Where is it? What is it?
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What will I do if the premise of control infiltrates my Faith?
Have I misplaced the very essence of what faith means to me? We must realize no one can take my faith from me or my ability to keep what the Lord has placed at my disposal. We know that the grace that God gives to us comes to us with the faith we already have accepted.
The first “profession of faith” is made during Baptism. The symbol of faith is first and foremost the baptismal creed. Since Baptism is given “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the truths of faith professed during Baptism are articulated in terms of their reference to the three persons of the Holy Trinity. (CCC 189).
Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith “works through charity.” (CCC 1814).
What is explicit, through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is without question or misunderstanding what this gift God freely hands to believers. Then the question becomes what a believer denotes?
The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is “sent out” into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. “The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well.” Indeed we call an apostolate “every activity of the Mystical Body” that aims to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth.” (CCC 863). This is believing!
As Easter is still three weeks away our attention must be on our own premise of what is expected of each believer. We cannot become observers of the Crucifixion and what that presents to us. The mission Jesus handed to Peter and the other apostles falls on us to continue this same evangelical effort to bring the unchurched, the unbelievers, and the agnostics back to God.
Missing these attributes will become the very premise that could control what our faith means to those who are believers!
Ralph B. Hathaway
I am an ordained deacon with the Diocese of Pittsburgh, since June 8, 1974. My current ministry is concentrated on writing spiritual reflections and poetry. I am married, with one grown daughter, and 4 grandchildren. I retired from the electrical industry after 58 years as an electrician, contractor, teacher in trade schools, and electrical inspector with a PA State license
