June 28 Wed
“Only Christ has ‘the words of eternal life,’, as St Peter exclaimed. Without faith in Jesus’ word, it is impossible to please God. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. For as long as we live on earth, it is through faith that we know God, supernaturally, but at the same time somewhat in darkness. Pope Paul the Sixth goes on to ask: “But why should there be this darkness? That is the secret design of God: we cannot grasp his ways. God wants to test our faith during this life, and our salvation depends on whether we accept his design.”

At the same time, faith is a light that lifts our understanding far beyond its natural capacity, and enables it to accept the highest truths revealed by God, which the human mind could never even have suspected. “By the light of faith and by meditating on the word of God, we can always and everywhere recognize God, in whom ‘we live and move and have our being,’ seek his Will in every event, see Christ in everyone, whether he be a relative or a stranger, and make correct judgements about the true meaning and value of temporal things both in themselves and in their relation to man's final goal.”

We need God’s grace to have faith, because nothing in nature can impel anyone to embrace the faith. “We believe that what God has revealed is true, the Church states, not because the things we are told are self-evident, by the natural light of reason, but on the authority of God who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.”

Faith also refers to “the content of faith,” the truths that we have to believe as revealed by God, summarized in the Catechism and the Symbol of Faith or Creed.

We have a great task to accomplish in the world of ideas, to break down people's prejudices. We have to prepare the ground by uprooting materialism and the false exaltation of man, so that the seed of God's word can then take root in full, with all its consequences.

And then pray and attract people by our example, because faith is lived out in our whole life. We can obtain faith by calling on God in humility, and by means of our good deeds; through prayer, and a clean way of life.
I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us, and we change things.
The Crucifixion of St Peter (upside down) by Caravaggio