Faith- it is…

Verbum, Dec 2004

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. "Faith—it is everywhere around us, a part of us, a gift from God. By providing my personal definition of faith, enunciating pertinent details, and explicating my experiences, I hope to paint an accurate picture of what faith is. Denotatively, faith is the “theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will” (“Faith”). To be critical, what is meant by “secure?” What is defined as “God’s will?” These are all good questions and each subject to controversy. Consequently, I have connotatively come to know faith as simply the belief in a higher power. Allow me to explain."

A PDF file should load here. If you do not see its contents the file may be temporarily unavailable at the journal website or you do not have a PDF plug-in installed and enabled in your browser.

Alternatively, you can download the file locally and open with any standalone PDF reader:

https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=verbum

Faith- it is…

How has open access to Fisher Digital Publications benefited you? St. John Fisher College Recommended Citation Tony Gravitte Follow this and additional works at; https; //fisherpub; sjfc; edu/verbum - "Faith—it is everywhere around us, a part of us, a gift from God. By providing my personal definition of faith, enunciating pertinent details, and explicating my experiences, I hope to paint an accurate picture of what faith is. Denotatively, faith is the “theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will” (“Faith”). To be critical, what is meant by “secure?” What is defined as “God’s will?” These are all good questions and each subject to controversy. Consequently, I have connotatively come to know faith as simply the belief in a higher power. Allow me to explain." This article is available in Verbum: https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/verbum/vol1/iss2/2 Faith—it is everywhere around us, a part of us, a gift from God. By providing my personal definition of faith, enunciating pertinent details, and explicating my experiences, I hope to paint an accurate picture of what faith is. Denotatively, faith is the “theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will” (“Faith”). To be critical, what is meant by “secure?” What is defined as “God’s will?” These are all good questions and each subject to controversy. Consequently, I have connotatively come to know faith as simply the belief in a higher power. Allow me to explain. Faith is internal and directs us beyond our own finite and conditional existence to something infinite, unconditional, and otherworldly. After all, “faith, in a sense, is always ‘without seeing’” (Hill, Knitter, and Madges 11). If you cannot see something, how can it be so? That is where faith comes into play. As for the definition of faith, it is indefinitely subjective due to the fact that we have faith in something that cannot be visually depicted or proved scientifically. On the other hand, common grounds can be found in each individual’s faith that can be used to bring us all together and reinforce an important point. One of these grounds is recognizing that there is something or someone of a higher state of being than us that we are constantly in search for. The discrepancy arising from that search is that one faith may rest in a God that is the embodiment of all justice and goodness, while another faith may be offered to a strictly biblical God. However, we all share something in common: faith. As Paul Tillich said, faith is “ultimate concern” (Hill, Knitter, and Madges 36). The infinity we long to reach is the ultimate state of being, the last and final stage. Christians believe that state of being is in heaven and mastered by the God revealed through Jesus Christ. Faith can be in a God, in a heaven, or in a religion itself. Faith takes on many forms. Faith can be “a commitment on many levels: intellectual, emotional, volitional, even physical, imaginative, and aesthetic” (Hill, Knitter, and Madges 9). In other words, faith can be enlivened through the things we do. These activities can range from engaging in the sacrament of marriage, creating an inspiring piece of artwork, or simply imagining who God is. It is through these activities that we experience faith and, in a sense, experience God. Faith is alive everywhere. You have faith that your car brakes will work at the stoplight. You have faith that you will get to school safely in the morning. Faith is an inevitable and unavoidable characteristic of humanity. It is something inside of us yearning to be evoked, and is, thus, given intrinsic value. Faith is also a gift. It is a gift because “in faith, we are enabled to reach beyond, transcendent to our human capacity” (Hill, Knitter, and Madges 36). As Brother Roger put it, “let us never forget that this simple desire for God is already the beginning of faith” (Roger). My desire to be faithful and understand God has been an ever-changing process that began at a young age. I was raised in a traditional, Roman Catholic family where Sunday masses were a given. It was understood that I go to a Catholic school and accept the tenants of my faith undoubtedly. I was “living my parents faith,” as Father Chase has put it. Fowler instructs that faith comes in stages. That was simply the beginning of my faith journey. As I got older and surpassed the intuitive-projective and mythic-literal stages, I explored more and more into how I felt. By the coming of adulthood, I reached the synthetic-conventional stage (Conn). I began to put things together and decide what had meaning in life. Instead of reinforcing my faith, I grew wary about it. I began to question if there even was a God. I took it that all the suffering around me and all the hardship I faced was what God threw in my path. As time passed, the day came when my mother told me a story that altered my pessimistic train of thought and revitalized my faith. She told (...truncated)


This is a preview of a remote PDF: https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=verbum

Tony Gravitte. Faith- it is…, Verbum, 2004, pp. 6-11, Volume 1, Issue 2,