FAITH

 is so vital to the Christian life that Scripture tells us that, without it, it is impossible to
please God (Hebrews 11:6).
Jesus teaches about Faith: Mustard Seed Faith
We see the reference to “mustard seed faith” twice in Scripture:
 Matthew 17:14–20, here Jesus answered his disciple why they cannot cast out the demon
from the boy, then he mentioned that they have little faith but this little faith can already
move mountain. "Nothing will be impossible for you"
 Luke 17:6, Jesus tells his disciples that if you’ve mustard seed size of faith, you can
uproot trees(mulberry tree is mentioned)
Jesus is speaking rhetorical hyperbole / figuratively about the incalculable power of God when
unleashed in the lives of those with true faith.
The mustard seed in the parable grows to be a huge tree, representing the tiny beginnings of
Christianity and eventually, the kingdom grew to huge proportions, encompassing the
entire world and spreading over centuries.
nature of faith is a "gift from God".
power of faith reflects the "omnipotent nature of the God" who bestows faith on his own.
 Parable of the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13:31-32)
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It
is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants."
o With a small amount of faith in His grace, God will transform our lives in big ways.
This parable points to the magnificent power that God can have in our lives with only
a small amount of faith from us.
o We are invited to accept it with our free will. God does all of the work to bring us to
our salvation in heaven, but he cannot do so if we reject His grace with our free will.
o It is about the power that God can work in our lives if we choose to say YES to His
grace.
Meaning of the Parable of the Mustard Seed:
It reminds us that God is not asking much from us in order to bring about our salvation. He
is inviting us to say YES to His grace so that it may bring us into heaven.
Faith acc. to Catechism of the Catholic Church(CCC)
Obedience of faith is human response that that acc. to scriptures it's the man's completely
submitting his intellect and his will to God. It is whole being man gives his assent to God the
revealer/ the author of revelation.
To obey (ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been
heard, 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. She did not fully understand what was spoken to her, and she may
have even been afraid of this.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH
 Faith is a grace
Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him.
God opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth
 Faith is a human act
Believing is an authentically human act.
Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human
freedom nor to human reason.
"yield by faith the full submission of. . . intellect and will to God who reveals" and to share
in an interior communion with him.
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.
 Ian Knox's "Theology For Teachers": Ideas of Faith 
a. Faith is a gift of God: It is faith that enables us to believe in God and all that He
revealed. It is through faith that we come into contact with the ever-present God and
enter into a personal relationship with him. We cannot achieve this by natural reason
alone but only by the grace of God. It is faith that gives us the certainty of God’s
presence in our life.
b. Faith is a verb: It is because faith is manifested only in action. The word “faith”
describes faithing acts, just as grace describes gracious acts. We act in a certain way
because of our faith.
 Thomas Groome proposes expressions of faith in our daily lives as follows:
a. Believing
Faith and belief are not the same thing. Faith enlightens us so that we can see God
revealed in the midst of human life, at the heart of human experience. We interpret
our faith and we articulate it more clearly by a series of beliefs. A Belief, therefore, is
a clear and precise articulation, in a specific instance, of our much broader
commitment of faith in God who is present in our lives. Believing, therefore, is an
aspect of faith, a way of expressing faith. Religious believing is an active element in
living our religious life.
 b. Trusting
Faith is derived from the Latin “fidere”,meaning “to trust.”
Trust is the basis of all faith and Trusting is an intrinsic part of believing. We
believe God, for we trust that God will not deceive us;he loves us, is faithful to us,
and will look after us. It is our trusting faith that leads us to pray from the heart,
seeking to cement our relationship with God. Furthermore, we must begin to look at
any experience of human trust as an experience of trusting God. We have to learn to
see God as an integral part of every facet of our life. To trust is an essential aspect of
love; loving and trusting must go together, just as “faithing” and trusting must go
together.
c. Doing
We have to cooperate with God in an active manner in and through the very fabric of
our everyday life. To cooperate with God in an active manner is to act on our faith
in the midst of our Christian life. We have to look at the life of Jesus and how his
teaching about how we should live in accordance with the values of the kingdom of
God. To be active in our faith, therefore, means to actively love one another
manifested in our work to help establish the Kingdom of God as a kingdom of
justice, peace, and love.