Live 4 The LORD

“The deepest truth about God and the salvation of man is made clear to us in Christ, who is the Mediator and at the same time the fullness of all new revelation” (DV 2). Revelation is the foundation of faith. God has spoken and made himself known and we believe upon his word. “ ‘The obedience of faith’ must be given to God who reveals, an obedience by which man entrusts his whole self freely to God, offering ‘the full submission of intellect and will to God’ ” (DV 5). God gratuitously infused the gift of faith into us at baptism, but this gift, which is offered and not imposed, expects the free adherence of will and intellect on our part. The act of faith of a child who is only beginning to know the Lord, must grow into the mature adherence of an adult who is really conscious of God’s word, of divine Revelation, of holy Scripture, and of the teaching of the Church. Thus faith becomes an act of surrender to God: “I know whom I have believed, and I am sure. . .” (2 Tim 1: 12). Still this free and voluntary act always includes God’s gift: “To believe”—St. Thomas teaches—“ is an act of the intellect, which adheres to divine truth under the command of the will, moved by God through grace” (2-2.2.9). Realizing the poverty of our faith, let us humbly invoke divine help, begging God to bend our will and open our mind to his divine light.