COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014

Saint Louis University Revision No. 01

School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 1 of 4

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 other forms of faith is the truth about a
relationship with “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 (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. 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 is 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 (PCP II 64
;124).

When you pray, “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
 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 2 of 4

in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This belief in the triune God is a unique
characteristic of the Christian faith. Pope Francis says:

…the mystery of the Trinity also speaks to us of ourselves, of our relationship with the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In fact, through baptism, the Holy Spirit has
placed us in the heart and the very life of God, who is a communion of love. God
is a “family” of three Persons who love each other so much as to form a single
whole. This “divine family” is not closed in on itself but is open. It communicates itself
in creation and in history and has entered the world of men to call everyone to
form part of it. The trinitarian horizon of communion surrounds all of us and
stimulates us to live in love and fraternal sharing, certain that where there is love,
there is God. (2016)

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 (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 (PCP II 67-
71). This means we are all called to share in Christ’s own three-fold mission as priest, prophet
and king (PCP II 116-121; 125).

Christian faith is 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, others, and self. It is the very depth of
God’s character to love, and as a believer, you 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” (Jn 6:68). 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 (PCP II 65).

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 phrase
is for you not to replace faith with understanding but “an active love of God seeking a
deeper knowledge of God”. But having a deeper knowledge of God takes place within
the Christian community, the Church.

5. Inculturated
 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 3 of 4

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 (PCP II 72-73).

The practice of your faith is manifested in your daily life and relationships. It takes
into consideration the community where you belong.

B. The Three Essential Dimensions of Faith

For Ian Knox (2011), 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 “believing, doing, and trusting”.

1. Believing

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 one way 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. Faith in God is interpreted and articulated more clearly by
your 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 certain. The activity
of Christian faith therefore requires a firm conviction about the truths proposed as
essential beliefs of the Christian faith (Groome, 1991).

2. Doing
Another significant expression of faith is “doing”. It means that you must work and
cooperate with God’s liberative work. 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,
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 (PCP II 78-80).
 COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 4 of 4

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.