Faith is the October Virtue of the Month

Each month this year the students in relgious education will be learning about a different virutue.  Parents look for a Home/School Connection to come home about the virtue they are working with for that month.  This will help you to foster the growth of the virtue in your home.  And you will find some of those ideas on this blog as well.  This month as the title of this blog tells you the virtue the catechists will be talking about is Faith:
What is this virtue?   “Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that He has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because He is truth itself. By faith ‘man freely commits his entire self to God.’ For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ Living faith ‘works through charity’” (CCC 1814)  (Note: Theological means that this gift comes from God and leads us back to God.)
Faith is a grace, a power which enables us to believe and accept the truth. Faith is a supernatural virtue infused by God into the soul.  We believe in God because what He has revealed is the Truth.  We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is Himself God.  We believe in the Holy Spirit because He is God.
Why do we need this virtue?   Faith makes us capable of living as God’s children and of inheriting eternal life. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Rom 11:6).  Faith disposes us to live in relationship with Jesus Christ. Christ is the only One who can save us; we need to cling to Him by faith.  Faith indicates the right moral behavior to be a disciple of Christ.  Faith is a constant and firm support, even in the most difficult times.• Faith helps us to know the existence of God’s mercy.  Faith enables us to see Christ in those around us, above all, the poor.
The saint that is given to us as an example of Faith is St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.  He is the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus.