Chapter 4 — "Bring About the Obedience of Faith"
OPENING PRAYER
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good.
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)
"BRING ABOUT THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH"
—CCC, 142–197
What qualities do the people you trust have that allows you to give them your trust?
God is Truth and Love. How do you respond to God’s Love and Truth in your life? Is there any reason that prevents you from trusting and committing yourself to God?
Faith is God’s gift of revealing and calling us individually and communally into a loving relationship with God and with one another. Faith is also our free response and adherence to the whole truth that God has revealed. "By faith, we are able to give our minds and hearts to God, to trust in his will, and to follow the direction he gives us." (USCCA, p. 37)
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1). Through our faith we are certain that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Rom 8:35–39).
Jesus said, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (Jn 20:29). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).
It is God’s revelation that we profess individually and communally in the Creed, and we celebrate in the sacraments.
However, faith is more than mere belief. We express our faith through how we live—through the choices we make, our worship and prayer, our treatment of others, our witnessing to our faith. As St. James said, “faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:14–26). Through faith we respond to God’s twofold commandment to love our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love one another as God loves us. When we love each other as God loves us, we respond to this call when we strive to see one another through God’s eyes.
Please read this week USCCA,Chapter 4, "Bring About the Obedience of Faith" (pages 35–47), the CCC, Nos. 142–197 (pages 39–53), and the Compendium,Nos. 25–32
VIDEOS
C4 Ignite Your Catholic Faith - What's God's Plan for Me?
"What Faith Is, and What Faith Isn't" (Bishop Robert Barron)
"Bishop Robert Barron on Faith"
"Man's Response to God"—CCC, Nos. 142–184 (Fr. Daniel Mahan)
MUSIC
"I Surrender" (Hillsong)
"All to Jesus - I Surrender"
"We Walk by Faith"
OTHER RESOURCES
"From Mass to Mission - The Liturgy of the Eucharist"
A Daily Prayer Reflection ("Sacred Space" from Irish Jesuits)
REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCE
What does your lifestyle say about what and who you trust and believe?
What will help you to grow deeper in your trust and faith in God and the Church?
We encourage and invite you to spend time to reflect, pray, and write in your journal about what you have read, seen, heard, or experienced this week. You can find some other questions you may wish to consider here.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, in now, and ever shall be.
Amen.
What does your lifestyle say about what and who you trust and believe?
What will help you to grow deeper in your trust and faith in God and the Church?
as it was in the beginning, in now, and ever shall be.
Amen.