text: Monica!  I hope you find this followup to my former post, but I don't know how to manage this site!
  
  You said: To your question -- what is faith? -- I would respond that faith is the commitment to live my life, implementing the teachings of Jesus, when the world offers me many other options. To the extent that ritual and sacrament assist us in that process, they serve the purpose for which Jesus formed a community of believers. To the extent that they've become replacements for commitment and practice, they are impediments in the way of the gospel.
  
  My response is, first of all, surprise that you believe Jesus formed a community of believers.  I do, too, but I don't think that is in the gospels strictly, but in the Tradition.  Furthermore I believe VII's statement (I forget where just now) that God has chosen to save us as a people and not as individuals.
  
  And I completely agree with your final sentence.  That's Pope Francis' view as well.