By Leon Bent –
What is Faith?
“Faith grows and expands when lived as an experience of love received, and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed, it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen, to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his Word and become his disciples (Porta Fidei, 7).” – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
As disciples, fully formed in the Catholic faith, we live our faith through love and daily witnessing. This is what the New Evangelisation entails: a call for all disciples to go out to “Proclaim the Gospel to the whole world” (Mark 16:15), fulfilling the mission of Jesus Christ, who came to reveal the love of God to all humanity (1 John 4:10).
What is Faith Formation?
Faith formation immerses the Christian Community into the particular practices and peculiar way of life that identifies them as followers of Jesus. While expressed in many different ways, faith formation seeks to help people:
- Grow in their relationship with God for the whole of humanity and the entire cosmos
- Live as disciples of Jesus at home, at work, in the community, and in the world
- Develop an understanding of the Bible and their faith tradition
- Deepen their spiritual life and practices
- Engage in service and mission to the world
- Participate in the life and ministries of their faith community
Three Major Goals Guide and Direct Efforts in Adult Faith Formation:
In a single line we could say faith formation is: equipping people to live as disciples of Jesus. Faith formation informs, forms, and transforms the person—whether child, youth, or adult—into a robust, vital, and life-giving Christian faith that is holistic: a way of the head, the heart, and the hands.
· Invite and Enable Ongoing Conversion to Jesus in Holiness of Life.
In response to God’s call to holiness, our faith and life as adult disciples are grounded in developing a personal relationship with Jesus, “the Holy One of God” (Jn. 6:69, Mk 1:24). Accordingly, “‘at the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth. . . .’ Catechesis aims at putting people . . . in communion . . . with Jesus Christ.'” As its first goal, faith formation helps adults “to acquire an attitude of conversion to the Lord.”
- Promote and Support Active Membership in the Christian Community.
As adult believers, we learn and live our faith as active members of the Church. Our response to God’s call “cannot remain abstract and un-incarnated,” but rather, “reveals itself concretely by a visible entry into a community of believers . . . a community which itself is a sign of transformation, a sign of newness of life: it is the Church, the visible sacrament of salvation.”
· Call and Prepare Adults to Act as Disciples in Mission to the World.
The Church and its adult faithful have a mission in and to the world: to share the message of Christ to renew and to transform the social and temporal order. This dual calling to evangelization and justice is integral to the identity of the lay faithful; all are called to it in baptism. Accordingly, faith formation seeks to help each adult believer become “more willing and able to be a Christian disciple in the world.” As salt of the earth and light for the world (cf. Mt 5:13-16), adult disciples give witness to God’s love and caring will, so that, in the power of the Spirit, they renew the face of the earth.
(Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States)
Driving Principles in Faith Formation
- Catholics have a right to accessible ongoing faith formation, allowing them to explore and deepen their experience of faith, and grow in their understanding of, and confidence in, their baptismal vocation to proclaim Jesus Christ to the world.
- The purpose of faith formation is to take Catholic theological insight, gleaned from Catholic Tradition and the best of contemporary theological thought, and guide individuals and groups towards its integration into their personal spirituality, and to the living out of their baptismal mission.
- Faith formation has a threefold focus: 1. To assist in personal faith development. 2. To form those involved in ministry within the Church (Parish Councillors and Animators, Sacramental Coordinators, Ministers of the Word and of the Eucharist, etc.) towards expanding and deepening their understanding of their ministry for the service of the Church. 3. To challenge and assist all Catholics, to understand and fulfil their baptismal mission, to proclaim Jesus Christ to the world with their words and their lives.
Recent Trends in Faith Formation and Ministry
“The parish is, without doubt, the most important locus in which the Christian community is formed and expressed… It is the prime mover and pre-eminent place for catechesis” (General Directory for Catechesis).
Faith formation describes the process of discovering, knowing oneself, examining, and appreciating God’s gift of faith. While the process is described as sequential, we must also remember it is overlapping, ongoing, and lifelong. Appreciating faith leads to deeper discovery, which leads to better self-knowledge, and continued examination. This is an ongoing vibrant lifelong process.
Evangelization means creating an atmosphere of trust and welcome, where people feel comfortable enough to share themselves, recognize their own goodness, and come to know others who are living the Christian life. It means building relationships. Evangelization is also sharing faith and witnessing within those relationships. It is proclaiming, not explaining, the Good News. Finally, Evangelization leads to a more formal catechesis, teaching the faith, including Scripture and Catholic Doctrine. It is important to remember, however, that if evangelization has not taken place then this faith formation can become simply academic.
Pope Francis exhorts Catholics: I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms. Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my Covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace.” Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel (3)
Conclusion
Now, this gold nugget! Catholicism refers to the entire Catholic Faith: Catholic Theology, Catholic Dogma, Catholic Liturgy and Catholic Philosophy in relation to Ethics and Behaviour. Our worship is focused on the Eucharist, where Bread and Wine become the “Real” Body of Jesus Christ, in the fullness of faith, shared by the Roman Catholic Church, which is the world’s largest Christian Church, representing over 1.2 billion followers of Christ.
The punch line: The challenge for the Church in current times is to find new ways of presenting the beauty and relevance of the Gospel to those we come in contact with.
And, this final flourish! Every disciple of the Lord Jesus shares in the mission of On-going Adult Faith Formation and Evangelization. To do their part, adult Catholics must be mature in faith and well equipped to share the Gospel, promoting it in every family circle, in every church gathering, in every place of work and in every public forum.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received The Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.