Module 1:

The ULS Core

Value of Faith
Ronald B. Lapuz, Ph.D., CHRP, FPM, LPT
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Explain their general understanding of what Christian faith is.

2. Cite some concrete ways on how to become a true-blooded
Salettinian; and
3. Explain the different value orientations as expressed by different
religious, moral-ethical and social-cultural perspectives.
 ULS CHRISTIAN FORMATION PROGRAMS
Pastoral Ministry of
the Diocese/Parish
Worship, Evangelization, Service,
Spiritual Growth

•Scheduled Eucharistic Celebrations

•Study Sessions
•Congresses (e.g., CEAP)
•Periodic Recollections and Retreats
•Spiritual Exercises (para-liturgy/devotion)
•Prayer Meeting/Bible Sharing
•Conferences for Spiritual Nourishment Community
Service (Outreach Program)
[ cf. Pope Paul VI, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity:
Apostolican Actuositatem, 32]; [cf. John XXIII, encyclical
"Mater et Magistra," May 15 1961: A.A.S. 53 (1961) p. 454].

Catholic educational institutions are

among the most necessary and potent
Integral Catholic Education means of evangelization [PCP II, 623]
•Dialogue between faith and science/excellence/reason;
•Synthesis between faith & culture
•Synthesis between faith and life
•Has Ethical/Moral Concerns;
•Uses Theological, philosophical and historical
perspectives.
 PEOPLE: ULS as a CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
(creators and drivers of Catholic Identity according to their role)

MESSAGE CULTURE
(CONTENT)

F= COMMUNITY OF
Christian Christian ACTIVE FAITH
Formation Formation
Programs Programs R= RECONCILED &
RECONCILING COMMUNITY

Professional
I= COMMUNITY OF INTEGRITY
Programs

• GEC E= COMMUNITY THAT

PROMOTES EXCELLENCE

• Rel. Ed. &

Transformative S= COMMUNITY THAT
Education PRACTICES SOLIDARITY
Dialogue Between Faith and Reason
In promoting this integration of knowledge, a specific part of a Catholic
University's task is to promote dialogue between faith and reason, so
that it can be seen more profoundly how faith and reason bear
harmonious witness to the unity of all truth…For the things of the earth
and the concerns of faith derive from the same God.” A vital interaction
of two distinct levels of coming to know the one truth leads to a greater
love for truth itself, and contributes to a more comprehensive
understanding of the meaning of human life and of the purpose of God's
creation. [Ex corde Ecclesiae, 17]
The formation of the whole person in a Catholic school
includes “preparation for professional life, formation of
ethical and social awareness, and developing awareness
of the transcendental and religious education.
(Perceptions of Catholic Identity, No. 31).
Theological Perspective
Theology plays a particularly important role in the search for a synthesis of
knowledge as well as in the dialogue between faith and reason. It serves all
other disciplines in their search for meaning, not only by helping them to
investigate how their discoveries will affect individuals and society but also
by bringing a perspective and an orientation not contained within their own
methodologies. In turn, interaction with these other disciplines and their
discoveries enriches theology, offering it a better understanding of the world
today, and making theological research more relevant to current needs.
Because of its specific importance among the academic disciplines, every
Catholic University should have a faculty, or at least a chair, of theology. [Ex
corde Ecclesiae, 19]
ULS Community Has Message (Content) To
Communicate
• The message that ULS Community communicates to students (and to
other stakeholders: parents, local community, etc) refers to the
CONTENT to be learned and practiced by the learners (students).
There are two (2) LEADS of the message:
• First: the Christian Formation Programs = refers to Worship,
Evangelization, Service, Spiritual Growth.
• Second: the Delivery of Integral Education Curriculum.
For St.Thomas Aquinas

Faith is "the act of

the intellect assenting to a
Divine truth owing to the
movement of the will, which
is itself moved by the grace
of God" (St. Thomas, II-II,
Q. iv, a. 2).
Faith Forum: What does “faith” mean?
Rajan
Zedhttps://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/columnists/2015/07/31/faith-forum-faith-mean/30955967/

The Bible teaches that “faith is

being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see”
(Hebrews 11:1). So faith is being
certain about realities we believe
are true but we cannot see with
our physical eyes. God’s Word also
says that “without faith it is
impossible to please God…”
(Hebrews 11:6).
ULS Defines Faith

“The total submission to God’s

call to Holiness and commitment
to His will.”
Vatican II declares:
“The faithful must learn the deepest meaning and
value of all creation, and its orientation to the
praise of God” (LG 36). This is expressed in the
liturgy where the doctrine of God, Maker of heaven
and earth, is repeated constantly. Two examples
will suffice. In the Offertory of the Mass the
celebrant prays: “Blessed are you, Lord God of all
creation, through your goodness we have this bread
to offer, which earth has given and human hands
have made.” Again at the Sanctus, the whole
congregation prays: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of
power and might, heaven and earth are full of your
glory.” Clearly God as Creator is central to the
liturgy.
How Important is Our Faith?
CFC 166: Faith is necessary to become our true selves and thus gain our salvation,
that is, union with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

To the three human classic questions Faith responds:

⚫ What can I know? God our Father and Christ our Lord.
⚫ What should I do? Love others as Christ does.
⚫ What may I hope for? Christ’s presence and life everlasting.
Catechism for Filipino Catholic (CFC)
119. 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.
The Three Essential
Dimensions of Faith
 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).
 Doing
• 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).
 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).
• 133. Faith, then, is from the heart __ the loving, trusting,
and hoping in the Lord that comes from God’s own 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).
The Three Foundations
of Faith
Dei Verbum – Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation
by POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965
Scripture
Sacred Tradition
Magisterium
Faith according to the Teaching to Plenary
Council of the Philippines (PCP) II
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)
 MARY: MODEL OF FAITH
• 155. 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).
• 156. 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,
6 STAGES OF FAITH
James Fowler
Stage 1 - Imaginative Faith (birth to 7
years)
Characteristics:
Positive images are healthy

Friendly, welcoming God like dependable parent

Fearful images are dangerous: children associate God the

Father with their father who may be nice or NOT nice
Stage 2 - Literal faith (7-early teens)
Characteristics:
• storytelling (pass on faith story)
• believed as literally or historically true
• God rewards and punishes
• bargaining stage, e.g. exams, illness. etc.
Stage 3 - Group Faith (teens to mid-
20’s)
Characteristics:

• *group influence
• *conform to values and expectations of group
• *unquestioning belief of group view
• *can discourage personal responsibility
Stage 4 - Personal Faith (mid-20’s and
older)
Characteristics:
• personal responsibility for beliefs
• time of tension sometimes with friends, family and Church
leaders searching for truth
• answers not always clear-cut (there are lots of gray areas)
Stage 5 – Mystical Faith (age is no
longer a factor)
Characteristics:
• communion with God
• awareness of God’s inner presence
• recognition of community of all people
• challenge and improve structure
• belief that “God is with me at all times therefore life is
intrinsically holy by nature”
• most of us can do get to this level
Stage 6 - Sacrificial Faith
Characteristics:
• identification with truth and justice
• Jesus, Gandhi, Romero, etc.
• radical commitment with no regard for personal status or
security
• not many people get here but there may be traces in us, e.g.
parent attitudes.