your neighbors thing……”.
There’s a helluva a lot more to it.
It is quite literally, a vocation (if you must pigeon hole it into a single word, at least let it be one that is duly loaded, and up to the task).
It is what we are call called to a life of. Our entire life. Our entire being.
…that nothing less than eternity may be its actual legacy–because that is what is at stake.
So you tell me: Does that sound like an intellectual/academic exercise?
The problem so many of us encounter, is getting tangled up in the minutae (e.g.–the 800 pages of the CCC–it’s designed to help expedite your faith journey, by disposing of so many intellectual obstacles; not to become an intellectual obstacle itself, by stifling the reader/believer into stagnation due to mediation–the proverbial ‘paralysis by analysis’), along with so many other distractions.
So we feel the need to simplify the concept of faith; reduce it; shrink it…
Alas, faith simply defies any such simplification.
Faith requires our all–and that is exactly what Christ demands of us–which as difficult as it sounds, is certainly less than what He gave for us.
