Our faith is not the means of our salvation

"Today you will be with me in paradise." Jesus does not reject any who turn to him. At times we turn to him with little faith, at times with a mixture of faith and doubt when we are more sure of the doubt than of the faith. Jesus is not fastidious about the quality of the faith. He takes what he can get, so to speak, and gives immeasurably more than he receives - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon

I can't speak for anyone else. As for me: I am almost always certain of my doubt, and am almost never so certain about my faith. Every word of encouragement I offer others in the faith is also an encouragement for me.

Fr. Neuhaus is going to go on, in these next few pages, to encourage us not to look to our faith, but to our Lord, and that is exactly right. My faith will always be insufficient to save me, except insofar as it is a gift of God that is sufficient in his mercy and grace. Yes, God is eternally in the business of making poor exchanges. He takes our meager, flawed offerings and gives us his perfect infinite self. So yes, I will continue to be more aware of my doubt than certain of my faith, and I will continue to trust completely in God's grace. After all, it is time to be done with the illusion that we are in any way deserving of what God wants so much to give us despite our inability to deserve it.