Day 31: The Meaning of Faith

Believing in God, the only One, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life. It means coming to know God's greatness and majesty... It means living in thanksgiving... It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men... It means making good use of created things... It means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. CCC 222-227

Today's reading is about what faith in the One True God means for us, and how we are to respond to Him in expressing that faith. None of these things are easy for us, which is why we need God's grace. Consider the Shema from Judaism:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!  Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. (Deut 6:4-5)

There is much that is packed into this. God is One and we are therefore to love Him with everything of ourselves. How we do that exactly has been one of the greatest challenges we have faced for millennia. Give God our whole hearts, our whole being, and whole strength? What does this mean in our lives and how do we know we are doing this? This is something great minds have wrestled with and I will not be able to add much of profundity here. I will say that given the history of man, monotheism has not been the norm for much of our existence as far as we know from the historical and archaeological records. Polytheism was. A multitude of gods and goddesses who were as petty, vain, and fickle as men can be. God revealing Himself as One was a remarkable and revolutionary event, a mortal blow to the puffed-up false gods and idols of men. How odd must it have been to men like Abraham to serve only One God instead of a pantheon of divinities? I'm reminded of the "heretic pharaoh" of Egypt, Akhenaten. While his primitive monotheistic faith of Atenism flourished during his lifetime, it was violently suppressed and eventually died out after his death. Ancient Egypt enjoyed its polytheism and wasn't ready for the truth that there is only One God even if Aten isn't Who He Is. 

Abraham though overcame what may have seemed "normal" to him and embraced the calling of Yahweh. Christians are often accused by some of worshipping 3 gods, yet we absolutely don't. We wholeheartedly agree with the Jews and Muslims that there is only One God. Tomorrow begins a closer look at the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.

"Even when he reveals himself, God remains a mystery beyond words (CCC 230). As St. Augustine said, "If you understand him, it would not be God" (quoted in CCC 230). Catechism Companion, Vol I (p. 66)