Do you miss me? This is the word that Fr. Anthony asked everyone and in a loud voice they answered, “Yes”. He, then, invite everyone to tell the person beside him that he misses him. He said that when you miss the person, it is because you love that person. For you do not miss someone you do not love. And I am so thankful for loving me.
He said, for the whole month of February that we
considered the month of love, we reflected on the beautiful virtue of love. We
heard so many beautiful words about love. Today, we will discuss and reflect on
another theological virtue for the whole month of March which is the virtue of
faith (Pananampalataya). As a spiritual director, it is his task to discuss
about the virtue of faith and the other preachers will continue to explore the
said virtue.
His discussion is rooted in Catechism of
Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Latin: Catechismus
Catholicae Ecclesiae; commonly called the Catechism or the CCC) is a catechism
promulgated for the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II in 1992. It sums up,
in book form, the beliefs of the Catholic faithful. There it is written, The
four pillars of the Catholic Church which is the Creed, Prayer, Sacraments and
Morality.
He asked everyone, “What is faith (
pananampalataya) as a virtue?” He started on Catechism of Catholic Church #142
that states: “By his revelation, that the invisible God, from the fullness of
his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite
them into his own company. The adequate response to this invitation is called
faith.”
When we talk about God’s revelation it simply
means (ang pagpapahayag o ang pagpapakilalang ng Diyos) God reveals himself in
so many various ways. In that revelation, God has a strong desire to gather his
children. A desire that His children will have communion with Him.
He asked everyone from where this desire is
rooted. He explained that it is rooted in love. He further explained that we
consider God is Love and because of this Love God desires to unite his
children. Just like parents, if you love your children you will always gather
and want to unite them. Because of love, God wants to gather us and to have
communion with him and the adequate response to the invitation is through
faith. When we say, “Yes Lord I want to be with you.” or when you said “I want
to respond to your invitation, which you would like to be a member of his
family” or the minute that you say, “Lord I want to embrace your desire to be
with you.” That desire or response is what we call faith.
He added that CCC #143 states: “Faith is when
man completely submits his intellectual and his will to God.”. The act of
submitting our whole self is called obedience of faith. To obey come from the
latin ob-audire, to hear or listen to) in faith is to submit freely to the word
that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is truth
itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by sacred scripture.
The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment. He explained that man submits
himself, his intellect and his will to God, with its own being, he ascends to
God. Scripture said that this very act of obedience is faith.
Fr. Anthony further explained about obedience of
faith. He said that obedience of faith is when we completely submit our whole
being or our whole self without holding anything. Sometimes we say, “Lord can I
submit my whole being to you on an 80 percent?” No! There’s no holding on, it’s
100 percent surrender and submission of ourselves to God. Whatever profession
we are or whatever position we have in life, we must totally submit our
intellect and will to God. Most of the time we want our plans and our desire to
be followed but in terms of faith we submit our own will to God. To submit
ourselves and to obey him, we must know how to listen and hear. We need to
listen to his revelation to us.
Fr Anthony also talked about the characteristic
of faith. In CCC there so many characteristic of Faith. First, Faith is a
grace. When Jesus asked, “Who do people say that I am?” Peter responded,” You
are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This declaration or confession of
Peter as Jesus said doesn’t come from him but it is revealed by God to him.
This revelation is a grace, Peter listened and heared and he proclaimed that
Jesus is the Son of the Living God. When we say yes to the Lord’s nvitation to
be with him, when we offer our whole self-including out intellect and will ,
this offering is actually a grace from the Lord. If, for example that someone
invites you to join the El Shaddai ministry and you responded on the calling,
it is called a grace.
The other characteristic of faith, as Fr.
Anthony continued, is faith as a gift from God (regalo ng Panginoon). When we
submit ourselves to God it is also a gift from God. Because in reality if we
are just controlled by our human mind, following God is just a waste of time.
Saying yes to God is a gift. The Holy Spirit, who moves our human understanding
and converts it to accept God, is a gift from God. Your mind will be opened and
made it easy for you to accept and believe in the truth.
The other reality under the faith is that the
gift of faith can be lost. We can lose this priceless gift. St Paul always
tells us we must always persevere in our faith, we have to keep our faith or
nourish our faith, because if not then this priceless gift will leave us. How?
When we don’t want to listen, when someone invites us and we don’t listen.
Remember the first act of obedience of faith is to listen. When we close our
ears, then we lose the possibility to hear the faith or to hear the truth. Then
we close our ears we also close our hearts. We don’t want to listen. We say I
know that already and we keep on making sins and our conscience will be lost
and even lose our faith.
The other characteristic of faith according to
Fr Anthony is that faith is also a human act. The act of submission of our
intellect and will is a human act. We are not been forced, we can always say
no. if somebody asked you to Join El Shaddai. You can always say no or cover
your ears or close your heart. Faith is always a human act. God is not a God
that will force us. He will always give us freedom. The act of faith in a very
nature is a free act. Fr Anthony made an example about the Virgin Mary. When
angel Gabriel revealed and told her that she will become the mother of the Son
of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. She have all the freedom to say no. But at the
end, she submitted herself. Nobody can force to embrace the faith against his
will. The idea why faith is a free act because when you are being forced to do
something then we cannot submit our whole self on something that we are being
forced to do. You will always put a wall because you are being forced, but when
you are not being forced, then you can give your one hundred percent “Yes”.
Furthermore, the issue on faith and science was
also discussed by Fr. Anthony. He said, “I believed that most of us encountered
this question: Does faith oppose science? Are they in a battle?” Some says that
you, church people, just go to church. Do not tell science what is true. CCC
states that faith and science are not opposed to each other. We know that
science is a systematic study of the body of knowledge which the ultimate
purpose is to know the truth. For instance, Biology is a study of life but in
the end, the study is to know the truth about life and its source. But who is
the truth? God is the truth himself. When biologists study life, at the end,
they will be brought to God, the source of life. When botanists study plants,
in the end, they will be brought to God who is the creator of heaven and earth.
The other characteristic of faith as to Fr
Anthony continued to explained is faith as a personal act. The free response of
the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. Saying yes to
the Lord and to have communion with Him, saying Lord I submit my intellect and
my will to you, is a personal act. But this personal act is not an isolated
act. No one can believe alone. Just as the same that no man can live alone. You
have not given up faith so as you’re not giving up life. Yes faith is a
personal act, saying yes to his invitation to be with him, but faith must be
lived in a community. He made an example that, often times, we always heard,
“Yes I believed in God yet I don’t want to go to Church.” He said, when you
believed in God it is a personal act, this personal act would always go with
the community. Because Faith is not an isolated act. It always in communion
with our brothers and sisters. Some people say that they will just want to be
in communion with God. He reminded us of what is God’s invitation?. That is
when His children will gather together as one family, but you don’t what to be
with your brothers and sister, then it is wrong. Faith although is a personal
act, it is always be celebrated and lived in a community. Because, it is there
in the community, that the faith will be nourished and grown. The believer has
received faith from others and should hand it out to others. Our love for Jesus
and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about faith. Each believer
is, thus, a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without
being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in
the faith.
Fr Anthony summarized faith as when we
completely listen and submit ourselves as we hear God’s revelation or calling
to be with Him. It is a free act to know and ascend to the truth. Although it
is a personal act, God wants us to be in communion with one another so we could
grow in the love of God and the love of our neighbor.
Fr. Anthony and the El Shaddai community is
inviting everybody to attend our Gawain at San Antonio Parish Church at 4 PM
every Sunday, which culminates in the Holy Eucharist. Come and see how we
worship and praise God for His wonderful love for all of us sinners.
