It's all about faith… we can't be Christians who resort to casuistry and ideology

Even demons know entire theology, they have Denzinger memorised... but they do not have faith

  We can recite the Creed theoretically even without faith and there are many people who do so. Even the detestable demons do it.

 In fact, those most despicable demons know very well what the Creed says and they know it is the truth.  In the Letter of St James, the Apostle says ((2:14-24,26) that 'they tremble', because they know that it is the truth” even though they do not have faith. To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see. (Please read Hebrews chapter 11 for a clear picture about faith).   

  The demons know the whole of theology, they have Denzinger (Catholic theologian Joseph Dominicus Denzinger) memorised, but they do not have faith. Having faith is not a matter of having knowledge: having faith means receiving God's message brought to us by Jesus Christ, living it out and carrying it forward.

 Pope Francis said this in his homily during the Mass at Santa Marta in Vatican last week, L’Osservatore Romano said. “The teaching of the Apostle James is a commentary on faith: he wants to explain well what faith is. Therefore, he plays on this contrast between faith and works. The Apostle's statement is clear," the Pope said. “Faith that does not bear fruit in works is not faith”.

 CASUISTRY: People resort to casuistry which is nothing but the use of clever but unsound reasoning, especially in relation to moral questions. There are "signs” by which one can recognize “a person who knows what we are to believe but who does not have faith”.

 The  Pope noted two particular signs that we find in the Gospel, L’Osservatore Romano said.

 The first sign is “casuistry”, and he recalled all those who approached Jesus to present him with cases such as: is it lawful to to pay taxes to Caesar?” Or the case in which “a woman was widowed, poor thing, who according to the law had to marry the seven brothers of her husband in order to have a a child”. This is casuistry. This is precisely the place to which all  those people go who believe they have faith but only have a knowledge of its content. Thus, when "we find a Christian” who only asks “if it is licit to do this  and if the Church could do that, it either means “that they do not have faith, or that it is too weak”.

 IDEOLOGY: The second sign is ideology. We cannot be “Christians who think of the faith as a system of ideas, as an ideology,” Pope Francis said. It is a risk that also existed in Jesus' time and was set forth by by the gnostics.  Apostle James says that ideologues of the faith are the Antichrist.

 Thus, those who fall into casuistry or ideology are Christians who know doctrine but who lack faith. Like the demons, with the difference that the demons tremble, whereas these do not: they live in peace.

 Pope Francis then proposed three figures taken from the Gospel, who do not know doctrine but who have great faith.

 * First, he spoke about the Canaanite woman, who was a pagan but who had faith in Jesus “because the Holy Spirit had touched her heart”. She bore witness to her faith: this is the key word.

 * Second was the Samaritan who “beforehand did not believe anything”or whose belief was misguided, but who came to believe “once she encountered Jesus”: that is, prior to encountering Jesus she had a “casuistic way of thinking”, she wondered if she had to worship God “on this mountain or that”. But after having “spoken with the Lord, she felt something” in her heart and in haste “went away to say: I found a man who told me all that I ever did.” She had faith “because he encountered Jesus Christ and not abstract truths”.

 * The third Gospel figure which the Pope put forward is the man born blind who went to Jesus to ask him for the grace to see. And “then, poor thing,” the Pope said, “he became involved in a battle between the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the doctors of the Law: he and his parents were called upon to give an account after this annoying and bothersome episode”. The Gospel tells us that “the Lord looked at him and said to him: 'Do you believe?'”. The man born blind “did not know theology, perhaps he knew the commandments”, and yet he recognized in Jesus the Son of God “and falling to his knees he worshipped the Lord”.

 It's faith that all matters. You know all the commandments, all the prophecies, all the truths of the faith, but if they do not translate into practice and works, it is useless.