Period of Inquiry

Faith - Accepting Jesus as Savior

FAITH

What it is - how we get it - how we grow in it.

Accept Jesus As Savior - Faith.

"The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach). For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" Rm 10:8-9,13.

That Jesus is alive, and that we confess Him as Lord is the key for an authentic and consistent Christian life. "This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the Gospel" Mk 1:15. Proclaim the good news... The one who believes... will be saved" Mk 16:15-16.

The kerygma, or first teaching about Jesus, should lead to an initial conversion and to the first expression of faith. This budding faith is opening up, adhering to and, accepting and choosing Christ and the Kingdom of God, its values and demands.

An open and receptive attitude and a response to the first announcement and proclamation of the Good News brings conversion and faith. We repent and believe and change our life-direction and personally accept the salvation God offers us, believing that we have already been saved in Jesus. We believe that He offers that salvation to us now and we can make it ours by sincerely inviting Him to be our personal Savior and by an explicit and personal adhesion to Jesus.

By faith we are not speaking of believing in the existence of God - which can be reached by our reason alone - or the acceptance of revealed biblical truths, but rather we are speaking of a faith of adhesion to the person of Jesus and His offering of salvation. This positive response to the announcement of salvation will lead us to an encounter with the Risen Lord similar to Paul's encounter on the road to Damascus - an encounter that will totally change the meaning and course of our life.

Many of us were baptized as infants and may be living a Christian life of moral rectitude and living up to our religious doctrine. However, it is necessary to have a living faith, a personal encounter with Jesus. We must accept Him, confess Him and receive Him in our heart and in our life as Savior.

WHAT DOES BEING A CHRISTIAN MEAN TO YOU?

Christianity is not only a doctrine or a religion. It is entering into and maintaining a personal relationship with the living Christ as God and Lord. It begins with a real encounter with Jesus and is maintained and developed through intimate communication and communion with Him. Just as Jesus asked his disciples, so he asks us: "And you, who do you say that I am?"

What is our personal response to Him? It is a response that is not a repetition of a lesson memorized by heart but one that is born from our own experience. What response can you give today?

The sad reality is that for many people, Christianity has been reduced to:

€ A religion of external practices and sometimes just sacramental practices to fulfill a duty or a law, or only devotional practices as a kind of spiritual bargaining to and acceptance from God. This type of religion is not an expression of our faith, but sometimes it is a substitute for it.

We give to these religious practices a value in themselves and allow them to create the illusion of having fulfilled an obligation. From them, we experience a false sense of "peace of mind." People often exercise these practices out of superstition, as if they had some sort of magical power. They perform these acts because they have a utilitarian mentality or out of fear of the divine.

This type of religiosity is very often alienating. We give our outer shells in sacrifice, but keep our hearts to ourselves. We think of heaven without really letting God reign and rule in this world. We are not really interested m or concerned with the human community- We do not worry about bettering the world in which we live and do not work to bring about love, peace and justice.

€ A restrictive morality embraces a code of predominantly negative rules that limit our freedom and, by their very nature, constrain our lives. It is not a personal communion with a living God but a Christianity that offers legalism without life. It¹s a life that is dull and sad in which our very souls are enslaved.

€ It is a doctrine with only theory and concepts or a humanistic ideology - that sees Christ as only an extraordinary man and treats the Gospel as an ideal program for righteousness, justice or social liberation; humanism without God, rationalism without an authentic faith, visions and ideals which end here on earth and place no transcendence or value in the resurrection or eternity. Christianity and faith are much more than these. Christianity and faith should precede any of the above manifestations

That is why the Pope tells us, "Oftentimes we tune into our faith weakly. I propose the following so that you may renew your faith: A personal encounter, a living encounter, with open eyes and beating hearts with the risen Lord.

HOW DO WE BEGIN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE?

Authentic religious life begins with a living encounter with Jesus, welcoming Him and receiving Him into our hearts and lives wherein He will enter bringing salvation, deliverance, healing and transformation.

It is necessary to have a personal experience of encounter and salvation. It is from this experience that we are able to commit our whole being, in fact, our whole life to Him.

From this living encounter with Jesus a new life begins, which is expressed and manifested by our moral behavior, worship and religious life. They are the normal fruit and consequence of the living presence of Jesus and the powerful action of the Holy Spirit. "...the initial evangelization has often not taken place. A certain number of children baptized in infancy come for catechesis in the parish without receiving any other initiation into the faith and still without any explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ. (CT) 19.

Faith is saying "yes" to the presence and saving action of God through Jesus Christ. It is a "yes" that is clear and conscientiously given once and renewed repeatedly. Faith is a free and responsible adhesion of our entire self to Jesus and to the totality of His message and work.

Often, we have been taught Christian doctrine before we have had a personal encounter with Jesus. We fulfill the moral code and religious practices before we experience personal salvation and deliverance.

Salvation should be an actual and personal experience. A person can say that he has been saved only when he/she has experienced a concrete, specific situation in his life of being saved.

There will be an actual experience of salvation or condemnation as Mark 16:16 in points out, when one responds positively or negatively to evangelization. In the Acts of the Apostles this warning was issued at the end of every Kerygmatic announcement. Salvation comes not only at the hour of our death but can be ours now as a result of being saved.

"Here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house." Rev 3:20.

This is why in every Kerygmatic evangelization there is a direct invitation for an immediate response to conversion and faith. It requires an explicit response during the Penitential Liturgy.

Let us listen to Jesus' call and open the door to him. Let us receive Him into our hearts and make salvation ours.

Saying "Yes" to Jesus and His salvation is a voluntary act. It is necessary to invite Him explicitly to enter our hearts and our lives. It is a clear choice for Christ, a personal acceptance and attachment to Jesus as our Savior. The Pope tells us this in Catechesi Tradendae by using the expression "explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ." (CT 19)

A Dialogue at Baptism on Faith

Priest: What do you ask of the Church of God?

Person: Faith.

Priest: What does faith offer you?

Person: Everlasting life.

Priest: If then it is life you wish to enter, keep the commandments. Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.

The Beginning Stage: A time of inquiry - our initial conversations will deal with the big issues of any human life. What do we believe? How do we live? How can we have a lasting relationship? What should we do when a relationship is threatened? How can I find meaning and satisfaction in life? What do you mean - God is the answer?

Faith - a personal quality that lets us see reality in a different and deeper way. It enables us to accept on trust what God has revealed, and to respond with commitment of ourselves to God.

SUPPLEMENTARY

READ  12 What is faith?

Faith is a gift of the Father. To the Jews, Jesus said: "No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me" (John 6:44). As a sign of this gift Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind from birth: "Jesus spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle and put this over the eyes of the blind man" (John 9:6).

The gift of faith unites us with Christ. Jesus then said to the blind man: "Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.' Through this washing the man received the sight to see Christ. He said: "'Lord, I believe,' and worshiped him" (John 9:38).

Our union with Christ enables us to profess the truth. We can profess our faith only when we have received God's Spirit. As Jesus tells us:
"I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16). And so when the man born blind recognized Jesus he professed his faith to the Pharisees: "If this man were not from God, he couldn't do thing" (John 9:32).

  Faith is one of those key words which so often creep into the everyday conversation of Catholics. Non-Christian bystanders, unaware that so humble a word seeks to describe the deepest of human experiences, are often surprised at the emotion it arouses.

  The obvious dismay which greets the news that Tom has "lost" his faith is as much a puzzle to unbelievers as the spirited rejoicing over someone who has "found" faith. But, whatever else they may think, they are left in no doubt that this thing called faith is something highly valued by their Catholic friends. After all, only something one treasures can be lost in sadness and found in joy.

  We certainly value our faith; and possibly that is why, for most of the time, we take it so much for granted. It is like an old coat that fits so snugly we hardly notice it. But, in much the same way as old coats tend to suddenly give way at the seams, life often takes us unawares. We find ourselves in new and changing situations which force us to ask such questions as, "Do I have faith?" and, not least, "What is faith?"

  It was just such a changing situation which forced the first disciples of Jesus to question their attitude toward him. His torturous and degrading death on the Cross plunged them into despair. "Our own i~ hope," the two disciples told the mysterious ~ 31 stranger on the road to Emmaus, "had been ;~ 11 that he would be the one to set Israel free" (Luke24:21).Their now fading hope echoed the intense devotion of Peter, who in happier days had defiantly asked, "Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life" (John 6:68). But that life had been cruelly extinguished. Or had it?

Somewhere on the road to Emmaus the stranger stopped and, in speaking to the
two men, addressed himself to the whole world. "You foolish men! So slow to believe I the full message of the prophets!" (Luke 24:25) Then he began to explain the Scriptures and, almost imperceptibly, they found welling up within them their former attitude of hope and confidence in Jesus. This attitude we call faith.

 What, then is faith? It is the stupendous divine gift which enables us to recognize the risen Lord in the face of the stranger of Emmaus. It is to recognize that nowhere in this wide world can we find more truth than in his words. In the attitude of faith our whole being—intellect and emotions—is impelled to join Peter in his confident assertion, "Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life." 

Now do Self-correcting quiz #12 


13 How does God's gift of faith unite us with Christ?

  Faith prompts us to follow Christ. Many recognize the wisdom of his words and perfection of his life. As Jesus began his public ministry the impression he made on men, such as Simon and Andrew, was so deep that they left their nets and

   But toward the end of his public ministry Jesus spoke of a deeper union for those who had "followed" him: "Make your home in me, as I make mine in you . . . I am the vine, you are the branches . . . If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it" (John 15:4-7).

Saint Paul reflected on these words and on the words he heard at his conversion as he persecuted Christians: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And so he compared the closeness of our union with Christ to the union of the different parts of the body: "Just as a  human body, though it is made up of many parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ.... Now you together are Christ's body; but each of you is a different part of it" (1 Corinthians 12:12f).

  "Every person," writes Bishop Fulton Sheen, "carries with him a blueprint of the person he loves." And we know exactly what he means.

  It is, perhaps, one of the more puzzling quirks of our human nature which leads us on occasion to take an instant like or dislike to someone on first meeting. "A tiny architect," muses Bishop Sheen. "works inside the human heart drawing sketches of the ideal love from the people it sees, from the books it reads, from its hopes and daydreams, in the fond hope that the eye may one day see the ideal and the hand touch it."

  Perhaps we will never meet our ideal love. But that does not prevent us from recognizing these feelings within us and seeing in them a pale reflection of what the human heart most desires. In each of us there is a deep hunger and craving for the love of God.

  Now such a statement may seem just a little too poetic and "up in the air" as we struggle out of bed in the morning to face another day of work and routine. But at some time, even on the bleakest of days, a little flicker of love is bound to stir in our hearts. Someone or something will remind us that we are a thinking, feeling, loving being. And that is important. In a more reflective mood we will remember those moments and recognize that the ability to love and be loved has been planted in us by the supreme Architect, God himself. And only God himself can fully satisfy this love.

  We really begin to understand just what this means only when it dawns on us just how important we are in God's sight. Saint Paul tried to drive this truth home to his Ephesian converts by telling them that, even before the world began, God chose us and determined that we should become his adopted children through Jesus Christ.

  Saint Paul was not just making a general statement that doesn't concern me. He wanted me to understand that God really did choose me to be his child. This is the often unspoken desire planted by God in the heart of every man and woman. And until the hope is realized, no one can ever really under stand what it is to be fully human.

  How does God's gift of faith unite us with Christ? That is the question we have posed ourselves. Catholic teaching is quite clear in stating that so closely does the gift of faith unite us with Christ that he becomes our brother, and we children of the Father. But just how this union comes about will form the greater part of our continuing prayer and reflection in this Catechism.

Now do self-correcting quiz #13:
 

CRACKER BARREL DISCUSSION

Summary: Jesus is present in His Church, Word, Community and individuals as SAVIOR of you and all mankind. Given the reality of the existence of sin and it s consequences present in each of our lives overcoming the alienating affects of that sin can be accomplished only through acceptance of God's solution ... Jesus, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Each must recognize one's need for a SAVIOR and decide to accept daily the liberating new life Jesus offers. We must decide!

1. Who is Jesus to you and what affect has he had on your life? Give some examples.

2. How have you recognized a need for Jesus in your life?

3. What would have to change to have Jesus in your life?

4, Jesus is always present in our life. What are your hopes and exceptions of Jesus? What do you feel Jesus expects from you?

A Religious Truth (or doctrine) is revealed by God.

It is believed in faith.

It is understood through reflection of the community - a theology.

It is expressed in scripture, in creed, in prayer and worship.