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Faith |
"When they came to the crowd a man approached, knelt down before him, and said,
'Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure
him.' Jesus said in reply, 'O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him here to
me.' Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
'Why could we not drive it out?' He said to them, 'Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for
you.'" (Mt. 17:14-20)
"Jesus said to them in reply,
'Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will
receive.'" (Mt. 21:21-22)
"Everything is possible to one who has faith."
(Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mk. 9:23)
"For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law."
(Rom. 3:28)
"And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing."
(1 Cor. 13:2)
"Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong."
(1 Cor. 16:13)
"In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one."
(Eph. 6:16)
"But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation"
(1 Thes. 5:8)
"But without faith it is impossible to please him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."
(Heb. 11:6)
"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various
trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
(Jms. 1:2-4)
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them,
'Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,' but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Indeed someone might say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says,
'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as
righteousness,' and he was called 'the friend of God.' See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
(Jms. 2:14-26)
"In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith."
(1 Jn. 5:2-4)
"When we have not faith, we are blind." (Catechism of
the Cure de Ars)
"See, my children, it is faith that we want."
(Catechism of the Cure de Ars)
"Faith, therefore, must exclude not only all doubt, but
all desire for demonstration." (Catechism of the Council of
Trent)
"Heresy is a culpable error of the intellect by which some
truth of faith is obstinately denied." (Catechism of Pope St.
Pius X)
"There
is nothing more certain than our faith, nothing safer, nothing more
holy, nothing that rests on firmer principles." (Bl. Pope
Pius IX)
"For
unless one preserves the faith entire and uninjured, he will
without doubt perish forever." (Bl. Pope Pius IX, "Qui
Pluribus", 1846 A.D.)
"No, we cannot comprehend all the truths of Faith, because
some of these truths are mysteries." (Catechism of Pope St.
Pius X)
"My children, the three acts of faith, hope and charity
contain all the happiness of man upon the earth." (Catechism
of the Cure de Ars)
"A Catholic sins against faith by apostasy, heresy,
indifferentism, and by taking part in non-Catholic worship."
(Baltimore Catechism)
"Augustine, speaking of this faith, thus comments on the
Lord's words: Without faith prayer is useless." (Catechism of
the Council of Trent)
"The chief requisite, therefore, of a good prayer is, as
we have already said, a firm and unwavering faith."
(Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"The
person baptized is bound to always profess the faith and observe
the Law of Jesus Christ and of His Church." (Catechism of
Pope St. Pius X)
"It is most useful to recite the Creed frequently, so as
to impress the truths of faith more and more deeply on our
hearts." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"Faith, Hope and Charity are called theological virtues,
because they have God as their immediate and principal object, and
are infused by Him." (Catechism of Pope St. Pius X)
"Faith is the virtue by which we firmly believe all the
truths God has revealed, on the word of God revealing them, who
can neither deceive nor be deceived." (Baltimore Catechism)
"If
anyone says that human reason is so independent that faith cannot
be commanded by God: let him be anathema." (First Vatican
Council)
"That faith thus understood is necessary to salvation no
man can reasonably doubt, particularly since it is written:
Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Catechism of
the Council of Trent)
"By faith, we believe what God has promised us: we believe
that we shall one day see Him, that we shall possess Him, that we
shall be eternally happy with Him in Heaven [that is, providing we
follow His rules]." (Catechism of
the Cure de Ars)
"Faith obliges us: first, to make efforts to find out what
God has revealed; second, to believe firmly what God has revealed;
third, to profess our faith openly whenever necessary."
(Baltimore Catechism)
"In Heaven, faith and hope will exist no more, for the
mist which obscures our reason will be dispelled; our mind will be
able to understand the things that are hidden from it here
below." (Catechism of the Cure de Ars)
"Can.
1325 § 1 The faithful of Christ are bound to profess their faith
whenever their silence, evasiveness, or manner of acting
encompasses an implied denial of the faith, contempt for religion,
injury to God, or scandal for a neighbor." (1917 Code of
Canon Law)
"Faith is a supernatural virtue, which God infuses into
our souls, and by which, relying on the authority of God Himself,
we believe everything which He has revealed and which through His
Church He proposes for our belief." (Catechism of Pope St.
Pius X)
"But, as faith comes by hearing, it is clear how necessary
at all times for the attainment of eternal salvation has been the labor and faithful ministry of an
authorized teacher; for it is
written, how shall they hear, without a preacher?" (Catechism
of the Council of Trent)
"[The]
Christian will gain nothing for eternal life from his faith unless
his life be ordered in accordance with what faith prescribes.
'What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith,
but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him?' (Jms. 2:14)" (Pope
Leo XIII, "Magnae Dei Matris", 1892 A.D.)
"Even
though faith is above reason, there can never be any real
disagreement between faith and reason, since it is the same God
who reveals the mysteries and infuses faith, and who has endowed
the human mind with the light of reason." (First Vatican
Council)
"If anyone shall say that by faith alone the sinner is
justified, so as to understand that nothing else is required to
cooperate in the attainment of the grace of justification, and
that it is in no way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by
the action of his own will: let him be anathema." (Council of
Trent)
"All
those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic faith which
are contained in the written or unwritten word of God, and which
are proposed by the Church as divinely revealed, either by a
solemn definition or in the exercise of its ordinary and universal
Magisterium." (First Vatican Council)
"For
it is not true that the progress of knowledge extinguishes the
faith; rather is it ignorance, and the more ignorance prevails the
greater is the havoc wrought by incredulity. And this is why
Christ commanded the Apostles: 'Going forth teach all nations' (Matth.
xxvii., 19)." (Pope St. Pius X, "E Supremi", 1903
A.D.)
"A Catholic can best safeguard his faith by making
frequent acts of faith, by praying for a strong faith, by studying
his religion very earnestly, by living a good life, by good
reading, by refusing to associate with the enemies of the Church,
and by not reading books and papers opposed to the Church and her
teaching." (Baltimore Catechism)
"After
grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to
explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards
those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly
proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the
Incarnation" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Not
only can faith and reason never be at odds with one another but
they mutually support each other, for on the one hand right reason
established the foundations of the faith and, illuminated by its
light, develops the science of divine things; on the other hand,
faith delivers reason from errors and protects it and furnishes it
with knowledge of many kinds." (First Vatican Council)
"To
be sure, life built on faith should be the fruit of religious
formation. Faith, however, is not a matter of imagination or pious
emotion; but, on the contrary, it is an intellectual recognition (if not a rational permeation) and a voluntary acceptance by the
will; a complete development of faith is one of the most profound
acts of the individual, one in which all his powers become
acute." (St. Edith Stein)
"We must
have this firm faith not only in some but in all the truths which
God has made known, although they may be altogether
incomprehensible to us. Faith will not allow of the rejection of
even one; and he who should voluntarily entertain a doubt of one
single article - one single point of faith - could not be said to
have faith at all. We believe everything that God has revealed,
precisely for this reason: that God has said it." (Muller)
"For
although faith is above reason, no real disagreement or opposition
can ever be found between them; this is because both of them come
from the same greatest source of unchanging and eternal truth,
God. They give such reciprocal help to each other that true reason
shows, maintains and protects the truth of the faith, while faith
frees reason from all errors and wondrously enlightens,
strengthens and perfects reason with the knowledge of divine
matters." (Pope Pius IX, "Qui Pluribus", 1846 A.D.)
"Whatsoever
He commands, He commands by the same authority. He requires the
assent of the mind to all truths without exception. It was thus
the duty of all who heard Jesus Christ, if they wished for eternal
salvation, not merely to accept His doctrine as a whole, but to
assent with their entire mind to all and every point of it, since
it is unlawful to withhold faith from God even in regard to one
single point." (Pope Leo XIII, "Satis Cognitum",
1896 A.D.)
"Can.
752 Although not an assent of faith, a religious submission of the
intellect and will must be given to a doctrine which the Supreme
Pontiff or the college of bishops declares concerning faith or
morals when they exercise the authentic magisterium, even if they
do not intend to proclaim it by definitive act; therefore, the
Christian faithful are to take care to avoid those things which do
not agree with it." (1983 Code of Canon Law)
"Can.
1323 § 1 All of those things are to be believed with a divine and
Catholic faith that are contained in the written word of God or in
tradition and that the Church proposes and worthy of belief, as
divinely revealed, whether by solemn judgment or by her ordinary
and universal magisterium. § 2 it belongs to an Ecumenical
Council or to the Roman Pontiff speaking from the chair to
pronounce solemnly this sort of judgement. § 3 A thing is not
understood as dogmatically defined or declared unless this is
manifestly established." (1917 Code of Canon Law)
"For
such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than
to accept some things and reject others. Faith, as the Church
teaches, is 'that supernatural virtue by which, through the help
of God and through the assistance of His grace, we believe what he
has revealed to be true, not on account of the intrinsic truth
perceived by the natural light of reason, but because of the
authority of God Himself, the Revealer, who can neither deceive
nor be deceived' (Conc. Vat., Sess. iii., cap. 3). If then it be
certain that anything is revealed by God, and this is not
believed, then nothing whatever is believed by divine Faith: for
what the Apostle St. James judges to be the effect of a moral
delinquency, the same is to be said of an erroneous opinion in the
matter of faith. 'Whosoever shall offend in one point, is become
guilty of all' (Ep. James ii., 10)." (Pope Leo XIII, "Satis
Cognitum", 1896 A.D.)
"Christian
faith reposes not on human but on divine authority, for what God
has revealed 'we believe not on account of the intrinsic evidence
of the truth perceived by the natural light of our reason, but on
account of the authority of God revealing, who cannot be deceived
nor Himself deceive.' It follows as a consequence that whatever
things are manifestly revealed by God we must receive with a
similar and equal assent. To refuse to believe any one of them is
equivalent to rejecting them all, for those at once destroy the
very groundwork of faith who deny that God has spoken to men, or
who bring into doubt His infinite truth and wisdom. To determine,
however, which are the doctrines divinely revealed belongs to the
teaching Church, to whom God has entrusted the safekeeping and
interpretation of His utterances. But the supreme teacher in the
Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires,
together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete
submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman
Pontiff, as to God Himself. This obedience should, however, be
perfect, because it is enjoined by faith itself, and has this in
common with faith, that it cannot be given in shreds; nay, were it
not absolute and perfect in every particular, it might wear the
name of obedience, but its essence would disappear. Christian
usage attaches such value to this perfection of obedience that it
has been, and will ever be, accounted the distinguishing mark by
which we are able to recognize Catholics." (Pope Leo XIII,
"Sapientiae Christianae", 1890 A.D.)
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