1. PARISH GENERAL FORMATION
December 5, 2015

2. Don’t forget to sign in our attendance

3. An answer to Christ: believing03
CARAVAGGIO
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
Oil on canvas, 107 x 146 cm
Sanssouci, Potsdam
©Fr. Mark Emman H. Sese

4. Compendium of the Catechism
25. How does man respond to God who reveals himself?
Sustained by divine grace, we respond to God with the obedience of faith, which means the full surrender of ourselves to God and the acceptance of his truth insofar as it is guaranteed by the One who is Truth itself.

5. Introduction
Faith is the great gift from God, necessary for our salvation.
Man’s answer to the divine Revelation is to believe what He has told us.
Faith is also necessary to understand God’s teachings.
In the Gospel we see that Jesus Christ asks for an act of faith before performing a miracle, and praises those who manifest their faith. He is the great gift from God, necessary for our salvation.
Man’s answer to the divine Revelation is to believe what he has told us, supported by his divine authority.
Faith is also necessary to understand God’s teachings.
LE BRUN, Charles
The Triumph of Faith
Oil on canvas
Château, Vaux-le-Vicomte

6. Main ideas
©Fr. Mark Emman H. Sese

7. 1. Faith enables us to know many things about God
We know for sure that God exists because His existence may be proven by the things He has created.
Yet there are fundamental questions that cannot be answered if God had not revealed them :
What is God like Himself?
Who is Jesus Christ?
Is there an afterlife?
We know for sure that God exists because His existence may be proven by the things He has created. Yet there are fundamental questions – what is God like Himself? Who is Jesus Christ? Is there an afterlife? - that cannot be answered if God had not revealed them.
MORETTO da Brescia
Allegory of Faith
1530s
Oil on wood, 102 x 78
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

8. 2. What is faith?
Faith is a supernatural virtue by means of which – supported by God’s authority, we believe the truths He has revealed in the knowledge that He can neither be fooled nor fool us.
Faith is a supernatural virtue by means of which – supported by God’s authority, we believe the truths He has revealed in the knowledge that He can neither be fooled nor that He can fool us. It is a reasonable statement of intelligence and the will to divine Revelation. It is because of faith that we believe in God and everything He has revealed. The reason behind our believing is divine authority: we believe freely, prompted by the grace of God.
UCCELLO, Paolo
Faith
c. 1435
Fresco
Duomo, Prato

9. 3. Faith is a gift from God
Faith is a supernatural gift, a gift which God makes to us.
It is only possible to believe as a consequence of the grace granted us by the Holy Spirit.
Believing is an act of man, yet faith is above all a supernatural gift, a gift which God makes to us when we are baptized. It is only possible to believe as a consequence of the grace granted us by the Holy Spirit.
VERMEER VAN DELFT, Jan
The Allegory of Faith (detail)
Oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

10. 4. Believing is something reasonable
Believing is reasonable because it is God who reveals, and God can neither be fooled nor fool us.
“Believing” is a human act, aware and free, which not only does not contradict but also dignifies the human being.
Faith is sometimes explained by saying that it is “believing what is not seen,” which would seem quite unreasonable. However, although many things that are believed are not understood, believing is reasonable because it is God who reveals, and God can neither be fooled nor fool us. Neither are many things are understood about nature and we accept them because science teaches them to us. Therefore, “believing” is a human act, aware and free, which not only does not contradict but also dignifies the human being.

11. 5. I believe – We believe
I believe in God, in the singular, because faith is an act of the individual person who freely accepts God’s authority.
We believe in God, in the plural, to mean that we are receiving faith and experiencing it in the community of the Church.
The Church is the Mother of all the faithful :
No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother. (St. Cyprian)
When we recite the Creed, we sometimes say I believe in God in the singular, because faith is an act of the individual person who freely accepts God’s authority. On other occasions, we say we believe in God in the plural, to mean that we are receiving faith and experiencing it in the community of the Church of Jesus Christ in which, with him, the Head, all of us believers comprise a single Body. Thus, the Church is the Mother of all the faithful, as St. Cyprian said: “No one can have God as a Father if they do not have the Church as a Mother.”
MEMLING, Hans
Young Man at Prayer
c. 1475
Oak wood, 38,7 x 25,4 cm
National Gallery, London

12. 6. Believing what the Church teaches us
Jesus Christ founded the Church so that it might continue His mission in the world; to do so the Church is assisted by the Holy Spirit.
The certainty of these truths is not based on human authority, but rather on the authority of God who has revealed them.
The Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, passes them on by virtue of the infallibility with which God provides in matters of faith and morals.
Jesus Christ founded the Church so that it might continue His mission in the world, passing on His teachings; and to that end the Church is assisted by the Holy Spirit, and that is why we say: "I believe everything the Holy Church says and teaches, because that is what God is telling me.” The certainty of these truths is not based on human authority, but rather on the authority of God who has revealed them; and the Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, passes them on by virtue of the infallibility with which God provides in matters of faith and morals.
GOZZOLI, Benozzo
St Augustine Teaching in Rome (detail)
Fresco
Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano

13. 7. Faith is necessary to be saved
" He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned " (Mark 16:16).
" Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who believed without seeing " (John 20:29).
We must pray for those who do not believe, asking God to grant them the grace of faith, helping them through our example and words, thus practising the apostolate of doctrine.
Faith is necessary for salvation. Jesus Christ himself said so: "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). There is a painting of the Apostle Thomas putting his hand in the side of Christ. As he found it hard to believe in the resurrection of Christ, the Lord affectionately reprimands him: “Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who believe without seeing” (John 20:29). We must pray for those who do not believe, asking God to grant them the grace of faith, helping them through our example and words, thus practising the apostolate of doctrine.
CHRISTUS, Petrus
The Last Judgement
1452
Oil on wood
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

14. 8. The Creed, a summary of the truths we must believe in
Since the beginning, Symbols or formulas which summarize the teaching of the divine Revelation.
Symbol of the Apostles
Symbol of Nicea-Constantinople
When we recite the Creed, we are performing an act of faith in the fundamental truths that God has revealed.
Since the beginning, Christians have made use of Symbols or formulas which express the basic content of the Christian faith and summarize the teaching of divine Revelation. There are several formulations of the truths of faith, although, in the life of the Church, the Symbol of the Apostles and the Symbol of Nicea-Constantinople are especially noteworthy: this is what is known as the Creed: When we recite the Creed, we are performing an act of faith in the fundamental truths that God has revealed.
GRECO, El
St Luke
Oil on canvas, 98 x 72 cm
Cathedral, Toledo

15. 9. Performing acts of faith very often
God has given us the great gift of faith, and we must thank Him by performing frequent acts of faith:
I believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, I believe in God the Holy Spirit.
I believe in the Holy Trinity.
I believe in Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
I believe that Mary is the Mother of God and our Mother.
I believe, Lord, but increase my faith.
God has given us the great gift of faith, and we must thank Him by performing frequent acts of faith:
- I believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, I believe in God the Holy Spirit.
- I believe in the Holy Trinity.
- I believe in Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
- I believe that Mary is the Mother of God and our Mother.
- I believe, Lord, but increase my faith.

16. Resolutions for Christian life
©Fr. Mark Emman H. Sese

17. Resolutions to move forward
To learn the Creed.
To recite the Creed with devotion, not only in the Holy Mass.
To pray for those who don’t have faith.