Have you ever heard someone say (or possibly even said  something similar yourself): If you really believed that, you  wouldn’t . . . Whether it is belief in something that is going  to happen—if you believed it is going to rain, you would be  much more likely to take an umbrella with you—or belief in  what is right and wrong—if one believes that it is important  to go to Mass on Sunday, one is more likely to actually go to  Mass. There are, of course, times when outside circumstances or our weakness to temptation comes up, so we  may not always act according to our belief. But when all things are ordinary, we act in accordance with our beliefs.

What we believe is not simply a matter of what we think, it is  how we see the world and what we acknowledge to be true.  When it comes to our relationship with God, the  Catechism begins by recognizing that what we believe is our  response to God. He presents Himself to us, offers Himself  to us and desires to be in union with us. We can easily  enough imagine Him standing in front of us, revealing  Himself to us; saying “Here I am. I love you?”  To know and to love God is the purpose for which He  created us. This is the goal of life and the start of the road  toward perfection. The question becomes, what do you do  when He presents and offers Himself to you? How does  one respond to someone who reveals himself to us? This is  belief.

Think of God’s revelation of Himself as a gift. And  truly this is what it is. Can you recall a time when you were  confused and did not know what was going on? Or made  there was someone whom you wanted to get to know, but  they were secretive and distant. Or think of a time when a  good friend or spouse, or possibly even a stranger, revealed a  closely held secret to you. Many of us have felt gratitude,  and maybe even said Thank you, for the sharing of such a  secret—revealing one’s self and the most intimate, most  vulnerable parts of one’s self is a true gift. This is what our  God has done for us. He stand before us without a veil, and  without clothes, saying here I am.

The faith that we believe is the acceptance of His gift  and the foundation of our actions. Recall what it was that  Simon had done immediately before Jesus named him Peter.  When asked “Who do you say that I am.” Simon responded  “You are the Son of God.” And Jesus named him Peter, the  rock and foundation of His Church. Belief, that which we  profess in the Creed, is the foundation. This is our response  to God’s presentation of Himself to us. To believe in what  He was revealed to us and accept Him as He is, not as we  sometimes would desire Him to be, or what others may say  He is. This is why our Lord says the “whoever does not  believe has already been condemned” because they have denied the gift.