There are a few verses from Sacred Scripture I pray every Catholic thinks very deeply about -- and prays even more deeply about. They are:
What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? And if a brother or sister be naked, and want daily food: And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit? So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself.
But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without works; and I will shew thee, by works, my faith. Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou, that faith did co-operate with his works; and by works faith was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, saying: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him to justice, and he was called the friend of God. Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith only? And in like manner also Rahab the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers, and sending them out another way? For even as the body without the spirit is dead; so also faith without works is dead.
These verses are good to use as "proof text" against the Protestant idea of "Sola Fide" or "Faith Alone" -- the idea that "Faith Alone" saves -- one of the two pillars of "the Reformation," the other being "Sola Scriptura," or "the Bible alone" as the source of authority But they tell us about a lot more than the necessity of making our faith alive through works. The specific words I pray you focus on right now are "the devils also believe and tremble."
Contrary to the idea many Protestants have that all we have to do is intellectually conclude that Jesus is the Son of God and we will thereafter be assured of salvation, Sacred Scripture tells us that even the demons know Who He is. Think about this: the devils know Who Lord Christ is. And their knowing Who He is won't save them.
The point of all this is to say that walking the path of salvation is not a matter of just coming to an intellectual conclusion. In no way is the Holy Faith a mere philosophy! There are reasons for the Faith, of course, and one can find support for Catholic beliefs in everything from sociology to psychology to physics. And you can be certain that faith and reason will never contradict each other. There are certainly, too, times in which the Faith must be defended through debate and argument. But ultimately, having faith is a supernatural gift that must be lived in love in order for it to be a true faith, a pleasing and effective faith that is radically different from the demons' mere "knowing." In other words, true faith requires a conversion of the heart, which we term "metanoia." It requires our seeing the faith as a gift we've not earned at all as opposed to treating it like a great intellectual achievement that just proves how bright we are, how right we are. It requires our "putting on Christ," "taking up our crosses," and following Him, becoming like Him, repenting of our sins, pursuing virtue and, above all, following "the Two Great Commandments" by loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves:
Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
In Mark 12:31, He tells us that "There is no other commandment greater than these"!
But, sadly, in all the years I've been doing what I do as an online teacher of Catholicism, I've seen so many self-professed Catholic turn the Holy Faith into something merely to debate about. I've seen folks so assured of their intellectual "rightness" that they've missed the Gospel message entirely.