But God cannot please God without faith (Heb 11: 6)

The teaching of the gospel repeats on almost every aspect that faith is necessary to bring man closer to God. “He who believes and can be baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned ”(Mk 16,16). For salvation is in the knowledge of God, and God remains inaccessible without faith. Both churches acknowledge that this was a misunderstanding caused by the ambiguity of the terms used in the controversy used. If we ask an ordinary Catholic what he means by the word “faith”, he will most likely tell us that these are the truths contained in catechism. For example, the miracles spoken of by the Holy Scripture “are part of our faith”; “private” revelations “do not belong to our faith.” . He knew little about God, but he had unlimited trust in him. He was willing not only to acknowledge everything that God had told him, but to do it right away. Obviously, such a belief in itself justifies and makes man nice to God.These two aspects of faith, that is to say, Catholic and Protestant, are in fact inseparable. One of the Church Fathers, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, noticed this. He emphasized that one who wants to approach God must first have confidence in Him. But if we trust someone, we accept as truth what he says, what he puts us to believe. Obviously, personal trust in God is a primary aspect. That was Abraham’s belief in the Old Testament. It wasn’t easy. To follow the path of the Lord, he had to leave his country, his homeland, which at that time meant getting rid of all social security. Therefore, he also became a nomad and had the hope of a new homeland that God had promised him. The point of promise was the idea, the plan to become the father of a great new people. However, he and his wife were getting older and still had no children. And when the promised son was born, God asked to sacrifice him. God himself did not prevent this at the last moment. The result of these trials was the clear assurance that God was faithful, fulfilling His promises, and that the only certainty in this world of confusion was to have faith in Him. Another example of great faith in the Old Testament is David. The last of Israel’s last family, a refugee from his homeland for years, is to become king and founder of the dynasty. Trusting in God, he accomplished this and defeated all enemies, even those of his own family. Happened but something worse. God remained faithful, and David could be convinced of it at every step. But David himself was not faithful. He committed adultery and committed crime by killing Uriah. However, he discovered that he can maintain trust in God by repenting and confessing his sin. God’s faithfulness then revealed that the future Savior of the world came from His lineage. Through such faith, they stand in the Letter to the Jews (11: 33-34), the people of ancient generations received good testimony: “By faith they triumphed over the empires, did justice, achieved what they were promised, plugged their mouths with lions, extinguished sword blades; although the weak were attained great strength, proved themselves as heroes in war, turned foreign troops to escape. “If the Old Testament begins with the father of all wreaths, Abraham, at the beginning of the New Testament is the faith of Mary” blessed who believed “. Lk 1.45). It wasn’t easy for her, either. The promise of becoming the mother of the Savior of the World is given to her by the Archangel, and the birth of Jesus is accompanied by the singing of angels and the adoration of the sages of the East. But then there are many years of the gray ordinariness of life in Nazareth without miracles and without the special signs of God, and ultimately the apostolic mission of the Messiah ends with the apostasy of part of his people and the humiliating cross. Some Church Fathers thought that the Madonna was tempted by doubt under the cross, but it was Calvary that she learned to the last degree of wisdom, namely the wisdom of the cross, this is a solid confidence also in the face of death and apparent loneliness by God. And how many examples of trust in God we find in the life of saints! The Old Testament righties have discovered that the God of Israel is characterized by being “faithful and merciful” and that “his mercy is eternal” (cf. II.135). The New Testament assures us that He appears as a father whose providence applies to everyone and everything. Saint Francis of Sales well records the difference between an exclusive and almost selfish pursuit of perfection and another motivated by conversation with God. She explains this with this example: When a girl looks in the mirror and admires how beautiful she is, it is vanity. But when she does the same thing to please her fiancé or husband, it is not vanity, but love. In this way the soul should look in the mirror of his conscience, so that she would not remain locked in herself, but lived with a single thought – to please the eternal God.