Jul 19 Sat
What is to believe as a Christian?
We Christians openly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, without imposing our faith or convictions on anyone.
How can we be authentic Christians in a world that now has so little that is Christian about it? How can we live the faith in an environment that is hostile to it, or at least ignores it with a casual sense of self-sufficiency?
Being Christian today is not easy; we must acknowledge this. We must go against the tide. Faith is no longer, as it was perhaps in other times, a sort of choice to be taken for granted. It is a decision that demands from us firmness in our convictions, challenging the environment.
Faith is like gold: it is purified in fire. To be authentic, it must pass through the Cross of Christ (cf. 1 Pt 1:7).
To every culture, Christian faith brings the unchanging truth of God, which He reveals in history. Still, the proclamation of the Gospel in different cultures allows people to preserve their own cultural identity.
Believing as Christians means agreeing to be introduced and led by the Spirit to the fullness of truth consciously and voluntarily. It means being a community of faithful, open to the word of the Gospel of Christ. Both of these things are possible in every generation, because the living transmission of Divine Revelation, contained in Tradition and in Sacred Scripture, remains intact in the Church through the special service of the Magisterium, in harmony with the supernatural sense of faith of the People of God.
God has spoken to us. He has made known to us the deepest mysteries of his Life, recording this Truth in Sacred Scripture and the living Tradition of the Church, for the salvation of all mankind. By the infallible assistance of the Holy Spirit, the Church has transmitted faithfully from the beginning the deposit that God entrusted to her. Look what St Paul tells the Corinthians: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you” (1 Cor 11:23); and he addresses the Thessalonians: “Brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess 2:14).
Believing as Christians also means accepting the truth revealed by God, as the Church teaches it. But at the same time, the body of the faithful as a whole... cannot err in matters of belief. Thanks to a supernatural sense of the faith which characterizes the People as a whole, it manifests this unerring quality when, ‘from the bishops down to the last member of the laity,’ it shows universal agreement in matters of faith and morals.
Believing as Christians means accepting the invitation to the conversation with God, abandoning oneself to one’s Creator and Redeemer. Faith is not a deposit to be held passively, but demands to be lived ever anew.
Now is a good moment to examine our dispositions in reading Sacred Scripture. Do I approach the holy Gospel with love and thanksgiving? Do I desire to learn from Christ's deeds and words, to incorporate all his teachings into my life? Do I try to overcome any separation between faith and my life?