CHURCH TEACHING

“Faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and through
him, with the Father, through the Holy Spirit, a decision to commit oneself to Christ, follow
him, strive to know and accept the truths he continues to teach through his Church” (Cf.
PCP II 64-65).

What makes Christian faith unique from any other form of it is the truth that it is
about “someone who relates to us and to whom we can relate in a personal way”
(Knox, 2011, p. 17). Christian faith is focused on the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son
of God. Thus, Christian faith consists in knowing, loving and following Christ in the
Church he founded (see PCP II 36). Personally knowing Christ as your truth and living
your life according to his teachings form the basic structure of Christian living. Christian
faith has the following characteristics according to the Second Plenary Council of the
Philippines (PCP II).

A. Characteristics of Christian Faith

1. Total and Absolute
Only Faith in God calls for a total and absolute adherence (cf. CCC 150). Christ
himself provides, especially in his Passion, Death and Resurrection, the best example of
this total and absolute commitment to God (PCP II 123).

This feature of the Christian faith is patterned after Jesus’ complete trust and
surrender to the will of the Father which He ultimately demonstrated in His death on the
cross. Today, you are likewise invited by Jesus to show the same faith in God when He
said “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross
and follow me” (Mk. 16:24). So radical this demand that St. Paul summons you to offer
your life as a “living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom. 12:1) as a testament of
your total and absolute faith in God.

2. Trinitarian
For us Christians, Faith is our adherence to the Triune God revealed through Jesus
Christ our Lord. It is our friendship with Christ and through Christ with the Father, in their
Holy Spirit. Through Christ’s witness to his Father in his teaching, preaching, miracles, and
especially in his Passion, Death and Resurrection, we come to believe in Christ our Savior,
in the Father, and in the Holy Spirit sent into our hearts. Our Faith as Catholics, then,
consists in our personal conviction and belief in God our Father, revealed by Jesus Christ,
His own divine Son-made-man, and their presence to us through the Holy Spirit, in the
Church (cf. PCP II 64; CCC 151-52) (PCP II 124).

When you pray and say “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit”, you are actually expressing the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, that God
reveals himself in Three Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This belief in the triune
God is a unique characteristic of the Christian faith. Difficult it is to comprehend, St.
Patrick famously used the shamrock, a three-leaf clover, to describe this “mystery.” A
shamrock has three lobes that are unique from each other but all part of the same
clover. They are three leaves, but one leaf (Explaining the Holy Trinity. n.d). So, the
persons of the Trinity are unique from each other, but still they are one.

3. Loving, Maturing and Missionary:

Our Christian Faith is truly life-giving and mature only through love, for “the man
without love has known nothing of God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). And to be Christian,
this love must be inseparably love of God and love of neighbor, like Christ’s. It thus impels
us to mission, to evangelize, by bringing others the Good News (cf. 1 Cor 9:16). Such a
missionary spirit is the test of authentic Faith because it is unthinkable that a person
should believe in Christ’s Word and Kingdom without bearing witness and proclaiming it
in his turn (cf. EN 24; PCP II 67-71, 402). This means we are all called to share in Christ’s
own three-fold mission as priest, prophet and king (cf. PCP II 116-21; LG 10-13) (125).

Christian faith is not stagnant but dynamic. Its dynamism is manifested in growing
knowledge and love of Christ and in imitation of his example of selfless service to others.
So, as a Christian, you reveal this nature of your faith by loving God by loving others. It is
the very depth of God’s character to love, and as a believer, your character must
reflect God’s character.

4. Informed and Communitarian:

PCP II insists that Catholic Faith must be “informed,” that is “believing Jesus’
words, and accepting his teachings, trusting that he has “the words of eternal life” (cf. Jn
6:68; NCDP 147). It must be “communitarian” since it is the Church that transmits to us
Christ’s revelation through Sacred Scripture and its living Tradition, and alone makes
possible for us an adequate faith-response (cf. PCP II 65) (126).

The dynamic nature of faith requires you to increase your knowledge and love
for Jesus. According to St. Anselm, “faith seeks understanding.” What is meant by this
dictum is not to replace faith with understanding but “an active love of God seeking a
deeper knowledge of God” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. n.d). But having a
deeper knowledge of God takes place within the Christian community, the Church.

5. Inculturated:
This Catholic faith in God and in Jesus Christ is never separated from the typical
Filipino faith in family and friends. On the one hand, we live out our faith in God precisely
in our daily relationships with family, friends, fellow workers, etc. On the other hand, each
of these is radically affected by our Catholic Faith in God our Father, in Jesus Christ His
only begotten Son, our Savior, and in their Holy Spirit dwelling within us in grace. “This is
how all will know you for my disciples: your love for one another” (Jn 13:35; cf. PCP II 72-
73, 162, 202-11) (PCP II 127).

The practice of your faith is manifested in the affairs of your daily life especially in
your relationships. It takes into consideration the environment where you are living.

B. The Three Essential Dimensions of Faith:

 Faith in God is expressed in your life in various ways. These expressions of faith
can help you develop your relationship with Him. They cover every aspect of your life
for they involve your mind (believing), will (doing), and heart (trusting).

1. Believing:
Faith involves our basic convictions as Christians. “For if you confess with your lips
that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead; you will
be saved” (Rom 10:9). John sums up his Gospel with: “These things have been recorded
to help you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, so that through this faith
you may have life in his name” (Jn 20: 31). Faith, then, is knowing, but not mere “head
knowledge” of some abstract truths. It is like the deep knowledge we have of our
parents, or of anyone we love dearly. Christian Faith, then, is personal knowledge of
Jesus Christ as “my Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28) (PCP II 129).

Believing is an important aspect of faith, though the latter cannot be equated

with the former as it is popularly understood. Faith is expressed in the act of believing.
Because of faith, you believe in God’s revelation that reached its climax in the person
and mission of Jesus. Your faith in God is interpreted and articulated more clearly by a
series of beliefs.
That Christianity makes certain historical, moral and cognitive claims and
proposes them to people as a way of making meaning in their lives is beyond doubt.
The activity of Christian faith, therefore, requires, in part, a firm conviction about the
truths proposed as essential beliefs of the Christian faith (Groome, 1991, p. 57).

2. Doing:
Another significant expression of faith is doing. It means that you have to work
and cooperate with God in an active manner. You just have to look at the life of Jesus
and see his teaching about how you should live in accordance with the values of the
kingdom of God. To be active in your faith, therefore, means to actively love one
another manifested in our work to help establish the Kingdom of God as a kingdom of
justice, peace, and love. According to PCP II 130,
But besides believing, faith is also doing. As St. James writes: “My brothers, what
good is it to profess faith without practicing it?” (Jas 2:14). Christ himself taught: “None of
those who cry out ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of God, but only the one who does
the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Faith, then, is a commitment to follow (obey)
God’s will for us. This we see exemplified in Mary’s “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be
done to me as you say” (Lk 1:38). PCP II brings out this “doing” dimension of faith as
“witnessing” through “loving service” of our needy neighbors. In our concrete situation,
particularly urgent is the call for: 1) deeds of justice and love; and 2) for protecting and
caring for our endangered earth’s environment (cf. PCP II 78-80).

3. Entrusting/Worshipping:
Beyond believing and doing, faith is also entrusting oneself into God’s hands.
Abraham, our father in faith, at God’s command left everything to set out for a foreign
land. Against all human odds Moses trusted Yahweh to free the Hebrews from their
slavery in Egypt. In the New Testament, Jesus worked signs and cures only with those who
 trusted in him. He promised the possessed boy’s father: “Everything is possible to a man
who trusts” (Mk 9:23) (PCP II 132).

Faith is derived from the Latin “fidere”, meaning “to trust.” Trust is the basis of all
faith. Trusting is an intrinsic part of believing. You believe God, for you trust that God will
not deceive you; He loves you, is faithful to you, and will look after you. It is your trusting
faith that leads you to pray from the heart, seeking to cement your relationship with
God. Furthermore, you must begin to look at any experience of human trust as an
experience of trusting God. You have to learn to see God as an integral part of every
facet of your life. To trust is an essential aspect of love; loving and trusting must go
together.
It needs to be emphasized, however, that ultimately faith is a grace of God. As
such, it is God himself who enables you to believe in Him and all that He revealed (CCC
184). With His grace, you come into contact with the ever-present God and enter into a
personal relationship with Him. Because of your faith in God, you have the courage to
commit into action the values Jesus has taught. Finally, because of your faith in Him,
you trust God wholeheartedly because He is good. So, you believe and trust in God,
and do His will not because you are capable because of your natural ability but
because of His grace.