"Knowledge of the content of faith is essential for giving one's own assent, that is to say for adhering fully with intellect and will to what the Church proposes." (Porta Fidei §10.5) By writing this is the Pope saying that we need to understand the entire deposit of the Faith before we can give our assent to it? Not at all. He goes on to say, "The giving of assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, because the guarantor of its truth is God who reveals himself and allows us to know the mystery of love." (Ibid.) What this means is that when we give our own assent of faith, of believing in the Truth revealed to us by the Son of God, we can do so because God Himself guarantees that the Faith we have received through the Church is true. We don't have to understand it completely we simply have to trust in God.
On the other hand, there are those parts of the Faith that people can't accept because of their own ignorance or won't accept because of their own sinful stubbornness and pride. Therefore, all Catholics must strive to understand the content of their Faith in a more complete manner, especially if there is something that they do not agree with. To say that we don't agree with a part of the Truth that the Church teaches us is to say that we don't trust God, because it is God Himself who guarantees the Truth that we question.
To correct this problem we need to understand our Faith in a more perfect manner and therefore, we must study our Faith. The Pope points out, "In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool." (§11.1) And he goes on to say, "...the Year of Faith will have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith that receives its systematic and organic synthesis in the Cathechism of the Catholic Church." (§11.2)
No matter where a given Catholic may be on his journey of faith we could all benefit from studying the content of our Faith because we can never competely exhaust what it has to teach us. We can most certainly give our assent of faith but the deeper our knowledge of the Faith goes the deeper will be our faith in it.
On the other hand, there are those parts of the Faith that people can't accept because of their own ignorance or won't accept because of their own sinful stubbornness and pride. Therefore, all Catholics must strive to understand the content of their Faith in a more complete manner, especially if there is something that they do not agree with. To say that we don't agree with a part of the Truth that the Church teaches us is to say that we don't trust God, because it is God Himself who guarantees the Truth that we question.
To correct this problem we need to understand our Faith in a more perfect manner and therefore, we must study our Faith. The Pope points out, "In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool." (§11.1) And he goes on to say, "...the Year of Faith will have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith that receives its systematic and organic synthesis in the Cathechism of the Catholic Church." (§11.2)
No matter where a given Catholic may be on his journey of faith we could all benefit from studying the content of our Faith because we can never competely exhaust what it has to teach us. We can most certainly give our assent of faith but the deeper our knowledge of the Faith goes the deeper will be our faith in it.
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