“Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.” (CCC #150)

The gift of faith, the life of faith, the blessing of faith is a slippery thing to describe because it is so personal and intimate to each person. As noted in the quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) it is an assent to a truth greater than we are, it is looking into the infinite and entrusting all we are to the moment of grace and blessing.
When we pray for the gift of faith for ourselves and others it is to hand ourselves and the other completely into the will of God. This is where we become more intimate with God and each other. For example, in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, we talk about the unity of husband and wife as “the two shall become one” (Gen 2:24, Mk 10:8) as the entrusting of the life of each spouse into the life of the sacrament and it is the life of the sacrament where the encounter of God’s fruitfulness, graciousness, mercy and healing (to name only a few) helping the man and the woman joined in sacramental grace to live a life of purpose and unity. The faith the man and woman are called to share is the grace of the many gifts of something greater than who they are separately and how they can choose to live in love.
“Charity is the soul of faith, makes it alive; without love, faith dies.” (St. Anthony of Padua)
St. Anthony reminds us how faith must be unity with love (charity) to be true faith. We often say quite easily “God is love.” (1 Jn 4:7-21) without necessarily realizing how this universal love reaches into all parts of our lives. When we speak those words “God is love” then, “It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God” (CCC #150) becomes a necessary assent to faith. On an experiential aspect I can remember when I was in the Marine Corps and one of the phrases we called out many times, “for God, country and Corps” slipped easily from our lips. But on a deeper dive we see how having become, as a member of the USMC, part of something greater we assented to something even greater “country” and ultimately to the greatest “God” in ordering our service. It is an ordering of faith in many ways where once more using the example of husband and wife in sacramental marriage, we place God as the central focus of the marriage seeing our spouse through God and in that way living the life of grace.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen put it this way, “If you do not live what you believe, you will end up believing what you live.” The more we seek to give our lives in faith, the greater our faith grows. Or as Jesus puts it, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain.”(Mt 17:20) In other words, if our faith is small it is able to grow through sharing and giving in faith with the other in our life. First and foremost with God but as we entrust our lives to our nuclear family our faith then allows us to give ourselves fully to another, using the Holy Matrimony example, the man and woman not simply seek to survive the marriage but thrive in moving the mountains of hurt and sin which will enter into our relationships and all our beloved to be seen in the image and likeness of God.
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation. (St. Clare of Assisi) In this beautiful quote from St. Clare, we can see how simply being with God can grow our faith and especially as an example for our children to see the radiance of love come through contemplation of something more beautiful than the greatest vista in nature. It is the image of love where the parent holds and contemplates the simple beauty of the child in their arms but carries through life, for example: after my heart attack I remember catching my mother looking at me with such care that my heart was filled with peace so profound it still brings tears to my eyes.
How do you explain faith…it is always the search and discovery of a truth much greater than we can ever imagine. “My longing for truth was a single prayer.” (St. Theresa Bendicta of the Cross: Edith Stein)

God bless
Fr. Mark

Faith: Throughout the Bible the word faith is prevalent. What is faith? It is not a feeling but rather it is a knowing deeply of someone. The only way we can have faith in God is talk with him, listen to him and to be with him. Faith, in the Catholic sense, is a reasonable and generous response to knowing we are loved by something greater.
Bringing the Intention into your family/relationships
How do we show our faith in God? Family prayer with the inclusion of special intentions help us to bring God into all aspects of our life. As we pray for the gift of faith in our children and in our lives, praying for others expands how we know faith in God.
Discussion starter:
Share a story of when your faith was tested…
Learn about the co-patroness of our Diocese St. Clare and her gift of faith.
Brainstorm about how faith can help you be a better person…
Spiritual Bouquet:
Share your prayers for each other about the gift of faith for your children/parents/friends