openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, who
constantly brings faith to completion by his gifts (DV 5; cf. LG 56).
Luke
carries this theme of Mary’s faith into his second inspired book where he
describes her presence among “those who believed” in the apostolic community
after the Resurrection (cf. Acts 1:14).
157. Mary is truly an effective inspiration to us because she constantly
exercised faith in all the realities of ordinary, daily living, even in family
crises. Luke’s account of the “finding in the Temple” offers a perfect example (cf. Lk 2:41-52). There is the first stage of astonishment
at seeing Jesus in the temple, in the midst of the teachers. Astonishment is
often the beginning of faith, the sign and condition to break beyond our
“mind-set” and learn something new. Mary and Joseph learned something from
Jesus that day.
158. Second, there is distress and worry, real anguish and suffering. As with the
prophets, God’s Word brings good and bad fortune. Mary was already “taking up
the Cross” of the disciple of Christ. Third,
there is often a lack of understanding. Both
Mary and Joseph, and later “the Twelve,” could not understand what Jesus meant.
Faith is not “clear insight” but “seeing indistinctly, as in a mirror” (1 Cor 13:12).
Finally, there is the fourth stage of search wherein Mary did not drop the incident from her mind, but
rather “kept all these things in her heart.” Faith is a continual search for
meaning, for making sense of what is happening by uncovering what links them
together. Like the “scribe who is learned in the reign of God” Mary acted like
“the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old”
(Mt 13:52).
159. Since faith is the key to
Mary’s whole life, from her divine motherhood to her “falling asleep in the
Lord,” her life is a real “pilgrimage of faith” (LG 58).
That makes her our model and support in faith. But beyond our individual ‘faith
lives,’ John Paul II has brought out its wider significance.
I
wish to draw on the ‘pilgrimage of faith’ on which the Blessed Virgin advanced
. . . This is not just a question of the Virgin Mother’s life-story, of her
personal journey of faith . . . It is also a question of the history of the
whole people of God, of all who take part in the same ‘pilgrimage of faith’ (RMa 5; cf. 14-18).
INTEGRATION
160. Faith is a reality touching
our whole selves __ our minds
(convictions), our hands and will (committed action) and our hearts (trust). The objective aspects of Christian faith,
exemplified in doctrine (the Creed), morals (the Commandments) and worship (the
Sacraments), also manifest faith as an integral
whole. Christian Faith, then, is not something fragmented. It is a
living way of life that integrates our minds, wills, and hearts with its
doctrine, morals, and worship, within a sustaining community of fellow
disciples of Christ.
161. To understand the “doctrine” or truth of what faith is,
then, demands recognizing its moral and worship dimensions (doing and praying).
Scripture constantly insists on this. “The way we can be sure of our knowledge
of Christ is to keep his commandments” (1
Jn 2:3). And the way to pray is “through him, with him, in him, in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, almighty Father, for
ever and ever. Amen.”
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
162. What does “faith” mean in daily life?
Faith in general means the way we know, accept, and
relate positively to others, especially the
mutual trust, love, and fidelity we experience in family and
friendships.
163. What is meant by “Catholic faith”?
Catholic Faith is “to know, love, and follow Jesus
Christ in his Body, the Church” (PCP II
36).
It is that attitude, activity, and process by which
we, empowered by God’s grace:
• freely commit
our entire selves to God,
• offer our
liberty, our understanding and our whole will to God who reveals Himself and
His plan, and
• willingly
assent to His Revelation (cf. DV 5).
164. What does faith as “committing our entire
selves to God” entail?
Faith as a living response to God includes:
• our
minds, believing in God who calls us
to salvation in Jesus;
• our
will and hands, doing God’s will,
and
• our hearts, entrusting ourselves
to God in prayer and worship.
165. What are some basic characteristics of
Christian Faith?
Christian Faith is:
• total, absolute commitment,
• to
the Blessed Trinity: our heavenly
Father, Jesus Christ, his own divine Son-made-man, and their Holy Spirit,
• in
a “loving knowledge”
• that
helps us grow and mature as
Filipinos,
• within
our Filipino culture and values, and
• “sends” us forth to spread the Gospel.
166. How important is Faith?
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.
167. What does faith in Christ do for us?
Faith in Jesus Christ:
• helps us to grow into adult persons who can relate to
others responsibly and maturely;
• liberates
us from being enslaved by sin; and
• opens
us to deep joy and happiness in the Lord.
168. What are the paradoxical characteristics of
Faith?
Our Christian Faith is at once both:
• certain enough to die for, yet a “mystery” because like love, there is
always more to understand;
• a
free personal response to God, yet morally binding in conscience;
• reasonable, yet beyond our natural ways of knowing;
• an
individual act of our graced reason, yet also a life-long process;
• a
gift of God through both Revelation
and interior inspiration, yet something
we do nobody can “believe” for
us;
• a
personal individual response, yet
only possible as a member of the
Christian community, the Church.
169. How can we be sure of our faith?
Faith is something like the loving knowledge we have
of our family and friends. We are “sure” of their love and we try to respond to
them. Likewise, through God’s Revelation in Christ, we are absolutely sure of
His love for us, and try to respond through the gift of faith.
Chapter 4
Our Unbelief
“What an unbelieving
lot you are! . . . how long can I endure you? . . . Everything is possible to a
man who trusts.” Then the father cried out: “I do believe, help my lack of trust!”
(Mk 9:19, 23-24)
“Stop murmuring,” Jesus told them. “No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him; I will raise him up on the last day. .
.You will surely die in your sins unless you come to believe that I Am.”
(Jn 6:43f; 8:24)
OPENING
170. Christ,
throughout the Gospels, constantly called for faith. Jesus praised the
Roman centurion for his great faith (cf. Mt 8:8-10). He chided those who
worried too much about food and clothing for their weak faith (cf. Mt 6:30). He could not work
miracles among the Nazareans because of their lack of faith (cf. Mk 6:5).
On the stormy lake, Jesus asked his terrified apostles: “Why are you lacking in
faith?” (Mk 4:40). And at his Last Supper, Jesus said to Peter: “I have
prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Lk 22:32).
171. We know from
experience that Christian Faith meets all kinds of different receptions among
us, and within us, throughout our lives. Sometimes in our thinking we
put conditions to believing, like the doubting Thomas: “I will never believe it
without probing the nailprints in his hands . . .” (Jn 20: 25). At other times, our actions
belie our faith, like St. Peter’s triple “I do not know the man” (Mt 26:72).
Or perhaps in our trusting and hoping, we begin to doubt, like
the disciples of John the Baptist: “Are you ‘he who is to come,’ or are we to
look for someone else?” (Lk 7:20).
CONTEXT
172. The faith of
the Filipino Catholic today is exposed to many pressures and temptations toward
unbelief. Our whole social context of Christian faith and the Church has
changed. Before, Filipinos lived in a more stable society in which the Church
held a dominant position. Unbelief was generally restricted to certain
non-practicing individuals who were pursued pastorally by the Church to return
to the sacraments. Today we Filipinos live in a society in transition, in which
many religious and anti-religious voices are raised throughout the land. Whole
sub-groups are drawn away from the Catholic Faith. The Church’s pastoral
response is focused on creating new parish and Church structures, such as
“Basic Christian Communities,” to communicate the Gospel more effectively.
173. Vatican
II described this very situation:
greater numbers are falling away from the practice of
religion. In the past, it was the exception to repudiate God and religion to
the point of abandoning them, and then only in individual cases; but nowadays
it seems a matter of course to reject them as incompatible with scientific
progress and a new kind of humanism (GS 7).
174. In the Philippines,
our problems of unbelief often result from overstressing
one essential dimension of the faith, while neglecting another equally basic
dimension. Fundamentalists are strong on Jesus as their personal Savior,
on love of the Bible and care for their members, but are frequently closed to
Catholic tradition, development of doctrine, sacramental life and the wider
social concerns (cf. PCP II 219, 223-28). Activists take
up the thrust for justice and identification with the poor with such zeal that
they find little time for prayer or sacramental worship. Some Charismatics
are so dedicated to Spirit-filled celebrations that the service of neighbor is
neglected. All three groups frequently lack the balance and proportion that is
one mark of authentic Catholic Faith.
EXPOSITION
175. What, then, are the principal obstacles to authentic
Christian Faith in the Philippines
today? The paradoxes of Faith described in Chapter 3
indicate some of them. Faith’s certitude and reasonableness can lead some to
rationalistic dogmatism, while its obscurity opens others to superstition.
Faith as a gift sometimes induces a “bahala na” fideism.
Stressing the freedom of faith has led some to a self-centered, subjectivistic
faith. Even the personal character of faith can be misunderstood to mean “private,”
rejecting any communitarian dimension.
The obstacles to authentic faith
today among Filipinos can be grouped according to how they touch each of the
three basic dimensions of faith itself: believing, doing, and worshipping.
I. OBSTACLES TO BELIEVING,
DOING, WORSHIPPING
A.
Unbelief vs. Believing
176. In Scripture,
the problem of unbelief among the people of God, as distinct from the idolatry
of the pagans, is a constant scandal. Three principal types of “not believing”
can be picked out which remain relevant today. First is the simple denial
that God exists, or that Jesus Christ is Lord, the only begotten Son. “The fool
says in his heart, ‘There is no God’ ” (Ps 14:1). “Who is the liar? He
who denies that Jesus is the Christ” (1 Jn 2:22). Usually such denials are caused by erroneous
ideas about both human beings and God (cf. CCC 2126).
“Their exaggerated idea of being human causes their faith to languish. . . .
Others have such a faulty notion of God that . . . their denial has no reference
to the God of the Gospels” (GS 19).
177. Second, the opposite type of unbelieving is seeking “special knowledge”
into one’s fate and future. Divination, sorcery and magic have always been condemned. “Let there not be
found among you . . . a fortuneteller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, or
caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from
the dead” (Dt 18:10-11; cf. CCC 2115-17). Today we still have faith
healers, private visionaries and the like, who play upon the credulity of
simple Christians and draw them into such “abominations to the Lord” (Dt 18:12; cf. NCDP 136).
178. A third
obstacle to Christian believing is the “natural” self-centeredness or pride
that tempts everyone to see any dependence on God as against human freedom and
self-fulfillment. From this attitude arises current skepticism, doubts and
incredulity. “They” say: “what ‘modern’ person could possibly accept such
old-fashioned beliefs!” (cf. CCC 2088-89).
This mind-set is based on a false
image: 1) of God as some authoritarian Judge, arbitrarily imposing His will on
us; and 2) of our freedom as totally independent of God.
Response
179. PCP II has proposed that the basic help we need to face these challenges is
clearly a “Renewed Catechesis” that grounds renewal in social apostolate and
worship. Basically this involves a catechesis that is Christ-centered, rooted
in the living Word of Scripture, and authentically Filipino and systematic (cf.
PCP II 156-64). The aim is to communicate the “true teaching” of the Gospel
message presented in a fitting manner (cf. GS 21). The basic “truth”
presented in Scripture is that God created us free with relative autonomy. God
wills our own good. But this in no way denies our complete dependence on God.
Without the Creator there can be no created world (cf. GS 36).
180. Only in
seeing every person in relation to God who is the author and final goal of all,
is true human dignity preserved. Our true dignity rests on the fact that we are
called to communion with God. As Vatican II stated:
If we exist, it is because God has created us through
love, and through love continues to hold us in existence. We cannot live fully
according to truth unless we freely acknowledge that love and entrust ourselves
to our Creator (GS 19).
181. The Risen
Christ shows us how to carry on a “renewed catechesis” in a fitting manner in
his encounter with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Christ first
walked along with the two doubting disciples, listening to their story. Second
he “interpreted for them every passage of Scripture which referred to him” (Lk
24:27). Finally, in breaking bread with them, he offered them the choice of
believing.
So
Christ today leaves to his followers his word and “food for the journey
in the sacrament of faith in which natural elements, the fruits of our
cultivation, are changed into his glorified Body and Blood, as a supper of
human fellowship and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet” (GS 38).
182. In summary,
then, Christian doctrine or teaching is a living and life-giving reality that
develops through the ages under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, believing in Christ can never be reduced to mere acceptance of
“true teaching.” For in Christ the believer sees salvation: “Although you have
never seen him, you love him, and without seeing, you now believe in him, and
rejoice with inexpressible joy touched with glory, because you are achieving
faith’s goal, your salvation” ( 1 Pt 1:8-9).
This salvation is a present
reality, affecting everything we think, and do, and hope for, every day of our
lives.
B.
Unbelief vs. Doing
183. But there is
a “practical atheism” that has always been more common than any
theoretical unbelief: Filipinos who live their lives as if God did not exist.
Like the Hebrews of old, they do not ask the speculative question: “Does God
exist?” Rather they are concerned with the practical: “Is the Lord in our midst
or not?” (Ex 17:7) “Do we have to worry about Him?” “Will God hurt us in
any way?”
These “practical” atheists are
indifferent to God’s love. This shows in their ingratitude, tepidity
and spiritual sloth (cf. CCC 2094). They fail to recognize the
signs of God’s presence. “How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite
all the signs I have performed among them?” (Nm 14:11). Today this
blindness can often be traced to two general causes.
184. First, there is the pragmatic, secularistic mentality that measures all human
success in terms of “economic and social emancipation” (GS 20). PCP
II speaks of a “prevailing consumerism in our society” (PCP II
634). St. John
describes the basic abiding causes within each of us — our “concupiscence”— of
this “worldly view”: “Carnal allurements, enticements for the eye, the life of
empty show __ all these are from the world” (1 Jn 2:16).
185. Second, even more pertinent to our Philippine context as causing unbelief in
behavior is the poverty and injustice among us. PCP II has
strong words to say about these national causes for our sinfulness: “In the
poverty and underdevelopment of our nation, in its conflicts and divisions, we
see the hand of human sinfulness, particularly the grasping paws of greed for
profit and power” (PCP II 266).
186. “Great numbers of people are acutely conscious of
being deprived of the world’s goods through injustice and unfair
distribution” (GS 9). “In the midst
of huge numbers deprived of the absolute necessities of life there are some who live in riches and squander
their wealth. . . . Luxury and misery exist side by side” (GS 63).
PCP II speaks of how
the Christian conscience must recoil at the sins
committed against the poor: so many workers denied just wages to maintain
living standards of the few. . . so many poor farmers tilling lands they will
never own
. . . so much economic and political power used
selfishly to serve the few . . . (PCP II 267).
187. Such
injustice is a major cause of unbelief not only in the exploited and oppressed,
but also in those who commit the injustices. These exploiters deny God in
practice by rejecting the God-given rights of their victims. The oppressed, for
their part, come to deny God because they cannot see the truth of the Christian
vision and promise in their daily lives. Unbelief in doing, then, gradually
becomes a cultural reality for people suffering widespread
injustices.
188. This culture
of unbelief can take on systematic form in political or economic structures
which deny basic human rights. Filipino Marxists blame religious faith
together with feudalism, bureaucratic capitalism and imperialism for the
problems of Philippine society (cf. PCP II 265). They claim that
religion is a social pacifier, promising the poor and oppressed a heavenly
reward if they only remain subservient now.
Response
189. The help prescribed by PCP II to face this
unbelief in “doing” our faith is a “Renewed Social Apostolate” towards “Social
Transformation” (cf. PCP II Decree Arts. 15; 20-27; and PCP II Document
165-66; 256-329). To the Marxists we reply that Christ never promised a
heavenly reward to “do-nothing” followers, (those who cry out “Lord, Lord”).
Reward is only for those who do the will of the Father (cf. Mt 7:21).
Genuine Christian Faith, in its
ethical-prophetic role, fosters basic human personal and social values. It
shapes the lifestyle of Christians according to Gospel priorities and authentic
human responsibility and justice. Outside of such faith, there is little that
can check the “sin of the world” which remains the perduring, universal source
of man’s exploitation of man.
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