"I tell you, sincerely, in CHRIST, and my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit, that I am not lying: I have great sadness and constant anguish for the Jews. I would even desire, that, I myself, suffer the curse of being cut off from CHRIST, instead of my brethren: I mean, my own people, my kin. They are Israelites, whom GOD adopted, and on them, rests HIS glory. Theirs, are the Covenants, the law, the worship and the promises of GOD. They are descendants of the patriarchs, and from their race, CHRIST was born, HE, who, as GOD, is above all distinctions. Blessed be HE forever and ever: Amen!" - Romans 9:1-5
(Paul, being a Jew, shares the worries of the few Jews who have believed in CHRIST. Why did the chosen people not recognize their Savior? If they were a chosen nation, why were so few selected?
It is the same worry of Catholic families when their children do not go to church or when teenagers declare they have lost their faith. It is the same uneasiness we feel in the course of a mission: those who habitually go to church are perhaps the hardest to lead to conversion and are the ones that most obstruct the evangelization of outsiders.
Faith is not transmitted in heritage from father to son, mother to daughter. There have certainly been times and cultural systems where a whole nation followed the same religion and apparently shared the same faith. The Book of Acts shows how on several occasions the conversion of the head of the family brought about the baptism of the whole household [Acts 11:14; 16:33]. Faith however will always be a grace of GOD. In our days people have acquired complete autonomy and live in a world where all beliefs meet: faith can no longer be a family possession.)
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