Growing in Virtue: Faith

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states that God, “...From the fullness of His love, addresses [individuals] as His friends, and moves among [us], in order to invite and receive [us] into His own company.” “The [appropriate] response to this invitation is faith” (CCC 142). Faith is a beautiful gift which we are so freely given by Our Lord.

There is the giver, Our Lord, and the partaker, His children. We need not do a thing to earn this gift given from the fullness of His love. Our only response is to partake, to willfully receive His invitation and live in His love. The key here is choosing to partake in this inexhaustible gift and allowing it to help us grow in deeper intimacy and obedience to Our God. Through this virtue, “...man freely commits his entire self to God”(CCC 1814). It is the “...virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that He has said and revealed to us…”(1814). 

If accepted and practiced, faith is a virtue that can unlock and allow so many other virtues to emerge in our hearts and within our lives. However, this virtue must bear a habitual practice, “for just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (Js 2:26). This is where our choosing to partake of this gift calls us to action. The intensity and intentionality that we choose to devote to cultivating this virtue will ultimately nourish our communion with God or produce a very stagnant relationship. 

As a partaker and child of God, I choose to exercise this virtue in my everyday life. It is a gift freely given to me with the ultimate purpose of inviting and receiving my God into my heart. You bet I am going to attempt to practice this virtue to the very best of my ability for I know that “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You” (St. Augustine). 

Some of the ways that I choose to habitually exercise faith are through prayer, the sacraments, and silence. My prayer life has evolved over the years as I have experienced different seasons in my life, but it has always remained an endless conversation with the One who knows and loves me. I have to intentionally choose each day to invite the Lord into my conversations both with myself and others, my decisions, and my actions. When I choose otherwise, I often find myself and my surroundings to be restless and meaningless. 

Utilization of the sacraments is another key component to strengthening the virtue of faith in my life. Showing up to Mass is one thing but intentionally being present in Mass and remaining in awe of the miracle that we get to be a part of each time we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is what has proven fruitful for me. Another blessing that I have come to find great appreciation for in my life is silence. In moments of silence I truly sense a personal invitation into my Lord’s own company and where I choose to receive His gift of faith. I find myself in a place to more readily “know and do God’s will” (CCC 1814), which is the fruit of practicing the virtue of faith. 

Although I desire to choose to accept and partake in the gift of faith so freely, I by no means do it perfectly. I frequently have to remind myself that this exercise of faith will not always look and feel just so. I am human and imperfect and there have been seasons in my life in which my faith has been shaken. There have been days, even months that I have doubted and felt as if I could not find it within me to partake in this gift from my Giver, but I undeniably believe that if you have chosen freely to partake of this gift, it will never flee you. It is ingrained in every fiber of your being and within the depths of your heart. If you have chosen to receive this great gift from the Giver, when you find yourself in those moments, you know there is no denying your faith. Indeed, you will eventually find yourself turning to the Giver with a heart willing and ready to receive your gift anew. 

“Although you have not seen Him you love Him; even though you do not see Him now yet believe in Him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). 

 

Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). (1997). 

https://www.scborromeo2.org/catechism-of-the-catholic-church.