Day 21: Believing God (150-155)

• Praise the Lord!!

• Three weeks!!

• It is INCREDIBLY SIGNIFICANT!!

• We’ve gotten through some of the “grindy things”

• “Where are we going?”

• “Where is the traction?”

• “Where is my footing?”

• And here we are launching into our RESPONSE TO GOD’S REVELATION

• Yesterday we talked about Abraham, Sara, and Mary who had GREAT FAITH

• Abraham was the MODEL OF OBEDIENCE

• It is called THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH from Romans Ch 1

• Paragraph 143 says, “By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.”

• We will talk about another aspect of saying the same thing of WHAT IT IS ABOUT FAITH

• Paragraph 150 says, “Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God.”

• IT IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE THING!!

• If we have faith, it is a GRACE

• IT IS A GIFT THAT COMES FROM GOD

• BUT…

• IT IS A COMPLETELY FREE ACT ON OUR PART

• WE FREELY ASSENT

• WE FREELY COOPERATE

• FAITH IS BOTH A GRACE AND A HUMAN ACT

• What is that?

• Faith isn’t JUST having a feeling

• Faith isn’t JUST having a sense or idea that God exists

• BUT…

• We are believing in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 

• SO GOOD!!

• Let's say a prayer as we get started 

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we give you thanks and praise. May your name be known around this entire world. May your name be known. May your identity be known by every person who breathes on this planet. We ask that you please make yourself known to us. Help us to have faith in you. Help us to freely assent to you. Give us this personal adherence to you, as we know that you're not a thing, God. You're a who. You are a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we can trust ourselves to you now. And we ask that you please help us to entrust ourselves and adhere ourselves to you for all time, into eternity, by your grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.”

• SO GOOD!!

• SO POWERFUL!!

• SO BEAUTIFUL!!

• FAITH IS A GIFT!!

• IT COMES FROM GOD!!

• No one on their own can come to a recognition and acknowledgement…

• No one can come to a place of DEEP AND ABIDING TRUST OR FAITH…

• No one can come to a place of personal adherence to God…

• WITHOUT GOD’S HELP!!

• THIS IS REMARKABLE!!

• THANKS BE TO GOD!!

• God WILLS ALL PEOPLE BE SAVED

• God WANTS ALL PEOPLE TO BE SAVED

• God is going to GIVE THE GRACE

• God is going to GIVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THE GIFT OF FAITH TO ALL HUMAN BEINGS

• Of course, we can also say NO to that

• Because FAITH IS ALSO A HUMAN ACT!!

• Paragraph 153 says, “Faith is a grace…Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him.”

• Paragraph 154 says, “Faith is a human act.”

• SO POWERFUL!!

• Paragraph 154 says, “Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act.”

• The next step The Catechism takes is to make sure we know that faith, that human act, is neither CONTRARY TO HUMAN FREEDOM NOR TO HUMAN REASON

• When we personally adhere ourselves and obey God, that doesn’t go AGAINST OUR FREEDOM

• That doesn’t STRIP US OF OUR FREEDOM

• IT IS AN EXERCISE OF OUR FREEDOM!!

• IN FACT…

• The way to understand what is freedom is to look at the world and culture

• In our culture and world, we think that freedom is the ABILITY TO DO WHATEVER WE WANT

• BUT…

• Over the course of MILLENNIA the Church has discerned that freedom IS NOT the ABILITY to do what we WANT

• IT IS THE POWER TO DO WHAT WE OUGHT!!!!

• So, if God EXISTS then we OUGHT to have FAITH in Him

• If God is GOOD, then we OUGHT to personally ADHERE to Him

• IT IS A POWERFUL THING!!

• To be able to TRUST IN GOD and CLEAVE TO HIS TRUTHS, that is NOT CONTRARY TO HUMAN FREEDOM!!

• That is an EXPRESSION of human freedom

• It is NOT CONTRARY to human reason

• To believe that God is TRUTH ITSELF does not go against human reason

• Even if we do not know EVERYTHING about the next step

• Or even if we do not know EVERYTHING about God

• WE CAN TAKE THE NEXT STEP

• IN FACT…

• Paragraph 154 says, “Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions or to trust their promises…”

• We can still make PROMISES to them

• We can still BELIEVE IN THEIR PROMISES to us

• We can still SHARE A COMMUNION OF LIFE with each other

• THAT IS SO POWERFUL!!

• We can do that in our human relationships with each other

• God has revealed Himself to us and our response gets to be NOT JUST BELIEF

• NOT JUST TRUST

• BUT…

• WE COMPLETELY SUBMIT OUR INTELLECT AND WILLS TO GOD

• Why?

• Paragraph 150 says, “Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed.”

• THIS IS SO SO CRITICAL!!

• IT IS NOT PARTIAL TRUTH!!

• We can sometimes be tempted to PICK AND CHOOSE

• We can sometimes be tempted to GO THROUGH THE BUFFET and say…

• “I like this about God. I don’t like this about God.”

• “I like this about the Church He established. I don’t like this about the Church He established.”

• “I accept this. I reject that.”

• MAN OH MAN!!

• St. Augustine said, “If you believe what you like in the Gospels and reject what you don’t, it is not the Gospels you believe in. It is yourself.” 🤯

• Paragraph 150 says, “It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely in what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.”

• It would be RIDICULOUS to put such faith in a CREATURE

• BUT…

• It is RIGHT AND JUST to entrust oneself WHOLLY TO GOD and believe ABSOLUTELY IN WHAT HE SAYS

• THAT IS BECAUSE HE IS GOD!!

• THAT IS BECAUSE HE IS TRUTH HIMSELF!!

• Whenever we get the temptation to PICK AND CHOOSE we have to STOP and say, “If Jesus is who He says He is, then He is TRUTH ITSELF. No falsehood can come from Him. If He established His Church and gave it His Holy Spirit, and authority to teach in His name, then it is TRUE.”

• Then we get to ASSENT

• Then we get to have FAITH

• Paragraph 150 says, “...free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed…It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what He says.”

• For many of us, that is a CHALLENGE

• TO BELIEVE ABSOLUTELY WHAT GOD SAYS

• AND YET…

• THAT IS OUR CALL!!

• If you struggle to believe ABSOLUTELY what God says then PRAY FOR THE GIFT OF FAITH

• Remember that FAITH is NOT ONLY A HUMAN ACT

• FAITH IS ALSO A GRACE!!

• Tomorrow we will talk about how we get to a place of FAITH AND UNDERSTANDING

• We are going to make the claim that FAITH IS CERTAIN

• That seems crazy to some of us

• BUT…

• WE NEED OUR FAITH TO GROW

• SO WE CAN BELIEVE ABSOLUTELY WHAT GOD SAYS

• And because of that WE NEED TO PRAY

• Prayer is a funny thing

• Sometimes we pray OUT OF a place of STRENGTH

• Sometimes we pray OUT OF a place of POWER

• Sometimes we pray OUT OF a place of CERTAINTY

• Sometimes we pray OUT OF a place of FAITH

• Sometimes we pray INTO that place of STRENGTH

• Sometimes we pray INTO that place of POWER

• Sometimes we pray INTO that place of CERTAINTY

• Sometimes we pray INTO that place of FAITH

• So wherever you are today, PRAY

• Pray INTO faith

• Pray BY faith

• Pray FOR faith

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!

Scripture References & Reflections

- compiled by Andrew Adamany

Bible Translation - RSVCE

2 Timothy 1:11–12 

"For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me"

CCC 150 "Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature."

Jeremiah 17:5–8 

"Thus says the Lord: 

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Psalm 146:1–7

"Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish. Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry."

CCC 151 "For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son"

Mark 1:10–11 

"And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”

 "God tells us to listen to him…"

Mark 9:2–8 

"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only."

"The Lord himself said to his disciples: "Believe in God, believe also in me."...

John 14:1 

“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me."

"We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh"

John 1:14–18

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.’ ”) And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known."

"Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him."

Matthew 11:25–27 

"At that time Jesus declared, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

John 6:45–47 

"It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life."

CCC 152 "One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. For "no one can say "Jesus is Lord", except by the Holy Spirit", who "searches everything, even the depths of God…"

1 Corinthians 12:3 

"Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit."

 "No one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God." Only God knows God completely: we believe in the Holy Spirit because he is God…"

1 Corinthians 2:10–11

"God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."

"The Church never ceases to proclaim her faith in one only God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

Revelation 4:8–11 

"And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, 

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, 

who was and is and is to come!” 

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, 

“Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created.”

CCC 153 "When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven".

Matthew 16:15–17 

"He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."

Galatians 1:15–16 

"But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood"

"Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"

John 6:44–45

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me."

CCC 154 "Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit... "

Ephesians 2:4–10

"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

"But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act…"

John 6:66–69 

"After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Revelation 3:20–21

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne"

"Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one another…."

John 5:44–47 

"How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

"If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield by faith the full submission of. . . intellect and will to God who reveals", and to share in an interior communion with him."

1 John 1:3–4

"that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship* is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete."

"Fellowship"- Greek "koinonia"- "participation, communion."

CCC 155 "In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: "Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace."

1 Corinthians 1:4–9

"I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."