You
have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. the believer
has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for
Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each
believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe
without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support
others in the faith.
167
"I believe" (Apostles' Creed) is the faith of the Church professed
personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe"
(Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the
bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of
believers. "I believe" is also the Church, our mother, responding to
God by faith as she teaches us to say both "I believe" and "We
believe".
I.
"Lord, Look Upon the Faith of Your Church"
168
It is the Church that believes first and so it bears nourishes, and sustains my
faith. Everywhere, it is the Church that first confesses the Lord:
"Throughout the world, the holy Church acclaims you", as we sing in
the hymn Te Deum; with her and in her, we are won over and brought to confess:
"I believe", "We believe". It is through the Church that we
receive faith and new life in Christ by Baptism. In the Rituale Romanum, the
minister of Baptism asks the catechumen: "What do you ask of God's
Church?" and the answer is: "Faith." "What does faith offer
you?" "Eternal life."54
169
Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith
through the Church, she is our mother: "We believe the Church as the
mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our
salvation."55 Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the
faith.
II.
The Language of Faith
170
We do not believe in formulae, but in those realities they express, which faith
allows us to touch. "The believer's act [of faith] does not terminate in
the propositions, but in the realities [which they express]."56 All the
same, we do approach these realities with the help of formulations of the faith
which permit us to express the faith and to hand it on, to celebrate it in
community, to assimilate and live on it more, and more.
171
The Church, "the pillar and bulwark of the truth", faithfully guards
"the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints". She
guards the memory of Christ's words; it is she who from generation to
generation hands on the apostles' confession of faith.57 As a mother who
teaches her children to speak and so to understand and communicate, the Church
our Mother teaches us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the
understanding and the life of faith.
III.
Only One Faith
172
Through the centuries, in so many languages, cultures, peoples and nations, the
Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord,
transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have
only one God and Father.58 St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a witness of this faith,
declared:
173
"Indeed, the Church, though scattered throughout the whole world, even to
the ends of the earth, having received the faith from the apostles and their
disciples. . . guards [this preaching and faith] with care, as dwelling in but
a single house, and similarly believes as if having but one soul and a single
heart, and preaches, teaches and hands-on this faith with a unanimous voice, as
if possessing only one mouth."59
174
"For though languages differ throughout the world, the content of the
Tradition is one and the same. the Churches established in Germany have no
other faith or Tradition, nor do those of the Iberians, nor those of the Celts,
nor those of the East, of Egypt, of Libya, nor those established at the center
of the world. . ."60 The Church's message "is true and solid, in
which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole
world."61
175
"We guard with care the faith that we have received from the Church, for
without ceasing, under the action of God's Spirit, this deposit of great price,
as if in an excellent vessel, is constantly being renewed and causes the very
vessel that contains it to be renewed."62
IN
BRIEF
176
Faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It
involves an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has
made through his deeds and words.
177
"To believe" has thus a twofold reference: to the person, and to the
truth: to the truth, by trust in the person who bears witness to it.
178
We must believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
179
Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the
interior helps of the Holy Spirit.
180
"Believing" is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding to the
dignity of the human person.
181
"Believing" is an ecclesial act. the Church's faith precedes,
engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. the Church is the mother of all
believers. "No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as
Mother" (St. Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL 4, 519).
182
We believe all "that which is contained in the word of God, written or
handed down, and which the Church proposes for belief as divinely
revealed" (Paul VI, CPG # 20).
183
Faith is necessary for salvation. the Lord himself affirms: "He who
believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be
condemned" (⇒
Mk 16:16).
184
"Faith is a foretaste of the knowledge that will make us blessed in the
life to come" (St. Thomas Aquinas. Comp. theol. 1, 2).
The Credo
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven, and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary
Under Pontius Pilate He was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day, he rose again.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
the maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him, all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered died and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
GO TO:
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment