Anything under the sun
Faith, hope and charity (1)
During this Lenten period, one of the best meditations is on the three theological virtues – faith, hope and charity. They are the foundations of Christian moral activities. They are infused by God into the souls of every faithful at birth to make them capable of acting as His children and of meriting eternal life.
Faith
Faith is the virtue by which we believe in God because He is the Truth. We believe all that He has revealed and those that the Holy Church proposes for our belief.
1. Bases of Faith
- Christ said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” God is Truth. He cannot tell a lie.
- Magisterium of the Church. Christ mandated the Church “to preach the Gospel of God to all men.” The bishops and priests are therefore “heralds of faith who draw new disciples to Christ; they are authentic teachers of the apostolic faith endowed with the authority of Christ.”
2. Examples of church teachings:
- The dogmas like the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- The Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
3. Examples of Faith
- When US President Harry S. Truman was asked how he can watch a great nation like the United States when he is asleep. He answered: “Before I sleep I pray to God to watch the United States.
- He who trusts in himself alone is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things – St. Alphonsus Ligour
- When you face God in prayer, become in your thought like a speechless babe – St. Isaak of Syria
- Entire conformity and resignation to the Divine Will is truly road on which we cannot go wrong and it is the only road that leads us to taste and enjoy the peace which sensual and earthly men know nothing of. -- St. Philip Neri
- What made the holy apostles and martyrs endure fierce agony and bitter torments, except faith, and especially faith in the Resurrection? -- St. Fidelis of Sagmaringen
4. The opposite of Faith is doubt. After Thomas the Apostle was convinced of the Risen Christ having actually seen and touched the wounds of Jesus. Jesus said: “Blessed are those who believe but more blessed are those who have not seen but believed.”