CHAPTER 5 Characteristics and Dimensions of Faith

Lord I offered my Life
All that I am, all that I have

I lay them down before you, oh Lord (Verse 2)
All my regrets, all my acclaims Things in the past, things yet unseen
Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true
The joy and the pain, I'm making them yours
All of my heart, all of my praise
My heart and my hands are lifted to you
(Chorus)
Lord, I offer my life to you (Chorus)
Everything I've been through Lord, I offer my life to you
Everything I've been through
Use it for your glory Use it for your glory
Lord I offer my days to you Lord I offer my days to you
Lifting my praise to you Lifting my praise to you
As a pleasing sacrifice As a pleasing sacrifice
Lord I offer you my life Lord I offer you my life
CHAPTER 5
Characteristics and
Dimensions Of Faith
Human Experience:
Christian faith is living a way of life
that integrates our minds, wills, and
hearts. It embraces our whole being.
True faith is accompanied by good
works, sharing ourselves with others
especially to those who are in need.
It is a living faith that works through
love, expressed in the love of God
and neighbors.
Human Experience:
To know more about the true meaning of faith, we will discuss in this chapter the characteristics and
dimensions of faith as follows:
Lesson 6: Characteristic of Faith: Total and Absolute
Lesson 7: Characteristic of Faith: Trinitarian
Lesson 8: Characteristic of Faith: Loving, Maturing, and Missionary
Lesson 9: Characteristic of Faith: Informed and Communitarian
Lesson 10: Characteristic of Faith: Enculturated
Lesson 11: Dimension of Faith: Believing
Lesson 12: Dimension of Faith: Doing
Lesson 12: Dimension of Faith: Entrusting/Worshipping
Lesson 6- Characteristic of Faith: Total and Absolute
 Look and reflect at the picture below.
Our Relationship to
God demands a total
and absolute
adherence to Him. It
requires total self-
giving.
A tagalog saying (Namamangka sa
dalawa sa dalawang Ilog). This
literally speaks of one who paddles
his/her boat along two rivers. A
classic example would be a person
who goes to Church every Sunday but
continues to maltreat the poor and
powerless.
Cf. CCC 150
Catechism of the Catholic
Church defines faith as
both “a personal
adherence of man to God”
similarly, and inseparably
“a free assent to the whole
truth that God has
revealed”
The Old testament clearly
stated that if we put our
faith in man, we gain no
salvation. But with the
faith “the Lord who made
heaven and earth…who
shall reign forever,’’ there
is salvation.
As Jeremiah says, “Blessed is the
man who trust in the Lord, whose
hope is the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:7).
“Our Faith in God calls for a total
and absolute adherence. Christ
Himself provides, especially in His
Passion, Death, and Resurrection,
the best example of this total and
absolute commitment to God”
(cf. CCC 123)
Indeed, Jesus
Showed total and
absolute faith in
obeying the will
of the Father
Lesson 7
Characteristic
of Faith:
TRINITARIAN
1.When do Catholics normally make sign of the Cross?
Before and after a prayer.

The Beginning of and after
the Mass,
When passing by a Church,
etc.
2. What is the meaning of the sign of the Cross?
To Acknowledge God, the

Father who created us,
God, the Son who
redeemed us, and God,
the Holy Spirit who
sanctified us.
3. Why Catholics make the sign of the Cross?
It is the
Shortest creed
or profession of
faith. .
It was mentioned in the
previous discussions
that faith is our
Adherence to the Triune
God revealed through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is our friendship with the Father
through Christ, in the Holy Spirit.
Through Christ’s witness to His Father
in His teaching, preaching, miracles,
and especially in His Passion,
Death,and Resurrection, we come to
believe in Christ our Savior, in the
Father, and in the Holy Spirit.
Our Faith as Catholics, then, consists
in our personal conviction and belief
in God our Father, revealed by Jesus
Christ, His own divine Son-made-
man, and their presence to us
through the Holy Spirit, in the
Church” cf. CFC 124).
From the beginning of creation, God freely
chose to elevate the human person by
calling him to a supernatural end. Through
this calling, the Holy Spirit, invites us to be
members of the divine family, to partake in
the divine nature, to live in intimate
communion with God, and to become
Godlike to the fullest extent possible.
Lesson 8
Characteristic
of Faith:
Loving, Maturing, and Missionary
Strengthening Faithfully
“Our Christian Faith is

truly life-giving and
matures only through
love, for the man
without love has known
nothing of God, for God
is love’ (1 John 4:8).
And to be Christian, this

love must be inseparably
love of God and love of
neighbor, like Christ’s. It
thus impels us to mission,
to evangelize, by bringing
others the Good News”
(CFC 125).
God calls us to proclaim the

Good News of Salvation and to
render loving service to our
brothers and sisters. He invites
us to love one another as one
family, help, and pray for each
other to reach the fullness of
Christian life. Responding to this
call and accepting this mission
are proofs of our authentic faith.
Lesson 9
Characteristic
of Faith: Informed and
Communitarian
Characteristic of Faith: Informed and Communitarian
In the Second Plenary Council of the
Philippines, they insist that faith must
be “informed,” that is “believing Jesus’
words, and accepting His teaching,
trusting that He has the words of
eternal life.” And it must be
“communitarian” since it is the Church
that transmits to us Christ’s revelation
through Sacred Scripture and its living
Tradition, and alone makes possible for
us an adequate faith-response (CFC
126)
Faith as informed means that faith is not
a blind leap into the dark, rather, it is
“believing Jesus’ words, accepting His
teachings, and trusting that He has ‘the
word of eternal life. It is also
communitarian since it is through the
Christian community, the Church, that
faith is received and nurtured, and grows
to maturity. Thus, communitarian spirit
appeals to our individual appeals to our
individual responsibility in the formation
of an authentic faith in the Church.
Lesson 10
Characteristic
of Faith: Enculturated
Our Christian faith in God and in Christ
is never separated from the typical
Filipino faith in family and friends. We
live out our faith in God precisely in our
daily relationships with family, friends,
and others. Thus our daily relationships
and encounters are radically affected by
our faith in God our Father, in Jesus
Christ his only begotten Son, our Savior,
and in the Holy Spirit dwelling within us
in grace (CFC 127).
The Kind of relationship that we
have with one another reflects
the kind of relationship we have
with Jesus. As John, the
Evangelist, has written, “This is
how all will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John 13:35).
Culture is a way of life. It concerns
the different aspects of our daily
living. This makes us unique in our
expression of faith as a community.
However, our Christian faith should
be the framework that supports
and directs our daily relationships
with family, friends, fellow
students, teachers, and others.
Lesson 11
Dimension of Faith
of Faith: Believing
Faith involves our basic convictions as
Christians. It involves not simply
knowing but sincerely professing and
living what Christ has taught and
exemplified. As Paul mentioned in his
letter to the Romans, “For if you
confess with your lips that Jesus is
Lord, and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead; you
will be saved” (CFC 129).
John sums up his
Gospel: “These things
have been recorded to
help you believe that
Jesus is the Messiah, the
Son of God, so that
through this faith you
may have life in His
name” (20:31).
Faith is an act of believing; it involves
personal knowledge of something or
someone. Faith involves knowing the
truths about Jesus. “Knowing here
does not simply mean superficial
knowledge. It requires an evaluative
understanding of Jesus and His
teachings. This knowledge required in
faith leads to acceptance of Jesus in
one’s life.
It influences the way
he/she lives his/her life. A
faith that knows deeply
and accepts
wholeheartedly is a faith
that transforms a person.
Lesson 12
Dimension of Faith
of Faith: DOING
Faith does not only touch our minds
but also our wills. It is not enough to
simply say “I believe”. Faith must be Click icon to add picture
lived out. It is not enough to have
knowledge of the truths of our faith.
It must be practice, motivated by
these truths. As St. James reminds
us, “My bothers, what good is it to
profess our faith without practicing
it?” (James 2:14).
Jesus himself warns us that “None of
those who cry out ‘Lord, Lord’ will
enter the Kingdom of God, but only
the one who does the will of My
Father in Heaven”(Matthew 7:21).
Therefore, faith as doing must be
accompanied by commitment to
obey God’s will for us.
How do we manifest our commitment to
obey God’s will? PCP II 78-80 brings out
this doing dimension of faith as witnessing
through loving service of our needy
neighbors. In our concrete situation,
particularly urgent is the call for:
1. deeds of justice and love and
2. For protecting and caring for our
endangered earth’s environment.
In our journey of faith, we realize that
we often do not do what we affirm in
faith. This is so because of the
pragmatic mentality that measures all
human success in terms of “economic
and social emancipation” (GS 20). There
is so much consumerism on our society
today and basically this leads us to
spiritual emptiness and blindness.
For this situation, we really need an
authentic social transformation.
There is need for us to put our faith
into practice and also to be more
conscious of our need for Christ
Spirit to live out our faith in our
actions. “For apart from me you can
do nothing”John 15:5).
Before this faith can be
exercised, man must have the
grace of God to move and Click icon to add picture
assist Him; he must have the

interior helps of the Holy
Spirit, who moves the heart
and converts it to God” (CFC
131)
Lesson 13
Dimension of Faith
of Faith: Entrusting/Worshipping
 In order for our faith to be authentic, it
must not only touch our minds and wills
but also hearts. It should move us to
entrust ourselves into the hands of God.
“Faith then, is from the heart the loving,
trusting, and hoping in the Lord that comes
from God’s own love flooding our hearts”
(CFC 133). Faith is trusting God’s promise to
be with us, in His providence even if we are
faced with many difficulties in life.
As Jesus promised the possessed
boy’s father, “Everything is
possible to a man who trusts”
(Mark 9:23). However, this trusting
faith is not something that is
acquired instantly. It lives and
grows through regular prayer and
worship. It is nurtured through
personal connection with God, and
through our active participation in
different liturgical celebrations in
school and Church.

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CHAPTER 5 Characteristics and Dimensions of Faith

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Lord I offered my Life

All that I am, all that I have

Before and after a prayer.

To Acknowledge God, the

“Our Christian Faith is

And to be Christian, this

God calls us to proclaim the

assist Him; he must have the

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