The virtue of faith is what allows man to know and believe in God. By faith, Catholics also believe what God has revealed through his Word, made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and handed down through the Church He founded.
Faith is one of the theological virtues, along with hope and love. These are the gifts from God which are infused into the soul at Baptism, making it possible for Catholics to participate in God’s own life.
In addition to the mind being enlightened by God’s grace, faith in God is an act of the will. This is how a Catholic can trust and obey what they know to be true even when it is not evident by sight.
Authentic faith calls Christians to action and their personal faith in God is expressed through their works. Because faith compels Catholics to place Jesus at the center of their lives and act accordingly, the symbol of Christian faith is the Cross.
Only by God’s grace do Christians have faith. Faith requires nurturing through regular prayer if it is to keep growing within them.
Among all of the virtues, faith is most fundamental and is required for salvation.
Faith has first place:
The foundation of all the virtues:
Seeing reality through God’s lens:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11: 1
Faith is an act of the will:
Responding to God’s initiative in our lives:
The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: “All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow Him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks.” Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: “So every one who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in Heaven.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1816
Faith is always something that needs to grow:
“One believes with the heart”. In the Bible, the heart is the core of the human person, where all his or her different dimensions intersect: body and spirit, interiority and openness to the world and to others, intellect, will and affectivity. If the heart is capable of holding all these dimensions together, it is because it is where we become open to truth and love, where we let them touch us and deeply transform us. Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending of faith and love we come to see the kind of knowledge which faith entails, its power to convince and its ability to illumine our steps. Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes.
Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei, 29 June 2013
Certain knowledge but not evident knowledge:
It is faith that allows us to know God:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
This is sacramental:
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