III.

PARADOXICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH

141. Christian Faith presents us with a number of paradoxes that help us grasp its complex
reality.

A. Certain, Yet Obscure

142. The first is that Faith is both most certain yet obscure (cf. CCC 157-58, 164). In common
usage we speak of “taking things on faith” when we are not sure. We live in a secular age
where “to be sure” means being able to prove it by experiment and “scientific” means. But
this is a rationalistic illusion. We have been “brainwashed” by our own creation of today’s
scientific technology.

143. As Filipinos, we realize that none of our major personal decisions, nor our basic ideals
and attitudes towards life, freedom, love, etc. could ever be “proven” by scientific experiment.
Our family, our friends, our community, our vocation in life __ all depend on the vision,
inspiration and strength we call “faith”. It is the most “certain” of all we know because it is the
foundation upon which we build our lives. But how are we sure of this “faith-foundation”?

144. Such a sure foundation could never come from ourselves, or from other limited men or
women. It could never arise from some self-evident truth, or some logical deduction that
compels assent (CCC 156). All these need to be, themselves, grounded on some
unshakeable foundation. Only the very Word of God could possibly offer such a foundation.
Faith is certain because it rests on God who reveals Himself in the person of Jesus Christ,
present to us in His Spirit. We are certain of our Faith because it is our personally committed
loving knowledge based on the convincing signs of God revealing Himself in Jesus Christ,
and present to us in His Church through word, service, fellowship, and sacrament.

145. But this certainty of Faith does not mean everything is clear and obvious. On the
contrary, we believe God is “Mystery”, that is, He is always more than we can ever fully
comprehend. St. Paul

teaches us: “Now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror” (1 Cor 13:12). “We walk by faith, not by
sight” (2 Cor 5:7). But this obscurity which we experience even in our deepest human
relations does not destroy faith’s firmness. We instinctively recognize that persons, and
especially the all-personal God, can never be reduced to being “proven” by scientific
experiment.

B. Free, Yet Morally Obliging

146. Faith’s second paradox is that it is both free and morally obliging (cf. CCC 160). Our
Christian Faith is a free response. No one, not even God, forces us to believe.

God calls men to serve Him in Spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to Him in
conscience but not coerced. God has regard for the dignity of the human person which He
himself created: the human person is to be guided by his own judgment and to enjoy freedom
(DH 11).

We Filipinos experience this paradoxical combination of freedom and obligation in our family
relationships and friendships. Persons who love us the most have the most claim on us, yet
force us the least. We naturally respond to them in love. God, who by loving us the most has
the greatest claim on us, leaves and keeps us most free.

C. Reasonable, Yet Beyond Natural Reason

147. A third paradox is that Christian Faith is both reasonable, yet more than natural reason
(cf. CCC 155-56). Christian Faith is in no conflict with our reason. On the contrary, only
rational creatures can believe. Yet faith itself is a grace that enlightens our minds. “Unless
you believe, you will not understand” (Augustine’s quote of Is 7:9). Our faith in Christ illumines
our reason because we believe him who claims “I am the light of the world. No follower of
mine shall ever walk in darkness; no, he shall possess the light of life” (Jn 8:12; cf. Vatican I,
ND 135).

D. An Act, Yet a Process

148. A fourth paradox highlights Faith as both a particular act, yet perseverance in a life-long
process that is the beginning of eternal life (cf. CCC 162-63). John’s Gospel declares: “Eternal
life is this: to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.” (Jn
17:3). But this faith in Christ is much more than a single, personal decision for Christ. It is an
enduring way of life within the Christian community, the Church. In fact it is the principle of
our new life in Christ, which gives us a foretaste of life-with-him in heaven. St. Paul wrote:
“The life that I now live is not my own; Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is
a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Faith as
“following Christ” must be gradually and perseveringly developed so that it comes to touch
every aspect of our lives, throughout our whole lives.

E. A Gift, Yet Our Doing

149. Faith’s fifth paradox is that it is both a gift, a grace from God, yet something we do (cf.
PCP II 68; CCC 153-55). It is a gift because “No one can come to me,” Jesus said, “unless
the Father who sent me draws him” (Jn 6:44). St. Paul confirms this: “No one can say ‘Jesus
is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). Our Christian Faith, then, is not merely of our
own doing. It depends upon God for two things: first, God’s free gift of revealing Himself
throughout salvation history; second, for the grace of the Holy Spirit’s interior illumination and
inspiration which “gives to all joy in assenting to the truth and believing in it” (Vat. I, DS 3010;
ND 120).

150. But God’s “gift” of faith demands our free cooperation with others. St. Paul explains this:
“Faith, then, comes through hearing, and what is heard is the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17).
Our hearing of Christ’s word today depends on the preaching and teaching just as it did in
the time of the Apostles (cf. Mt 28:20; Acts 2:42; 4:25). This “hearing” means not only listening
to the Word of God in Scripture and to Church teaching. It also involves discerning God’s
presence to us through events in our lives, our companions, our inner thoughts, yearnings
and fears, etc. In brief, faith is also our active response to the witness to Christ and the Gospel
given us by others. This active response is motivated and inspired by the prayer and worship
we share with our fellow members of Christ’s Church.

F. Personal, Yet Ecclesial

151. Faith’s sixth paradox is its personal yet ecclesial nature. It is first of all the Church who
believes and thus supports and nourishes our faith (cf. CCC 168-69). We received the grace
of faith when we were baptized and received into the Christian community, the Church. Within
our Christian families and our parish community, the faith implanted in Baptism grows and
matures. Through catechesis, through the Sacrament of Confirmation, through the Word of
God preached and explained, and especially through the Eucharistic celebration of Christ’s
Paschal sacrifice, we grow in faith. Our personal faith in Christ is supported and intensified
by our fellow members in the parish or BCC, according to God’s own plan. For “He has willed
to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them,
but rather to make them into a people” (LG 9).

152. Christian faith has many different adherents and forms, even in our country. But a central
feature of Catholic Faith is its ecclesial structure. God always revealed Himself in the Old and
New Testaments in terms of a community. Moreover, this revelation has been handed down
through the Church’s tradition to us today. It is in the Church that we Catholics experience
the power of the Risen Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is in the Church, the body
of Christ, that the Catholic Filipino meets Christ in God’s Word in Scripture, in Church
teaching, in the liturgical, sacramental praise and worship of God, and in the ministry of
service of one another.

153. Christ is personal Savior to Filipino Catholics not as private individuals, but as members
of a community of salvation wherein we meet Jesus and experience his saving power. Faith
is never just something private or individualistic, but a sharing in the Christian community’s
faith. This faith is in living continuity with the Apostolic Church, as well as being united to all
the Catholic communities today the world over. Vatican II well describes the origins of this
ecclesial dimension of faith:

154. “As the firstborn of many brethren, and by the gift of his Spirit, Christ established, after
his Death and Resurrection, a new brotherly communion among all who received him in faith
and love; this is the communion of his own body, the Church, in which everyone as members
would render mutual service in the measure of the different gifts bestowed on each” (GS 32).