THEO FINALS

• Revelation


  The invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company
• Faith


  The adequate response to God's invitation, where man completely submits his intellect and his will to God
• Obedience of faith


  The human response to God, the author of revelation
• Obedience in faith

  • Submitting freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself
• Abraham


  • The model of obedience in faith offered by Sacred Scripture
• Virgin Mary

  • The most perfect embodiment of the obedience of faith
• Faith

  The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen
• Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness
• Because he was strong in his faith, Abraham became the father of all who believe
• The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith
• God had foreseen something better for us: the grace of believing in his Son Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith
• By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that with God nothing will be impossible
• Throughout her life and until her last ordeal when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered
• Faith

  A personal adherence of man to God and a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed
• Christian faith


  Differs from faith in any human person, as it is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says
• Believing in God

  Cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his beloved Son
• Believing in Jesus Christ

  Believing in him because he is himself God, the Word made flesh
• Believing in the Holy Spirit

  One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit, as the Holy Spirit reveals to men who Jesus is
• The Church never ceases to proclaim her faith in one only God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Faith

  A grace, a supernatural virtue infused by God, requiring the interior helps of the Holy Spirit
• Believing


  An authentically human act, not contrary to human freedom or reason, but requiring the cooperation of the human intellect and will with divine grace
• Faith and understanding

  Faith is certain, more certain than all human knowledge, as it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie; faith seeks understanding, as the grace of faith opens the eyes of the heart to a lively understanding of the contents of Revelation
• Faith and science

  There can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason, as they derive from the same God; methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith
• The freedom of faith

  To be human, man's response to God by faith must be free, as God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth, not coerced
• Methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God.
• The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.
• The freedom of faith

  Man's response to God by faith must be free, and therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will
• God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced.
• Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them. His kingdom grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to himself.
• The necessity of faith


  Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation
• Without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life.
• Perseverance in faith

  Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift. To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; it must be working through charity, abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church.
• Faith - the beginning of eternal life


  Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision, the goal of our journey here below. Faith is already the beginning of eternal life.
• Now, we walk by faith, not by sight; we perceive God as in a mirror, dimly and only in part. Even though enlightened by him in whom it believes, faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test.
• The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised us by faith. Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it.
• We must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, to the Virgin Mary, and to so many others.
• We believe

  Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone.
• The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers.
• "I believe" is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe" is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers.
• It is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes and sustains my faith.