LETTER Encyclical Fidei LUMEN OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONSCONSECRATED PERSONS AND

ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL ON FAITH 1. The light of faith with this expression, the tradition of the Church has shown great gift brought by Jesus, who, in the Gospel of John, so he introduced himself: "I am come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me remain in darkness "( Jn 12:46). Paul also expresses himself in these terms: "And God, who said," Let light shine out of darkness, "shines in our hearts" ( 2 Cor 4:6). In the pagan world, hungry for light, had developed the cult to the Sun god, Sol Invictus , called in the East. Although the sun is reborn every day, he knew that he was unable to radiate its light on the whole existence of man. The sun, in fact, does not illuminate the whole of reality, its radius is unable to get up in the shadow of death, where the human eye closes his light."Because of his faith in the sun - says St. Justin Martyr - he never saw anyone ready to die". [1] Aware of the horizon great that opened their faith, Christians called Christ is the true sun, "whose rays give life ". [2] To Marta, weeping for the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus says: "I did not say that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? "( Jn 11,40). He who believes, sees, sees everything with a light that illuminates the path of the road, because it comes to us from the risen Christ, morning star that never sets. A light illusory? 2. Yet, speaking of this light of faith, we can hear the objection of many of our contemporaries. In modern times it was thought that such a light would be enough for ancient societies, but did not serve for the new times, the man became an adult, proud of his reason, eager to explore new ways in the future. In this sense, faith appeared as a light illusory, which prevented the man to cultivate boldness of knowledge. The young Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth invited to take risks, along "... new ways, proceed in the uncertainty of self." He added: "At this point we separate the paths of humanity: if you want to achieve peace of mind and happiness, have faith though, but if you want to be a disciple of truth, then investigates." [3] The belief is object to the search. From here, Nietzsche develops his critique of Christianity to have diminished the scope of human existence, taking away the life of novelty and adventure. Faith would then like an illusion of light that prevents our way of free men toward tomorrow. 3. In this process, the faith has come to be associated in the dark. The idea was to preserve it, to find a space for it because convivesse with the light of reason. The space for the faith opened there where reason could not illuminate, there where the man could not be certain. Faith was then understood as a leap of faith that we make for the lack of light, driven by a blind sentiment, or as a light subjective, perhaps capable of warming the heart, to bring a private consolation, but that may not present itself to others as objective and universal light to illuminate the way. Gradually, however, it is seen that the light of reason alone can not illuminate enough of the future, in the end, it remains in its darkness and let

the man in fear of the unknown. And so the man gave up looking for a great light, a great truth, to be content with the small lights that illuminate the brief moment, but are unable to lead the way. When there is no light, everything becomes confused, it is impossible to distinguish the good from the bad, the road that leads to the goal to be the one that makes us walk in circles repetitive, without direction. A light to be rediscovered 4. It is therefore urgent to recover the character of their light of faith, because when its flame is extinguished all the other lights end up losing their vigor. The light of faith, indeed, has a unique character, being able to illuminate the whole of human existence. Because light is so powerful, it can not proceed from ourselves, it must come from a source more original, must come ultimately from God Faith is born in the encounter with the living God, who calls us and reveals his love, a love that goes before us and on which we can bear away to be firm and build your life. Transformed by this love we receive new eyes, we experience that in it there is a great promise of fullness and opens to us the look of the future. The faith that we receive from God as a supernatural gift, it appears as a light for the road, a light to guide our journey through time. On the one hand, it proceeds from the past, is the light of a fundamental memory, that the life of Jesus, where he expressed his love fully reliable, able to conquer death. At the same time, however, because Christ is risen, and draws us beyond death, faith is the light that comes from the future, which opens up great horizons before us, and takes us beyond our "I" block to the amplitude of communion. Understand, then, that faith does not live in the dark, it is a light to our darkness.Dante, in his Divine Comedy, after he confessed his faith in front of St. Peter, describes it as a "spark / that dilates to vivid flame / And like a star in the sky spark in me". [4] Just in this light I would like to speak of faith, that it may grow to illuminate the present to become the star that shows the horizons of our journey, in a time in which man is particularly in need of light. 5. The Lord, before his passion, he assured to Peter, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail" ( Lk22:32). Then he asked him to "confirm the brethren" in that same faith. Aware of the task entrusted to the Successor of Peter, Benedict XVI wanted to call this' Year of Faith , a time of grace that is helping us to feel the great joy of believing, to revive the perception of amplitude horizons that faith opens, to confess it in its unity and integrity, faithful to the memory of the Lord, supported by his presence and action of the Holy Spirit. The conviction of a faith that does great and full life centered on Christ and the power of his grace, animated the mission of the early Christians. In the Acts of the martyrs we read this dialogue between the Roman prefect Rustico and the Christian Gerace, "Where are your parents? , "Asked the judge to the martyr, and he replied:" Christ is our true father, and our mother's faith in him ". [5] For these Christians faith, as encounter with the living God revealed in Christ, it was a "mother", because it made them come to light, generated in them the divine life, a new experience, a bright vision of existence for which he was prepared to give public witness to the end. 6. The ' Year of Faith began on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council . This coincidence allows us to see that Vatican II was a council on faith, [6] as they invited us to put at the center of our personal and ecclesial life the primacy of God in Christ. The Church, in fact, does not presuppose faith as never a given, but he knows that this gift of God must be nurtured and strengthened, because they continue to guide his

path. The Second Vatican Council did shine faith in the human experience, thus driving the streets of contemporary man. In this way, it appeared that faith enriches human life in all its dimensions. 7. These considerations on faith - in continuity with all that the Church's Magisterium has spoken about this theological virtue [7] -, intended to be additional to what Benedict XVI wrote in the Encyclical Letters on charityand hope . He had almost completed a first draft of the Encyclical Letter on faith. I am deeply grateful to him and, in the brotherhood of Christ, I assume its valuable work, adding to the text some additional contributions.The Successor of Peter, yesterday, today and tomorrow, is increasingly called upon to "confirm the brethren" in that incomparable treasure of the faith that God gives Himself as the light on the road of every man. In faith, the gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him, we recognize that there is a great Love was offered, that a good word there has been paid and that the acceptance of this Word, which is Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, the Holy Spirit transforms, lighting the way of the future, and makes us grow in the wings of hope to follow it with joy. Faith, hope and charity are, in a wonderful plot, the dynamism of Christian life towards full communion with God What is this path that faith opens before us? Where is its powerful light that can illuminate the path to a successful and fruitful life, full of fruit?

CHAPTER ONE WE BELIEVE IN LOVE (cf. 1 Jn 4:16)

Abraham, our father in faith

8. Faith opens the way and guiding our steps in history. This is why, if we want to understand what is faith, we must tell the way, the way of believing men, testified in the first place in the Old Testament. A special place belongs to Abraham, our father in faith. In his life happens a shocking fact: God gives him the Word, is revealed as a God who speaks and calls him by name. Faith is bound to listen. Abraham does not see God, but to hear her voice. In this way faith takes on a personal nature. So God is not the God of a place, and even the God tied to a specific sacred time, but the God of a person, the fact God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, capable of entering into contact with the man and to establish alliance with him. Faith is the answer to a Word that calls personally, to a You who calls us by name. 9. What this tells Word to Abraham is on a call and a promise. It is first of all called to leave their own land, an invitation to open up to a new life, the beginning of an exodus that walks to an unexpected future. The vision that faith will give to Abraham will always be joined to this step to be taken: the faith "sees" to the extent that walking, where it enters the open space by God's Word This Word also contains a promise: your descendants will be

numerous, be the father of a great nation (cf. January 13.16, 15.5, 22.17). It is true that, as a response to a word that precedes the faith of Abraham will always be an act of memory. However, this memory is not fixed in the past but, as the memory of a promise, it becomes capable of opening to the future, to illuminate the steps along the way. Thus we see how faith, as a memory of the future, prospective memory , is closely linked to hope. 10. What is being asked Abraham is to rely on this Word. Faith understands that word, a fact seemingly ephemeral and fleeting, when it is uttered by the faithful God becomes the safest and most unshakable might exist, what makes possible the continuity in our journey through time. The faith accept this Word as a sure rock on which you can build with solid foundations. This is why in the Bible faith is indicated by the Hebrew word 'emunah , derived from the verb 'Haman , which in its root means "support". The term 'emunah can mean either the faithfulness of God, and the faith of man. A faithful man receives his strength against relying in the hands of a faithful God. Playing on the two meanings of the word also present in the corresponding terms in greek ( pists ) and Latin ( fidelis ) - St. Cyril of Jerusalem will exalt the dignity of a Christian, which receives the name of God: both are called "faithful". [ 8] St. Augustine will explain it this way: "A faithful man is one who believes in God's promises, the faithful God is the one who gives what he promised to man". [9] 11. A final aspect of the story of Abraham is important to understand his faith. The Word of God, even if it brings novelty and surprise, it is not at all alien to the experience of the Patriarch. The item that will appeal to Abraham, he recognizes a deep appeal, inscribed always been at the heart of his being. God associates his promise to that "place" where the existence of man shows itself always promising: fatherhood, the generation of a new life "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, and shall call his name Isaac" ( January 17,19). That God asks Abraham to rely totally to Him is revealed as the source from which all life originates. In this way faith is connected with the Fatherhood of God, from which comes the creation: the God who called Abraham is the God, the Creator, the One who "calls into existence the things that do not exist" ( Rm 4:17), He who "chose us before the foundation of the world ... having predestined us to adoption as sons" ( Eph. 1:4-5). For Abraham's faith in God illuminates the deepest roots of his being, allows him to recognize the source of goodness that is the origin of all things, and to confirm that his life does not proceed from nothing or by chance, but by a call and a personal love. The mysterious God who called him God is not a stranger, but the One who is the origin of everything and that says it all. The big test of the faith of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, will show to what extent this very first love is able to guarantee the life, even beyond death. The Word that was capable of arousing a son in his body "apparently dead" and "dead in the womb" by Sara sterile (cf. Rom 4:19), will also be able to ensure the promise of a future beyond any threat or danger (cf. Heb 11:19; Rom 4: 21).
The faith of Israel

12. The history of the people of Israel in the Book of Exodus continues in the wake of Abraham's faith. Faith is born again by an original gift: Israel opens the action of God who wants to free him from his misery. Faith is called a long way to worship the Lord on Mount Sinai and inherit a promised land. The divine love possesses the traits of the father carries his son along the path (cf. Dt 1:31). The confession of faith of Israel is developed as a story of the benefits of God, of his action to liberate and lead the people (cf. Dt 26.5 to 11),

narrative that the people handed down from generation to generation. The light of God shines through Israel to the memory of the facts made by the Lord, remember and confessed in worship, transmitted from parents to children. We thus learn that the light brought by faith is linked to the story of real life, in grateful remembrance of God's benefits and the gradual fulfillment of his promises. The Gothic architecture expressed it very well: in the great cathedrals of the sky the light comes through the windows where he depicts the sacred history. The light of God comes to us through the story of his revelation, and so is able to light our way in time, remembering the divine benefits, showing how to perform his promises. 13. The history of Israel shows us again the temptation of unbelief in which the people fell several times. The opposite of faith appears here as idolatry. While Moses speaks with God on Mount Sinai, the people can not stand the mystery of the divine face hidden, can not stand the waiting time. Faith by its very nature calls for immediate possession to give up the vision seems to offer is an invitation to open up towards the source of light, respecting the mystery right in the Face that will be in a personal way and at the appropriate time. Martin Buber quoted this definition of idolatry offered by Rabbi Kock: there is idolatry "when a face turns reverent to a face that is not a face." [10] Instead of faith in God you prefer to worship the idol, whose face can be fixed, whose origin is unknown because it is made by us. Before the idol you do not risk the possibility of a call that will exit from its securities, because the idols' have mouths and speak not "( Ps 115,5). We understand then that the idol is an excuse for putting oneself at the center of reality, in worship the work of their own hands. The man lost the fundamental orientation that gives unity to its existence, is lost in the multiplicity of his desires; denying to wait for the time of the promise, disintegrates into a thousand moments of its history. For this idolatry is always polytheism, moving aimlessly from one gentleman to another. Idolatry does not offer a path, but a multiplicity of paths that do not lead to a certain destination and configure quite a maze. Who does not want to rely on God must listen to the voices of the many idols who yell: "Trust in me." Faith as it is linked to conversion, is the opposite of idolatry, is separation from idols to return to the living God, through a personal meeting. To believe is to trust in a merciful love that always welcomes and forgives, that supports and directs existence, which shows potent in its ability to straighten out the distortions of our history. Faith is the willingness to be transformed again and again by the call of God is the paradox: the continuous turn to the Lord, the man finds a stable road that frees him from the movement which the dispersive submit idols. 14. In the faith of Israel emerges the figure of Moses, the mediator. The people can not see the face of God, Moses is talking to YHWH on the mountain and to report to all the will of the Lord. With this presence of the mediator, Israel has learned to walk together. The act of faith of the individual is part of a community, in the "we" of the common people, who, in faith, is like a man, "my eldest son", as God will call the whole Israel (cf. Ex4 22). Mediation is not here becomes an obstacle, but an opening: the encounter with others gaze opens to a greater truth of ourselves. JJ Rousseau complained about not being able to see God personally: "How many men between God and me! ' [11] "It's so simple and natural that God is gone from Moses to speak to Jean-Jacques Rousseau? ". [12] From an individualistic conception of knowledge is not limited and you can understand the meaning of mediation, this ability to participate in the vision of the other, shared knowledge is the knowledge that their love. Faith is a free gift of God asking for the humility and the courage

to trust and rely on, to see the bright path of the encounter between God and men, the history of salvation.
The fullness of the Christian faith

15. "Abraham [...] rejoiced to see my day, saw him and was filled with joy" ( Jn 8:56). According to these words of Jesus, the faith of Abraham was geared towards him, was, in a sense, anticipated vision of his mystery. So he intends to St. Augustine, when he says that the patriarchs were saved by faith, not faith in Christ already come, but faith in Christ that was to come, faith stretched out to the future event of Jesus [13] The Christian Faith is centered in Christ is the confession that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead (cf. Rom 10:9). All the lines of the Old Testament gather in Christ, He becomes the definitive "yes" to all the promises, the foundation of our final "Amen" to God (cf. 2 Cor 1:20). The story of Jesus is the full manifestation of the reliability of God If Israel commemorated the great acts of love of God, which formed the center of his confession, and opened the eyes of his faith, now the life of Jesus appears as the place of 'definitive intervention of God, the supreme manifestation of his love for us. What God has for us in Jesus is not one more word among many others, but his eternal Word (cf. Heb 1:1-2). There is no guarantee greater that God could give to reassure us of his love, as Saint Paul reminds us (cf. Rom 8.31 to 39). The Christian faith is thus full faith in Love, in its effective power, its ability to transform the world and to illuminate the time. "We have known and believed the love that God has for us" ( 1 Jn 4:16). Faith takes the love of God manifested in Jesus the foundation on which rests the reality and its ultimate destination. 16. The greatest proof of the reliability of the love of Christ is found in His death for man. If you lay down his life for his friends is the greatest proof of love (cf. Jn 15:13), Jesus offered his for everyone, even for those who were enemies, to turn the heart. That's why the evangelists located in the hour of the Cross, the culmination of the vision of faith, because at that shines the height and breadth of divine love. St. John will place here when its solemn testimony, together with the Mother of Jesus, beheld him whom they have pierced (cf. Jn 19:37): "He who saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, you also may believe "( Jn19:35). FM Dostoyevsky, in his work The Idiot , is to tell the protagonist, Prince Myshkin, the sight of the painting of the Dead Christ in the Tomb by Hans Holbein the Younger: "That picture could also lose faith in someone." [ 14] The painting is in fact, in a very raw, the destructive effects of death on the body of Christ. And yet, it is in the contemplation of the death of Jesus that faith is strengthened and receives a bright light, when it is revealed as unshakable faith in his love for us, which is capable of entering into death in order to save. In this love, which has not escaped the death to show how much he loves me, you can believe, all his wins suspicion and allows us to entrust ourselves fully to Christ. 17. Now, the death of Christ reveals the total reliability of the love of God in the light of his Resurrection. As the risen Christ is trustworthy witness, worthy of faith (cf. Rev 1:5; Heb 2:17), solid support for our faith. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain," says St. Paul ( 1 Cor 15:17). If the love of the Father had not raised Jesus from the dead, if he could not restore life to his body, then he would not love a fully reliable, able to illuminate the darkness of death. When St. Paul speaks of his new life in Christ, refers to the "faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" ( Gal 2:20). This "faith in

the Son of God" is certainly the faith of the Gentiles in Jesus, but it also presupposes the reliability of Jesus, which is based, yes, in his love to death, but also in his being the Son of God . Precisely because Jesus is the Son, because it is rooted in an absolute way in the Father's love could conquer death and give the light of the fullness of life. Our culture has lost the perception of this concrete presence of God, of his action in the world. We think that God is just beyond, to another level of reality, separate from our real relationships. But if so, if God were incapable of acting in the world, his love would not be very powerful, very real, and would equally not true love, able to make the happiness it promises. To believe or not to believe in Him would then be completely indifferent. The Christians, however, confess the real and powerful love of God, which works really into history and determine its ultimate fate, a love that has made our reach, which was fully revealed in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. 18. The fullness which Jesus brings faith has another decisive aspect. In faith, Christ is not only the One in whom we believe, the highest manifestation of God's love, but also the One to whom we are united in order to believe.Faith, not just look to Jesus, but look at it from the point of view of Jesus, with his eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing. In many areas of life we rely on other people who know things better than us. We have faith in the architect who built our house, in the pharmacist who gives us the medicine for healing, the lawyer who defends us in court. We also need someone who is reliable and experienced in the things of God Jesus, his Son, looks like the one that tells us God (cf. Jn 1:18). Christ's life his way of knowing the Father, live totally in relationship with Him - opens a new space to the human experience and we can enter. St John expressed the importance of the personal relationship with Jesus for our faith through various uses of the verb believe . Along with "believing that" it is true what Jesus tells us (cf. Jn 14,10, 20,31), John also uses the expression "believe" Jesus and "believe in" Jesus "believe in" Jesus, when we accept his Word, his testimony because he is truthful (cf. Jn 6:30). "We believe in" Jesus, when we welcome him personally in our lives and we rely on Him, adhering to Him in love and following him along the way (cf. Jn 2:11; 6.47, 12.44). In order for us to know, accept and follow Him, the Son of God assumed our flesh, and so his vision of the Father also took place in a human way, through a process and a journey through time. The Christian faith is faith in the Incarnation of the Word and in his Resurrection in the flesh, it is faith in a God who became so close to get into our story. Faith in the Son of God became man in Jesus of Nazareth does not separate us from reality, but it allows us to grasp its deeper meaning, to discover how much God loves this world and directs him incessantly to Himself, and this leads the Christian to engage, to live in a more intense way the journey on earth.
Salvation by faith

19. From this holding to the view of Jesus, the Apostle Paul, in his writings, has left us a description of the life of faith. He who believes in accepting the gift of faith, is transformed into a new creature receives a new being, a subsidiary became a son in the Son. "Abba, Father" is the word most characteristic of the experience of Jesus, which becomes the center of the Christian (cf. Rom 8:15). Life in the faith, as filial existence, is to recognize the original gift and radical that is the basis of human existence, and can be summed up in the phrase of St. Paul to the Corinthians: "What have you that you did not receive ? "( 1

Cor 4:7). Right here lies the heart of the controversy of St. Paul with the Pharisees, the discussion on salvation by faith or by works of the law. What Saint Paul rejects is the attitude of those who want to justify himself before God through their work. He, even when he obeys the commandments, even when they perform good works, puts himself at the center, and does not recognize that the source of goodness is God Who works well, who wants to be a source of self-righteousness, he sees and learns quickly run out that they can not even maintain fidelity to the law. Encased, isolating themselves from the Lord and from others, and therefore his life becomes vain, his works sterile as tree away from water. St. Augustine says in his language concise and effective: " Ab eo here fecit you deficere nec freight to you , "" From the one who made you, be not far off even to go out to you ". [15] When the ' Man thinks that turning away from God will find himself, his existence fails (cf. Lk 15.11 to 24). The beginning of salvation is open to something above, on a original gift that affirms life and keeps in existence. Only in opening to this origin, and recognizing it can be transformed, leaving the salvation work in us and makes life fruitful, full of good fruits. Salvation by faith is to recognize the primacy of God's gift, as St. Paul summarizes: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" ( Eph 2:8) . 20. The new logic of faith is centered on Christ. Faith in Christ saves us because it is in him that life is radically open to a love that precedes us and transforms us from within, working in us and with us. This appears clearly in the exegesis that the Apostle of the Gentiles is a text of Deuteronomy, exegesis that plugs into the deeper dynamics of the Old Testament. Moses tells the people that God's command is not too high nor too far from the man. You should not say, "Who will ascend into heaven to take it away from? 'Or' Who will go over the sea for us to take it away from? "(Cf. Dt 30.11 to 14). This proximity of the Word of God is interpreted by St. Paul as referring to the presence of Christ in the Christian: "Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? - That is, to make Christ down - or: Who will descend into the abyss? - That is, to make up Christ from the dead "( Rom. 10.6 to 7). Christ descended to earth and was raised from the dead through His Incarnation and Resurrection, the Son of God embraced the whole journey of man and dwell in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Faith knows that God became very close to us, that Christ was given to us as a great gift that transforms us from within, which dwelleth in us, and so gives us the light that illuminates the origin and the end of life, 'entire span of the human journey. 21. We can thus understand the novelty to which faith leads us. The believer is transformed by, which opened in faith, and in his open to the love that is offered to him, his existence extends beyond itself. St. Paul can say, "no longer I, but Christ lives in me" ( Gal 2:20), and exhort: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" ( Eph 3:17). In faith, '"I" of the believer expands to be inhabited by an Other, to live in an Other, and so his life widens in Love. Therein lies the actual work of the Holy Spirit. The Christian can have the eyes of Jesus, his feelings, his filial disposition, because it is made partaker of his love, who is the Spirit. It is in this love that you receive in any way own the vision of Jesus out of this conformation in Love, outside the presence of the Spirit who instills in our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5), it is impossible to confess Jesus as Lord ( cf 1 Cor 12:3).
The ecclesial form of faith

22. In this way the existence believer becomes ecclesial existence. When St. Paul speaks to Christians in Rome of that one body all believers in Christ, exhorts them not to boast, each must be assessed instead "according to the measure of faith that God has given to us" ( Rom 12:3). The believer learns to see himself from the faith he professes: the figure of Christ is the mirror in which discovers his picture made. And just as Christ embraces in himself all believers, who form his body, the Christian understands himself in this body, in the original relationship to Christ and to his brothers in the faith. The image of the body does not want to reduce the believer to simple anonymous part of a whole, a mere element of a great wheel, but rather emphasizes the vital union of Christ with believers and all believers to each other (cf. Rm 12, 4-5). Christians are "one" (cf. Gal 3:28), without losing their individuality, and in service to others everybody gains to the bottom of one's being. So we understand why out of this body, this unity of the Church in Christ, this Church which - in the words of Romano Guardini - "is the bearer of the gaze historical humanism of Christ to the world," [16] faith loses its "measure", can no longer find its balance, the space needed for support. Faith has a form necessarily ecclesial confesses from within the body of Christ, as concrete communion of believers. It is from this place that it opens the single ecclesial Christian toward all men. Christ's word, once used to it and for its own dynamism, is transformed into the Christian response, which itself then becomes spoken word, confession of faith. St. Paul says: "With the heart man believeth unto [...], and with the mouth confession is made of faith ..." ( Rm 10:10). Faith is not a private matter, an individualistic conception, a subjective opinion, but comes from a listening and is destined to rule and become ad. Indeed, "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How can they hear without someone to preach? "( Rm 10:14). Faith then becomes active in the Christian from the gift received, by the Love that draws to Christ (cf. Gal 5:6) and enabling them to share the journey of the Church, a pilgrim in history toward the fulfillment. For those who have been transformed in this way, it opens a new way of seeing, faith becomes light for his eyes.

CHAPTER TWO IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE, DO NOT UNDERSTAND (cf. Is 7:9)

Faith and truth

23. If you do not believe, you do not understand (cf. Is 7:9). The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint translation made in Alexandria, translated as the words of the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz. In this way the knowledge of the truth of the matter was placed in the center of the faith. In the Hebrew text, however, we read differently. In it the prophet said to the king: "Unless you believe, you will not be firm." Here is a play on words with two forms of the verb 'Haman , "believe" ( ta'aminu ), and "you will be balances" ( te'amenu ).Frightened by the power of his enemies, the king seeks security that can give him an alliance with the great empire of Assyria. The prophet, then, invited him to rely only

on the true rock that does not waver, the God of Israel. Since God is reliable, it is reasonable to have faith in Him, build your own safety on his Word. This is the God that Isaiah later called, twice, "the God-Amen" (cf. Is 65,16), the foundation of unwavering fidelity to the covenant. You might think that the Greek version of the Bible, in translating "be firm" with "understanding", has operated a profound change of the text, moving from the biblical notion of trust in God to the Greek understanding. However, this translation, which certainly accept dialogue with the Hellenistic culture, is no stranger to deep dynamic of the Hebrew text. The firmness that Isaiah promises the king passes, in fact, for the understanding of God's unity and that He gives to human life and history of the people. The prophet exhorts to understand the ways of the Lord, finding in the faithfulness of God's plan of wisdom that governs the ages. St. Augustine expressed the synthesis of "understanding" and '"be firm" in his Confessions, when he speaks the truth, which you can rely in order to stay on his feet, "I will firmly establish balance and I in you, [...] in your truth. " [17] From the context we know that St. Augustine wants to show the way in which this truth of God is reliable, as is clear in the Bible, his faithful presence throughout history, its ability to hold together the times, collecting the dispersion of the days of man. [18] 24. The text of Isaiah, read in this light, leads to a conclusion: the man needs to know, they need truth, because without it it is argued, does not go forward. Faith, without truth, it does not save, does not make sure our steps.It is a beautiful fairy tale, the projection of our desires for happiness, something that satisfied only to the extent that we want to deceive ourselves. Or is reduced to a nice feeling, that comforts and warms, but is still subject to change itself that inspire us, to the variability of the time, unable to sustain a constant journey in life. If faith were so, King Ahaz would have no reason not to play his life and the safety of his reign over emotion. But precisely because of its intrinsic relationship with the truth, faith is able to offer a new light above calculations of the king, because it sees farther, because it includes the act of God, who is faithful to his covenant and its promises. 25. Recall the connection between faith and the truth is now more necessary than ever, because of the crisis of truth in which we live. In contemporary culture, we often tend to accept as truth only that of technology: it is true that man can build and measure with his science, is not it because it works, and so makes it more pleasant and a comfortable life. This now seems the only certain truth, the only shared with others, the only one on which we can discuss and engage with. On the other hand, there would then be the truth of the individual, which consist in being authentic in front of what everyone feels inside, valid only for the individual and can not be proposed to the other under the pretense of serving the common good . The great truth, the truth that explains the set of personal and social life, is viewed with suspicion. Was it not this - we ask - the truth claim by the great totalitarian regimes of the last century, a truth which imposed its overall design to crush the concrete history of the individual? It remains then only a relativism in which the question of the truth of all, which is also at the bottom of the question of God, do not care anymore. It is logical, in this perspective, that I want to cut the connection of religion with the truth, because this link is at the root of fanaticism, which want to overwhelm those who do not share their beliefs. We can talk in this regard, a large oblivion in our contemporary world. The question of truth is, in fact, a matter of memory, deep memory, because it is aimed at something that precedes and, in this way, may be able to unite over our "I" small and limited. It is a question of the origin of all, in whose light we can see the goal and so is the sense of the common road.

Knowledge of truth and love

26. In this situation, the Christian faith can offer a service to the common good about the right way to understand the truth? To answer you need to think about the kind of knowledge of their own faith. It can help an expression of Paul, when he says: "With the heart man believeth" ( Rom 10:10). The heart, in the Bible, is the center of man, where are interwoven all its dimensions: the body and the spirit, the inner person and his openness to the world and to others, the intellect, the will, affectivity. Well, if the heart is capable of holding together these dimensions, it is because it is the place where we open ourselves to truth and love and let us touch and transform us deeply. Faith transforms the whole person, precisely because it opens itself to love. It is in this interweaving of faith with the love that we understand the form of knowledge proper to faith, the strength of his conviction, his ability to illuminate our path. Faith knows as it is linked to love, because love itself brings a light. The understanding of faith is that which arises when we receive the great love of God that transforms us from within and gives us new eyes to see the reality. 27. It is well known the way in which the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein explained the connection between faith and certainty. Believe would look like, according to him, the experience of falling in love, conceived as something subjective, impractical as a truth valid for all. [19] modern man seems, in fact, that the question of love has nothing to do with the real. Love is now an experience linked to the world of feelings and not more inconsistent to the truth. Really this is an adequate description of love? In fact, love can not be reduced to a feeling that comes and goes.It touches, yes, our emotions, but to open it to a loved one and so begin a journey, which is a departure from closure in self and go to the other person, to build a lasting relationship, love looks to ' union with the beloved.Then reveals himself in what sense the love they need truth. Just as it is based on truth love can endure over time, exceed the ephemeral instant and stand firm to support a common path. If love has no relationship to the truth, is subject to change feelings and does not pass the test of time. True love instead unifies all the elements of our person and becomes a new light towards a great and full life. Truth without love can not offer a solid bond, was unable to put l '' I 'beyond its isolation, nor to free him from the instant fleeting to build up the life and bear fruit. If love needs the truth, even the truth needs love. Love and truth can not be separated. Without love, the truth becomes cold, impersonal, oppressive to the concrete life of the person. The truth we seek, one that provides meaning to our steps, enlightens us when we are touched by love. Who likes to understand that love is an experience of truth, which itself opens our eyes to see all of reality in a new way, in union with the beloved. In this sense, St. Gregory the Great wrote that " amor ipse notitia east , "love itself is a knowledge brings with it a new logic. [20] It is a relational way of looking at the world, which becomes shared knowledge vision and in the vision of the common vision of all things. William of St. Thierry, in the Middle Ages, follows this tradition when he says a verse from the Song of Songs, where the beloved beloved says: Your eyes are the eyes of a dove (cf. Ct1:15). [21] These two eyes says William, are the reason believer and love, they become a single eye to come to contemplate God, when the intellect becomes' understanding of an enlightened love ". [22]

28. This finding love as a source of knowledge, which belongs to the original experience of every man, finds authoritative expression in the biblical understanding of faith. Enjoying the love with which God has chosen and created it as a people, Israel comes to understand the unity of the divine plan, from the origin to completion.The knowledge of the faith, for the fact of being born from the love of God that establishes the Covenant, is knowledge that illuminates a journey through history. This is why, also, that in the Bible, truth and loyalty go together: the true God is the faithful God, He who keeps his promises and allows, in time, to understand his plan. Through the experience of the prophets, and in the pain of exile in the hope of a final return to the Holy City, Israel has realized that this truth of God stretched beyond its own history, to embrace the whole history of the world, starting with the creation . The knowledge of the faith not only illuminates the path of a particular people, but the whole course of the created world, from its origin to its consummation.
Faith as listening and viewing

29. Just because the knowledge of faith is linked to the alliance of a faithful God who weaves a love relationship with the man and gives him the Word, it is presented in the Bible as a listen, is associated with the sense of hearing. St. Paul will use a formula become classic: fides ex hearsay , "faith comes from hearing" ( Rom. 10:17).The knowledge associated with the word is always personal knowledge, which recognizes the voice, it opens it in freedom and follows her into obedience. Therefore St Paul spoke of '"obedience of faith" (cf. Rom 1:5; 16:26).[23] Faith is also knowledge related to the passage of time, whose word needs to decide: it is knowledge which is learned only in a journey of discipleship. Listening helps to depict well the link between knowledge and love. With regard to the knowledge of the truth, listening is sometimes opposed to the view, which is peculiar to the Greek culture. The light, on the one hand offers the contemplation of the whole, which man has always aspired, the other does not seem to leave room for freedom, because down from heaven and goes directly to the eye, without asking who meets the eye. It also appears to invite a static contemplation, separated from the concrete time in which man enjoys and suffers. According to this view, the biblical approach to knowledge would object to the greek, which, in the search for a comprehensive understanding of the real, has linked the knowledge of vision. However, it is clear that this alleged opposition does not match the biblical data. The Old Testament has combined both types of knowledge, because listening to the Word of God unites the desire to see his face. In this way it was possible to develop a dialogue with the Hellenistic culture, a dialogue that belongs to the heart of Scripture. Hearing attests to the personal call and obedience, and also the fact that the truth is revealed over time, the sight offers the full vision of the entire route and allows to situate himself in the great plan of God, without such a vision disporremmo only isolated fragments of a completely unknown. 30. The connection between seeing and hearing, as organs of knowledge of the faith, appears most clearly in the Gospel of John. For the fourth Gospel, to believe is to listen and, at the same time, see. Listening to the faith takes place according to the form of knowledge proper to love: it is a personal listening, which distinguishes and recognizes the voice of the Good Shepherd (cf. Jn 10,3-5), a listening that requires the following, as it happens with the first disciples, "heard him speak, and they followed Jesus" ( Jn 1:37). On

the other hand, faith is also connected to vision. Sometimes, the vision of the signs of Jesus precedes faith, as with the Jews who, after the resurrection of Lazarus, "at the sight of what he did, believed in him" ( Jn 11,45). Other times, it is the faith that leads to a more profound: "If you believe you will see the glory of God" ( Jn 11,40). In the end, believe and see intertwine: "Whoever believes in me [...] believeth on him that sent me, and whoever sees me sees him who sent me" ( Jn 12.44-45). Thanks to this union by listening, seeing becomes the following of Christ, and faith appears as a journey of the eye, where the eye is accustomed to see in depth. And so, on Easter morning, we go from John, still in the dark, before the empty tomb, "saw and believed" ( Jn 20,8) to Mary Magdalene that now sees Jesus (cf. Jn 20,14 ) and wants to keep him, but is invited to contemplate on its way to the Father, to the full confession of the same Magdalene, to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord! "( Jn 20:18). How to get to this synthesis between hearing and seeing? It becomes possible from the concrete person of Jesus, who you see and hear. He is the Word made flesh, of which we beheld the glory (cf. Jn 1:14). The light of faith is that of a face when you see the Father. In fact, the truth is that faith grasps, in the fourth Gospel, the manifestation of the Father in the Son, in his flesh and in his earthly labors, that truth can be defined as the "bright life" of Jesus [24] This means that knowledge of faith invites us to look at a purely inner truth. The truth that faith opens up for us is a truth centered on the encounter with Christ, on the contemplation of his life, on the perception of its presence. In this sense, St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the ' prudent fides of the Apostles - sees faith! - In front of the corporeal vision of the Risen Christ. [25] They saw the risen Jesus with their own eyes and yet have believed, have, that is, able to penetrate into the depth of what they saw to confess the Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father. 31. Only in this way, through the Incarnation, through the sharing of our humanity, could come to the fullness of knowledge proper to love. The light of love, in fact, comes when we are touched in the heart, thus receiving the indwelling in us of the beloved, which allows us to recognize its mystery. We can now understand why, along with listening and see, faith is, for St. John, a touch, as stated in his first Letter: "That which we have heard, what we have seen [...] and touched with our hands the Word of life ... "( 1 Jn 1:1). By his Incarnation, his coming among us, Jesus has touched us, and through the sacraments, even today we have to, in this way, turning our hearts, allowed us and allows us to recognize and confess as the Son of God With faith, we can touch, and receive the power of his grace. St. Augustine, commenting on the passage of the Woman touches Jesus to be healed (cf. Lk 8.45 to 46), said: "Tap your heart, this is believing". [26] The crowd gathers around him, but does not reach it with the personal touch of faith, which recognizes his mystery, his being Son manifests the Father.Only when we are configured to Jesus, we receive adequate eyes to see it.
The dialogue between faith and reason

32. The Christian faith, as it proclaims the truth of total love of God and open to the power of this love, comes to the deepest center of the experience of every man that comes to light thanks to the love and is called to love to stay in the light. Moved by the desire to illuminate the whole of reality from the love of God manifested in Jesus, trying to love with the same love, the early Christians found in the greek world, its hunger for truth, a partnersuitable for

dialogue. The meeting of the gospel message with the philosophy of the ancient world constituted a decisive step for the gospel to come to all peoples, and fostered a fruitful interaction between faith and reason, which has been developing over the centuries, to the present day . Blessed John Paul II , in his Encyclical LetterFides et ratio , showed that faith and reason are mutually reinforcing. [27] When we find the full light of the love of Jesus, we find that in all our love there was a glimmer of that light and understand what was his ultimate goal. And at the same time, the fact that our love brings with it a light, helps us to see the path of love toward the fullness of self-giving of the Son of God for us. In this circular motion, the light of faith enlightens all our human relationships, which can be lived in union with the love and tenderness of Christ. 33. In the life of St. Augustine, we find a significant example of the way in which the search for the right, with his desire for truth and clarity, has been integrated into the horizon of faith, from which it received new understanding. On the one hand, he receives the light of Greek philosophy with its insistence on vision. His encounter with Neoplatonism introduced him to the paradigm of light, which comes down from above to brighten things up, and is thus a symbol of God in this way, St Augustine understood the divine transcendence and found that all things have in them a transparency, which could reflect that the goodness of God, the Good.It was thus freed from Manichaeism in which he lived, and that the first inclined to think that the good and evil continually struggled with each other, mingling and mixing, without clear contours. Understand that God is light, has given a new orientation in existence, the ability to recognize the evil of which he was guilty and to turn towards the good. On the other hand, however, in the practical experience of St. Augustine, which he recounted in his Confessions , the decisive moment in his journey of faith has not been to a vision of God beyond this world, but rather that of 'listening in the garden when he heard a voice saying to him: "Take and read" and he took the volume with the Letters of St. Paul, highlighting the thirteenth chapter of the Romans. [28] looked so the personal God of the Bible, able speak to man, to come down to live with him and to accompany her journey through history, manifesting itself in time of listening and responding. And yet, this encounter with the God of the Word has not led Augustine to reject the light and vision. He has integrated both perspectives, always guided by the revelation of God's love in Jesus so he developed a philosophy of light that accommodates itself reciprocity own speech and the freedom of the open space look towards the light. As the word is a clear answer, so the light is as a response to an image that reflects it. St. Augustine can refer then, combining listening and viewing pleasure, the "word that shines within man". [29] In this way, the light becomes, as it were, the light of a word, because it is the light of a personal face, a light, illuminating us, calls us and wants to be reflected in our face to shine from within us. On the other hand, the desire of the vision of the whole, and not just the fragments of history, remains present and will be completed at the end, when the man, as the Bishop of Hippo, will and love. [30] And this, not because it will be capable of possessing all light, always will be inexhaustible, but because it will, in one piece, in the light. 34. The light of love, your faith, it can illuminate the questions of our time on the truth. The truth today is often reduced to subjective authenticity of the individual, valid only for the

individual life. A common truth frightens us because we identify with the uncompromising imposition of totalitarianism. If, however, the truth is the truth of love, if it is the truth that unfolds in a personal encounter with the Other and with others, then is released from closure in the individual and can be part of the common good. Being a love of the truth, not truth which are necessary with violence, it is not truth that crushes the individual. Born of love can reach the heart, the center staff of every man. It is clear that faith is not so intransigent, but grows in coexistence that respects each other. The believer is not arrogant, on the contrary, the truth makes him humble, knowing that, more than we possess it, is that it embraces us and possesses us. Far dall'irrigidirci, security puts us on a journey of faith, and makes it possible for the witness and dialogue with everyone. On the other hand, the light of faith, as linked to the truth of love, is not alien to the material world, because love always lives in body and soul, the light of faith is embodied light that proceeds from life light of Jesus It also illuminates the subject, trusting in his order, he knows that it opens a path of harmony and understanding wider and wider. The look of science thus receives a benefit by faith: this invites the scientist to remain open to reality, in all its inexhaustible wealth. Faith awakens the critical sense, as it prevents the quest to be satisfied in its formulas and helps you to understand that nature is getting bigger. Inviting to wonder at the mystery of creation, faith broadens the horizons of reason to illuminate more of the world that opens to the studies of science.
The faith and the search for God

35. The light of faith in Jesus also illuminates the path of all those who seek God, and offers the own contribution of Christianity in dialogue with the followers of different religions. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us about the testimony of the just, before the Covenant with Abraham, already sought God with faith. Of Enoch it is said that "it was declared persona acceptable to God" ( Heb 11:5), which is impossible without faith, because those who "comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" ( Heb 11 , 6). We can thus understand that the path of the religious man goes to the confession of a God who cares for him and that it is not impossible to find. What other reward could offer God to those who seek him, if not being encountered? Before that, we find the figure of Abel, of which it is praised because of the faith which God liked his gifts, the offer of the firstborn of his flocks (cf. Heb 11:4). The religious man tries to recognize the signs of God in the everyday experiences of his life, in the cycle of the seasons, the fertility of the earth and the whole movement of the cosmos. God is light, and can be found by those who seek him with a sincere heart. Picture of this research are the Magi, guided by the star to Bethlehem (cf. Mt 2:1-12). For them the light of God is shown as a journey, guiding star along a road of discovery. The star speaks well of God's patience with our eyes, which have to get used to its former glory. The religious man is on the way and should be ready to be guided, to go out of ourselves to find the God who always surprises. This God's respect for the man's eyes shows us that when the man approaches him, the human light does not dissolve in the immensity light of God, as if it were a star swallowed dawn, but gets brighter as it is closer to the original fire, like a mirror which reflects the glory. The Christian confession of Jesus, the one Saviour says that all the light of God is concentrated in him, in his "bright life", which reveals the origin and the end of history. [31] There is no human experience, no route of man towards God, which can

not be accepted, purified and illuminated by this light. The more immersed in the Christian circle opened by the light of Christ, the more he is able to understand and to accompany the way of all to God Because faith is configured as a route, it also affects the lives of men who, while not believing, they want to believe and do not stop trying. To the extent that open to love with a sincere heart and bring you on a journey with the light that fail to grasp, already living, without knowing it, on the road to faith. They try to act as if God existed, sometimes because they recognize its importance to find guidelines balances in the common life, or because they experience the desire to light in the midst of the dark, but also because, in perceiving how great and beautiful life, sense that God's presence would make it even bigger. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons says that Abraham, before listening to the voice of God, I already tried "nell'ardente his heart's desire," and "went around the world, wondering where God was" until "God took pity on him that, alone, he was looking in silence ". [32]Who put you on the way to practice good already approaching to God, is already supported by his help, because it is precisely the dynamics of divine light illuminate our eyes when we walk towards the fullness of love.
Faith and Theology

36. Since faith is a light, inviting us to forward us in it, to explore more and more that illuminates the horizon, to learn more about what we love. From this desire arises Christian theology. It is clear then that theology is impossible without faith and that it belongs to the movement of faith, which seeks to understand the deeper self-revelation of God, culminating in the Mystery of Christ. The first consequence is that theology is not given only an effort of reason to scrutinize and know, as in the experimental sciences. God can not be reduced to object. He is Person who makes himself known and manifested in the relationship from person to person. The right faith directs reason to be open to the light that comes from God, so that it, guided by love for the truth, to know God in a deeper way. The great medieval theologians and doctors have indicated that theology as the science of faith, is a participation in the knowledge that God has of himself. Theology, then, is not only the word of God, but first of all welcome and looking for a deeper understanding of that word that God speaks to us, a word that God pronounces on itself, because it is an eternal dialogue of communion, and admits the man in this dialogue. [33] It is part of the theology of humility then you leave "touch" from God, recognizes its limits before the Mystery and goes on to explore, with the laws governing the reason, the unsearchable riches of this mystery. Theology then shares the ecclesial form of faith, and its light is the light of the believer which is the Church. This implies, on the one hand, that theology is at the service of the faith of Christians, humbly put to guard and to deepen the belief of all, especially of the simplest. Moreover, theology, because he lives the faith, do not consider the Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him as something extrinsic to limit its freedom, but, on the contrary, as one of its internal constitutive, as the Magisterium ensures contact with the original source, and thus provides certainty to draw from the Word of Christ in its entirety.

CHAPTER THREE Pass on to you what I received (cf. 1 Cor 15:3)

The Church, the mother of our faith

37. Anyone who is open to God's love, he listened to his voice, and he received his light, can not keep this gift for himself. Because faith is listening and viewing pleasure, it is also transmitted as a word and as light.Speaking to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul used precisely these two images. On the one hand, he says: "Since we have that same spirit of faith as it is written, I believed, therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak "( 2 Cor 4:13). The word received you answer, confession and, in this way, resonates for others, inviting them to believe. On the other hand, St. Paul also refers to the light: "In reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image" ( 2 Cor 3:18). It is a light which is reflected in the face of the face, as Moses carried within itself the reflection of God's glory after speaking with him: "[God] has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ "( 2 Cor 4:6). The light of Jesus shines, as in a mirror, on the face of Christians and so it spreads, so come down to us, because we too can participate in this vision to others and reflect its light, as in the Easter liturgy the light of candle light many other candles. The faith is transmitted, so to speak, in the form of contact, from person to person, such as a flame lights from another flame. The Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so fruitful that it becomes a big tree and is able to fill the world with fruit. 38. The transmission of faith, that shines for all people of all places, also passes through the axis of time, from generation to generation. Because faith is born of an encounter that happens in the history and illuminates our path in time, it is to be transmitted over the centuries. It is through an unbroken chain of evidence that comes to us the face of Jesus How is this possible? How to be sure to tap into the "real Jesus" through the centuries? If man were an isolated individual, if we wanted only starting from '"I" individual, who wants to find himself in the safety of his knowledge, this certainty would be impossible. I can not see for myself what happened at a time so far away from me. This is not, however, the only way in which man knows. The person still lives on in the relationship. It comes from others, belongs to others, his life becomes larger in the encounter with others. And even their knowledge, the same self-consciousness, is relational, and is linked to others who have gone before us: First our parents, who have given us life and name. The language itself, the words with which we interpret our lives and our reality, comes to us through others, preserved in the living memory of others. The knowledge of ourselves is possible only when we participate in a larger memory. It so happens also in the faith that leads to the fullness of the human way of understanding. The past of faith, that act of love of Jesus in the world that has generated a new life comes to us in the memory of others, witnesses, kept alive in that subject only memory which is the Church. The Church is a Mother who teaches us to speak the language of faith. St. John insisted on this aspect in his Gospel, merging faith and memory, and associating both the action of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus says, "I remember

everything" ( Jn 14:26). The Love who is the Spirit, and dwells in the Church, maintains united among themselves all the time and makes us contemporaries of Jesus, making it the guidance of our walk in faith. 39. It is impossible to believe it yourself. Faith is not just an option that takes place in the interiority of the individual believer, it is not isolated relationship between '"I" of the faithful and the "You" divine, between the autonomous subject and God, which is open by its very nature to "we", always takes place within the communion of the Church. The dialogue form of the Creed , used in the baptismal liturgy, we are reminded. The belief is expressed as a response to an invitation, a word that needs to be heard and does not proceed from me, and this is part of a dialogue, it can not be a mere confession that comes from the individual. You can answer in the first person, "I think," just because you belong to a great community, just because it also says "believe." This opening to the "we" of the Church takes place according to the opening of their love of God, which is not only the relationship between Father and Son, between "I" and "you", but in the Spirit is also a "we", a communion of people. That's why those who believe are never alone, and because it tends to spread the faith, to invite others to his joy. Who receives the faith, they discover that the spaces of his "I" widen and are generated in him new relationships that enrich your life. Tertullian has given it effectively speaking of catechumens, that "after the washing of the new birth" is welcomed into the home of the Mother to lay hands and pray together with his brothers, the Our Father, as welcomed into a new family. [34 ]
The Sacraments and the transmission of faith

40. The Church, like any family, send her children to the contents of its memory. How to do it, so that nothing be lost and that, on the contrary, everything you ever deeper in the inheritance of faith? It is through the Apostolic Tradition preserved in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit, that we have a living contact with the memory of founding. And what has been transmitted by the Apostles - as stated by the Second Vatican Council - 'contains everything you need to live a holy life and to increase the faith of the People of God, and so in his doctrine, in his life and in his worship the Church perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes ". [35] Faith, in fact, needs a framework in which we can witness and communicate, and that it is appropriate and proportionate to what is communicated. To transmit a purely doctrinal content, an idea, maybe just a book, or the repetition of a verbal message. But what is communicated in the Church, which is transmitted in its living Tradition, it is the new light which the encounter with the living God, a light that touches the person in its center, in the heart, involving her mind, his will and his emotions, opening in relations lives in communion with God and with others. To transmit this fullness exists a special medium, which brings into play the whole person, body and soul, inwardness, and relationships. This means they are the sacraments celebrated in the liturgy of the Church. In them you communicate a memory incarnate, tied to the places and times of life, associated with all the senses, and in them the person is involved, as a member of a living subject, in a fabric of community relations. For this reason, it is true that the sacraments are the sacraments of the faith, [36] one must also say that faith has a sacramental structure. The awakening of faith is for the awakening of a new sacramental sense of human life and of Christian life, showing how the visible and the material is open to the mystery of the eternal.

41. The transmission of the faith takes place primarily through Baptism. It might seem that Baptism is only one way to symbolize the confession of faith, an act of teaching for those in need of images and gestures, but from which, after all, you could ignore. A word of St. Paul, by the way of Baptism, reminds us that it is not. He states that "through baptism we [...] buried with Christ into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" ( Rom 6:4). In Baptism we become a new creature and adopted children of God The Apostle goes on to state that the Christian has been entrusted to a "form of teaching" ( typos didaches ), which obeys the heart (cf. Rom 6:17). In Baptism man receives also a doctrine to profess and a concrete form of life that requires the involvement of all his person and walks towards the good.Is transferred to a new area, entrusted to a new environment, a new way of acting together, in the Church.Baptism thus reminds us that faith is not the work of the isolated individual, is not an act that man can accomplish relying on their own strength, but must be received, entering the ecclesial communion which passes on the gift of God: no one baptizes himself, just as no one is born alone existence. We were baptized. 42. What are the baptismal features that introduce us to this new "form of teaching"? On the catechumen invoked in the first place the name of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It provides a summary way since the beginning of the journey of faith. The God who called Abraham and wanted to be called their God, the God who has revealed his name to Moses, the God deliver us in his Son, revealed fully for us the mystery of his name, a new identity gives the baptized branch. It appears in this way, the meaning of the action that takes place in baptism, immersion in water: Water is, at the same time, a symbol of death, which invites us to go for the conversion of '"I" in view of its openness to an "I" bigger, but it is also a symbol of life, the womb in which followers of Christ are born again into his life. In this way, through immersion in water, Baptism tells us about the structure embodied the faith. The action of Christ touches us in our personal reality, radically transforming us, making us adopted children of God, partakers of the divine nature, so change all our relationships, our concrete situation in the world and in the cosmos, opening them up to his own life of communion . This dynamism own processing of Baptism helps us to grasp the importance of the catechumenate, which today, even in societies with ancient Christian roots, in which a growing number of adults approach the sacrament of baptism, is of singular importance for the new evangelization . It is the way of preparation for Baptism, transformation of the whole existence in Christ. To understand the connection between baptism and faith, we can be of help to remember a text from the prophet Isaiah, who was associated with the Baptism in ancient Christian literature: "Fortresses rock will be his refuge [...] its water will be ensured" ( Is 33.16). [37] The baptized, redeemed by the water of death, he could stand up on the "strong rock", because he had found the strength go to. Thus, the water of death has turned into water of life. The text greek described it as water pists water "faithful". The water of baptism is faithful to it because you can rely, because his current enters into the dynamics of the love of Jesus, source of security for our journey in life. 43. The structure of Baptism, its configuration as a rebirth, when we receive a new name and a new life, helps us to understand the meaning and the importance of infant baptism. The child is not capable of a free act that embraces faith, can not even confess it alone, and for this reason it is confessed by his parents and godparents in his name. Faith

is lived within the community of the Church, is part of a "we" common. Thus, the child can be supported by others, by his parents and godparents, and can be supported in their faith, which is the faith of the Church, symbolized by the light that the father draws from the candle in the baptismal liturgy. This highlights the importance of the Baptism of the synergy between the Church and the family in the transmission of the faith. The parents are called, according to words of St. Augustine, not only the generation of children to life, but to bring them to God that, through Baptism, are reborn as children of God, receive the gift of faith. [38] Thus , along with the life they are given the fundamental orientation of the existence and the security of a good future, guidance will be further corroborated in the Sacrament of Confirmation with the seal of the Holy Spirit. 44. The sacramental nature of faith finds its highest expression in the Eucharist. It is precious nourishment of faith, this encounter with Christ in a real way with the supreme act of love, the gift of Himself that generates life. In the Eucharist we find the intersection of the two axes on which the faith on his path. On the one hand, the axis of the story: the Eucharist is an act of memory, actualization of the mystery, in which the past, as an event of death and resurrection, shows his ability to open to the future, to anticipate the final fulfillment. The liturgy reminds us with his hodie , l '"today" of the mysteries of salvation. On the other hand, here is also the axis that leads from the visible to the invisible world. In the Eucharist we learn to see the depth of reality. The bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ, who is present in his paschal journey towards the Father: this movement leads us, body and soul, in the movement of the whole creation to its fullness in God 45. In the celebration of the Sacraments, the Church sends its memory, in particular, with the profession of faith.In it, is not so much to provide assent to a set of abstract truths. On the contrary, in the confession of faith enters a lifelong journey toward full communion with the living God. We can say that in I think the believer is invited to enter into the mystery which professes and to be transformed by what he professes. To understand the meaning of this statement, we think first of all the contents of the Creed . It has a structure Trinity: the Father and the Son are united in the Spirit of love. The believer says so that the center of being, the deepest secret of all things, is the divine communion. In addition, I also contains a Christological confession: we retrace the mysteries of Jesus' life, until his Death, Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven, pending the final coming in glory. It is said, therefore, that this God fellowship, exchange of love between Father and Son in the Spirit, is capable of embracing the history of man, to introduce it in its dynamism of communion, which has its origin in the Father and his final goal . He who confesses the faith, finds himself involved in the truth that he confesses.Can not say with truth the words of the Creed , without being thereby transformed, without take the love story that embraces him, which expands its making be part of a great communion of the subject who utters the last I think and that is the Church. All the truths that you believe say the mystery of new life of faith as a journey of communion with the living God.
Faith, prayer and the Decalogue

46. Two other elements are essential to the faithful transmission of the memory of the Church. First, the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father. In it, the Christian learns to share the same

spiritual experience of Christ and begin to see with the eyes of Christ. From Him who is Light from Light, the Only Begotten of the Father, we too know God and we can switch on in others the desire to get closer to Him It is equally important, in addition, the connection between faith and the Decalogue. Faith, we said, looks like a path, a way to go, open encounter with the living God. For this reason, the light of faith, of trust in the God who saves total, the Decalogue acquires its deeper truth contained in the words that introduce the Ten Commandments: "I am your God who brought you out of the land ' Egypt "( Ex 20:2). The Decalogue is a set of negative precepts, but concrete suggestions to get out of the desert '"I" self-referential, self-enclosed, and enter into dialogue with God, letting yourself be embraced by his mercy to bring his mercy. Faith confesses that the love of God, the origin and support of all, himself to be moved by this love to walk into the fullness of communion with God Decalogue appears as the path of gratitude, the response of love, possible because, in faith, we are open to experience the transforming love of God for us. And this way receives a new light on how Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5-7). I touched so the four elements that summarize the treasure of the Church transmits memory: the Confession of faith, the celebration of the Sacraments, the path of the Decalogue, prayer. The catechesis of the Church has traditionally structured around them, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church , a fundamental tool for that act unit with which the Church communicates the entire contents of the faith, "all that she herself is, all that she believes" . [39]
The unity and integrity of the faith

47. The unity of the Church, in time and in space, is connected to the unity of faith: "There is one body and one spirit [...] one faith" ( Eph 4: 4-5). Today may seem like a viable ' union of men in a common endeavor, in loving, sharing the same fate, in a common goal. But it is very difficult to conceive of a unit in the same truth. It seems to us that such a union is opposed to freedom of thought and autonomy of the subject. The experience of 'tells us that their love is possible to have a common vision, that in it we learn to see reality through the eyes of others, and that this impoverishes us, but it adds to our gaze. True love, a measure of divine love, and demands the truth in the eyes of the common truth, which is Jesus Christ, becomes firm and deep. This is also the joy of faith, the unity of vision in one body and one spirit. In this sense St. Leo the Great could say: "If faith is not, it is not faith". [40] What is the secret of this unit? Faith is "a" in the first place, for the unity of God known and confessed. All the articles of faith relate to Him, are ways to get to know his being and his actions, and to have this one more than any other that we can build with our thinking, have the unit that enriches us, because you communicate to us and makes us "one." Faith is one, as well as turns to the Lord, the life of Jesus, his real story he shares with us. St. Irenaeus of Lyons has made it clear in opposition to the Gnostic heretics. They argued that there are two kinds of faith, a faith crude, the faith of simple, imperfect, which was maintained at the level of the flesh of Christ and the contemplation of the mysteries, and another kind of faith deeper and more perfect, true faith restricted to a small circle of initiates that rose with the intellect beyond the flesh of Jesus to the mysteries of the

unknown deity. Faced with this demand, which continues to have its charm and his followers even in our days, St. Irenaeus insists that faith is one, because it always passes through the concrete point of the Incarnation, without ever exceeding the meat and history of Christ, since God has chosen to reveal fully in it. This is why there is no difference between faith in "the one who is able to talk about it any longer" and "the one who does not talk much," including one who is superior and who is less capable, neither the former can expand the faith, nor the latter decrease. [41] Finally, faith is because it is shared by the whole Church, which is one body and one Spirit. In the communion of the one subject which is the Church, we receive a common look. Confessing the same faith we rest on the same rock, are being transformed by the Spirit of love, radiate a unique light and we have a unique look to penetrate the reality. 48. Given that the faith is one, is to be confessed in all its purity and integrity. Just because all the articles of faith are linked in unity, to deny one of them, even those that seem less important, is to damage the whole. Every age can find points of faith more easy or difficult to accept: that's why it is important to monitor because it is transmitted across the deposit of faith (cf. 1 Tim 6:20), because they properly insist on all aspects of the confession of faith. In fact, as the unity of the faith is the unity of the Church, diminishing the faith is diminishing the truth of communion. The Fathers have described the faith as a body, the body of truth, with different members, in analogy with the body of Christ and its prolongation in the Church. [42] The integrity of Faith was also linked to the image of Virgin Church, his faithfulness in the spousal love for Christ, a faith means to damage the damage the communion with the Lord. [43] The unity of faith is that of a living organism, as well detected when the Blessed John Henry Newman enumerated, among the characteristic features to distinguish the doctrine of continuity over time, its power to assimilate into itself everything it finds, in the various fields in which it is noted, in different cultures he encounters, [44] and purifying all leading to its best expression. Faith shows itself so universal, catholic, because its light grows to illuminate the whole cosmos, the whole story. 49. As a service to the unity of the faith and its transmission integrates the Lord has given the Church the gift of apostolic succession. Through it, is to guarantee the continuity of the Church's memory and you can draw with certainty by the pure source from which the faith is. The guarantee of the connection to the source is given, therefore, by people living, and this corresponds to a living faith that the Church transmits. It rests on the fidelity of the witnesses who were chosen by God for this task. Therefore, the Magisterium speaks always in obedience to the Word original upon which the faith and is reliable because it relies on listening to the Word, preserves and exhibits. [45] In the farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, collected by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul testifies that he accomplished the task entrusted to him by the Lord to announce 'the whole counsel of God "( Acts 20:27). It is thanks to the Magisterium of the Church that we can get this integration will, and with it the joy of being able to carry out to the full.

CHAPTER FOUR

GOD PREPARES FOR THEM A CITY (cf. Heb 11:16)

The faith and the common good

50. In presenting the history of the patriarchs and of the righteous of the Old Testament, the Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes an essential aspect of their faith. It is defined not only as a journey, but also as the building, the preparation of a place where humans can live together with others. The first constructor is Noah, the ark, he manages to save his family (cf. Heb 11:7). It appears then Abraham, which says that, by faith, lived in tents, waiting for the city which has foundations (cf. Heb 11:9-10). Lies, therefore, in relation to faith, a new reliability, a new strength that only God can give. If the man of faith rests on God Amen, the faithful God (cf. Is65,16), and so he becomes the same balance, we can add that the strength of faith also refers to the city that God is preparing for man . Faith reveals how much can be strong the bonds between men, when God is present in their midst. Not only evokes an inner strength, a stable conviction of a believer, faith illuminates the relationships among people, because it springs from and follows the dynamic of God's love God gives men a reliable reliable city. 51. Precisely because of its connection with love (cf. Gal 5:6), the light of faith is at the service of real justice, law and peace. Faith is born from the encounter with the love of God's original sense in which it appears and the goodness of our lives, this is illuminated to the extent that enters the dynamism that is open to this love, as it becomes that way and practice to the fullness of love. The light of faith is able to highlight the richness of human relationships, their ability to support themselves, to be reliable, to enrich the common life. Faith is not away from the world and is no stranger to concrete commitment of our contemporaries. Without a reliable love nothing could really keep men together. The unity between them would be conceivable only as based on usefulness, on the composition of the interest, on fear, but on the goodness of life together, not on the joy that the mere presence of the other can give. Faith helps us to understand the architecture of human relationships, because it grasps its ultimate foundation and the final destiny in God, in his love, and so illuminates the art of building, becoming a service to the common good. Yes, faith is good for everyone, it is a common good, its light not only illuminates the inside of the Church, nor merely serves to build a city eternal afterlife, it helps us to build our society, so they walk towards a future of hope. The Letter to the Hebrews offers an example of this when, among men of faith, appoints Samuel and David, whose faith enabled him to "pursue righteousness" (Heb 11:33). The term here refers to them justice in governing, in the wisdom that brings peace to the people (cf. 1 Sam 12.3 to 5; 2 Sam 8:15). The hands of faith rise up to the sky, but they do it while they build, charity, a city built on relationships where the love of God is the foundation.
Faith and Family

52. In the journey of Abraham to the city of the future, the Letter to the Hebrews mentions the blessing that is passed from parents to children (cf. Heb 11: 20-21). The first area in which the faith illuminates the city of man is in the family. I think first stable union of man

and woman in marriage. It was born out of their love, a sign of God's love and presence, since the recognition and acceptance of the goodness of sexual difference, to which the spouses may join in one flesh (cf. January 2:24) and are capable of generating a new life, and goodness of the Creator, his wisdom and his plan of love. Based on this love, man and woman can promise herself mutual love with a gesture that involves the whole life and reminiscent of so many traits of faith. Promise a love that is forever is possible when you discover a bigger picture of their projects, which sustains us and allows us to donate the entire future of the beloved. Moreover, faith helps us to understand in all its depth and richness to the procreation of children, recognizing in it because it is the creator who gives us love and entrusts to us the mystery of a new person. That's how Sara, for her faith, became the mother, relying on God's faithfulness to his promise (cf. Heb 11:11). 53. Family, faith accompanies all stages of life, from childhood: children learn to trust the love of their parents.It is therefore important that parents cultivate the common practices of faith in the family who accompany the maturation of the faith of their children. Especially young people, who go through a time of life so complex, rich and important for the faith, they must feel the closeness and care of the family and of the ecclesial community in their journey of growth in faith. We've all seen how, in World Youth Day, young people show the joy of the faith, the commitment to live a faith that is deeper and more generous. Young people have the desire of a great life. The encounter with Christ, and let themselves be guided by his love widens the horizon of existence, gives a firm hope that does not disappoint. Faith is not a shelter for people without courage, but the expansion of life. It reveals a great call, the vocation to love, and ensures that this love is reliable, that is worth to surrender to it, because its foundation is in God's faithfulness, stronger than all our fragility.
A light for life in society

54. Assimilated and in-depth family, faith becomes a light for all social relations. As experience of the fatherhood of God and the mercy of God, then expands in fraternal journey. In the "modernity" has tried to build universal brotherhood among men, based on their equality. Gradually, however, we realized that this fraternity, deprived of reference to a common Father as its ultimate foundation, can not exist. We must therefore return to the true root of the fraternity. The story of faith, since its inception, has been a story of brotherhood, though not without conflict. God called Abraham to leave his land and promises to make him one great nation, a great nation, upon which rests the blessing of God (cf. January 12:1-3). In making the history of salvation, man discovers that God wants to involve everyone as brothers and sisters, the one blessing, which finds its fullness in Jesus, so that they may all be one. The unfailing love of the Father is communicated to us in Jesus, even through the presence of his brother. Faith teaches us to see that in every man there is a blessing to me, that the light of God's face lights me across the face of his brother. How much benefit has brought the eyes of the Christian faith to the city of men for their common life! Through faith we understand the unique dignity of the individual person, which was not so evident in the ancient world. In the second century, the pagan Celsus accused the Christians what seemed to him an illusion and a deception: think that God created the world for man, placing it at the top of the whole cosmos. He then asked, "Why pretend that [the grass] grow for men, and not best for most wild animals for no reason? " [46] "If we look at the earth from the sky, what difference would offer our activities

and those of ants and bees? ". [47] At the heart of biblical faith, there is love of God, his concrete cure for every person, his plan of salvation which embraces all humanity and all creation, and reaches the summit in 'incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When this reality is obscured, it fails the criterion for distinguishing what makes it precious and unique human life. He lost his place in the universe, is lost in nature, giving up their moral responsibility, or claims to be the absolute arbiter, by taking on a power handling without limits. 55. Faith also in revealing the love of God the Creator, there is more respect for nature, being recognized in it a grammar written by him and a home entrusted to us because both cultivated and guarded; helps us find patterns of development that do not rely only on the usefulness and profit, but consider that the creation as a gift, of which we are all indebted and teaches us to find the right forms of government, recognizing that the authority comes from God to be at the service of the common good. Faith also affirms the possibility of forgiveness, which requires many times of time, effort, patience and commitment, you can lose if it turns out that the good is more fundamental and more powerful than evil, that the word by which God says our life is deeper than all our negations. Even from an anthropological point of view simply, on the other hand, the unit is superior to the conflict, we must also take responsibility of conflict, but the experience it should lead us to solve it, over it, turning it into a link in a chain, in a development towards unity. When faith is lost, there is a risk that even the basics of life are not, as the poet TS Eliot warned: "You perhaps need to be told that even those modest success / that allow you to be proud of a company educated / hardly survive the Faith to which they owe their significance? ". [48] If we take away the belief in God from our cities, will fade the trust between us, we'd love united only by fear, and stability would be threatened. The Letter to the Hebrews says: "God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared a city for them" ( Heb. 11:16).The expression "not ashamed" is associated with a public recognition. It means that God confesses publicly, with his concrete action, his presence among us, his desire to make strong the relationships between people.We may be ashamed of us to call God our God? We will not admit it as such in our public life, not to propose the greatness of ordinary life that He makes possible? Faith lights the social life; it has a creative light for each new moment in history, because it puts all events related to the origin and destiny of everything in the Father who loves us.
A comforting strength in suffering

56. St. Paul writing to the Christians of Corinth of its tribulations and sufferings connects his faith through the preaching of the Gospel. He says, in fact, that he takes the place of the scripture: "I believed, therefore I spoke" ( 2 Cor 4:13). The Apostle refers to an expression of Psalm 116, where the Psalmist exclaims: "I believed even when I said I'm too miserable" (v. 10). Speaking of faith often involves also talk about painful trials, but they in fact St. Paul sees the ad more convincing of the gospel, because it is in the weakness and suffering that emerges and discovers the power of God that is beyond our weakness and our suffering. The Apostle himself is in a situation of death, which will become life for Christians (cf. 2 Cor 4.7 to 12). In times of trial, faith enlightens us, and precisely in suffering and weakness becomes clear that "we [...] do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord" ( 2 Cor 4:5). Chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews concludes with a reference to those

who have suffered for the faith (cf. Heb 11, 35-38), among which a special place is occupied by Moses, who took upon himself the indignity of Christ (cf. v.. 26). The Christian knows that suffering can not be eliminated, but it can get a sense, it can become an act of love, trust in the hands of God who does not abandon us, and in this way, to be a stage of growth in faith and love. Contemplating the union of Christ with the Father, even in the moment of greatest suffering on the cross (cf. Mk 15:34), the Christian learns to participate in the eyes of Jesus himself Even death is lit and can be seen as the ' last call of faith, the last "Go forth from your land" ( January 12.1), the last "Come!" pronounced by the Father, which we deliver with the confidence that He will make us firm even in the final step. 57. The light of faith does not make us forget the suffering of the world. For many men and women of faith who are suffering are mediators of light! So for St. Francis of Assisi the leper, or to the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta its poor. They understand the mystery that is in them. Approaching they certainly have not deleted all their sufferings, nor have they been able to explain all evil. Faith is not light that dispels all our darkness, but light that guides our footsteps in the night, and this is enough for the journey. Those who are suffering, God does not give a reasoning that explains everything, but gives his answer in the form of a presence that accompanies a story of good that unites himself with each story of suffering in it to open a passage of light. In Christ, God himself wanted to share with us this way and offer his eyes to see it in the light. Christ is the one who, having endured the pain, "gives rise to faith and brings it to fulfillment" ( Heb 12:2). Suffering reminds us that the service of faith to the common good service is always hope, looking forward, knowing that only by God, from the future that comes from the risen Jesus, may find solid and lasting foundations of our society. In this sense, faith is joined to hope because even though our home is here on earth can destroy, there is an eternal home that God has now opened in Christ, in his body (cf. 2 Cor 4.16 to 5.5 ). The dynamism of faith, hope and charity (cf. 1 Thes 1:3; 1 Cor 13:13) makes us so embrace the concerns of all men, in our way to that city, "whose builder and maker is God" ( Heb 11:10), because "hope does not disappoint" (Rom 5:5). Unity in faith and charity, hope us towards a secure future, which lies in a different perspective compared to the proposals illusory idols of the world, but that gives new impetus and new strength to everyday life. Let us not steal hope, do not let it be thwarted with immediate solutions and proposals that block the path, that "break up" time, turning it into space. The weather is always greater than the space. The space crystallizes processes, the time instead projecting into the future and pushes to walk with hope.

B eata she who believed ( Lk 1:45)

58. In the parable of the sower, St. Luke records the words with which Jesus explains the meaning of "good soil": "They are those who, having heard the word with a perfect heart, and good, and yield fruit with patience" (Luke 8, 15). In the context of the Gospel of Luke, the mention of the heart, and good, in reference to the Word heard and kept, is a portrait of the implicit faith of the Virgin Mary. The same evangelist tells us of the memory of Mary, as preserved in the heart of everything he heard and saw, so that the Word bring forth fruit in his life.The Mother of the Lord is perfect icon of the faith, as St. Elizabeth says: "Blessed is she who believed" ( Lk 1:45).

In Mary, the Daughter of Zion, is accomplished the long history of the Old Testament faith, with the story of so many faithful women, beginning with Sarah, women, next to the patriarchs, was the place where God's promise was fulfilled , and the new life blossomed. In the fullness of time, the Word of God is addressed to Mary, and she welcomed her with all his being, in his heart, because she took flesh and was born as the light of men. St. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho , has a beautiful expression that says that Mary, in accepting the message of the Angel, has conceived "faith and joy". [49] In the Mother of Jesus, in fact, faith is is shown full of fruit, and when our spiritual life bears fruit, filling us with joy-Piamo, which is the clearest sign of the greatness of faith. In his life, Mary has made the pilgrimage of faith, to follow his Son. [50] Thus, in Mary, the journey of faith of the Old Testament is assumed in the following of Jesus, and let themselves be transformed by Him, entering in the eyes own the Son of God incarnate. 59. We can say that the Blessed Virgin Mary is true that on which I have previously emphasized, namely that the believer is totally involved in his confession of faith. Mary is closely associated, because of its connection with Jesus, to what we believe. In Jesus' virginal conception we have a clear sign of the divine sonship of Christ. The eternal origin of Christ is in the Father, He is the Son in a total sense and unique, and this is born in time without the intervention of man. He was a Son, Jesus can bring to the world a new beginning and a new light, the fullness of God's faithful who gives himself to men. On the other hand, the real motherhood of Mary assured for the Son of God a real human history, a true flesh in which he died on the cross and rise from the dead. Maria will accompany him to the cross (cf. Jn 19:25), where her motherhood will extend to every disciple of her Son (cf. Jn 19:26-27). Will also be present at the Last Supper, after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, imploring with the Apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14). The movement of love between the Father and the Son in the Spirit has come our history; Christ draws us to Himself to save us (cf. Jn 12:32). At the center of the faith is the confession of Jesus, Son of God, born of a woman, who introduces us to the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the adoptive sonship (cf. Gal 4:4-6). 60. To Mary, Mother of the Church and mother of our faith, we turn in prayer.
Help, O Mother, our faith! Open our listening to the Word, because we recognize the voice of God and his call. Wake up in us the desire to follow in his footsteps, coming out of our land and upholding his promise. Help us to let ourselves be touched by her love, because we can touch it with faith. Help us to entrust ourselves fully to Him, to believe in his love, especially in times of tribulation and the cross, when our faith is called to mature. Sowing the joy in our faith the Risen One. Remind us that those who believe are never alone. Teach us to look with the eyes of Jesus, that He might be light for our path. And this light of faith will continue to grow in us, until you get that day without sunset, which is the same Christ, your Son, our Lord!

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on June 29, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 2013, the first of my Pontificate.

FRANCISCUS

[1] Dialogus cum Tryphone Iudaeo , 121, 2: PG 6, 758. [2] Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus , IX: PG 8, 195. [3] Brief an Elisabeth Nietzsche (11 June 1865), in: Werke in drei Bnden , Mnchen 1954, 953s. [4] Paradise XXIV, 145-147. [5] Acta Sanctorum , Iunii, I, 21. [6] "If the Council does not expressly mention faith, it speaks to every page, recognizes the vital and supernatural, the supposedly intact and strong, and builds on it its doctrines. Enough to remember the conciliar statements [...] to realize the essential importance that the Council, consistent with the doctrinal tradition of the Church, attributed to faith, true faith, that Christ has for source and channel the magisterium of the Church "(Paul VI, General Audience [March 8 1967]: Teachings V [1967], 705). [7] See eg. The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Cost. on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius , chap. III: DS3008-3020; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Cost. on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum , 5; Catechism of the Catholic Church , 153-165. [8] See Catechesis V, 1: PG 33, 505A. [9] In Ps. 32, II, s. I, 9: PL 36, 284. [10] M. Buber, Die Erzhlungen der Chassidim , Zrich, 1949, 793. [11] Emile , Paris, 1966, 387. [12] Lettre Christophe de Beaumont , Lausanne 1993 110. [13] See In Joh. Evang. , 45, 9: PL 35, 1722-1723. [14] Part II, IV. [15] De continentia , 4, 11: PL 40, 356. [16] Vom Wesen katholischer Weltanschauung (1923), in: Unterscheidung des Christlichen. Gesammelte Studien 1923-1963 , Mainz, 1963, 24. [17] XI, 30, 40: PL 32, 825.

[18] See ibid. , 825-826. [19] Cf Vermischte Bemerkungen / Culture and Value , GH von Wright (eds.), Oxford 1991, 32-33, 61-64. [20] Homiliae in Evangelia , II, 27, 4: PL 76, 1207. [21] Cf Expositio super Cantica Canticorum , XVIII, 88: CCL , continuatio Mediaevalis 87, 67. [22] Ibid. , XIX, 90: CCL , continuatio Mediaevalis 87, 69. [23] "is due to God who reveals" the obedience of faith "( Rom 16:26; cf. Rom 1:5; 2 Cor 10:5-6), with which the man abandons the whole person and by lending freely the full submission of intellect and will and willingly assenting to the revelation that he does. Why make this act of faith, we need the grace of God that precedes and assists and the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, opening the eyes of the spirit and give it to all to accept and believe the truth. To bring about an understanding of Revelation become ever deeper, the same Holy Spirit constantly perfects faith by his gifts "(Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution. On Divine Revelation Dei Verbum , 5). [24] See H. Schlier, Meditationen Johanneischen ber den Begriff der Wahrheit , in: Besinnung auf das Neue Testament. Exegetische Aufstze und Vortrge 2 , Freiburg, Basel, Wien, 1959, 272. [25] See S. Th . III, q. 55, a. 2 to 1. [26] Sermo 229 / L, 2: PLS 2, 576: " Tangere autem ropes, hoc est believe . " [27] Cf Encyclical Letter. Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998), 73: AAS (1999), 61-62. [28] Cf Confessions , VIII, 12, 29: PL 32, 762. [29] De Trinitate , XV, 11, 20: PL 42, 1071: " verbum quod intus lucet ". [30] See City of God , XXII, 30, 5: PL 41, 804. [31] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration. Dominus Iesus (6 August 2000), 15: AAS 92 (2000), 756. [32] Demonstratio apostolicae praedicationis , 24: SC 406, 117. [33] See Bonaventure, Breviloquium , ext. : Complete Works, V, Quaracchi, 1891, p. 201, In I Sent. , prooem, q. 1, resp.: Complete Works, I, Quaracchi, 1891, p. 7; Thomas Aquinas, S. Th . I, q. 1. [34] See De Baptismo , 20, 5: CCL 1, 295.

[35] Constitution Dogmatic. on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum , 8. [36] See Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium , 59. [37] Cf Epistula Barnabae , 11, 5: SC 172, 162. [38] See De Nuptiis et concupiscentia , I, 4, 5: PL 44, 413: " habent quippe intentionem generandi regenerandos, ut ex eis here saeculi filii Dei nascuntur in Filios renascantur " . [39] Conc Second Vatican Ecumenical Council II, Dogmatic Constitution. on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum , 8. [40] In nativitate Domains sermo 4, 6: SC 22, 110. [41] See Irenaeus, Adversus Haer , I, 10, 2: SC 264, 160. [42] See ibid. , II, 27, 1: SC 294, 264. [43] See Augustine, De virg , 48, 48: PL 40.424-425: " Servatur et in fide inviolate quaedam castitas virginalis, here Ecclesia uni viro virgo cooptatur caste . " [44] See An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine , Uniform Edition: Longmans, Green and Company, London, 1868-1881, 185-189. [45] See Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution. on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum , 10. [46] Origen, Against Celsus , IV, 75: SC 136, 372. [47] Ibid. , 85: SC 136, 394. [48] "Choruses from The Rock "in: The Collected Poems and Plays 1909-1950, New York 1980 106. [49] Cf Dialogus cum Tryphone Iudaeo , 100, 5: PG 6, 710. [50] See Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution. on the Church Lumen Gentium , 58.