Lumen Fidei - page 63

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the Catholic Church,
which is a fundamental aid for
that unitary act with which the Church commu-
nicates the entire content of her faith: “all that
she herself is, and all that she believes”.
39
The unity and integrity of faith
47. The unity of the Church in time and space
is linked to the unity of the faith: “there is one
body and one Spirit… one faith” (
Eph
4:4-5).
These days we can imagine a group of people
being united in a common cause, in mutual af-
fection, in sharing the same destiny and a single
purpose. But we find it hard to conceive of a
unity in one truth. We tend to think that a uni-
ty of this sort is incompatible with freedom of
thought and personal autonomy. Yet the experi-
ence of love shows us that a common vision is
possible, for through love we learn how to see
reality through the eyes of others, not as some-
thing which impoverishes but instead enriches
our vision. Genuine love, after the fashion of
God’s love, ultimately requires truth, and the
shared contemplation of the truth which is Jesus
Christ enables love to become deep and endur-
ing. This is also the great joy of faith: a unity of
vision in one body and one spirit. Saint Leo the
Great could say: “If faith is not one, then it is
not faith”.
40
39
 S
econd
V
atican
E
cumenical
C
ouncil
, Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation
Dei Verbum
, 8.
40
In Nativitate Domini Sermo
, 4, 6: SC
22, 110.
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