For Blessed Chaminade, faith is the basis of everything in our life.
Our call to live Marianist spirituality is first of all a call to live by faith.
But what does it mean in practice?
Faith makes real for us things which before were not real.
This takes place in one way in our mind and in another way in our heart.
First, faith means we accept with our mind something as true or as fact which we cannot prove.
It means accepting with our mind
something which we cannot demonstrate by reason
and which our senses cannot directly experience.
There is a second dimension to our faith.
For Blessed Chaminade, an act of faith meant,
not only accepting something is true with our mind,
but likewise embracing it with our feelings.
That is what he called "faith of heart."
He taught that acts of faith should
not only shape our thinking,
but should also affect our feelings.
As he said, "our faith should include...
attitudes of the heart.
It is faith of the heart that justifies:
by believing from the heart you are made righteous.
Faith of mind alone does not sanctify."
But what does it mean in practice?
Faith makes real for us things which before were not real.
This takes place in one way in our mind and in another way in our heart.
First, faith means we accept with our mind something as true or as fact which we cannot prove.
It means accepting with our mind
something which we cannot demonstrate by reason
and which our senses cannot directly experience.
There is a second dimension to our faith.
For Blessed Chaminade, an act of faith meant,
not only accepting something is true with our mind,
but likewise embracing it with our feelings.
That is what he called "faith of heart."
He taught that acts of faith should
not only shape our thinking,
but should also affect our feelings.
As he said, "our faith should include...
attitudes of the heart.
It is faith of the heart that justifies:
by believing from the heart you are made righteous.
Faith of mind alone does not sanctify."
