9781644135945

The Light of the World
( Jn 1:12). By faith we become one with Christ; by faith we devote ourselves to Him, and
He leads us to the Father, making us with Him possessors of divine life. The more perfect,
solid, and deep our faith in Jesus, the Son of God, the more we shall be entitled to be sons
of God and to be participants in the divine life. The Council of Trent justly says: “Without
faith it is impossible to please God and to attain to the fellowship of His Son” (Sess. VI,
chap. 8). We have this faith through the teaching mission of the Church.
“Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole” (Gospel). The Samaritan who
was cleansed by Jesus of his leprosy and came back to Jesus, “fell on his face before His
feet, giving thanks.” But the Lord says to him: “Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made
thee whole.” The Lord repeatedly asks us to think of Jesus, the Son of God. “According to
your faith be it done unto you,” He tells the two blind men who wanted to be healed by
Him. “And their eyes were opened” (Mt 9:29 f.). “Fear not; believe only,” He says to the
ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter had already died. “Believe only, and she shall be
safe” (Lk 8:50). Faith is the first condition He asks for; it is the indispensable presupposition
of His miracles. To faith, on the other hand, He cannot deny anything; because of
her faith he forgives the sinful woman her sins (Lk 7:50); for the same reason He opens
to the good thief the gates of eternal life: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with
Me in paradise” (Lk 23:43).
The faith God demands is faith in His Son, Jesus, who became man for our redemption. We
must have faith in the testimony that came down from heaven and was heard three times above
Jesus: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Mt 3:17; 17:5; Jn
12:28). “The Father Himself who hath sent Me, hath given testimony of Me” ( Jn 5:37). “Every
one who seeth the Son and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting” ( Jn 6:40). “God so
loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not
perish, but may have life everlasting. . . . He that believeth in Him is not judged. But he that does
not believe, is already judged; because he believeth not in the name of the only-begotten Son
of God” ( Jn 3:16, 18). Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the first condition for eternal
life. Faith in His divinity embraces all other revealed truths. The Samaritan, the representative
of the Church of the Gentiles, believes and hears the words: “Arise, go thy way; for thy faith
hath made thee whole.”
The Church believes in Jesus, the Son of God. During the course of the centuries many heretics
denied the divinity of Christ; the Church, however, stands steadfastly by her faith in Christ,
the Son of God. We join the Church in her faith. “Every one who seeth the Son and believeth
in Him, may have life everlasting” ( Jn 6:40).
“This is my beloved Son.” This testimony of the Father contains all revealed truths; the
acceptance of this truth embraces our entire faith. When professing our faith in Jesus, the Son
of God, we also believe in all the revelation of the Old Testament, which is fulfilled in Christ.
This faith contains also our belief in the revelations of the New Testament, in the doctrines of
the apostles and the Church, for the teaching of the apostles and the Church is nothing but the
exposition of the revelation announced by Christ.
The firm conviction that Christ is the Son of God is essential for supernatural life and holiness.
On this foundation our Holy Mother the Church builds her doctrine. To her, therefore,
“is given the promise” because she believes.
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