|
155 In faith, the human intellect and
will cooperate with divine grace: Believing is
an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by
command of the will moved by God through grace.27 Faith and understanding 2008 i~6 What moves us to believe is not the fact that
revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light
of our natural reason: we believe
because of the authority of God himself who reveals
them, 1063 who can neither deceive nor be deceived~.28 So
that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be
in accordance with reason, 2465 God willed that external
proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal
helps of the Holy Spirit.29 Thus the miracles of 548
Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Churchs
growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability
are the most certain signs of 812 divine
Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all; they
are motives of credibility (motiva
credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is
by no means a blind impulse of the mind.30
157 Faith is certain. It is more certain than
all human knowledge because it is founded on the very
word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can
seem obscure to human reason and experience, but the
certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that
which the light of natural reason gives.3
Ten thousand difficulties do not make one
doubt.32 i~8 Faith seeks
understanding:33 it is intrinsic to faith that a
believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put
his
aith, and to understand better what He has revealed;
a more 2705 netrating knowledge will in turn call forth
a greater faith, creasingly set afire by love. The grace of
faith opens the eyes of 1827 ur hearts34 to
a lively understanding of the contents of Revel n: that
is, of the totality of Gods plan and the mysteries of
~h, of their connection with each other and with Christ, the
90 tre of the revealed mystery. The same Holy
Spirit constantly ects faith by his gifts, so that
Revelation may be more and ~ profoundly
understood.35 In the words of St Augustine, I |
|