Catechism Part 1, Section One, Chapter 3: "Man's Response to God" (142-184)

The Catholic Church begins this section by defining faith as "man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life." (26) An adequate response to God's revelation is faith, by the submission of one's intellect and will to God.

Article 1: I Believe (144-165)
I: The Obedience of Faith (144-149)
To obey is to hear or listen to in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God who is Truth itself. The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith that Abraham is the father of all who believe. Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith, as her faith never wavered even when her Son died on the cross.
Through the examples of Abraham and Mary, the Church shows that belief requires obedience and submission to God.
II: "I Know Whom I Have Believed (150-152)
Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. Christian faith differs from our faith in humankind. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be false and futile to place such faith in a fellow creature. For Christians believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his Son Jesus Christ. One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Holy Spirit, therefore he is God through the Trinity.
III: The Characteristics of Faith (153-165)
Faith is both a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him, and a human act.  Before this faith can be exercised, man must have interior help from the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth. The human act, believing, is possible only by grace and the interior help from the Holy Spirit. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed are contrary to neither human freedom or reason. In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace.What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason; we believe because of the authority of God himself, who reveals himself, who can neither be deceive nor be deceived. Faith is certain as it is founded on the Word of God.  Faith seeks understanding. It is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith and to understand better what He has revealed; a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love. Though faith is above reason there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Man's response to God must be free and therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will.  Believing in Jesus and in One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made a shipwreck of their faith. To live, grow and persevere in faith until the end, we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith; it must work through charity, abound in hope, and be rooted in the faith of the Church.  Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision, the goal of our journey here below. So faith is already the beginning of eternal life.  Faith can be put to the test by our world that we live in. Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice, and death seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it. It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith, Abraham and Mary, and learn from their lives obedience and trust in God.

Article 2: We Believe (166-175)
While faith is a personal act, it is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbour impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.  As the Apostles' Creed begins with "I believe", the faith of the Church is professed personally by each believer, especially during Baptism. As the Nicene Creed  begins with "We believe," it is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. Both " I believe" and "We believe" are the Church's responsibility to teach to the believer.


I: "Lord, Look Upon the Faith of Your Church" (168-169)
The Church is what bears, sustains, and nourishes the  individual's faith. It is through the Church that we receive faith and new life in Christ by Baptism. Salvation comes from God alone, but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our Mother. Because she is our Mother, she is also our teacher in faith.


II: The Language of Faith (170-171)
The Church does not believe in formulae of the faith, but the realities they express in communal celebration. The Church guards the memory of Christ's words it; is she, from generation to generation, that hands on the apostles' confession of faith. As a mother she teachers us the language of faith in order to introduce us to the understanding and the life of faith.

III: Only One Faith (172-175)
Through the centuries, in many languages, cultures, peoples and nations, the Church has constantly confessed this one faith, received from the one Lord, transmitted by one Baptism, and grounded in the conviction that all people have only one God and Father. The Church's message is true and solid in which one and the same way of salvation appears throughout the whole world.