By DON FIER
A brief and enigmatic scriptural definition of the theological virtue we began to consider last week, faith, is set forth in the Letter to the Hebrews: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
Its fundamental importance with regard to man’s attainment of salvation is underscored just a few verses later: “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11:6).
Reason itself attests to the primacy of faith among the virtues, for how could one hope in or love a God in whom he does not believe? As St. Paul often proclaims: “The just man lives by faith” (cf. Romans 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).
That faith stands at the beginning of the supernatural life is evident in what takes place at the baptismal font. In the traditional rite, the question asked of godparents on behalf of the infant to be baptized is: “What are you asking of God’s Church?” The godparents respond: “Faith.” The godparents are then asked: “What does faith hold out to you?” Their answer: “Everlasting life.”
This dialogue, which marks the beginning of Christian life, is simple but breathtakingly profound. The wondrous gift of faith, without any merit on our part, is bestowed by the Lord. “By grace you have been saved through faith,” attests St. Paul, “and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
As expressed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “Faith is the fundamental act of Christian existence” (The Yes of Jesus Christ, p. 4).
We saw last week that even though many mysteries of our faith (such as the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation) surpass the ability of our limited, finite minds to comprehend, we believe on the authority of the One who can neither deceive nor be deceived, the One who is Truth itself. We believe that it is He who is speaking because of the evidence made manifest by the manifold “motives of credibility” (e.g., miracles, prophecies fulfilled, etc.) that our Creator has provided throughout the annals of salvation history.
We believe what has been divinely revealed without fully understanding, then, through an act of supernatural faith: the intellect firmly assents through a free command of the will. At the same time, however, faith and reason are never opposed to one another.
Their harmony is beautifully expressed by Pope St. John Paul II in the opening lines of his 1998 encyclical Fides et Ratio (“Faith and Reason”): “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth — in a word, to know himself — so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Exodus 33:18; Psalm 27:8-9; 63:2-3; John 14:8; 1 John 3:2).”
As we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of Fides et Ratio (FeR), it would be good to reflectively read this prophetic document. In it, St. John Paul II warns against the claims of historicism, which hold that “the truth of a philosophy is determined on the basis of its appropriateness to a certain period and a certain historical purpose” (FeR, n. 87 § 1).
In other words, the enduring validity of truth, at least implicitly, is denied — what is true in one period may not be true in another. In recent times, shifting beliefs have been referred to as “paradigm shifts.” But as we saw last week, this contradicts Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman’s teaching on “the development of doctrine,” and may lead to corruption of the faith.
In an article entitled “Believe, That You May Understand,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput cogently summarizes the true meaning of development of doctrine as intended by Newman:
“The development of Church doctrine is organic, so that later developments build on and preserve previous teachings in a continuity of meaning. Vatican II and the Council of Trent need to be read in relation to each other, as do the papacies of Francis and Benedict XVI. Historicism in theology transforms this organic development into a process of division or arbitrary change” (First Things; March 2018, n. 281; p. 39).
His Excellency goes on to warn that there exists a very real and present danger: “In the name of being pastoral, the Church threatens to become merely indulgent, malleable, effective, and practical; in effect, anti-intellectual” (ibid.).
As articulated by Dr. Peter Kreeft, the Deposit of Faith can and indeed does experience organic growth, growth from within like a living plant, but “not by alteration or construction from without. . . . The Church can further explore and explain and interpret her original deposit of faith, drawing out more and more of its own inner meaning and applying it to changing times…[but] she cannot conform it to demands from the secular world” (Catholic Christianity, p. 18).
Returning now to the text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), it is taught clearly that “the gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned against it” (n. 1815). In other words, it is possible for faith to be present in one who is in the state of mortal sin. “Only a serious sin directed against faith,” states Fr. Jordan Aumann, OP, “will destroy the virtue of faith” (Spiritual Theology, p. 249).
Under such circumstances, it is referred to as unformed faith. It is faith that is not animated by charity, yet still enables a person to continue to believe the truths of the faith based on the authority of God who reveals them. Lacking sanctifying grace, however, the acts of a person in such a state are not meritorious.
The Catechism next makes reference to the Epistle of St. James, specifically to the verse that affirms that “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26), which parallels closely an earlier verse, “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17).
What is St. James saying? He is asserting that faith alone is not sufficient for salvation — one’s faith must be a living faith, a faith animated by charity that produces good works.
The need for charity is similarly emphasized by St. Paul: “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2-3).
“When it is deprived of hope and love,” states the Catechism, “faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body” (CCC, n. 1815).
One is reminded of what our Lord taught in the Gospel of St. Matthew: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
As explained in The Didache Bible, “The external act of crying out to God is not sufficient to gain eternal life; conversion of heart and the disposition to do the will of God are also necessary. Works must be a manifestation of faith” (p. 1272).
Did our Lord not condemn those who were devoid of good works at the Last Judgment (see Matt. 25:41-46)? “Faith without works is like a tree without fruit,” explains Fr. Francis Spirago, “or like a lamp without oil” (The Catechism Explained, p. 94).
But that is not the end of the story regarding the theological virtue of faith. “The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it,” teaches the Catechism, “but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it” (CCC, n. 1816).
The Vatican II fathers strongly exhort the faithful in this regard: “All must be prepared to confess Christ before men. They must be prepared to make this profession of faith even in the midst of persecutions, which will never be lacking to the Church, in following the way of the cross” (Lumen Gentium, n. 42 § 2).
In another conciliar document, Dignitatis Humanae (The Declaration on Human Freedom), the council fathers further emphasize the necessity of a living faith in the day-to-day lives of the faithful: “The disciple is bound by a grave obligation toward Christ, his Master, ever more fully to understand the truth received from Him, faithfully to proclaim it, and vigorously to defend it, never — be it understood — having recourse to means that are incompatible with the spirit of the Gospel” (n. 14 § 2).
Conversion To God
To close this installment, let us briefly reflect on the main characteristics of the theological virtue of faith as enumerated by Fr. Kenneth J. Baker, SJ:
1) Faith is obscure since we do not understand fully its propositions; 2) faith is absolutely certain based on the veracity of the Revealer; 3) faith is free because the believer commands with his free will, with the aid of grace, the mind to firmly assent to the article of faith; 4) faith is supernatural because it is infused and its purpose is to assist us toward our supernatural end, the face-to-face vision of God for all of eternity; and 5) faith is necessary because without it, it is impossible to attain our supernatural end (cf. Doctrinal Sermons on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 10).
Faith, then, is primarily a conversion to God.
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(Don Fier serves on the board of directors for The Catholic Servant, a Minneapolis-based monthly publication. He and his wife are the parents of seven children. Fier is a 2009 graduate of Ave Maria University’s Institute for Pastoral Theology. He is a Consecrated Marian Catechist.)
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