loving goodness

acts 6:8-15; Psalm 119 Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord; John 6:22-29

Jesus responds to the question, "what can we do to accomplish the works of God" with this simple answer, "This is the work of God, to believe in the one he sent."

This is the work of God, to believe in the one he sent.

What does it mean to believe?

Believing is the human response to God's initiative.

God doesn't want us to react to him, he wants us to respond to him and what he has revealed.

To believe means to accept God's plan of loving goodness as the Catechism tells us.

To believe means to acknowledge that God has spoken, he has communicated his goodness to us.

Our God comes he keeps silence no longer.

That plan of loving goodness finds its climax, its culmination, its strength and concentration in Jesus.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God's plan of loving goodness.

Our belief is not just private but it is part of a heritage of faith that has been passed down through sacred scripture and sacred tradition.

The deposit of faith has spread far and wide.

Sacred scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.

Sacred tradition is the transmission in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit and passed down through the successors who faithfully, preserve, expound, and spread it abroad.

The transmission and interpretation of God's revelation invokes our belief and human response of faith, a personal adherence of man to God.

Faith is grace, a gift from God.

Faith is a human act, an authentic human act engaging our intellect and our will thus we assent.

Faith is certain because it is founded on authority of God.

Faith seeks understanding and grows in its understanding.

Faith and reason go hand in hand.

Faith must be freely given; we are bound in conscience to follow but not coerced.

Faith is necessary; believing in Jesus is necessary for salvation.

Faith requires perseverance, it can be lost.

Faith requires nourishment on the word of God, in the sacraments, in prayer, in life lived in charity.

Faith enables us to taste in advance the light of the beatific vision; faith is the beginning of eternal life here on earth.

Faith is communal; I believe joins the voice of we believe.

Faith is one: believe in the one he sent: Jesus is Lord.

All of this together makes us full participants of God's plan of loving goodness.