a) GOD'S GREATEST GIFT

"Faith is God's greatest gift"

Faith is a gift from God, nay, the first and greatest gift that God, in his infinite mercy, has ever bestowed.  In fact, without faith, we cannot please him and belong to the chosen company of his sons and daughters.  Faith is the beginning and the foundation of human salvation, the cornerstone and root of every justification (...).

What is this faith?  It is a ray of light emanating from the throne of God and descending to illumine the darkness in which the miserable children of Adam are groping.  Faith is a second creation, thanks to which human beings, fallen from their dignity, get back up from their nothingness and become once again strong enough to arrive at the Creator.  If nothing else, faith is the life of mankind, just as the lack of

faith spells its death (...).

What is this faith?  Despite all the research and all the studies that have gone into elevating human beings, faith is the only thing that can still heal our wounds, the only thing that can turn our littleness into greatness, because, through faith, the human mind can range through time and eternity and our thought pass from the smallest grain of sand to the immensity of the uncreated Being.¹

"Religion is not a philosophical system"

However, religion (...) is not a series of speculative truths meant just to enrich the intellect.  Religion is not a philosophical system.  It is not a body of ideas and nothing more.  But since religion emanates directly from God ‑- who is at once the first truth, the supreme good, infinite beauty, intrinsic holiness, the center and source of all perfections ‑- religion necessarily tends to ennoble and, in some way, divinize all human faculties, directing them to their last end.  For the intellect, religion is an unerring light that dispels the darkness brought on by ignorance and error and reveals the treasures of divine wisdom.  For the will, religion is a heavenly rapture that lifts the will beyond the realm of limited and ephemeral goods and fills it with love for the infinite beauty of the supreme and eternal good.  For conscience, religion is the unerring rule that keeps conscience from the false maxims put forward by pride and depravity and brings it into agreement with the dictates of God's eternal law (...).

In a word, religion means the order, harmony, peace, and perfection of the whole man, be it in relation to God, to one's fellowman, or to one's very self: an image and pledge of the exhilarating order, harmony, peace and perfection prepared for him in heaven.²

"What would a person be without faith?"

Faith!  Faith brings us closer to God and reveals his mysteries to us.  Faith enlightens and elevates our mind.  Faith ennobles our feelings.  Faith fills our souls with the balm of heavenly consolations, with the courage and power we need to fight the battles of life.  What would a person be without faith?  Without faith, a person would know nothing about supernatural truth, about holiness, would not be able to do anything good and virtuous, worthy of eternal reward (...).  Without faith, a person is lost.

It is faith that unerringly reveals to us our origin, our fall, our rebirth in Christ, our immortal destiny.  It points out to us all the means for achieving our eternal destiny, like the sacraments, prayer and good deeds.  It makes us look on all people as our brothers and sisters.  And, in all the events of this life, be they joyful or sad, it makes us see the gentle hand of God disposing all things for our good.³

"Human beings seek only infinite perfection and infinite good"

Created by God and for God, man's heart cannot be perfect except in God and with God.  And since perfection is the natural state, the goal toward which all beings tend, the human heart, too, has an inborn, necessary, and indestructible inclination to be united with God, to be fully satisfied in God and to become one with him: "You made us for you, 0 Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."  Even in this life, man desires, seeks, and wants only God.  So he looks for him in the things around him.  He rushes to whatever may contain a spark of good, as if it were an emanation of the infinite good.  He always disdains present goods and constantly yearns for those to come because they exhibit the mark of infinity.  Just as, in everything he claims to know, man always tends to the eternal Truth, in the same way, in everything he claims to love, he is drawn to the eternal Good, writes St. Dionysius.⁴

"When a person possesses God, what else does he need?"

God is strictly and essentially love.  He who abides in love, abides in God and God in him because God and love are one and the same thing: "God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God and God in him."

"When a person possesses God, what else does he need?  For God is our peace."  Above all, this person possesses peace, namely that stillness of the affections, that serenity of spirit which is so gentle, so sweet, and so indescribable that -- to quote the Apostle -- this peace surpasses all earthly sweetness: "the peace that surpasses all understanding." 

This enjoyment of the wayfaring soul, this state of tranquillity full of trust, this repose full of consolation, this harmony full of sweetness, this peace full of love is truly the most beautiful foretaste, the most faithful image of heavenly bliss, since, according to St. Augustine's profound words, in peace lies our happiness (...).

0 peace of the soul: the real treasure, consolation and delight of the person possessing it! 0 peace of the soul, which begins in the intellect by faith in the word of God and descends into the heart by possession of divine love! 0 peace of the soul, which one can never understand if he has not tasted it!  0 peace!  Where, 0 where, can we find you here on earth outside the faith?⁵

"The mysteries of the faith send out lights and shadows"

We need faith for our present state, just as one who wants to look at the sun must use smoked glass to keep from being blinded.  We need faith because, since God is infinite and we are finite, faith must reach where our reason cannot.  Faith is to reason what the telescope is to our weak sight.  If you look up to the skies on a clear night, you see an infinite number of stars.  But where the eye cannot make out anything, the telescope discovers new worlds and unknown wonders.  In the same way, we know little or nothing about the great problems of life.  It is faith that reveals to us the supernatural world, where every problem finds its natural and exhaustive solution.  It is faith that enlightens the mind and teaches us about our existence and our future destiny.  Rather than lessening our faith, the shadows of mystery will increase it (...).

Though in themselves the mysteries of faith are impenetrable, they are nonetheless bursting with indescribable splendor.  Like the column that led the People of God in the desert, the mysteries send forth lights and shadows.  Look at Bethlehem once again.  A God who becomes a crying infant! in a stable!  What shadows! what mysteries!  But, at the same time, what bursts of light!  What a glorious profusion of wonders!  Everything had been prophesied.  The time, the place and the manner of all these events had been recorded in our holy books many centuries before.  And now the heavens rejoice, multitudes of heavenly spirits, hovering on their golden wings, sing the song of glory, while heavenly splendors dispel the thick midnight darkness, light up the rough walls of the huts and illuminate the desert and the shepherds. 

The star appears in the East.  Wise men and kings follow the shepherds in paying homage and adoration.  Around the cradle of Christianity heaven and earth, angels and men, the past, the present and the future form an immense diadem of light, which makes our faith supremely glorious and reasonable.⁶