Title I: Notion of Faith and Act of Faith. Merit of Its Obedience

— Faith is a theological virtue by which man is able to believe, as he ought, on account of the authority of God revealing, those things which God has revealed.

The act of faith denotes assent to the first truth; by which assent the believer participates in divine truth. This assent is formally in the intellect. Considering its formal object, which is the authority of testimony, and because the evidence of the primary object, which is God, is lacking, this assent is free; and hence it is commanded by the will under the aspect of good. But we believe as we ought, insofar as no created reason, but the divine knowledge and veracity itself in speaking, constitutes the sole motive of assent; and insofar as the firmness of this assent surpasses the firmness of natural evidence. This greater firmness is to be derived from the benefit of grace alone.

Insofar as we are illuminated by the very light of the divine intellect, faith is our immense dignity; insofar as we take the intellect captive unto the obedience of faith, that is, renounce our own criterion in order to apply the divine criterion, faith is glorious to God; insofar as we furnish this from the command of a free will, faith is greatly meritorious in the just man. Cf. concerning these points the dogmatic treatise on faith.

— The act of faith is distinguished: a) formal and quasi-virtual. It is formal when the motive of faith (the authority of God revealing) explicitly occurs to the mind. But the habitual persuasion which frequent exercise of faith leaves after itself can pass into act without express memory of the motive of faith. Then an assent is made which truly rests upon that motive, and hence is an act of faith; but because the motive of faith has not been explicitly proposed, this implicit assent is improperly called a virtual act of faith. Properly, on the part of the formal object, the act of faith cannot be virtually contained in any other act: in no act of a theological virtue, for hope and charity presuppose faith; in no other act of a moral virtue, for this is of an inferior order. But on the part of the material object, properly virtual faith is had. Thus, by believing whatever things God has revealed, a man virtually believes the individual truths which have come to us by God's speaking.

b) Internal, or contained in the judgment of the mind alone, and external. The latter, made before witnesses, is at the same time a profession of faith, either formal or virtual, according as one directly testifies to his faith, or performs acts which demonstrate faith: as when someone confesses his sins, approaches the sacred table, or devoutly assists at Mass.

Excellence and usefulness of faith. Faith is the beginning and root of all justification. The act of faith is our first free response full of our vocation to the supernatural end. This vocation looks to this, that we will to be wayfarers, making our way toward possessing God in Himself. If we direct our steps to this most sublime goal, we are freed from servitude to present things, and, elevated above earthly things, we begin in some way to understand the mysterious order of this world, mixed with miseries and evils, and we hold the principle of victory over evil desires, and of consolation in any adverse things whatever. At the same time we are impelled to act worthily of so great an end, so that a manner of acting not only honorable but strong, noble, magnanimous, becomes connatural to us. Wherefore not undeservedly does the Apostle (Heb. XI) not hesitate to turn all things gloriously done to the praise of faith. And thus it happens that human life, turned from perishing into immortal, from low into divine, becomes most useful not less to universal human society than to one's own eternal salvation.

Aids for faith to be acquired, preserved, and increased by us. For heavenly gifts, such as Faith is, we can dispose ourselves negatively, by removing obstacles, and, by the facility of acquired habits, can as it were complete and strengthen the infused virtues themselves. But positively we cannot dispose ourselves for Faith without the prevenient and assisting grace of God. Since, however, as is explained at length in the school of dogma, the assent of Faith, most firm above every other assent, pertains elicitively to the intellect and requires the command of the will, for acquiring, preserving, and increasing Faith, the dispositions of the will must be cared for by us no less than those of the intellect.

Therefore let us strive to have a sound mind, alien from cavils, not excessively hesitating, capable of firm judgment or opinion; a will truly loving and zealous for the good, humble, devoted to God. Let that will apply the intellect to the luminous rather than to the obscure aspects of religion, to the direct motives for adhering, more than to solving difficulties. Let us practically cultivate the spirit of faith in our whole conduct, so that according to the norms of faith we may judge, feel, speak, and act. Let us act as if we already possessed great faith. In this way, since the true and the good are one, already by the very experience of good works we shall in a manner prove the truth of our faith.

— I. Faith is defined: a theological virtue by which a man is habitually capable of believing, as he ought, on account of the authority of God revealing, those things which God has revealed.

The assent of Faith, although it is formally in the intellect, is nevertheless free, so that it is commanded by the will, under the aspect of good; it rests upon the divine knowledge and veracity alone in speaking; and, by the benefit of grace, it has a firmness proportioned to the motive, which surpasses the firmness of our natural evidence.

Faith is necessary for man in the present state, honorable to the believer, glorious to God, very meritorious for the just man.

II. The act of faith is distinguished: 1. Formal and virtual. On the part of the material object, we formally believe truths of faith which explicitly occur to the mind; but virtually, truths which are contained in a more general assent: as when we believe whatever the Church proposes to us as to be believed. On the part of the formal object, the act of faith is properly contained, or can be contained, in no other act. Yet because habitual persuasion can pass into act without explicit memory of the motive, there is distinguished formal faith, which exists when we explicitly remember the motive of faith, and quasi-virtual faith, which is that of one adhering to revealed truth without an explicit proposal of the motive of faith;

2. Internal and external: internal is contained in the judgment of the mind alone; external is contained also in external signification. The external, when it is made before witnesses, is at the same time a profession of faith, whether formal, when one expressly affirms his faith, or virtual, when he does those things which per se suppose and demonstrate faith.

III. The excellence and usefulness of Faith is made manifest from this, that from it has its beginning the divine direction of our life, by which, freed from earthly servitudes and made superior to every misfortune, we are rendered ready for doing honorable and magnanimous things.

For faith to be more easily acquired, preserved, and increased by us from the grace of God, obstacles are removed by a mind sound, right, firm; by a will zealous for the good, humble and devoted to God; by attention to the positive motives of credibility; by the custom of acting according to the principles of faith.