{"id":1520,"date":"2019-01-24T15:34:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T15:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.uccronline.it\/eng\/?p=1520"},"modified":"2025-07-17T15:30:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:30:03","slug":"how-not-to-lose-faith-how-to-transform-it-from-feeling-to-certainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uccronline.it\/eng\/2019\/01\/24\/how-not-to-lose-faith-how-to-transform-it-from-feeling-to-certainty\/","title":{"rendered":"How not to lose faith? How to transform it from feeling to certainty?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Stimulating is the new lay confession<\/em><\/strong> on the part of writer Teju Cole<\/strong>, guest at the\u00a0Festival la Milenesiana<\/em>. It is the witness of a Protestant Christian who let himself fall into sceptical agnosticism. He fell into doubt like many. But how not to lose faith<\/strong>? How can it mature so as to become certainty<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Let us look at the experience of the writer: all began<\/a><\/em> when he wondered whether \u00abthe Bible<\/strong> really was the only truth of existence<\/em>\u00bb. He realised he could answer only by assuming as true what the Bible itself said. Already here there is the symptom of a weakness, of a mistake: a lonely man, with his Bible<\/strong>. But in Christianity, the Truth is not the Bible, but a Person<\/strong>: \u201cI am the way, the truth, and the life<\/em>\u201d. And the truth cannot be possessed, but only be met. Chritianity (in particular, Catholicism) is not a religion of the Book, and, without the personal experience of meeting Christ<\/strong>, faith cannot hold only on the basis of written pages, albeit divinely inspired. It is he, Teju Cole, who should have been able to give reason<\/strong> for what the Truth of existence is, without putting the blame on the Holy Scriptures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where did Jesus Christ has been remaining present in history?<\/h2>\n

Thus, the \u201cconfession\u201d goes on: \u00aba morning, at 27 years old, I woke up and discovered to have lost faith<\/strong><\/em>\u00bb. Inevitable destiny when there is not that certainty of faith<\/u><\/strong> which matures not in solitary theological thoughts, but by living together where Jesus Christ has been remaining present in history: the Christian companionship of those whom he called, that is the Church (one\u2019s parish, the priest, and the faces of the Christian community where the life of each person is at stake). The Christian faith, by its nature, is born and matures in a human relationship with someone else who is the witness of the Other<\/strong>: Christ witnessing the Father to the Apostles and the Apostles, together with their successors, witnessing Christ. Benedict XVI<\/strong> has gifted us<\/a><\/em> with insuperable words: \u00abFaith is not the product of reflection, nor is it the attempt to penetrate into the deep of my being. Both things can be present, but they remain insufficient without the listening through which God calls me, from a story He Himself created. In order for me to believe, I need witnesses<\/strong> who have met God and make Him accessible. The Church did not create herself; she was created by God and is continuously formed by Him<\/em>\u00bb.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Belong to Christian people: the answer to any doubt.<\/h2>\n

The answer to doubt, therefore, is to belong <\/strong>actively, consciously<\/u>, reasonably<\/u>, and joyfully to the Christian people: this is the antidote to a sentimental and emotional faith, in the grips of doubt and secularisation. The Gospels themselves teach it: they \u00abdescribe the path of the Apostles: \u201cand his disciples believed in him\u201d is repeated many times; knowledge becomes persuasion, little by little<\/em>\u00bb, wrote Spanish theologian Jos\u00e9 M. Garc\u00eda<\/strong>. \u00abBelieving turns into persuasion<\/em><\/strong> in a successive repetition of recognitions, which need giving some space and time in order for them to take place. Only faithfulness, cohabitation, and familiarity makes certainty<\/strong> enter us always more radically<\/em>\u00bb (J.M. Garcia,\u00a0Il protagonista della storia<\/em>, BUR 2008, p. 122). It is, therefore, normal that the African American writer says to be \u201crelieved\u201d after discovering himself far from that intimistic faith: if the \u201cMe\u201d is not involved in the story of the Christian companionship, Christianity is reduced to a series of incomprehensible moral dogmas<\/strong>, based on emotional stimuli. Teju Cole himself admits it: \u00abMy Christian faith was emotional without any doubt<\/em>\u00bb. Msgr. Luigi Negri<\/strong>\u00a0wrote instead: \u00abChristianity is not a doctrine, but a historical reality, a group of men who claims to be a place in which the definitive event of Christ continues to be present<\/strong> and to influence history. It continues through the unity of Christians<\/em>\u00bb (L. Negri,\u00a0False accuse alla Chiesa<\/em>, Brossura 2016, p. 17).<\/p>\n

The new life that the writer narrates is devoid of \u00absense of certainty; I found the one of doubt<\/strong><\/em>\u00bb, sorrounded by activities and interests that \u00abcould give me company and comfrot<\/em>\u00bb. \u00abWe are not sure. We have lost faith and our mind<\/strong><\/em>\u00bb, he concludes. Not to lose \u201cfaith and our mind\u201d, we need live physically where \u00ab Jesus entered human history for ever and lives on in it<\/strong> with his beauty and power<\/em>\u00bb, explains<\/a><\/em> again Pope Ratzinger. That is to say \u00abthat frail body \u2014 ever in need of purification but also infinitely full of divine love \u2014 which is the Church.<\/em> It is this that makes the Church contemporaneous<\/strong> with every human being, capable of embracing all people and all epochs because she is guided by the Holy Spirit in order to perpetuate the work of Jesus in history<\/em>\u00bb.<\/p>\n

The Editorial Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The answer to doubt, therefore, is to belong actively, consciously, reasonably, and joyfully to the Christian people: this is the antidote to a sentimental and emotional faith, in the grips of doubt and secularisation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":8,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1573,2],"tags":[1292,72,76,1294,1290,1289,39,1295,1291,1288,1293],"class_list":["post-1520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-insights","category-news","tag-agnosticism","tag-benedict-xvi","tag-catholic-faith","tag-certainty","tag-christian-people","tag-doubt-and-faith","tag-faith","tag-faith-feeling","tag-jesus-crhist-in-history","tag-lose-the-faith","tag-meeting-christ"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow not to lose faith? 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