Catechism of the Catholic Church

879

Glossary

truth that God has revealed. It is this revelation of God which the Church proposes for our belief, and which we profess in the Creed, celebrate in the sacraments, live by right conduct that fulfills the twofold commandment of charity (as specified in the ten commandments), and respond to in our prayer of faith. Faith is both a theological virtue given by God as grace, and an obligation which flows from the first commandment of God (26, 142, 150, 1814, 2087). FAITHFUL, THE CHRISTIAN: Those who have been incorporated into Christ in Baptism and constituted as the people of God, the Church (871). The term “lay faithful” refers to the laity, all the faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church (897). FALL: (1) Biblical revelation about the reality of sin in human history. The Biblical story begins with the original sin freely committed by the first human beings. This primeval event is narrated in figurative language in the Book of Genesis, which describes this sin as a “fall” from God’s friendship and grace, which they had received from God not only for themselves but for the whole human race (388, 390). (2) In the “fall” of angels, Scripture and Church tradition see the emergence of Satan and the “devil”; the “fall” of these angelic spirits was due to their freely chosen rejection of God and His reign (391-392). FASTING: Refraining from food and drink as an expression of interior penance, in imitation of the fast of Jesus for forty

days in the desert. Fasting is an ascetical practice recommended in Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers; it is sometimes prescribed by a precept of the Church, especially during the liturgical season of Lent (538, 1434, 2043). FATHER, GOD THE: God, the first Person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus revealed that God is Father in a unique way: not only as Creator, the origin of all things, but also as eternal Father in his relationship to his only Son, who is eternally begotten of the Father and consubstantial with the Father (240, 242). FATHERS OF THE CHURCH: Church teachers and writers of the early centuries whose teachings are a witness to the Tradition of the Church (78, 688). FEAR OF THE LORD: One of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which ensures our awe and reverence before God (1831). FEAST DAYS: The annual cycle of liturgical celebrations commemorating the saving mysteries of Christ’s life, as a participation in the Paschal Mystery, which is celebrated annually at Easter, the “Feast of feasts.” Feast days commemorating Mary, the Mother of God, and the saints are also celebrated, providing the faithful with examples of those who have been glorified with Christ (1169, 1173). FILIOQUE: A word meaning “and (from) the Son,” added to the Latin version of the Niceno Constantinopolitan Creed, by which the Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Holy