Man’s Search for God with

Introduction to the Catholic Faith

Main Reference: I Believe by Fr. Lode Wostyn, CICM
 Course Outline
• Faith and Becoming Human Together
• Faith and Religious Practices
• The Catholic Church and other Christian
Churches
• The Bible: A Guide for my Life
• The Biblical Message: God Offering Salvation
• Christian Faith and Other Religions
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The Christian God, who is the totally Other, is also the
God who is near and goes along with the history of
humankind. This God is present at the very core of
every human being.

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For a Christian, the whole of history, starting with
creation, is a revelatory event.
 Faith is not so much a question of the ability of
our minds to grasp or understand and totally
accept something. Rather, it is the whole self
“being grasp” by the presence and power of the
Spirit of God, who draws a person into a life of
friendship, of love.

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 In the Bible, God is portrayed as “faithful love.”
Human person respond to this love by trusting in
God's promise. Faith then, is a call from God to be
faithful in love as God is faithful.
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The Bible depicts Abram (Abraham) as an example
of a person of faith. In the new Testament, Paul
refers to the faith of Abraham and reflects on how
faith is now reflected towards the salvific action of
God in Christ Jesus. State the essence of faith, as
described in the following texts found in the Bible.
1. Genesis 15:1-6
2. Romans 4:1-3, 13-25
3. Galatians 5;6, 22-25
4. James 2:14, 26
 Relating with one’s body, nature, and cosmos
Relating with other persons
Relating with a community, society, institutions, structures
Relating with my culture and history
Relating with my thoughts and actions
Relating with an Ultimate

Because we exist in a variety of relationships, we need faith

and trust toward all those beings with which/whom we relate.

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• When I reflect on my faith and trust in something or
someday Ultimate and I am faced with a pair of
contrasting terms, I prefer the term _____
because…
therapy - salvation
God - divine
compassionate - judge
almighty - loving
grace - energy
reflection - prayer
Jesus - divine masters
religion - faith
liberation - transformation
sickness - sin
 The process that we use to grow into a deeper
faith and trust with another human being is more
or less the same process we will use to grow
into a deeper faith and trust in God.

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But if our faith is focused only in statements or
truths defined by popular manuals on Christian
doctrine, it will be difficult for us to grow in faith.
 It is when we see
God as a person
and as somebody
present and
involved in our
world that our
faith and trust can
grow and develop.
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 Faith is not static, it is dynamic, whether we are
speaking of faith in humans or faith in God. Our faith
and trust in God and faith and trust in humans are not
two different kinds of faith. Rather, they are two
different expressions of one faith and trust, which are
directed to different beings.

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College of the Immaculate Conception – Cabanatuan