Catechism for Filipino Catholics

Saturday, March 2, 2013 CFC [P.41 - 50]

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)

Faith in its broadest sense is a central reality in Filipino life. It is an

everyday “natural” factor in all our human relationships and daily actions.
For example, in accepting the word of others, we already show our faith
(paniniwala) in them. We readily obey the directions of those over us, at
home, at work, in our communities (pagsunod). We even entrust ourselves
and our welfare to others: doctors, teachers, judges, civic leaders, not to
mention cooks, jeepney drivers, etc. Without such basic human faith which
includes believing acceptance, obedient action, and personal entrusting,
human life would be impossible. Faith as a human reality, therefore, is
central to our daily lives.
For Filipinos, this can be seen most clearly in our family life and
friendships. We grow up, are nurtured, and supported by the trust, love, and fidelity of our family. We mature through a
process of forming personal friendships, first as children, then as teenagers, finally as adults. But in each case, there is a
gradual revelation of our inner self to our friend and a free acceptance of our friend's self-revelation. If this friendship is to
grow and mature, it must include a "turning toward" the other, a conversion. We acknowledge our need and trust in the
other's friendship by listening to and identifying with our friend.
Filipinos do all this spontaneously, naturally, but not without difficulty. Sometimes we turn away, or refuse to
listen, or are rejected by the other. But genuine friendships create mutual loving knowledge of each other. In them, we
experience something that liberates us from our narrowness and opens us to fuller life and love. We realize that friendship
freely offered to us by another, also demands our free response. It is a response that is never just one act, but a long
process of growing intimacy with our friend. Inevitably, others among our families and associates are eventually involved.
Especially God.
Faith in God is grounded in God's revelation through his words and deeds in salvation history. It is confirmed by
the many reasons for believing that have been worked out throughout the centuries, responding to the biblical challenge:
"Always be ready to explain to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope" (1 Pt 3:15).

A. CHARACTERISTIC OF CHRISTIAN FAITH

1. Total and Absolute
o Already the Old Testament contrasted faith “in man in
whom there is no salvation” with faith in “the Lord
who made heaven and earth . . . who shall reign
forever” (cf. Ps 146:3,5-6,10; Jer 17:5-8). 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.
2. Trinitarian
o 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 conviction
and belief in God our Father, revealed by Jesus Christ, His divine Son-made-man, and their presence to us
through the Holy Spirit, in the Church (cf. PCP II 64; CCC 151-52).
3. Loving, Maturing, and Missionary
o 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 the 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
threefold mission as priest, prophet, and king (cf. PCP II 116-21; LG 10-13).
4. Informed and Communitarian
o 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).
 5. Inculturated
o This Catholic faith in God and 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).

B. THE THREE ESSENTIAL DIMENSIONS OF FAITH

Vatican II explains this faith response as follows: "By faith man freely commits
his entire self to God, making 'the full submission of his intellect and will to God
who reveals,' and willingly assenting to the Revelation given by Him" (DV 5).
Christian Faith, then, touches every part of us: our minds (believing), our wills
(doing), and our hearts (trusting). Let us briefly examine each aspect in turn.
I. 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). Christ solemnly assures each of us: “Here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone hears me
calling and opens the door, I will enter his house, and have supper with him, and he with me” (Rv 3:20).
II. Doing
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).
Of course, we realize that we often do not do what we affirm in faith. But this awareness of our failures
emphasizes all the more the essential place of behavior in authentic Christian Faith. It also makes us more conscious of
our need for Christ’s Spirit to live out our faith in our actions. “For apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). “Before
this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the
Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God” (DV 5).
III. 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).
Faith, then, is from the heart the loving, trusting, and hoping in the Lord that comes
from God's love flooding our hearts. This trusting Faith "lives and grows through prayer and
worship” personal heartfelt conversation with God that is the opposite of mindless, mechanical repetition of memorized
formulas. Genuine personal prayer and group prayer find both their inspirational source and summit of perfection in the
Liturgy, the Catholic community’s official public Trinitarian worship of the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the
Holy Spirit (cf. PCP II 74-77).

C. PARADOXICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH

Christian Faith presents us with several paradoxes that help us grasp its complex reality.
A. Certain, Yet Obscure
The first is that Faith is both most certain yet obscure (cf. CCC 157-58, 164). In common usage, we speak of
"taking things on faith" when we are not sure. We live in a secular age where "to be sure" means being able to prove it by
experiment and "scientific" means. But this is a rationalistic illusion. We have been "brainwashed" by the creation of
today’s scientific technology.
As Filipinos, we realize that none of our major personal decisions, nor our basic ideas and attitudes towards life, freedom,
love, etc. could ever be "proven" by scientific experiment. Our family, our friends, our community, our vocation in life all
depends on the vision, inspiration, and strength we call "faith". It is the most "certain" of all we know because it is the
foundation upon which we build our lives. But how are we sure of this "faith foundation"?
Such a sure foundation could never come from us, or other limited men or
women. It could never arise from some self-evident truth or some logical
deduction that compels assent (CCC 156). All these need to be, themselves,
grounded on some unshakeable foundation. Only the very Word of God could
offer such a foundation. Faith is certain because it rests on God who reveals
Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, present to us in His Spirit. We are certain of
our Faith because it is our personally committed loving knowledge based on the convincing signs of God revealing
Himself in Jesus Christ, and present to us in His Church through word, service, fellowship, and sacrament.
But this certainty of Faith does not mean everything is clear. On the contrary, we believe God is a "Mystery", that
is, He is always more than we can ever fully comprehend. St. Paul teaches us: "Now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror" (1
Cor 13:12). “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). But this obscurity which we experience even in our deepest
human relations does not destroy faith's firmness. We instinctively recognize that persons, and especially the all-personal
God, can never be reduced to being "proven" by scientific experiments.
B. Free, Yet Morally Obliging
Faith's second paradox is that it is both free and morally obliging (cf. CCC 160). Our Christian Faith is free
response. No one, not even God, forces us to believe.
God calls men to serve Him in Spirit and truth. Consequently, they are bound to Him in conscience but not coerced. God
has regard for the dignity of the human person which He created: the human person is to be guided by his judgment and to
enjoy freedom (DH 11).
We Filipinos experience this paradoxical combination of freedom and obligation in our family relationships and
friendships. Persons who love us the most have the most claims on us, yet force us the least. We naturally respond to them
in love. God, who by loving us the most has the greatest claim on us, leaves and keeps us most free.
C. Reasonable, Yet Beyond Natural Reason
A third paradox is that Christian Faith is both reasonable, yet more than natural reason (cf. CCC 155-56).
Christian Faith does not conflict with our reason. On the contrary, only rational creatures can believe. Yet faith itself is a
grace that enlightens our minds. "Unless you believe, you will not understand" (Augustine's quote of Is 7:9). Our faith in
Christ illumines our reason because we believe him who claims “I am the light of the world. No follower of mine shall
ever walk in darkness; no, he shall possess the light of life” (Jn 8:12; cf. Vatican I, ND 135).
D. An Act, Yet a Process
A fourth paradox highlights Faith as both a particular act, yet perseverance in a life-long process that is the
beginning of eternal life (cf. CCC 162-63). John’s Gospel declares: “Eternal life is
this: to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.” (Jn
17:3). But this faith in Christ is much more than a single, personal decision for Christ.
It is an enduring way of life within the Christian community, the Church. It is the
principle of our new life in Christ, which gives us a foretaste of life-with-him in
heaven. St. Paul wrote: "The life that I now live is not my own; Christ is living in me.
I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Faith as “following Christ” must be gradually and
perseveringly developed so that it comes to touch every aspect of our lives, throughout
our whole lives.
E. A Gift, Yet Our Doing
Faith’s fifth paradox is that it is a gift, a grace from God, yet something we do (cf. PCP II 68; CCC 153-55). It is a
gift because “No one can come to me,” Jesus said, “unless the Father who sent me draws him” (Jn 6:44). St. Paul confirms
this: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). Our Christian Faith, then, is not merely of
our own doing. It depends upon God for two things: first, God's gift of revealing Himself throughout salvation history;
second, for the grace of the Holy Spirit's interior illumination and inspiration which "gives to all joy in assenting to the
truth and believing in it” (Vat. I, DS 3010; ND 120).
But God's "gift" of faith demands our free cooperation with others. St. Paul explains this: "Faith, then, comes
through hearing, and what is heard is the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17). Our hearing of Christ's word today depends on the
preaching and teaching just as it did in the time of the Apostles (cf. Mt 28:20; Acts 2:42; 4:25). This "hearing" means not
only listening to the Word of God in Scripture and Church teaching. It also involves discerning God's presence to us
through events in our lives, our companions, our inner thoughts, yearnings, and fears, etc. In brief, faith is also our active
response to the witness to Christ and the Gospel given us by others. This active response is motivated and inspired by the
prayer and worship we share with our fellow members of Christ’s Church.
F. Personal, Yet Ecclesial
Faith’s sixth paradox is its personal yet ecclesial nature. It is first of all the
Church who believes and thus supports and nourishes our faith (cf. CCC 168-69). We
received the grace of faith when we were baptized and received into the Christian
community, the Church. Within our Christian families and our parish community, the
faith implanted in Baptism grows and matures. Through catechesis, through the
Sacrament of Confirmation, through the Word of God preached and explained, and
especially through the Eucharistic celebration of Christ’s Paschal sacrifice, we grow in
faith.
Our faith in Christ is supported and intensified by our fellow members in the parish or BCC, according to God's
plan. For "He has willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but
rather to make them into a people” (LG 9).
Christian faith has many different adherents and forms, even in our country. But a central feature of Catholic
Faith is its ecclesial structure. God always revealed Himself in the Old and New Testaments in terms of a community.
Moreover, this revelation has been handed down through the Church’s tradition to us today. It is in the Church that we
Catholics experience the power of the Risen Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is in the Church, the body of
Christ, that the Catholic Filipino meets Christ in God’s Word in Scripture, in Church teaching, in the liturgical,
sacramental praise and worship of God, and in the ministry of service of one another.
Christ is a personal Savior to Filipino Catholics not as private individuals, but as members of a community of
salvation wherein we meet Jesus and experience his saving power. Faith is never just something private or individualistic,
but a sharing in the Christian community's faith. This faith is in living continuity with the Apostolic Church, as well as
being united to all the Catholic communities today the world over. Vatican II well describes the origins of this ecclesial
dimension of faith:
"As the firstborn of many brethren, and by the gift of his Spirit, Christ established, after his death and
Resurrection, a new brotherly communion among all who received him in faith and love; this is the communion of his
own body, the Church, in which everyone as members would render mutual service in the measure of the different gifts
bestowed on each” (GS 32).
D. MARY: MODEL OF FAITH
Many Filipino Catholics probably learn more about Faith from their devotion to the
Virgin Mary than any other way. This is perfectly grounded in Scripture which portrays Mary
as the exemplar of faith. Through her “Yes” at the Annunciation, Mary “becomes the model of
faith” (AMB 35; cf. CCC 148). Luke stresses the contrast between Mary’s faith and the
disbelief of Zachary by Elizabeth’s greeting. “Blest is she who trusted that Lord’s words to her
would be fulfilled” (Lk 1:20, 45). John Paul II writes that “in the expression ‘Blest are you who
believed’ we can rightly find a kind of ‘key’ which unlocks for us the innermost reality of
Mary, whom the angel hailed as 'full of grace " (cf. RMA 19).
Mary perfectly exemplified the common definitions of faith as "full submission of
intellect and will" and the "obedience of faith" (Rom 16:26; 1:5; cf. DV 5). But she did it personally, with all her human
and feminine "I", and this response of faith included both perfect cooperation with the "grace of God that precedes and
assists,” and perfect