Faith is knowledge and trust. It has seven characteristics:
- Faith is a sheer gift of God, which we receive when we fervently ask for it.
- Faith is a supernatural power that is absolutely necessary if we are to attain salvation.
- Faith requires the free will and clear understanding of a person when he accepts the divine invitation.
- Faith is absolutely certain, because Jesus guarantees it.
- Faith is incomplete unless it leads to active love.
- Faith grows when we listen more and more carefully to God's Word and enter a lively exchange with him in prayer.
- Faith gives us even now a foretaste of the joy of heaven.