Fr. Gabriel had a very strong faith. He stayed true to his beliefs. I feel that his faith was realistic. When becoming a Jesuit priest he took a vow of obedience. This vow meant that he would have to do what the Papal Delegate, in this case, told him. The Papal Delegate ordered the Jesuits to leave the mission and let the Portuguese take control. Fr. Gabriel knew that if he left the Portuguese would capture the Indians and sell them off as slaves. He believed that leaving was the wrong thing to do, but to stay would be a huge risk. Trusting in something and believing in something makes up what faith is all about. With believing in something and trusting that it is the right thing, comes risk. Fr. Gabriel takes that risk. He put in a lot of effort in building up this mission and he isn’t going to just get up and leave it to be captured. He also believes there is no need to fight though. He puts his Faith in God to protect the mission. He says to Rodrigo, “If you are right you will have God’s blessing.” He believes that by staying he is doing the right thing, and staying is enough. God doesn’t want war. This is realistic because with war comes destruction. Fr. Gabriel’s Faith in God and his decision to stay makes sense. Nobody wants to give up something that they have been working on for years. He also believes that he can’t just leave the Indians. When the little girl comes up to him and asks him if he is staying with them, he believes that leaving would mean he wouldn’t have Faith.
Fr. Gabriel’s realistic Faith is necessary to build God’s Kingdom on earth. Fr. Gabriel followed what he trusted in and what he believed in, not what the church told him to do. I believe he was right in doing what he did. God gave us free will to choose what we believe in. The church isn’t always going to be right. The church is not infallible. We have to make our own decisions sometimes. When we make decisions that speak God’s word we are building God’s kingdom here on earth. Fr. Gabriel’s Faith definitely spoke God’s word. He stayed true to what he believed in even though he knew it might cost him his life.
Fr. Gabriel’s faith is connected to a lot of things covered in chapter one. The most obvious might be that Faith requires a free human response. Fr. Gabriel was presented with a difficult question to respond to. He had to choose between following his vow of obedience and the church or following what he trusted and believed in. The word “free” plays a major role. Humans have free will to choose what ever we want. His decision to stay and not fight was definitely his own response. This response brought a great risk of course. A risk that took his life. Faith is all about taking risks. He risks being excommunicated by staying also. With all these things against him he still decided to stay with the Indians proving that he had very strong Faith in what believed in. His Faith was reasonable too. Fr. Gabriel had a lot of things that supported his decision. He started this mission and wasn’t about to give up on it. He felt that even though he would not fight the Indians needed him. This was definitely not blind faith.