IDEA AND OBJECT OF FAITH.


From - "The teachers handbook to the catechism" by Rev. A. Urban.


The doctrine of Faith is divided into three sub-divisions
and treats, firstly, of the idea and object of Faith, secondly,
of the necessity of Faith, and thirdly, of the qualities of Faith.
We come, therefore, to-day to the doctrine on the idea and object
of Faith.

The idea of Faith tells us what Faith is, in what it consists. The
object of Faith tells what w r e should believe.

The catechism asks: "What is Faith as possessed by a Catholic?"
The answer says : "Faith is a virtue infused by God into our souls,
by which we believe without doubting what God has revealed, and
proposes by His Church to our belief.

Herein is contained then :

1. That Faith is a virtue granted to us by God, a present, and
a gift of God s grace; also that a man and Christian has not Faith
of himself.

2. That we not only must believe what God has revealed, but also
what He has proposed to our belief through His Holy Catholic
Church.

3. That we must believe all this undoubtingly, firmly, unconditionally,
and not think that this or that which Faith teaches us
could be otherwise.

The Catechism puts the question : "Why must we believe all that
God has revealed?" The answer is: "Because God is the eternal
and infallible truth." God is the eternal truth, because He has ever,
that is from eternity, revealed only the truth. God is the infallible
truth because He can neither err nor lie, nor make a mistake. What
means, "All that God has revealed?" "It means all that God has
made known for our salvation by the Patriarchs and Prophets, and
at last by His Son Jesus Christ and the Apostles." God, in His in
finite love for mankind, wished by revelation to become as it were
our Teacher. He wished to impart to us in the plainest and most
complete manner all that which would render us happy for time and
eternity. This communication of God to mankind for their salvation
is called Revelation. Revelation is divided into the revelation
of the Old Law and the revelation of the New Law.

By the Old Law we mean the time before the coming of Jesus
Christ, and by the New Law the time after Jesus Christ. By the
revelations of the Old Testament we mean those revelations which
were given to mankind before the coming of Jesus Christ. In the
Old Testament God revealed Himself to our first parents in Paradise,
then to the righteous Noe, the obedient and peace-loving
Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets. But to fill up the measure
of His love, God revealed Himself in the New Testament by
His Beloved Son Jesus Christ and His messengers, the Apostles.

The Old Law lasted, as you know, from the creation of the world
until the birth of Jesus Christ, and embraces a period of more than
4,000 years. Since the coming of Jesus Christ 1,900 years have
passed. The question is, therefore : " Do we still know to-day what
God has revealed?" Answer: "Yes, we know it yet." "How did
what God has revealed come down to us ? " " What God has revealed
has come down to us partly written and partly by word of mouth ;
written in Holy Scripture or the Bible; verbally by tradition. We
divide, therefore, the revelations of God into the written and the
unwritten Word of God. The written Word of God is Holy Scripture,
or the Bible ; the unwritten Word of God is Tradition or verbal
delivery." "What is the Holy Scripture?" "The Holy Scripture is
a collection of books which were written by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost, and acknowledged by the Church as the Word of God."

The Holy Scripture contains, therefore, the revelation of the
Divine Will, as it instructs us concerning the nature of God, of the
vocation of man and his duties towards God, towards his neighbor,
and towards himself. The Holy Scripture is not like any other
book, the mere work of man, but it was written by men who were
inspired by the Holy Ghost.

It is called "Holy Scripture" because it contains only holy truths
and holy doctrines, the Word of God itself, as it has always been
acknowledged by the Church.

"Of what books does the Old Testament consist?"

1. Of Twenty-one Historical Books.

2. Of Seven Moral Books.

3. Of Seventeen Prophetical Books.

a. Historical books contain history. The historical books of the
Old Testament tell us about

1. The history of the creation of the world ; of our first parents in
Paradise and their fall.

2. The manner and way in which the first men worshipped God
until the time when Jesus Christ was born.

3. What preparations and arrangements God had made for the
worthy reception of the Redeemer.

4. Lastly, the Historical Books of the Old Testament give us a
series of examples of virtue, thereby encouraging us to obey God,
to be pure of heart, to be patient in suffering, etc.

b. Of seven Moral Books. The Moral Books serve for general
instruction. To the Moral Books of the Old Testament belong in
particular the Psalms, the Proverbs of King Solomon, the Book of
Wisdom, the Canticle of Canticles, the Book of Job. All these
Moral Books warn us in general of sin and encourage us to a pure
life.

c. The seventeen Prophetical Books derive their name from the
Prophets, because they contain the Prophecies. To prophesy means
to foretell coming events. The Prophetical Books contain prophecies
relating especially to the promised Redeemer, His birth and His
kingdom. The Prophetical Books were written by the four great
and the twelve lesser Prophets. The words "great" and "less" do
not apply to the stature of the Prophets, but they imply that the
great Prophets prophesied more and the lesser Prophets less. The
four great Prophets are called Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel and Daniel.
The lesser Prophets were Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas,
Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias and Malachias.

Of what books does the New Testament consist ?
I. Of the four Gospels according to St. Matthew, St. Mark, St.
Luke and St. John. Gospel means glad tidings. They were so
called because they proclaimed the glad tidings that we were to be
come reconciled with God again through Jesus Christ. The four
Gospels were not written by Jesus Himself nor during His lifetime,
but they were written first after His ascension, as the Christian religion
was already widespread by the four Evangelists, who were
divinely inspired. You may have noticed that in representations
of the four evangelists each one has a particular emblem, which I
will now explain to you.

The holy Evangelist Matthew has the emblem of a man, because
he begins his Gospel with the genealogy and the birth of Jesus.

The Evangelist St. Mark has the picture of a lion, because he begins
his Gospel in the desert.

The Evangelist St. Luke has the picture of a sacrificial calf, be
cause he narrates in particular that which relates to the sacrifice of
Jesus.

The holy Evangelist John, the picture of an eagle, because he lifts
himself above the angels and everything created.

2. Of the Acts of the Apostles. They were written by St. Luke
and relate the selection of the Apostle Matthias instead of Judas,
the coming of the Holy Ghost, the founding of the first Christian
community at Jerusalem, the persecution of the Apostles, the imprisonment
of St. Peter, the beheading of St. James, the martyrdom of
St. Stephen, the conversion of Saul, of the adventures and experiences
of the twelve Apostles in general, after the Ascension of Jesus,
the spreading of the teaching of Jesus amongst the heathen, and the
journey of the Apostle St. Paul until his arrival in Rome, where he
was beheaded.

3. Of the Apostolical Epistles, namely, fourteen Epistles of St.
Paul, and seven by other Apostles. These contain excellent exhortations
and instructions for the superior of a community as well
as for the faithful of the Church of Christ.

4. Of the Apocalypse of St. John. This contains prophesies
about the kingdom of Christ upon earth, of the victory of the teaching
of Jesus over both His arch enemies, namely, Judaism, and
heathendom; all this is told by different apparitions and visions.
It speaks at length of the resurrection of the dead, of the glorious
reward of the blessed in heaven, and the awful misery of the reprobate.

Now some people might doubt whether the Holy Scripture is
genuine, that is to say whether it had come down to us unfalsified,
whether anything had been omitted, or added to it, if anything in
it had been changed. Answer: Yes, the Holy Scripture has come
down to us unfalsified, for the Church used every imaginable care to
prevent the very least falsification, and the Holy Ghost Himself, as
the Church s Helper, kept guard over it so that no real falsification
of the Holy Scripture could take place in its translation from
one language to another, or in being copied. If a few events
are related in a different way, that is to say, in other words, this
slight deviation changes nothing of the contents of the facts and
events therein related.

The Catechism asks further : "Is it enough to believe only those
doctrines which are contained in the Holy Scripture?" "No, we
must also believe Tradition, i.e., those revealed truths which the
Apostles preached, but did not commit to writing. St. Paul, therefore,
exhorts the first Christians by saying: "Therefore, brethren,
stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether
by word or by our Epistle." (II. Thess. ii. 14.)

Why did not the Apostles write all that Jesus taught? Because
Christ did not commission them to write but to preach His doctrine.
"Go ye therefore and teach all nations," but not, Write it all
down.

The unwritten Word of God is called Tradition because it has
been handed down in the Catholic Church from the time of the
Apostles to the present day. But why must we believe Tradition,
as well as what is contained in the Holy Scripture? Because
Catholic Tradition was revealed by God, as well as that which is
contained in the Holy Scripture, and only differs from it inasmuch
as it is not written down in the Bible.

The holy Evangelists only wrote, therefore, to give a brief sketch
of the life, works and teachings of Jesus.

Tradition is even necessary, because it can and does determine how
a passage of Holy Scripture may be interpreted, when there exists
a doubt about it, i.e., about its interpretation. In this sense all the
Councils of the Church express themselves, in particular, the fourth
Council of the Church at Constantinople, in the year 869, where it
expressly teaches: "That we must accept with reverence and ob
serve the laws and institutions of the Apostles and of the Catholic
Church, whether they be written down or preserved by Tradition."

That we may venerate Tradition, it is necessary to know through
whom Tradition has been handed down to us, namely, the Holy
Fathers of the Church. It was these men who by the sanctity of
their lives as well as by their eminent gift of teaching distinguished
themselves and have always been acknowledged by the Church as
authentic witnesses of Tradition.

"What, then, must the Catholic Christian in general believe?"
"He must believe all that God, has revealed and the Catholic Church
proposes to his belief, whether it be contained in the Holy Scripture
or not."

The proof of this, that we must believe the teaching of the Catholic
Church, as to what God has revealed, we take from the Holy
Scripture. Jesus said to His Apostles : "He that heareth you, heareth
me." He then who hears the Church, hears Jesus Christ, and
whoever hears Jesus Christ hears God.

"Why is it necessary that the Catholic Church should propose the
revealed truths to our belief?" "Because it is only from the Catholic
Church, as to what God has revealed, we take from the Holy
The Catholic Church takes the place of Jesus Christ upon earth. For
He said expressly to His Apostles : "As the Father hath sent Me,
so do I send you." Wherefore He granted them the assistance of
the Holy Ghost.

"How can we infallibly know from the Catholic Church alone
what God has revealed ?"

1. "Because it is from the Catholic Church only that we have the
Scripture and Tradition which contain the Divine Revelations. The
chiefs of the Catholic Church as the lawful successors of the Apostles
collected the Holy Scripture most carefully with the assistance
of the Holy Ghost and guarded them conscientiously that not one of
these writings should become falsified.

2. "Because it is through the Catholic Church alone that we in
fallibly know the true meaning of the Scripture and Tradition.

The Holy Scripture does not explain itself, it must be explained
by some one. Therefore, Jesus said to His Apostles : "Go ye and
teach." Many passages of Holy Scripture can be interpreted differently.
But the living teacher can explain the true and right meaning.

May no one, then, presume to explain the Scripture and Tradition
contrary to the interpretation of the Catholic Church?

No, for this would be as if he understood the Scripture and
Tradition better than the Holy Ghost, Who inspires the Church
with the true meaning of it. The Holy Ghost, Who inspired the
Apostles when they wrote the Holy Scripture is to-day still the
Helper of the Catholic Church, so that she may explain the right
meaning of the Holy Scripture. If each one were to interpret the
Holy Scripture as he liked, by degrees its truth would be lost and
Faith would no longer have a firm foundation. It is therefore
necessary that the teaching office of the Catholic Church should give
us the right meaning of the Holy Scripture.