Lumen Fidei - page 25

25
forms us, dwells within us and thus bestows on
us the light that illumines the origin and the end
of life.
21. We come to see the difference, then, which
faith makes for us. Those who believe are trans-
formed by the love to which they have opened
their hearts in faith. By their openness to this offer
of primordial love, their lives are enlarged and ex-
panded. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me” (
Gal
2:20). “May Christ dwell in your
hearts throughfaith”(
Eph
3:17).Theself-awareness
of the believer now expands because of the pres-
ence of another; it now lives in this other and thus,
in love, life takes on a whole new breadth. Here we
see the Holy Spirit at work. The Christian can see
with the eyes of Jesus and share in his mind, his
filial disposition, because he or she shares in his
love, which is the Spirit. In the love of Jesus, we
receive in a certain way his vision. Without being
conformed to him in love, without the presence
of the Spirit, it is impossible to confess him as
Lord (cf.
1 Cor
12:3).
The ecclesial form of faith
22. In this way, the life of the believer becomes
an ecclesial existence, a life lived in the Church.
When Saint Paul tells the Christians of Rome
that all who believe in Christ make up one body,
he urges them not to boast of this; rather, each
must think of himself “according to the meas-
ure of faith that God has assigned” (
Rom
12:3).
1...,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24 26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,...88
Powered by FlippingBook