Download I believe in God

03
An answer to Christ: believing
CARAVAGGIO
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
1601-02
Oil on canvas, 107 x 146 cm
Sanssouci, Potsdam
Compendium of the Catechism
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25. How does man respond to
God who reveals himself?
142-143
Sustained by divine grace, we
respond to God with the
obedience of faith, which means
the full surrender of ourselves to
God and the acceptance of his
truth insofar as it is guaranteed
by the One who is Truth itself.
Introduction
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Faith is the great gift from
God, necessary for our
salvation.
Man’s answer to the
divine Revelation is to
believe what He has told
us.
Faith is also necessary to
understand God’s
teachings.
LE BRUN, Charles
The Triumph of Faith
1658-60
Oil on canvas
Château, Vaux-le-Vicomte
Main ideas
1. Faith enables us to know many things about God
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We know for sure that God
exists because His existence
may be proven by the things
He has created.
Yet there are fundamental
questions that cannot be
answered if God had not
revealed them :
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What is God like Himself?
 Who is Jesus Christ?
 Is there an afterlife?
MORETTO da Brescia
Allegory of Faith
1530s
Oil on wood, 102 x 78
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
2. What is faith?
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Faith is a supernatural virtue by
means of which – supported by
God’s authority, we believe the
truths He has revealed in the
knowledge that He can neither
be fooled nor fool us.
UCCELLO, Paolo
Faith
c. 1435
Fresco
Duomo, Prato
3. Faith is a gift from God
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Faith is a supernatural gift, a
gift which God makes to us.
It is only possible to believe as
a consequence of the grace
granted us by the Holy Spirit.
VERMEER VAN DELFT, Jan
The Allegory of Faith (detail)
1671-74
Oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
4. Believing is something reasonable
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Believing is reasonable
because it is God who
reveals, and God can neither
be fooled nor fool us.
“Believing” is a human act,
aware and free, which not
only does not contradict but
also dignifies the human
being.
5. I believe – We believe
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I believe in God, in the singular,
because faith is an act of the
individual person who freely
accepts God’s authority.
We believe in God, in the plural, to
mean that we are receiving faith
and experiencing it in the
community of the Church.
The Church is the Mother of all the
faithful :
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No one can have God as Father
who does not have the Church as
Mother. (St. Cyprian)
MEMLING, Hans
Young Man at Prayer
c. 1475
Oak wood, 38,7 x 25,4 cm
National Gallery, London
6. Believing what the Church teaches us
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Jesus Christ founded the Church
so that it might continue His
mission in the world; to do so the
Church is assisted by the Holy
Spirit.
The certainty of these truths is
not based on human authority,
but rather on the authority of God
who has revealed them.
The Church, assisted by the Holy
Spirit, passes them on by virtue
of the infallibility with which God
provides in matters of faith and
morals.
GOZZOLI, Benozzo
St Augustine Teaching in Rome (detail)
1464-65
Fresco
Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano
7. Faith is necessary to be saved
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" He who believes and is baptized
shall be saved; but he who does not
believe shall be condemned " (Mark
16:16).
" Thomas, because you have seen
me, you have believed; blessed
are those who believed without
seeing " (John 20:29).
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We must pray for those who do not
believe, asking God to grant them
the grace of faith, helping them
through our example and words,
thus practising the apostolate of
doctrine.
CHRISTUS, Petrus
The Last Judgement
1452
Oil on wood
Staatliche Museen, Berlin
8. The Creed, a summary of the truths we must believe in
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Since the beginning,
Symbols or formulas
which summarize the
teaching of the divine
Revelation.
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Symbol of the Apostles
 Symbol of NiceaConstantinople
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When we recite the
Creed, we are performing
an act of faith in the
fundamental truths that
God has revealed.
GRECO, El
St Luke
1605-10
Oil on canvas, 98 x 72 cm
Cathedral, Toledo
9. Performing acts of faith very often
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God has given us the great gift of
faith, and we must thank Him by
performing frequent acts of faith:
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I believe in God the Father, I
believe in God the Son, I believe
in God the Holy Spirit.
I believe in the Holy Trinity.
I believe in Jesus Christ, true God
and true Man.
I believe that Mary is the Mother
of God and our Mother.
I believe, Lord, but increase my
faith.
Resolutions for Christian life
Resolutions to move forward
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To learn the Creed.
To recite the Creed with
devotion, not only in the
Holy Mass.
To pray for those who
don’t have faith.