Today, how can we be certain, after all these centuries, that we have encountered the "real Jesus"? Were we merely isolated individuals, were our starting point simply our own individual ego seeking in itself the basis of absolutely sure knowledge, a certainty of this sort would be impossible.

I cannot possibly verify for myself something which happened so long ago. But this is not the only way we attain knowledge. Persons always live in relationship. It is impossible to believe on our own. Faith, by its very nature, is open to the "We" of the Church; it always takes place within her communion. We can respond in the singular —"I believe"— only because we are part of a greater fellowship, only because we also say "We believe".

—This openness to the ecclesial "We" reflects the openness of God’s own love, which is not only a relationship between the Father and the Son, between an "I" and a "Thou", but is also, in the Spirit, a "We", a communion of Persons.