Lumen Fidei - page 27

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of the Christian, becomes a response, a spoken
word, a profession of faith. As Saint Paul puts
it: “one believes with the heart ... and confesses
with the lips” (Rom 10:10). Faith is not a private
matter, a completely individualistic notion or a
personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it
is meant to find expression in words and to be
proclaimed. For “how are they to believe in him
of whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear without a preacher?” (Rom 10:14).
Faith becomes operative in the Christian on the
basis of the gift received, the love which attracts
our hearts to Christ (cf. Gal 5:6), and enables us
to become part of the Church’s great pilgrimage
through history until the end of the world. For
those who have been transformed in this way, a
new way of seeing opens up, faith becomes light
for their eyes.