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175 ‘We guard with care the faith that we have
received from the Church, for without ceasing, under the
action of God’s Spirit, this deposit of great price, as
if in an excellent vessel, is constantly being renewed and
causes the very vessel that contains it to be renewed.
‘62 176 Faith is a personal
adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself It
involves an assent of the intellect and will to the
self-revelation God has made through his deeds and words. 177 ‘To believe’ has thus a twofold
reference: to the person, and to the truth:
to the truth, by trust in the person who bears witness to
it. 178 We must believe in no one but God: the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 179 Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In
order to believe, man needs the
interior helps of the Holy Spirit. i8o ‘Believing’ is a human act,
conscious and free, corresponding to the
dignity of the human person. I 81 ‘Believing’ is an ecclesial act.
The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports and
nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all
believers. ‘No one can have God as Father who does not
have the Church as Mother’ (St Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL
~, 519). 182 We believe all ‘that which is contained
in the word of God, written or handed down, and which the
Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed’ (Paul
VI, CPG § 20). 183 Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord
himself affirms: ‘He who believes and is baptized
will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned’ (Mk 16:16). 184 ‘Faith is aforetaste of the knowledge
that will make us blessed in the life
to come’ (St Thomas Aquinas, Comp. theol. 1, 2).
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