Catholic Faith - What It Means to Believe

What it means to believe

Do you believe your mom loves you? You’ll probably answer, Yes! Though you may be far away from her and are not planning to visit her soon, you’re certain that she loves you. In other words, you have faith in her!

Now, if I may ask you, Do you believe that God loves you? I would be happy if you answer, Yes! Despite the fact that you may have had many problems in life, you may have been betrayed by friends, you may have seen so much suffering and pain in the world and your prayers may never seem to be answered by God, you would still say, Yes! Despite the fact that guilt feelings haunt you and you fall into sin now and then, you would still say, Yes! Then I would say, you really have faith in God!

Now, let’s understand deeper what it means to believe. The above examples are just one meaning of faith. Faith actually involves the whole person! One has a mind, a heart and a body that does action. Faith then means to acknowledge someone or something (mind), to trust in someone (heart) and to do something (body). All three aspects of faith go hand in hand, complement each other and flow one to the other. Thus, if I acknowledge someone, I would trust in that someone and eventually do something for that someone. I could also say that if I do something for someone, it presupposes that I have acknowledged him and trusted in him in the first place.

Catholic faith involves all three aspects. If we believe in Jesus Christ, it means that we acknowledge him to be the Savior of the world and the Son of God. This is what Jesus has told us about himself, what the prophets foretold about him and what the apostles taught about him. We acknowledge no one else in the world to be the Savior and the Son of God. Indeed, there have been a lot of great men and women in history, Moses for the Jews, Confucius for the Chinese, Buddha for the Buddhists and Mohammed for the Muslims. We Filipinos have admired Lapu-Lapu, Gabriela Silang, Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio. But, no one of them can compare with Jesus. Only Jesus is the Christ (Savior): only Jesus is the Son of God (Divine)!

If we believe in Jesus Christ, it also means that we trust in him. Jesus taught us a lot of things, especially about the merciful love of God our Father in heaven. He performed a lot of wonders, like curing the sick, even raising the dead to life, forgiving sins and giving hope to the hopeless. He promised to give us the Holy Spirit as his precious gift, to be with us always and to attain eternal life when we depart from this world. Now, we trust in the words of Jesus. What he has told us is true! We trust that Jesus continues caring and loving us. We trust that he can even perform miracles for us today. We trust in his promises.

Finally, if we believe in Jesus Christ it also means that we show this in action. Just as Jesus did not just say that he loves us but expressed his love in concrete actions like reaching out to people in need, we need to do good works. Acts of love are signs of one’s faith. It’s just like two sides of one coin, faith and charity! We must strive then to live a holy life, struggling against sin, loving God and fellowmen in many concrete ways. We must commit ourselves to do good in our world, reaching out to the needy, promoting the dignity of all, working for justice and peace. This is faith in action!

Read the following stories and teachings in your Bible about faith. In the light of our presentation above, reflect on the meaning of faith in your personal life and in your community.


1. Genesis 22:1-19.
2. Matthew 8:5-13.
3. Mark 4:35-41.
4. John 20:19-29.
5. James 2:14-26.