Faith: intimate relationship, but without the denial of His Love

“Stand firm in your faith!” We have just heard the words of Jesus: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth” (Jn 14:15-17a). With these words Jesus reveals the profound link between faith and the profession of Divine Truth, between faith and dedication to Jesus Christ in love, between faith and the practice of a life inspired by the commandments. All three dimensions of faith are the fruit of the action of the Holy Spirit. This action is manifested as an inner force that harmonizes the hearts of the disciples with the Heart of Christ and makes them capable of loving as he loved them. Hence faith is a gift, but at the same time it is a task.

“He will give you another Counsellor – the Spirit of truth.” Faith, as knowledge and profession of the truth about God and about man, “comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ”, as Saint Paul says (Rom 10:17). Throughout the history of the Church, the Apostles preached the word of Christ, taking care to hand it on intact to their successors, who in their turn transmitted it to subsequent generations until our own day. Many preachers of the Gospel gave their lives specifically because of their faithfulness to the truth of the word of Christ. And so solicitude for the truth gave birth to the Church’s Tradition. As in past centuries, so also today there are people or groups who obscure this centuries-old Tradition, seeking to falsify the Word of Christ and to remove from the Gospel those truths which in their view are too uncomfortable for modern man. They try to give the impression that everything is relative: even the truths of faith would depend on the historical situation and on human evaluation. Yet the Church cannot silence the Spirit of Truth. The successors of the Apostles, together with the Pope, are responsible for the truth of the Gospel, and all Christians are called to share in this responsibility, accepting its authoritative indications. Every Christian is bound to confront his own convictions continually with the teachings of the Gospel and of the Church’s Tradition in the effort to remain faithful to the word of Christ, even when it is demanding and, humanly speaking, hard to understand. We must not yield to the temptation of relativism or of a subjectivist and selective interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Only the whole truth can open us to adherence to Christ, dead and risen for our salvation.

Christ says: “If you love me ... ” Faith does not just mean accepting a certain number of abstract truths about the mysteries of God, of man, of life and death, of future realities. Faith consists in an intimate relationship with Christ, a relationship based on love of him who loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:11), even to the total offering of himself. “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). What other response can we give to a love so great, if not that of a heart that is open and ready to love? But what does it mean to love Christ? It means trusting him even in times of trial, following him faithfully even on the Via Crucis, in the hope that soon the morning of the Resurrection will come. Entrusting ourselves to Christ, we lose nothing, we gain everything. In his hands our life acquires its true meaning. Love for Christ expresses itself in the will to harmonize our own life with the thoughts and sentiments of his Heart. This is achieved through interior union based on the grace of the Sacraments, strengthened by continuous prayer, praise, thanksgiving and penance. We have to listen attentively to the inspirations that he evokes through his Word, through the people we meet, through the situations of daily life. To love him is to remain in dialogue with him, in order to know his will and to put it into effect promptly.

Yet living one’s personal faith as a love-relationship with Christ also means being ready to renounce everything that constitutes a denial of his love. That is why Jesus said to the Apostles: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” But what are Christ’s commandments? When the Lord Jesus was teaching the crowds, he did not fail to confirm the law which the Creator had inscribed on men’s hearts and had then formulated on the tablets of the Decalogue. “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished” (Mt 5:17-18). But Jesus showed us with a new clarity the unifying centre of the divine laws revealed on Sinai, namely love of God and love of neighbour: “To love [God] with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mk 12:33). Indeed, in his life and in his Paschal Mystery Jesus brought the entire law to completion. Uniting himself with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, he carries with us and in us the “yoke” of the law, which thereby becomes a “light burden” (Mt 11:30). In this spirit, Jesus formulated his list of the inner qualities of those who seek to live their faith deeply: Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who weep, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake ... (cf. Mt 5:3-12).

[Pope Benedict, homily Warsaw 26 May 2006]

45 Last modified on Tuesday, 18 March 2025 06:57

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don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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Christians are a priestly people for the world. Christians should make the living God visible to the world, they should bear witness to him and lead people towards him. When we speak of this task in which we share by virtue of our baptism, it is no reason to boast (Pope Benedict)

I cristiani sono popolo sacerdotale per il mondo. I cristiani dovrebbero rendere visibile al mondo il Dio vivente, testimoniarLo e condurre a Lui. Quando parliamo di questo nostro comune incarico, in quanto siamo battezzati, ciò non è una ragione per farne un vanto (Papa Benedetto)

Because of this unique understanding, Jesus can present himself as the One who reveals the Father with a knowledge that is the fruit of an intimate and mysterious reciprocity (John Paul II)

In forza di questa singolare intesa, Gesù può presentarsi come il rivelatore del Padre, con una conoscenza che è frutto di un'intima e misteriosa reciprocità (Giovanni Paolo II)

Yes, all the "miracles, wonders and signs" of Christ are in function of the revelation of him as Messiah, of him as the Son of God: of him who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. Of him who is truly the Savior of the world (John Paul II)

Sì, tutti i “miracoli, prodigi e segni” di Cristo sono in funzione della rivelazione di lui come Messia, di lui come Figlio di Dio: di lui che, solo, ha il potere di liberare l’uomo dal peccato e dalla morte. Di lui che veramente è il Salvatore del mondo (Giovanni Paolo II)

It is known that faith is man's response to the word of divine revelation. The miracle takes place in organic connection with this revealing word of God. It is a "sign" of his presence and of his work, a particularly intense sign (John Paul II)

È noto che la fede è una risposta dell’uomo alla parola della rivelazione divina. Il miracolo avviene in legame organico con questa parola di Dio rivelante. È un “segno” della sua presenza e del suo operare, un segno, si può dire, particolarmente intenso (Giovanni Paolo II)

That was not the only time the father ran. His joy would not be complete without the presence of his other son. He then sets out to find him and invites him to join in the festivities (cf. v. 28). But the older son appeared upset by the homecoming celebration. He found his father’s joy hard to take; he did not acknowledge the return of his brother: “that son of yours”, he calls him (v. 30). For him, his brother was still lost, because he had already lost him in his heart (Pope Francis)

Ma quello non è stato l’unico momento in cui il Padre si è messo a correre. La sua gioia sarebbe incompleta senza la presenza dell’altro figlio. Per questo esce anche incontro a lui per invitarlo a partecipare alla festa (cfr v. 28). Però, sembra proprio che al figlio maggiore non piacessero le feste di benvenuto; non riesce a sopportare la gioia del padre e non riconosce il ritorno di suo fratello: «quel tuo figlio», dice (v. 30). Per lui suo fratello continua ad essere perduto, perché lo aveva ormai perduto nel suo cuore (Papa Francesco)

Doing a good deed almost instinctively gives rise to the desire to be esteemed and admired for the good action, in other words to gain a reward. And on the one hand this closes us in on ourselves and on the other, it brings us out of ourselves because we live oriented to what others think of us or admire in us (Pope Benedict)

Quando si compie qualcosa di buono, quasi istintivamente nasce il desiderio di essere stimati e ammirati per la buona azione, di avere cioè una soddisfazione. E questo, da una parte rinchiude in se stessi, dall’altra porta fuori da se stessi, perché si vive proiettati verso quello che gli altri pensano di noi e ammirano in noi (Papa Benedetto)

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