MAN’S
RESPONSE TO GOD
Article 2 – we believe
Faith
is a personal act – the free response of the human person to the initiative of
God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. We cannot believe
alone, just as we cannot live alone. The believer has received faith from
others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and or our
neighbours impels us to speak to others about our faith.
“I Believe”, which is from the Apostles
Creed, is the faith of the Church professed personally at baptism.
“We Believe”, which is from the Nicene Creed,
is the faith of the Church confessed by the Bishops assembled in a council or
more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers, for example, during
mass.
“I
believe” is also the church, our mother responding to God by faith as she
teaches us to say both “I believe” and “We believe”.
It
is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes and sustains our
faith. Because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our
mother and teacher in faith. As a mother who teaches her children to speak and
so to understand and communicate, the Church our mother teaches us the language
of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith.
The
Church composed of persons with diverse languages, cultures, and rites,
professes in one voice the one faith that was received from the one Lord, and
that was passed on by one Apostolic Tradition. She confesses one God alone,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and points to one way of salvation.
We
believe with one heart and one soul all that is contained in the Word of God,
handed down or written, and which is proposed by the Church as divinely revealed.
Resources:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Paulines Publications Africa, 11th reprint 2012.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church Compendium, Paulines
Publications Africa, 5th reprint, 2012.
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