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seen the Father, Jesus Christ is
the only one who knows him and can reveal him.2
To believe in the Holy Spirit 152 One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without
sharing in his
one can say Jesus is Lord,
except by the Holy Spirit,22 who searches
everything, even the depths of God... No one comprehends the
thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God.23 Only God
knows God completely: we believe in the Holy Spirit
because he is God. The Church never
ceases to proclaim her faith in one only God:
232 Father, Son and Holy Spirit. III. The Characteristics of Faith
Faith is a grace
living God,Jesus declared to him that this
revelation did not come from flesh and blood,
but from my Father who is in heaven.24 Faith is
a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him.
Before this
who moves the heart and converts it to
God, who opens the eyes
truth.25
Faith is a human act 154 Believing is possible only by grace and the
interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true
that believing is an authen i~~g tically human
act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he
has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to
human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to
our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about
themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises
(for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a
communion of life with one another. If this is so, still
less is it contrary to our dignity to yield by
faith the full submission of... intellect and will to God
who reveals,26 and to share in an interior communion
with him. |
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