Until then here's something from Fr. Robert Barron on the Pope's new Encyclical Lumen Fidei, on the theological virtue of faith. I've read it, am reading it again and I'll have my reflections on it, hopefully, next week. Until then enjoy this. Fr. Barron sees this letter on faith as an answer to the "new atheists'" claims the faith is a childish submission to irrational beliefs.
My own reflection on faith in general is that we only put our faith in things that we have a reason to. If a boyfriend or girlfriend has always been honest and trust worthy then we can have faith in them when we take the next step and enter into marriage. We would be a fool to entrust our hearts to someone who we knew was a liar and a cheat. Faith comes in because, as they say in the investment game, past performance doesn't insure future results. Humans are fallible and even the most noble is capable of infidelity under the right circumstances. But we take the person's track record and have faith that together your virtues will only be strengthened by God's grace.
When it comes to God, I put my faith in Him, at least in part, because He has a track record. I can see that there is still a Jewish people and still a Church. God made promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David to make their descendants as numerous as the sand of the sea shore, a kingdom that would endure. While I believe that the promises made by God to Israel see their ultimate fulfillment in the Church, he has not forgotten his "remnant." Through wars, exiles, occupations, and even genocides, the Jewish people endure and thrive. Jesus promised Peter that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church. And through persecutions, schisms, reformations and scandals the Church endures, and even thrives. God doesn't promise peace and tranquility, but he does promise His abiding presence and ultimate victory. He's got a track record I can trust, and so I put my faith in Him.
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