INTRODUCTION

The Preambles of Faith

What is the greatest achievement of human life? Some scriptures say it is the
attainment of a body, others that intelligence makes us unique from other life forms.
There are diverse opinions as to what the greatest attainment of human life is, and
maybe from their particular perspective all are correct. However, from another
perspective the greatest attainment one can have in life is faith, because faith keeps the
mind and emotions balanced. Faith does not allow one to undergo either emotional or
intellectual infidelity. This is one of the most important points about faith.
Faith is the original expression of the human heart. When we are born, we
function through the heart, not the mind. When we start our formal education, the mind
takes over and the heart component is relegated to the background, so that in the
course of our life we function through the intellect, through logic. We ask, “Why?”
“How?” and all these questions relate to intellectual expressions and understanding. But
certain things cannot be understood or even analyzed by the faculty of intelligence, and
that is the strength of the heart. The heart is always looking for support, security,
compassion, love and affection – all the goodness and beauty in life. The mind can think
about and aspire for good things, but it is always diverted from them. The desire
remains a desire, the thought remains a thought and the aspirations can never be
implemented.

Look at the importance of faith in your life. There are different mentalities,
different impressions, belonging to each civilization, and each group in society. The
mentality of each society depends on the social environment. If the social environment
has no balance between the material drive and the spiritual aspirations, then we
disconnect from the heart forces and energies. When there is disconnection from the
heart forces, the mind transforms itself, becoming grosser, materialistic and sensual,
more full of cravings and desires. All these cravings, desires and ambitions lead us to
seek fulfillment outside, but when we are unable to find pleasure, happiness and
fulfillment in the world, we go into a depressive cycle or an insecure cycle, an
aggressive cycle or a fearful cycle, which then controls our behavior. Our psychological
and emotional imbalances disturb the family and then society becomes disturbed. Then,
in order to avoid that frustration, we become addicted to something, which takes the
mind away from that depression.
This is where faith comes in. Faith is the quality that balances the psychological
and emotional disturbances. For example, there is a big psychological difference
between a beggar and a thief who has a knife or a gun to rob you of your valuables,
and, if you resist, will possibly harm you. If a beggar in India does not get five rupees
and goes hungry, at night before going to sleep he will say, “God didn’t want me to eat
today. I accept God’s will. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.” He will remain content
with that feeling. Faith will give some peace, solace, comfort and security, awareness
that he is being guided by his creator. But for a thief, their fulfillment is more important
than another’s life.

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Faith is a quality that is ingrained in a cultural mentality, and it has always been
there. But when logic comes in, faith is relegated to the background, and one becomes
more material in nature and loses that inner balance and harmony.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 2

CHAPTER ONE THE LIFE OF MAN: TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD

I. Introduction 6
II. Man’s Capacity to Know God 6
A. Man: The Image of God 6
B. Man’s Desire for God 7
1. Man: A Religious Being 7
2. Man’s Search for God 11
III. Ways to Know God 14
IV. God comes to meet Man 17
A. Introduction 17
B. The Revelation of God 17
1. God reveals Himself. 18
2. Stages of Revelation 23
a. In Creation 23
b. The Covenant with Noah 23
c. The Covenant with Abraham 23
d. The Covenant with Moses 24
e. The Final Revelation 24
C. The Transmission of Divine Revelation 24
1. Apostolic Tradition 24
2. Modes of Transmission 26
3. Biblical Inspiration 28

CHAPTER TWO HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT OF FAITH

I. Introduction 34
II. Importance of History 34
III. History of the Concept of Faith 35
A. In the Old Testament 35
B. In the New Testament 36
C. In the Patristic Period 36
D. In the Middle Ages 38
E. During Reformation 40
F. In the Modern Period 41

CHAPTER THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH

I. Introduction 44
II. Meaning of Faith 44
III. Faith: In Human Relations 45
A. Introduction 45

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B. Stages of Faith Development 46
C. Paradoxical Characteristics of Faith 50
IV. Characteristics of Faith 52
A. Faith is a Grace 52
B. Faith is a Human Act 52
C. Faith and Understanding 52
D. The freedom of Faith 53
E. The Necessity of Faith 53
F. The Perseverance of Faith 54

CHAPTER FOUR CONCEPT OF FAITH IN THE COMPARATIVE RELIGION

I. Introduction 59
II. Faith in Different Religions 60
A. Nonliterate Religious tradition 60
B. Hinduism 61
C. Buddhism 62
D. Confucianism 66
E. Taoism 68
F. Judaism 69
G. Islam 70

CHAPTER FIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND REASON

I. Introduction 74
II. Man in Search for the Truth 74
A. Kinds of Truth 75
B. Religion and Science 76
C. The Function of Reason 77
III. St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument 81
IV. St. Thomas’ Cosmological Proof of God’s Existence 82
V. The Compatibility of Faith and Reason 88
A. Faith without Reason 88
B. Reason without Faith 88
C. Integrating the Objective and Subjective Elements of
our Faith. 91

ADDITIONAL READINGS 92

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 97

CHAPTER ONE

THE LIFE OF MAN: TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD

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I. Introduction

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. The doctrine of the faith affirms
that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God.
Man is, by nature and vocation, a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God,
man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God.
Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: "When I am
completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my
life will be complete" (St Augustine).

The life of man is then no other than to know and love God. “God, infinitely
perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make
him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God
draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, and to know him, to love him with all his
strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his
family, the Church (CCC).” To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come,
God sent his son as Redeemer and Saviour. In his Son and through him, he invites men
to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

II. Man’s Capacity for God

A. Man: The Image of God

Man alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life. Of
all visible creatures only man is "able to know and love his Creator." He is "the
only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake", and he alone is
called to share, by knowledge and love in God’s own life. It was for this end that
he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity:

"What made you establish man in so great a dignity?

Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your
creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love
indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being
capable of tasting your eternal Good." (St Catherine of Siena)

Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a
person, who is not just something, but someone. Man is capable of self-
knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into
communion with other persons. He is called by grace to a covenant with his
Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give
in his stead.

The Christian doctrine of man sees man primarily in relation to God, who
has created him to occupy a special position in the universe. Man is made in the
image of God, to have dominion over the rest of creation, he is unique in that he

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has in him something of the self-consciousness and ability to love freely which is
characteristic of God himself. God created man for fellowship with himself, so
man fulfills the purpose of his life only when he loves and serves his creator.

B. Man’s desire for God

Desire for God is written in the human heart - man is created by God and
for God. The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is
created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only
in God will he find the truth and the happiness he never stops searching for: "The
dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with
God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he
comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through
love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully
according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself
to his Creator." (Vatican II, GS 19) (27)

1. Man: A Religious Being (In the Filipino Context)

In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men

have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and
behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth.
These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often
bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious
being:

"From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit

the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence
and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so
that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and
find him - though indeed he is not for from each one of us. For
‘in him we live and move and have our being’." (Acts 17:26-28)
(28)

Sin can obscure the desire for God. But this "intimate and vital bond
of man to God" can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by
man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the
world; religious indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal
of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to
religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God
out of fear and flee his call.

The Believer: In the Filipino Context

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To identify what it means to be a “believer” we ask: From whom do
we naturally draw our self-identity? Where do we find the deepest
meaning in our lives? How do we react to suffering? How do we commit
ourselves to our ideals in life? What is our view of the world in all its depth
and hidden reality? Brief answers to these questions can be sketched by
selecting a series of five predominant Filipino characteristics, together with
five essentials traits of Jesus Christ, both assumed within the typical
“Filipino way” to Jesus. This will at once define Filipino believers as well as
show that in our country, to become more deeply Christian (believer) is to
become more truly and authentically Filipino.

a. Family-Oriented

First, we Filipinos are family-oriented. The Anak-Magulang

relationship is of primary importance to us Filipinos. Ama, ina and anak
are culturally and emotionally significant to us Filipinos who cherish our
filial attachment not only to our immediate family, but also to our extended
family (ninongs, ninang, etc.) this family-centeredness supplies a basic
sense of belonging, stability and security. It is from our families that we
Filipinos naturally draw our sense of identity.

Jesus as both the Son of God (Anak ng Amang Dios) and the Son
of Man (Anak ng Tao) endears himself naturally to us family-oriented
Filipinos. As Son of Man, Jesus leads to us to his Mother Mary (Ina ng
Dios) whom he shares with us. He thus welcomes us into his own
household, offers himself as our brother (kapatid) and draws us through
the Sacrament of Baptism to a new identity and into the family life of his
heavenly Father.

What can better remind us Filipinos of our early childhood, or

respond more directly to our traditional love for children, than Jesus, the
Sto. Nino? At twelve, Jesus was a discerning and daring child, who
nonetheless remained obedient to his parents. In his public life, Jesus
embraced little children and admonished his disciples to become child-like
in openness and simplicity. In our family-orientedness, then, we Filipinos
are naturally attracted to Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and Son of Man.
Thus, stress the exceptional importance of our Filipino family as both
subject and object of evangelization.

b. Meal-Oriented: Value of the Meaning of Life

Second, we Filipinos are meal-oriented (salo-salo, kaninan).

Because Filipinos considered almost everyone as part of their family

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(parang pamilya), we are known for being gracious hosts and grateful
guests. Serving our guests with the best we have is an inborn value to
Filipinos, rich and poor alike. We love to celebrate any and all events with
a special meal. Even with unexpected guests, we Filipinos try our best to
offer something, meager as it may be, with the traditional greeting: “Come
and eat with us.”
Jesus as Eucharist is not only the host of the new Paschal Meal
and food, the bread of life but even the guest in every gathering. The New
Testament refers more than twenty-five times to eating (kainan). Eating
together in table fellowship with the presence of the risen Christ,
communion in other words, constitutes the core witness of the early
Church as a Eucharistic Community. So we Filipinos feel naturally at
home in breaking bread together with Jesus.

c. Kundiman- Oriented: Value of Suffering in Life

Third, we Filipinos are kundiman-oriented. The kundiman is a sad

Filipino song about wounded love. Filipinos are naturally attracted to
heroes sacrificing everything for love. We are patient and forgiving to a
fault (Magpakaalipin ako nang dahil sa iyo). This acceptance of suffering
manifests a deep, positive spiritual value of Filipinos’ kalooban.
Jesus, the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah, is portrayed
through our favorite Filipino images of Padre Hesus Nazareno, the Santo
Entierro or the Sacred Heart. Through these images, Jesus appears as
one of the least of our brethren: the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the
sick, the lonely stranger and the prisoner. Jesus the Suffering Servant can
thus reach out to us Filipinos as a healing and forgiving Savior who
understands our weaknesses, our failures, our feelings of depression, fear
and loneliness. He has been through it all himself. To us Filipinos who can
even celebrate the sufferings and hardships of life in song, Jesus Christ
calls: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I
will refresh you.

d. Bayani- Oriented: Value of Life-Commitment

Fourth, we Filipinos are bayani-oriented. Bayani is a hero. We

Filipinos are natural hero-followers. For all our patience and tolerance, we
will not accept ultimate failure and defeat. We tend instinctively to always
personalize any good cause in terms of a leader, especially when its
object is to defend the weak and the oppressed. To protect this innate
sense of human dignity, Filipinos are prepared to lay down even their
lives.
Jesus as Christ the King responds well to the bayani-oriented
Filipino. As born social critics, organizers and martyrs, we Filipinos see
Jesus Christ as the Conqueror of the world by his mission as prophet, king

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and priest. Jesus came as one sent by the Father, to do the Father’s will.
He was to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives,
recovery of sight to the blind, and release to prisoners. Although the sign
of contradiction himself, Jesus made the Kingdom of God present among
his people by his teaching and signs. The blind recover their sight, cripples
walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life and the
poor have the good news preached to them. So as bayani-oriented, we
Filipinos enthrone our image of Christ the King. He assures as that
everything will be alright in the end. Christ the King has won the ultimate
victory over evil.

e. Spirit-Oriented: Value/Belief on Supernatural Realities

Fifth, we Filipinos are spirit-oriented. We are often said to be

naturally psychic. We have a deep-seated belief in the supernatural and in
all kinds of spirits dwelling in individual persons, places and things. Even
in today’s world of science and technology, Filipinos continues to invoke
the spirits in various undertakings, especially in faith-healings and
exorcisms.
Jesus the miracle-worker who promised to send his Spirit to his
disciples to give them new life, is thus appealing to us Filipinos. The Holy
Spirit sent by the Father and the Risen Christ, draws us Filipinos into a
community wherein superstition and enslaving magic are overcome by
authentic worship of the Father in spirit and truth. In Christ’s community,
the Church, to each person the manifestation of the spirit is given for the
common good. This same spirit, which empowered Jesus the miracle
worker, is active in his disciples, uniting them in the teaching of the
apostles and in community fellowship of the breaking of bread and prayer
through Christ their Lord.

The doctrine about the identity, meaning, suffering, commitment and world
view of Filipino Believers is lived out according to Christian Morality, especially
Christ’s basic commandment of LOVE. We Filipinos are by nature person-
centered, spontaneously giving priority to personal feelings, emotions, and
relationships, beyond any legal demands or impersonal tasks. Christ’s, message
and spirit are continued to purify this natural personalism of undue family-
centeredness and elitist tendencies. For while our natural environment as
Filipinos is always the family, the barkada, relatives and friends, Christian Social
morality leads us beyond these limited groups to the larger community’s common
good. Even more striking is our love for celebrating. Our Christian identity as
Filipinos is naturally bound up Christian worship in our celebration of Christmas,
Holy Week, fiestas, etc. – in a very special Filipino manner.
Furthermore, in many ways, throughout history down to the present day,
men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and
behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations and so forth. These
forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them,

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are so universal that one may well call man a religious being. But this intimate
and vital bond of man to God can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly
rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in
the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world;
the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thoughts hostile
to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out
of fear and flee his call. Although man can forget God or reject Him, He never
ceases to call every man to seek Him, so as to find life and happiness. But this
search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, an upright
heart, as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

2. Man’s Search for God

Created in God’s image and called to know

and love Him, the person who seeks God
discovers certain ways of coming to know Him,
these are also called proofs for the existence of
God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural
science, but rather in the sense of converging
and convincing arguments, which allow us to
attain certainly about the truth. These ways of
approaching God from creation have a twofold
point of departure: the Physical World and the
Human Person.

a. The World/Creation

Starting from movement, becoming, contingency and the world’s order

and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of
the universe. Furthermore, though the creation does not tell us everything we
can know about God, but it does tell us some key things. Paul says in
Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities —
his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” God
may be a spirit, he may be invisible to our eyes, but the creation reveals some
of God’s invisible qualities to us. The size and complexity of creation,
especially as seen in the heavens containing the sun, the moon and the stars,
show us God’s eternal power. The beauty and order and design of creation
show us God’s divine nature.

Albert Einstein, for an example, was not a Christian believer, and yet
as he looked at the wonders of the universe, he knew that there must be a

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God. When asked by an interviewer if he was an atheist, he replied, no, and
explained his answer in this way.

“I’m not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for

our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering
a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child
knows someone must have written those books. It does not
know how. It does not understand the languages in which they
are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the
arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it
seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human
being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged
and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”
(First published as “What Life Means to Einstein,” Saturday
Evening Post, October 26, 1929. Quoted in Walter Isaacson,
Einstein: His Life and Universe; New York: Simon & Schuster,
2007, p. 386.)

Albert Einstein understood the eternal power and divine nature of God
from what had been made. Why? Because the creation, and especially the
heavens, reveal knowledge of God to man.

Let me share three C’s with you:

1. God gave us the testimony of creation to show that he exists and what he
is like.
2. He gave us the testimony of conscience to show that we are sinners and
in need of a savior.
3. But we need the testimony of Christ in order to believe in God’s Son and
be saved.

I like the way the Westminster Confession of Faith puts this:

“Our natural understanding and the works of creation and

providence so clearly show God’s goodness, wisdom, and power that
human beings have no excuse for not believing in Him. However,
these means alone cannot provide that knowledge of God and of His
will which is necessary for salvation.” (Westminster Confession of
Faith, 1.1)

b. The Human Person

The goodness, truth, and beauty of creatures leads to God. All

creatures bear a certain resemblance to God, most especially man, created in
the image and likeness of God. The manifold perfections of creatures - their truth,

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their goodness, their beauty - all reflect the infinite perfection of God.
Consequently we can name God by taking his creatures’ perfections as our
starting point, “for from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a
corresponding perception of their Creator.” (Wis 13:5) (41)

The dignity of a person, not just something, but someone - called to enter
into communion with others and with his Creator. Being in the image of God the
human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something,
but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely
giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called
by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love
that no other creature can give in his stead.
Only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man
become clear. "In reality it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the
mystery of man truly becomes clear." (Vatican 2 GS 22)
"St Paul tells us that the human race takes its origin from two men: Adam
and Christ....The first man, Adam, he says, became a living soul, the last Adam a
life-giving spirit. The first Adam was made by the last Adam, from whom he also
received his soul, to give him life....The second Adam stamped his image on the
first Adam when he created him. That is why he took on himself the role and the
name of the first Adam, in order that he might not lose what he had made in his
own image. The first Adam, the last Adam: the first had a beginning, the last
knows no end. The last Adam is indeed the first; as he himself says: ‘I am the
first and the last’." (St John Chrysostom)

With his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his
freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for
happiness, man questions himself about God’s existence. In all this he discerns
signs of his spiritual souls. The soul, the seed of eternity we bear in ourselves,
irreducible to the merely material, can have its origin only in God.
The world and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their
first principle nor their final end, but rather they participate in Being it-self, which
alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can come to know
that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all things, a
reality that everyone calls God. Man’s faculties make him capable of coming to a
knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter
into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give
him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of
God’s existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that
faith is not opposed to reason.

III. Twelve Ways to Know God

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Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God (Jn 17:3). What are the ways? In
how many different ways can we know God, and thus know eternal life? There
are some ways that help know God and live life eternally.

1. The final, complete, definitive way, of course, is Christ, God himself in

human flesh.
2. His church is his body, so we know God also through the church.
3. The Scriptures are the church's book. This book, like Christ himself, is
called "The Word of God."
4. Scripture also says we can know God in nature see Romans 1. This is an
innate, spontaneous, natural knowledge. I think no one who lives by the
sea, or by a little river, can be an atheist.
5. Art also reveals God. Once an atheist said, "There is the music of Bach,
therefore there must be a God."
6. Conscience is the voice of God. It speaks absolutely, with no ifs, ands, or
buts.
7. Reason, reflecting on nature, art, or conscience, can know God by good
philosophical arguments.
8. Experience, life, your story, can also reveal God. You can see the hand of
Providence there.
9. The collective experience of the race, embodied in history and tradition,
expressed in literature, also reveals God. You can know God through
others' stories, through great literature.
10. The saints reveal God. They are advertisements, mirrors, little Christs.
They are perhaps the most effective of all means of convincing and
converting people.
11. Our ordinary daily experience of doing God's will will reveal God. God
becomes clearer to see when the eye of the heart is purified: "Blessed are
the pure of heart, for they shall see God."
12. Prayer meets God—ordinary prayer. You learn more of God from a few
minutes of prayerful repentance than through a lifetime in a library.

Note: The last three ways of knowing God (4-6) are natural, while the first three are
supernatural. The last three reveal three attributes of God, the three things the
human spirit wants most: truth, beauty, and goodness. God has filled his creation
with these three things.

Unfortunately, Christians sometimes have family fights about these ways, and
treat them as either/or instead of both/and. They all support each other, and nothing
could be more foolish than treating them as rivals—for example, finding God in the
church versus finding God in nature, or reason versus experience, or Christ versus art.

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WORDS TO PONDER:

1. As we share the image and likeness of God, How do we give importance to

our bodies as God’s temple of God?
2. How do we preserve our bodies against drinking liquor, smoking and drug
abuse?
3. Do our Filipino traits still express our being religious?
4. How much life is worth to me, being with God or without God?
5. Can we really experience true happiness in this world without God?

IV. God Comes to Meet Man

A. Introduction

All throughout redemptive history, God comes to his people. It is never the
reverse. God is the Creator, and we are the creatures, and we have no access to God
unless he first reveals himself to us. An infinite gulf separates man from God, a gulf that
only God can bridge.
In the natural light of human reason, God, the first principle and last end of all
things can be known with certainty from the created world. Without this capacity, man
will not be able to welcome God’s revelation. Man has this capacity because he is
created in the image of God.
In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences
many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone, this is why man
stands in need of being enlightened by God’s revelation, not only about those things
that exceed his understanding, but also about those religious and moral truths which of
themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reasons, so that even in the present
condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty
and with no admixture of error.
In defending the ability of human reason to know God, the Church is expressing
her confidence in the possibility of speaking about him to all men and with all men and
therefore of dialogue with other religions, with philosophy and science, as well as with
unbelievers and atheists. Since our knowledge of God is limited, our language about
him is equally so. We can name God only by taking creatures as our starting point, and
in accordance with our limited human ways of knowing and thinking.
All creatures bear a certain resemblance to God, most especially man, created in
the image and likeness of God. The manifold perfections of creatures – their truth, their
goodness, their beauty – all reflect the infinite perfection of God. Consequently we can
name God by taking his creatures’ perfections as our starting point, for the greatness
and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their creator.

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B. Revelation of God

By natural reason man can know God with certainty on the basis of his works.
But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own
powers: the order of divine Revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has
revealed himself and given himself to man, this he does by revealing the mystery, his
plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God
has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit.
God, who dwells in unapproachable light, wants to communicate his own divine
life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as His sons in his only-begotten
Son. By revealing himself, God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and
of knowing him and of loving him far beyond the own natural capacity.
But how does this idea of revelation relate to ordinary Filipino life? The answer is
in our personal relationships. One of the best things you can say about a Filipino is:
“Marami siyang kakilala” or “maraming nakakakilala sa kanya”. On the other hand, one
of the worst things to say about a Filipino is “wala siyanf kakilala” or “walang kumikilala
sa kanya”. So in our family relationships and friendship we reveal our personal selves to
others, and openly receive their self-giving to us. This is what uplifts Filipino.
Now the first one to know us, the first one to show us recognition and reach out
to establish a personal relationship with us – to become our kakilala – is God. Only in
relation to God do we become our full selves. Only in coming to know God do we grow
to the full stature of our true selves. But do we know the one true God?
Perhaps few countries in the world can compare to the Philippines when it comes
to trying to make God known. Newspapers, radio, TV, and movies are filled with new
preachers, religious celebrations, public devotions and never ending appeals for new
chapels and Churches. Faith healers abound in every community. Self-proclaimed
mediums claim to lead their gullible devotees in mysterious ways to supposedly closer
contact with God, or the Sto. Nino. With so many different people claiming to reveal
God, who can we believe? How does the one true God actually reveal himself to us
today?

1. God Reveals Himself

God creates man, and comes to him to make a covenant with him (Gen.
2). When Adam and Eve fall into sin, God comes to them with a promise of
redemption (Gen. 3:15). God comes to Abraham to make a covenant with him
and to call to himself a people, Israel (Gen. 12:1-3; 17:1-8). The nation of Israel is
led into slavery in Egypt, but God comes to bring them out Egypt (Ex. 20:2) and
lead them through the desert into the Promised Land. God comes to dwell with
his people in the tabernacle and later the temple (1 Kings 8:10-11), and in the
most significant act of human history, God comes to dwell among his people in
the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14). After Jesus' ascension into heaven, God
comes again in the Holy Spirit to be with his people (Acts 2:1-41). The pattern is
the same, over and over: God comes, God comes, God comes.

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The eschatological implications for this should be obvious – in the final act
of redemptive history, Christ returning to consummate his Kingdom, God again
comes to us. He comes to us that we might dwell with him forever. He comes to
us to cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness, to make us holy. He comes to
us, as Paul writes in Philippians 3:21, to 'transform our lowly [bodies] to be like
his glorious body.' He comes to us to make us complete in him, to be everything
we are intended to be as images of God.
But there is more. Because Christ's return is the pinnacle of redemptive
history, his salvation will then be complete and extend as far as the curse is
found. His creation 'will be liberated from its bondage to decay' (Romans 8:21) –
renewed, restored, and glorified. God comes to earth to reclaim his good
creation, to free it from the strangling grip of sin and death, and to make all things
new (this is beautifully portrayed in so many parts of Scripture, but particularly
notable are Amos 9:11-15, Isaiah 62; 65:17-25, and, of course, Revelation 21-
22).

a. In Creation

The first way God reveals Himself to us is through CREATION. “The

Heaven declares the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his
handiwork.” In creation, man holds a special place. God said: “Let us make
man in our image and likeness”. God even gives us a share in His own
creativity: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it”. God creates the
whole world for us, to support us in life and reveals Himself to us through His
handiwork. ‘Since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divinity
have become visible, recognized through the things He has made.”

b. Natural Signs

For us Filipinos, then, the world and everything in it are natural signs of
God – the initial way God makes himself known to us. Yet in our everyday
experience, we meet not only love, friendship, the good and the beautiful, but
also suffering, temptation and evil. All creation has become affected by sin –
“sin entered the world and with sin death.” The “natural signs” of the Creator
have thus become disfigured by pollution, exploitation, injustice, oppression
and suffering. So God chose to reveal himself in a second, more intimate
way, by entering into the history of the human race he had created.

c. In Scripture, through Salvation History

The Bible records God’s entering into a special covenant relationship with
His chosen people, the race of Abraham, the people of Israel.

d. Biblical Signs

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God revealed himself in stages. In the Old Testament, God revealed
himself through biblical signs made up of both deeds and words. He made
covenant with Noah, with Abraham, and with Moses. He performed great works
for his chosen people, and proclaimed their saving power and truth through the
prophet’s words. Through chosen men and women – kings, judges, prophets,
priests and wisemen, God led, liberated and corrected his people. He forgave
their sins. He thus revealed himself as Yahweh, He-who-is-with his people.
Today, through his inspires us to respond to his covenant.

Yet, even God’s revelation in history was weakened by the infidelities and
hardness of heart of his chosen people. But God so loved the world, that in the
fullness of time, he sent His only Son to be our savior, like us in all things except
sin. Jesus Christ completed and perfected God’s revelation by words and works,
signs and miracles but above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the
dead. Thus the Risen Christ, prefigured in the Old Testament and proclaimed by
the apostles, is the unique, irrevocable and definitive revelation of God.

e. In the Church

But God’s definitive revelation in Jesus Christ did not stop with Christ’s
ascension to His Father. Jesus himself had gathered around him a group of
disciples who would form the nucleus of his church. In this Church, the Good
News of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed and spread to the ends of the earth
by the power of the Holy Spirit, sent down upon the apostles at Pentecost. What
was handed on by the Apostles comprises everything that serves to make the
People of God live their lives in holiness and increase their faith. In this way the
Church in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every
generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.

f. Liturgical/Ecclesial Signs

God continues to manifest himself today through the Holy Spirit in the
Church. HE is present in the Church’s preaching the truth of Scripture, in its
witness of loving service, and through the celebration of its Christ-given
Sacraments. Christ’s revelation in the Church is the new and definitive covenant
which will never pass away.

g. In Other Religions

But many Filipino Catholics ask if non-Christians receive God’s revelation.

The Church, in her prophetic mission of reading the signs of the times and of
interpreting them in the light of the Gospel discerns the SEED of the Words in the
history and culture of all men of GOOD WILL. Thus, even non-Christians who do

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not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God
with a sincere heart, and moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as
they know it through the dictates of their conscience, may achieve eternal
salvation.

For whatever is true and holy in non-Christians cultures and religions is

accepted by the Catholic Church since it often reflects a ray of that truth which
enlightens all men. Filipino Catholics, therefore, should acknowledge, preserve,
and encourage the spiritual and moral truths found among non-Christians, also
their social life and culture.

In summary, then, Filipino believers experience God’s self-revelation today. First,

God shows himself in the natural signs of the beauty and abundance of our natural
resources and our rich Filipino Culture. Second, biblical signs in God’s inspired words in
Scripture, the Book of the Church, reveal Him. Third, through the Church liturgical signs,
we encounter the Risen Christ in the Sacraments. Finally, God makes Himself known to
us through the ecclesial signs of the Church’s proclamation of the Creed and in her
moral teachings and commitment to service. And of course, in other religions by the fact
that Jesus came down on earth for the salvation of all once and for all.

WORDS TO PONDER:

1. In what way/s God reveals to you personally?( places, events, persons)

2. Be “the presence of God” to others.
3. Have ever made yourself a true revelation of God to others? (Alter
Christus)

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2. The Stages of Revelation

a. In Creation

In the beginning God makes himself known. God, who creates and
conserves all things by His word, provides men with constant evidence of
himself in created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to
heavenly salvation, he manifested himself to our first parents from the very
beginning. He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed
them with resplendent grace and justice.
This revelation was not broken off by our first parents’ sin. After the
fall, buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption;
and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he
wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-
being.

b. The Covenant with Noah

After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin, God at once
sought to save humanity part by part. God revealed himself to Noah,
instructing him to build the ark. After the flood, there was a promise of grace
based upon shed blood of animals in the form of burnt offerings to God.
Groups of nations formed based on their own language and families for
social prosperity. God's covenant to Noah was to show favor to his
descendants and to gather all the children of God scattered abroad, and
remained in force through the times of the gentiles until the universal
proclamation of the gospel.

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The Covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the
principle of the divine economy towards the nations, in other words, toward
men grouped in their lands, each with their own language, by their families in
their nations.
This state of division into many nations is at once cosmic, social and
religious. It is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity, united only in their
perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel. But because of sin, both
polytheism and the idolatry of the nations and of their rulers constantly
threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.
The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the
Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel. The Bible venerates
several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest
Melchisedek – a figure of Christ – and the upright “Noah, Daniel and Job.
The Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by
those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to gather
into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

c. The Covenant with Abraham

In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from

his country, his kindred and his father’s house, and makes him Abraham,
that is, the father of the multitude of nations.
God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his
descendants. By the covenant, God formed his people and revealed his law
to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he prepared them to accept
the salvation destined for all humanity.

d. The Covenant with Moses

After the patriarchs, God formed Israel as his people (Israel) by

freeing them from slavery in Egypt. He established with them the covenant
of Mount Sinai and through Moses, gave them his law so that they would
recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident
Father and just judge and so that they would look for a promised savior.
Israel is the priestly people of God, called by the name of the Lord
and the first to hear the word of God, the people of elder brethren in the faith
of Abraham. Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of
salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting covenant intended for
all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption
of the people of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which
will include all the nations. Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will
bear this hope.

e. The Final Revelation

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The final divine revelation is God revealing himself through his son
Jesus. Jesus said everything that needed to be said to the people. God no
longer revealed himself to prophets. After Jesus' death and resurrection, the
apostles began to preach God's word as promised by the prophets in the
Old Testament.

C. The Transmission of Divine Revelation

God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth, that is, of Christ Jesus. Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and
individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth.

1. Apostolic Tradition

As the Second Vatican Council says: "This sacred Tradition, then,

and the Sacred Scripture of both Testaments, are like a mirror, in which
the Church, during its pilgrim journey here on earth, contemplates God
from whom she receives everything, until such time as she is brought to
see him face to face as he really is (cf. 1 Jn 3:2)" (DV 7).
With these words the conciliar Constitution synthesizes the problem
of the transmission of divine Revelation, important for the faith of every
Christian. Our "credo", which should prepare man on earth to see God
face to face in eternity, depends, in every stage of history, on the faithful
and inviolable transmission of this divine self-revelation which reached its
apex and plenitude in Jesus Christ.

In keeping with the Lord’s command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:

a. Orally – by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of

their preaching, by the example they give, by the institution they
established, what they themselves have received – whether from
the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they
had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

b. In Writing – by those apostles and other men associated with the

apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit,
committed the message of salvation to writing.

Christ himself "ordered the Apostles to preach to all men and to

communicate to them the gifts of God as the source of all saving truth and
moral discipline" (DV 7). They carried out the mission entrusted to them,
first of all by oral preaching, and at the same time some of them "under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to
writing" (DV 7). This was done also by some of the circle of the Apostles
(Mark and Luke).
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Thus was carried out the transmission of divine Revelation in the
first generation of Christians. "In order that the full and living Gospel might
always be preserved in the Church the Apostles left bishops as their
successors. They gave them 'their own position of teaching authority'"
(according to the expression of St Irenaeus, cf. Adv. Haer, III, 3, 1; DV 7).
As can be seen, according to the teaching of the Council, Tradition
and Sacred Scripture reciprocally support and complete each other in the
transmission of divine Revelation in the Church. By their means the new
generation of disciples and witnesses of Jesus Christ nourish their faith,
because "what was handed on by the Apostles comprises everything that
serves to make the People of God live their lives in holiness and increase
their faith" (DV 8).

In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the
Church, the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own
position of teaching authority. Indeed, the apostolic teaching, which is expressed
in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in the continuous line
of succession until the end of time.
This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called
TRADITION, since it is distinct form Sacred Scripture, though closely connected
to it. Through Tradition, the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates
and transmit to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes. The
sayings of the Holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this
Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the
Church, in her belief and her prayer.

2. Two Distinct Modes of Transmission

a. Sacred Scripture – is the speech of God as it is put down in writing

under the breath of the Holy Spirit.

b. Holy Tradition – transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has
been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by
the Holy Spirit of Truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and
spread it abroad by their preaching.

As a result, the Church, to whom the transmission and

interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, does not derive her certainty
about all revealed truths from the holy scriptures alone. Both Scripture
and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of
devotion and reverence.

Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit

of the Word of God, in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates
God, the source of all her riches. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up

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a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim
Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches.
The Sacred Scriptures, collected in the Bible, are the inspired record of
how God dealt with his people and how they responded to, remembered and
interpreted that experience. The Scriptures arose, then, as the expression of the
people’s experience of God, and as a response to their needs. Collectively, the
Scriptures form “The Book of the People of God” – book of the Church. The Bible
was written by persons from the people of God, for the people of God, about the
God-experience of the people of God.
The Scriptures, then, are never to be separated from the people of God
whose life and history (Tradition) formed the context of their writing and
development. This is best shown in the Three Stages of how the Gospels were
formed:

First Stage: The Life and teaching of Jesus – what Jesus, while he
lived among us, really did and taught for our eternal salvation,
until the day he was taken up.

Second Stage: Oral Tradition. After Jesus’ ascension, the

apostles handed on to their hearers what Jesus had said and
done.

Third Stage: The Written Gospels. “The sacred authors, in writing

the four Gospels, selected certain elements that had been
handed on orally or already in written form, others they
synthesized or explained in view of the situation of their
churches, while preserving the form of proclamation. But
always in such a way that they have told us the honest truth
about Jesus.

This shows how the written Gospels grew out of oral tradition and
were composed in view of the concrete people of God of the early Christian
communities. Through His inspired Words in Scripture, God continues to
reveal Himself to us today.

Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely

together flowing out from the same divine well spring, moving towards the
same goal and making a single sacred deposit of the Word of God. Tradition
can be taken either as the process by which divine revelation, coming from
Jesus Christ through the Apostles, is communicated and unfolded in the
community of the Church or as the content of the revelation so
communicated. Thus, the Living Tradition of the Church, which includes the
inspired word of God in Sacred Scripture, is the channel through which God’s
self-revelation come to us.
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As sacred Scripture grew from Tradition, so it is interpreted by
Tradition – the life, worship and teaching of the Church. Tradition depends on
Scripture as its normative record of Christian origins and identity, while
scripture requires the living Tradition of the Church to bring its Scriptural
message to the fresh challenges and changing contexts confronting
Christians in every age.

Note:

The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what
they received from Jesus’ teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy
Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and
the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.
The Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary,
liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the
particular forms adapted to different places and time, in which the great Tradition is
expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even
abandoned under the guidance of Church’s Magisterium.

3. Biblical Inspiration

The Sacred Scriptures are said to be 'inspired” in a special sense –

not just as some artist or author may be inspired to paint or compose.
Rather, biblical inspiration means that the sacred and canonical books of the
Old and New Testaments, whole and entire, were written under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that we can call God their “author” and the
Bible “the Word of God”. God chose certain human authors, who as true
authors made full use of their human powers and faculties yet were so
guided by the Holy Spirit who so enlightened their minds and moved their
wills, that they put down in writing what God wanted written.

Biblical inspiration, then, is a charism referring to the special divine

activity, communicated to individual authors, editors and compilers belonging
to the community, for the sake of the community. It produced the sacred
texts both of the Old Testament and New. These texts ground the apostolic
Church which remains uniquely authoritative for us and for all generations of
Christians.
But the Holy Spirit's work in Scripture touches more than its human
authors: in some fashion it also touches both the proclaimers and the
hearers of the Word. In the sacred books the Father who is in heaven comes
lovingly to meet His children, and talks with them. Scripture thus supports
and invigorates the Church. It strengthens our faith, offers food for our souls
and remains a pure and lasting fount for our spiritual lives. Through the Spirit

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God's word is living and effective. But we realize that what was written in the
Spirit must be proclaimed and heard in the Spirit.

a. Interpreting Scripture

St. Paul tells us that all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful
for teaching – for reproof, correction and training in holiness so that the man
of God may be fully competent and equipped for every good work. But the
problem, of course, is how to faithfully and accurately interpret scripture. For
the Catholic, the answer is clear. The task of giving an authentic interpretation
of the Word of God has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the
Church alone.

Four Factors

At least four factors play a significant part in interpreting Scripture:

 The inspired human author's intention;

 The Text itself;
 The reader of the text;
 The common horizon connecting the original community context of
the text with our Christian community reading it today.

1. The human author. Common sense tells us to find out what the inspired
human author had in mind when interpreting a text. This involves some
basic idea of the social, economic and religious conditions of the authors
in their particular historical situations.

2. The text itself. We have to look at its literary form (e.g., historical
narratives, prophetic oracles, poems and parables) which the author is
using.

In addition, the text must be viewed within the unity of the whole
Bible. Both Old and New Testaments are read by Christians in the light of
the Risen Crucified Christ. The New Testament's own use of Old
Testament events, persons and things as “types” foreshadowing its own,
exemplifies this dynamic unity of the two Testaments. For example, Adam
and Melchizedek are types of Christ; the flood foreshadows Baptism;
manna in the desert is the “type” of the Eucharist.

Something of the history of the text's interpretations, especially its

use in the Church's liturgy, can be very helpful.

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3. The Readers/Hearers. We are constantly asking Scripture new questions
and problems, drawn from our own experience. Every believer wants to
know what the Scripture means “to me/us.” At the same time we recognize
that the Bible bring its own culture of meanings and framework of attitudes
that help form, reform and transform us, the readers, into the image of
Christ. We must let the Bible “form” us, even while conscious that we are
reading it in the light of our own contemporary experience.

In seeking what the Scripture text means “for me/us”, we need to

consider the witness offered in the lives of holy men and women in the
Church through the centuries. Any authentic interpretation of the text for
the Christian community today must be in continuity and harmonize with
this tradition of meaning that has grown out of the text's impact on
Christian communities through the ages.

4. The common horizon which first unites all the books of the bible into a
basic unity, and second, links together the context of the Scriptural text
and its tradition with our present reading context today.

This horizon is the new and eternal covenant God has established
with us in His incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. In interpreting the scripture, we
seek the truth that God wishes to communicate to us today, through
Scripture. In this we are guided by the living teaching office of the Church
which exercises its authority in the name of Jesus Christ, not as superior
to the Word of God, but as its servant.

Thus we see that in the supremely wise arrangement of God, Sacred

Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Teaching Office (Magisterium) of the
Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without
the others. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one
Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to our salvation.

b. The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith

1. Sacred Deposit of Faith

The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church. The

apostles entrusted the “Sacred deposit of the faith contained in Sacred
Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. By adhering to the
entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the
teachings of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and
the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the faith that has

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been handled on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the
bishops and the faithful.

2. Importance of tradition

In this regard it is fitting to clarify and emphasize, in the words of

the Council, that "the Church does not draw her certainty about all
revealed truths from Holy Scripture alone" (DV 9). This Scripture "is the
Word of God as it is put down in writing under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. And Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has
been entrusted to the Apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It
transmits it to the successors of the Apostles so that, enlightened by the
Spirit of Truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it
abroad by their preaching" (DV 9). "The same tradition makes known to
the Church the full canon of the sacred books, and the Holy Scriptures
themselves are more thoroughly understood and constantly actualized in
the Church by means of that same tradition" (DV 8).
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred
deposit of the Word of God which is entrusted to the Church. By
adhering to it the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains
always faithful to the teachings of the Apostles..." (DV 10). Therefore
both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal
feelings of devotion and reverence.

3. The Magisterium of the Church

The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God,

whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted
to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this
matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This means that the task
of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with
the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

Yet this magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its
servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine
command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly,
guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes
for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of
faith.
Mindful of Christ’s words to his apostles: “He who hears you, hears
me”, the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that
their pastors give them in different forms.

4. Conclusion: The Supernatural Sense of Faith

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Tradition, Sacred Scripture, the Magisterium of the Church and the
supernatural sense of the faith of the entire People of God form that
vivifying process in which divine Revelation is transmitted to the
succeeding generations. "Thus God, who spoke in the past, continues to
converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. And the Holy Spirit,
through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church--and
through her in the world--leads believers to the full truth and makes the
word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness (cf. Col 3:16)" (DV 8).
To believe in the Christian sense means to be willing to be
introduced and led by the Spirit to the plenitude of the truth in a
conscious and voluntary way.
All the faithful share in understanding and handling on revealed truth.
They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them
and guides them into all truth.
The whole body of the faithful cannot err in matters of belief. This
characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith on the
part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the
faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals.
By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit
of truth, the people of God guided by the sacred teaching authority
(Magisterium) receives the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. The
People unfailingly adhere to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with
right judgment and applies it more fully in daily life.

WORDS TO PONDER:

1. Transmit God's saving action by doing simple things to others.

2. Be grounded in the Words of God.

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