'Faith is absolutely necessary for salvation' (Fortes in Fide)
What actually is faith, and why is it the foundation of the entire supernatural life in Christ? Fr Noël Barbara explains.
What actually is faith, and why is it the foundation of the entire supernatural life in Christ? Fr Noël Barbara explains.
Editor’s Notes
What follows is the first of Fr Noël Barbara catecheses in Fortes in Fide, N. I Vol. I.
Having previously published the opening material and editorial of that issue, we are now in the meat of the periodical, and it is easy to see why Fr Peter Morgan felt that the French version (Forts dans la foi) was what was needed by English Catholics, following Vatican II.
One of the most harmful effects of modernism is the dissolution of the concept of faith into a vague trust in God on the one hand, and religious sentiment on the other. The Oath against Modernism contained the following clause:
Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and Lord.
When men do not know what faith is; when they imagine it to be something other than it is; when they do not understand how prosaic is its definition and or how incredible it is as a gift, it becomes so much easier for it to be lost. They do not make Acts of Faith, they do not develop their faith or fulfil the obligations which it imposes, and they do not take care to protect this treasure in their souls.
Barbara’s exposition provides clarity and light through this terrible fog, addressing those very topics.
He also emphasises that supernatural faith is absolutely necessary for salvation, as it is a precondition for supernatural charity. As Barbara shows, this is the clear teaching of Holy Scripture and the Councils; this is why Pope Gregory XVI affirmed that this is itself a dogma of the Catholic faith:
“You know how zealously Our predecessors taught that very article of faith which these dare to deny, namely the necessity of the Catholic faith and of unity for salvation.”
On another occasion, the same pope spoke in the same terms, referring to:
“… the Catholic dogma concerning the necessity of true Catholic faith for obtaining salvation.”
While Barbara’s exposition is excellent, we would like to raise a few points.
First – and this is only an apparent shortcoming – we should alert readers that the following section of this issue (on Revelation) is an essential accompaniment to this article. Faith is a response to revelation, and cannot be properly understood without reference to it. On its own, this article may appear to leave some loose ends: these are addressed in the next part.
Second, Barbara might appear, in this piece and in the next, to leave the Church’s role in the proposition of the revelation somewhat underdeveloped. We have previously published Fr Marín-Sola’s explanation of his point, along with his overview of the weighty authorities who teach it.
Third, as previously noted, Barbara occasionally refers to the words of Paul VI and Vatican II in support of his points. This tactic – citing “good” parts of the post-conciliar “magisterium” – may have been initially attractive, but soon fell out of favour, for reasons discussed elsewhere.
Fortes in Fide, N. I, Vol. I.
Part III: Faith
Some headings and line breaks added. Asterisks replaced with dividing lines. Bold formatting has been removed in quotes, and replaced with italics when used for emphasis, in which case it has been retained in italics. Footnotes ran continuously in the original, but have been reset in this piece.
It is based on the typeset version of the late James McNally. Unfortunately, at this time of republication, it has not been possible to ascertain the date of the original text.
Faith
What is Faith?
This is a first question which comes to the mind of anyone wishing to study the theological virtue, and to acquire a clearer awareness of his faith. In this first article we will try to answer this initial question.
Later on we will show how faith is an absolutely free gift of God, yet absolutely indispensable for salvation.
This gift, which can unhappily be rejected, is capable of growth, especially by the exercise of it.
In conclusion, we will see how the man who becomes a Christian is exalted by his faith.
Faith is a knowledge which rests on the testimony of another.
Human faith
There exist some realities which we ourselves are unable to verify, either because we have no sense experience of them (we cannot see, touch, hear, feel or taste them), or because our intelligence is not capable of grasping them through a process of reasoning. We can only know them if someone, who has grasped them reveals them to us.
The fact of accepting such a revelation made to us, of holding it to be true, of believing the testimony of the master who teaches us, of having faith in him, allows us to know the reality in question, of which we previously did not know the existence.
What is the certitude engendered by this knowledge received on the testimony of another?
The degree of certitude arising from belief in another’s testimony corresponds to the standing of the person who expresses the truth. If anyone who asks for our belief is a practical joker, or a liar, an excited or a mentally deranged person, his testimony will have no value. If, on the other hand, he is perfectly honest, disinterested, balanced, and very competent in the matter in question, his testimony will produce certainty in the minds of those who accept it.
In all of this it is a question of human faith.
Divine faith
In addition to realities in the natural order, there are also realities in the supernatural order: realities, the knowledge of which cannot, by any created intelligence, be acquired directly, nor as a result of a process of reasoning, the existence of which can neither be proved nor verified. Even though hidden and unknown, these realities exist nonetheless and are knowable since they are real. How then can they be known when they are hidden from created intelligences? They can be known if God, Who alone knows them, is willing to reveal them to us.
And God has revealed such truths to us. He has made known to us the secrets of His own divine life.
To accept this divine revelation, to hold it as true and certain, to believe the testimony of God, is to have faith in Him. Such belief is no longer a matter of human faith, but of divine faith.
The certainty that divine faith gives
As faith rests on the worth of the person whose testimony we believe, it is easy to understand that supernatural or theological faith, which is the adherence of our intelligence to the testimony of God, Who is absolute Truth, infinite and perfect, gives us knowledge of realities with maximum certainty.
In no other realm of knowledge can there be greater certitude than that which comes from supernatural faith, that is to say, by the acceptance of God’s word.
St. Paul, to whom the Church owes its fundamental teaching on the Catholic doctrine of faith, writes in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Est autem fides sperandum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium, that is,
“Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.” (Hebrews XI, 1)
Such is Faith. It is both a PROOF and a GUARANTEE. In what does this “proof” and “guarantee” consist? In the word of God, Who reveals to us those things which we hope for and do not see.
Thus, we hope among other things, for the forgiveness of sins repented of, the grace of final perseverance if we keep God’s commandments, the happiness of eternal life, etc. What guarantee do we have of obtaining all these good things which we hope for?
The word of God: He has told us so.
We do not see divine grace in a soul regenerated by baptism neither do we see the powers of an ordained Christian priest, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, etc. What proof have we for these things which we do not see? The word of God: He has told us so.
To possess supernatural faith is to believe that God has revealed some truth. It is to accept His word as true and certain. It is to accept His word as a guarantee of things He has promised us, and as a proof of those realities which He has revealed to us, although we have no means of checking them.
The firmness of this “guarantee” of the things the believer hopes for, and the “proof”, one could almost say the anticipated possession of the realities which are not seen, comes from the presence in his soul of the Holy Ghost “Who is the pledge of our inheritance.” (Ephesians 1, 14. See also 11 Cor. 1, 22 and V, 5)
Theological faith is a gift of God
If faith is the consequence of the presence in the believer of the Holy Ghost, Who enables him to hold as certain and true whatever God has revealed, then faith is not arrived at by a process of reasoning, but is a gift of God.
When Peter, by faith, discovered in Jesus of Nazareth “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus used this to reveal that the faith that had caused him to discover this truth, divinity in his Master, which he confessed though he could not see it, came “because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father Who is in Heaven.” (Matt. XVI, 16-17)
Yes, faith is a gift of God. “No man can come to me, except the Father, Who hath sent me, draw him.” (Jn. VI, 44) And St John expresses this truth at the beginning of his Gospel: “As many as received Him ... to them that believe in His name ... are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (I, 12-13)
Faith, the gift of God, is an absolutely free grace. Here is the teaching of the first Vatican Council:
“But though the assent of faith is by no means a blind action of the mind, still no man can assent to the Gospel teaching, as is necessary to obtain salvation, without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Who gives to all men sweetness in assenting to and believing in the truth. Wherefore faith itself, even when it does not work by charity (see Gal. V, 6), is in itself a gift of God, and the act of faith is a work appertaining to salvation, by which man yields voluntary obedience to God Himself, by assenting to and co-operating with His grace, which he is able to resist.” (Denz. 1791)
Faith is free and meritorious
We have seen that, by divine or theological faith, we are guaranteed truths for which we have no evidence.
There being no evidence, these truths cannot CONSTRAIN our intelligence to hold them as true; that is why the believer’s act of faith is free.1
We can accept and hold as true this revelation which God gives to us, but we can also reject it.
If I make an act of faith, if I believe, that is to say, if I accept revelation, if I hold it to be true and certain, it is not because of the evidence for its truth, which I do not perceive, but UNIQUELY because of the absolute, infinite and perfect veracity of God Who has revealed this truth to me.
Let us not forget that grace does not destroy nature but elevates it whilst respecting its mode of action. Elevated, man remains free. Predisposed by the grace of God, which urges him to act, the believer accepts God’s grace in such a way that, as St. Paul says:
“By grace you are saved through faith, and not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God.” (Ephes. II, 8)
But this acceptance, which puts me in harmony with God, I could have refused, for grace respects my nature which remains free, but I have given it: I have given it freely, and that is why it is meritorious.
If, on the other hand, I do not make the act of faith, if I do not believe, that is to say, if I reject revelation, if I hold it as neither true nor certain, it is the testimony of God Himself revealing that I reject and refuse.
And, if being able to accept this testimony, I have rejected it, I have done so because I have willed to reject it; I have rejected it freely, and I am therefore culpable.
The motive of faith
The “motive” for believing, the “formal object of faith”, as the theologians call it, that which brings about the adherence of the mind of the believer, is always God’s testimony. Whether this testimony is direct, as we read of it the Bible, where God Himself spoke to Abraham and to Moses, or whether it comes to us by means of chosen heralds sent by Him: the Prophets, Jesus Christ or the Apostles, the mode of transmission makes no difference to the divine testimony, nor to the motive for believing it.
“When you had received of us the word of the hearing of God, you received it not as the word of men, but (as it is indeed) the word of God.” (I Thess II, 13)
Here is the teaching of the first Vatican Council:
“And the Catholic Church teaches that this faith, which is the beginning of man’s salvation, is a supernatural virtue, whereby, inspired and assisted by the grace of God, we believe that the things which He has revealed are true; not because the intrinsic truth of the things is plainly perceived by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God Himself, Who reveals them, and Who can neither be deceived nor deceive.” (Denz. 1789)
This doctrine we express in the formula which we have learned, and which we recite:
“My God, I firmly believe all the truths which Thou hast revealed to us, and which Thy Church teaches, because it is Thou, Truth itself, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived, Who hast revealed them.”
The necessity of faith
This supernatural virtue, which makes us to hold as true and certain God’s revelation, is absolutely necessary for salvation. “Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo.” “Without faith it is impossible to please God”, because it is necessary that “he who cometh to God must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him.” (Heb. XI, 6)
“What must I do, that I may be saved?” the jailor asked
Paul and Silas, and they replied to him: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts XVI, 30-31) This is the Master’s teaching, Who has stated: “He that believeth not shall be condemned.” (Mark XVI, 16)
The first Vatican Council formulating on this precise point the doctrine of the Church taught:
“Man being wholly dependent upon God, as upon his Creator and Lord, and created reason being absolutely subject to uncreated truth, we are bound to yield to God, by faith in His revelation, the full obedience of our intelligence and will.” (Denz. 1789)
And in refusing to accept the autonomy of human reason the same Council declared:
“If anyone shall say that human reason is so independent that faith cannot be enjoined upon it by God; let him be anathema.” (Denz. 1810)2
The same Council was careful to explain this obligation to believe; let us listen to it:
“All those things are to be believed with divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the Word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by her ordinary and universal teaching (magisterium), proposes for belief as having been divinely revealed.” (Denz. 1792)
“And since without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb. XI. 6), and to attain to the fellowship of His children, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification; nor will anyone obtain eternal life, unless he shall have persevered in faith unto the end.” (Matt. X, 22; XXIV, 13) And that we may be able to satisfy the obligation of embracing the true faith and of constantly persevering in it, God has instituted the Church through His only-begotten Son, and has bestowed on it manifest marks of that institution, that it may be recognized by all men as the guardian and teacher of the revealed Word; for to the Catholic Church alone belong all those many and admirable tokens which have been divinely established for the evident credibility of the Christian Faith. Nay, more, the Church itself, by reason of its marvelous extension, its eminent holiness3 and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in every good thing, its Catholic unity and its invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefutable witness of its own divine mission.” (Denz. 1793, 1794)
“And thus, like a standard set up unto the nations (Is. XI, 12), it both invites to itself those who do not yet believe, and assures its children that the faith which they profess rests on the most firm foundation. And its testimony is efficaciously supported by a power from on high. For our most merciful Lord gives His grace to stir up and to aid those who are astray, that they may come to a knowledge of the truth (I Tim. II, 4); and to those whom He has brought out of darkness into His own admirable light (I Peter II, 9), He gives His grace to strengthen them to persevere in that light, deserting none who desert not Him.” (Denz. 1794)
Faith is also an act of the intelligence
Although it is a gift of God, theological faith is an act of the intelligence. The first Vatican Council said clearly that “the assent of faith is by no means a blind action of the mind” but on the contrary “a homage in conformity with our reason.” In effect, the motive for faith being the authority of God revealing, in order to believe, assurance is necessary, in the first place, that God has spoken. And as divine revelation is accompanied by signs which are most certain and within the reach of every intelligence, man can, with the aid of his reason, study and recognize these signs, and convince himself that it is reasonable to believe.
St. Thomas in fact says, that
“man would not believe if he did not see that a thing was CREDIBLE, either because of the evidence of miracles or of something similar.” (Ia, IIae, q, 4, A.1)
Faith is therefore not, as some imagine it to be, an absurd exercise, for as Pascal said, “the things of faith are above reason, but they are not contrary to it.”
Far from diminishing the stature of the believer, faith enriches his intelligence by allowing him to see things as God sees them: having satisfied himself on the evidence for belief, it stands to reason that the assent of faith is truly a matter of seeing things as God sees them.
The reasons which lead him to affirm that it is reasonable to believe are, as the First Vatican Council said, “above all the miracles and the prophecies”, and also the Catholic Church.
Reasons for believing and the motives of faith
Let us note this carefully: neither the reasons for believing nor the most convincing proofs, could, in any way, produce faith. For faith is a pure gift from God.
The reasons for belief only prepare the ground for faith, and make it possible and rational. In studying the many proofs of the truth of Christianity, of the divine origin of Revelation, the intelligence admits: “This doctrine is credible” and, having pursued its study and reflection concludes, that “this doctrine should be believed.” These are the preliminaries of faith which theologians call “grounds of credibility” and “motives for believing.”
Of what value are the grounds for believing which lead to these judgements of “credibility” (that a thing is believable), and of “obligation to believe” (that I must believe)?
In themselves “the external proofs of His revelation, to wit, divine facts, and especially miracles and prophecies ... are most certain proofs of His divine revelation (which are) adapted to the intelligence of all men.” (Denz. 1790)
But what is the position of the believer? If there exists an obligation to believe, since “without faith it is impossible to please God”, there is no obligation for each person to convince himself, by personal research, of the existence of God and of the divine origin of revelation. Also, of course, in different believers, the reasons for believing vary. They range from convictions resulting from the close study of the most varied proofs of apologetics, to the simple knowledge received from another by an act of purely natural faith, as happens in the case of simple people, of children, or of those who have not done any studies. These are led to believe simply because their parish priest, their father, or some such person who has their confidence, has told them to believe.
In all cases we have, however, only the motive for the affirmations: “it is reasonable to believe”, and “it is necessary to believe.” If, whatever the reason they have for believing, they attain to faith, they will believe in and hold for certain the object of their faith not because of the intrinsic truth which their reasons for belief have put before them, but SOLELY because it is God who has revealed it, and He can neither deceive nor be deceived.
It follows from this, and it is very important to note it, that if “it is a grave duty of pastors to present anew and unceasingly to Christians whose faith is in danger, reasons for credibility adapted to their time and situation” (Bartmann), it remains no less true that the certitude of faith is independent of the degree, more or less great, more or less changeable, of the reasons for belief.
The theological faith of a child or of an unlettered person, who has no other reason for believing than the word of his father or the parish priest, produces the same degree of certainty, as theological faith produces in the scholar who has studied in depth all the most convincing proofs of apologetics. On the social plane the scholar’s faith will constitute a testimony, a reason for believing, of a superior value to that given by an unlettered person; but in themselves the scholar’s faith and that of the unlettered are both the same theological faith, which gives to every one possessing it the same absolute certitude, since the faith of each has; the same motive: God, Who is absolute, infinite and perfect Truth.
What is more, if a person who has very learned reasons for believing, lives his faith very little, making very few acts of faith, his theological virtue will be less developed than that of an unlettered person who, though having very uncertain reasons for belief, nevertheless, lives continually a life of faith, and multiplies acts of faith all day long.
Finally, we must remark that the enlightened faith of a scholar who is in a state of mortal sin resembles the faith of “the devils who also believe and tremble” (James II, 19): it is a dead faith. On the other hand, the faith of a simple person who is in a state of grace, is a faith rooted in charity (Gal. V, 6), which will bring him to the possession of eternal life. (John III, 36)
Can faith be lost?
Yes, faith can be “lost”, but not in the way that a wallet or hat is lost, either unintentionally or without noticing the loss. Faith is lost, as the divine life in the soul is lost, by a mortal sin (therefore with knowledge and consent), that is, by a mortal sin against faith. In other words, faith is REJECTED rather than lost.
We would like to throw some light here on a problem which troubles many, but above all Christian parents; we wish to speak of the loss of faith among the young and among the people in general.
We said earlier that the reasons for belief cannot, in any way, produce faith, for this is a pure gift from God. The reasons for belief, we stated, only prepare the ground for faith; they make reasonable the acceptance of God’s gift. In the same way nothing nor anyone can snatch faith away from our souls. We alone have the sad responsibility of rejecting it by a mortal sin against this virtue.
However, without being able to take it from us, there are circumstances, situations, conditions of life, environments, and social outlooks which are prejudicial to faith, and which can put us in danger of rejecting it.
In the same way that the reasons for believing prepare the ground, so this harmful, sociological climate sterilizes the soil, prevents grace from penetrating it and dries up the seed which has been planted there (Luke VIII, 5, 6). And this is what unfortunately we see only too often happening around us.
How does “this sliding away into irreligion from among our own ranks” happen? (Pius XII). How does this rejection of faith come about?
a) First of all amongst intellectuals?
Most young people who have lost the faith admit to having lost it in the course of their education, when pursuing their studies and above all whilst studying philosophy. In the face of this fact, which is becoming more and more evident, many people think that science is opposed to faith. It is not true, and this opinion is false. True science has never contradicted true religion, for the same God who made all the laws which are the objects of scientific knowledge, is the origin of the revelation which is the object of faith. In God there is no possible contradiction. But, if contradiction is not possible in God, it is not only possible, but inevitable, between God, Who is Being (“I am who I am” Exod. III, 14), and non-being.
Now, all the so-called idealistic philosophies, which are being taught in our schools and universities, are philosophies of non-being.
The human intelligence, it can never be repeated too often, is made for Truth, which is none other than the knowledge of Being. It is therefore clear that those who bend their efforts to assimilate the pseudo-philosophy of nothingness, literally cause disorder in the mind.
A comparison will help us to understand this elementary truth better. Not every student can aspire to become a psychiatrist because, in order to do this special work without risk, in addition to the indispensable intellectual qualities needed for study, a perfect mental equilibrium is required; otherwise the unfortunate psychiatrist is in great danger of ending his medical career by joining the unhappy people who are his patients. Ordinary common sense is explicit: “Tell me what company you keep, and I will tell you who you are.” To mix with mad people without being balanced in mind and taking the necessary precautions, is to end up by oneself sinking into madness.
Likewise, in order to study these false philosophies of non-being, of doubt, of absurdity and of despair, it is necessary not only to have intellectual qualities but also, and above all, a perfectly balanced judgment which can only be acquired by those who have assimilated the true philosophy, that of common sense: otherwise, here too, is it surprising to find so very many young people, who immerse themselves in error, corrupt their minds, wreck their judgment and reject the truth? This is one of the principal reasons which explains why, in an age swarming with false ideas, so many of the baptized lose their faith.
In a cholera epidemic would it be surprising if scavengers, despising the elementary rules of hygiene, were to contract the terrible disease? Why, then, is it surprising if we see so many intellectuals rejecting faith, which is the adherence of the intelligence to Truth, when they ignore the most elementary rules of mental hygiene, and come into contact with this veritable “syphilis” of the mind, which this false philosophy is?
Instead of expending a lot of effort in trying to discover how to convey efficaciously the Christian revelation to the intellectuals of our day, we think it better to fight the evil by attacking its roots:
at the sources of intellectual infection which mislead the minds of the young;
by cleansing the disordered judgments of infected individuals;
by inoculating beginners in philosophy, and giving them a solid foundation of authentic philosophy, which is rooted in reality.
Without this preliminary cleansing of the mind we will have no more success than if we attempted to preach the gospel to the inhabitants of a mental asylum.
b) Let us now see how the rejection of faith happens among the people and the poor.
Here, the situation is to a terrible degree more painful, because it is at the expense of the little ones, the humble and the poor. How easy it is to understand the terrible curse of Christ, against those who “scandalize these little ones.” It is in the scandal of an apostate society that the principal reason for the loss of faith among the people must be sought.4
Social life is natural to man. God, the Creator, willed him to live in society, the family, the clan, the city, the nation, the various trade associations. And these different societies cannot but impress their stamp on those who compose them. Every one’s behaviour forms the social climate which he breathes, and which influences, without the members realizing it, their mentality and their actions.
Jesus knew what the repercussions of the social environment in which He left them could be on the religious behaviour of his disciples; so He prayed to His Father, not to withdraw them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil one, who is the Prince of this world.
We must admit that, without a civil society which is Christian, the poor can hardly be evangelized at all.5
When society, family, political, civil, corporate, etc., by its laws, customs and traditions conforms to the spirit of Christ, and holds in check the Prince of this world, it creates and maintains a sociological climate which disposes the simple, the humble, and the little ones to receive the faith.
In the same way when society, whether the family, political, civil or corporative, etc., makes laws, establishes customs, or maintains traditions which conform, not to Christ, but to His enemy, the Prince of this world, – and neutrality is a booby-trap – Jesus was definite on this point: “He that is not with Me, is against Me.” (Luke XI, 23) - it creates a sociological climate which dries up and sterilizes, in the simple, in the humble and the little ones, the soil in which faith was planted and, consequently, scandalized by godless institutions, irreligious laws, profane festivals and the apostacy of those who should lead them, these poor people are drawn to reject faith.
Let it be noted, the people will reject faith almost without realizing it. They will do so either by ceasing to practise it, out of human respect, or by ceasing to pray, or again by giving way to pride, or to a foolish vanity in order to show their emancipation. Unfortunately, there is culpability in all this. And if the people who lose their faith are guilty, what must be said of the guilt of those who have contributed to making them lose their faith, by the scandal of their lives, or that of their institutions?6
It is to help the humble and the little ones to preserve this gift of God that the Church, “Mater et Magistra”, has multiplied the public manifestations of faith, from the raised steeples of her churches, and the dress of her ministers7 to processions and pilgrimages where the multitudes gather.8
It is, thus, an apostolic work of very great charity to labour, according to the expression of St. Pius X, to “instaurare omnia in Christo”, which should be translated as, to Christianize society by christianizing its institutions.
Among the sins which denote the loss of faith let us highlight apostacy, which is a total rejection of the faith received in baptism heresy, a rejection of one or more articles of faith; wilful doubt, concerning a truth of faith. This last is not to be confused with difficulties which can be met with in the study of truth. To associate with persons or read books or irreligious reviews which attack the faith, constitutes a sin, probably not against faith, but certainly against charity, because it is a grave sin to expose oneself to the possible loss of faith, even if one does not in fact lose it.
Can faith be developed?
Faith, like the other infused virtues, increases in intensity in us as the divine life, the state of grace, grows in us. It increases in strength by the frequent repetition of acts of faith, for although, inasmuch as it is a virtue, faith comes from God, its exercise depends on the human will.
Obligations of the believer
1° To study revelation
Faith being man’s response to God’s revelation, the believer’s first duty is to be full of concern about this revelation, to seek to know it, to study it, to meditate on it, to make an inventory, as it were, of his religion. Just as the human intelligence, that faculty which enables us to grasp the truth of things, develops by study, so theological faith, that supernatural power which enables us to grasp divine truth, is enlightened by study of religion.
Jesus has left a Church charged with the duty of teaching us to observe all things which He has commanded us (Matt. XXVIII, 20). Faith therefore requires union with the Church, and complete submission to her Magisterium in studying ALL that God has revealed.
The first duty of the believer is, therefore, to study his catechism, which is none other than the word of God officially taught by the infallible Church.
2° To exercise faith
The believer, however, must not only enlighten his faith, he must develop it by exercising it and must make frequent acts of faith: comprehensive acts of faith in all the truths which God has revealed, and particular acts of faith in individual truths.
There is an obligation for anyone assailed by serious temptations to doubt any point of doctrine, to safeguard his faith by making an act of faith in this particular doctrine. Jesus said: “Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven. But he that shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father Who is in Heaven.” (Matt. X, 32-33) From this comes the duty of the believer to confess his faith in words, that is, by making a profession of faith, or in act, that is, by acting in conformity with his faith. There is no objective reason which can justify a denial of faith, nor even of only seeming to do so.
“Having been reborn as sons of God (the faithful) are obliged to profess before men the faith which they have received from God through the Church.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 11)
The believer also develops his faith by living it, and through living by it. Living his faith means accepting as true and certain all the words of God, and acting accordingly: “Why call you Me: Lord, Lord; and do not the things which I say.” (Luke VI, 46; see also Matt. VII, 21-22) Living his faith means allowing himself to be led solely by the principles of faith. Whatever may be the appearances and the contradictions, the denials, apostacies and scandals, in the most troublous times of his life, the believer who holds the word of God to be true and certain, will allow himself to be guided by it, and will not be shaken by the contradictions with which he meets. He lives by faith.
3° Communicating the faith
Since theological faith, the “source and root of justification is the most precious of man’s gifts, the apostolate compels the believer to make the revelation which he holds known to all men who do not know it, to teach them the Catholic faith, and to help them to practise it, (See Matt. XXVIII, 19-20) This apostolate is the highest charity and the greatest act of love for men. There is in the world a hunger, which though ignored in silence, is neither less severe, nor less widespread, nor cries less to heaven, than that of the poor in the underdeveloped countries: it is the hunger for God of all the spiritually undeveloped.
“The burden of spreading the faith, according to his ability, weighs on every disciple of Christ.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 17)
“For each other, for their children, as well as for the larger family circle, Christian husbands and wives have a part to play in communicating grace and witnessing to the faith. They are the first messengers and teachers of their children’s faith.” (Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem 11)
“Thus, the position is not compatible with the true attitude required by the “Kingdom of grace and truth”, of those who “from a love of religious peace”, would have us renounce every effort to bring heretics and unbelievers to the true faith.” Only culpable indifference, or complete incomprehension could tax all missionary ardour with being “inopportune proselytism” (Häring, p. 66)
4° Defending the faith
“I have kept the faith” (II Tim. IV, 7). Every believer will have the assurance which St. Paul had, on two conditions:
a) If he protects his faith from everything which could constitute for him a dangerous occasion of losing it.
b) If he faithfully obeys the Church.
a) Protecting the faith.
By this we do not only mean that the believer must defend his right to profess it freely, but we would above all remind him of the duty laid on him to defend the integrity of the deposit of revealed truth, which is the object of faith, especially at a time such as ours when “the faith is in peril even in the very heart of the Church.” (Mgr. Adam, Bishop of Sion)
This defence will take three forms:
1° Avoiding occasions, (people, reading, meetings) where faith could be injured. Here the danger is so common that in indicating a line of conduct, we suggest the recommendation of St. Paul to the Corinthians: “I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world ... otherwise you must needs go out of this world. But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator ... with such a one, not so much as to eat.” (I Cor. V, 9-11)
It is in this sense that, in this period of crisis, we do no tell you to have no relations with anyone who attacks the Catholic faith, but only with those who call themselves Catholics (and with stronger reason Catholic priests), who make such an attack, or who put in doubt or trouble our Catholic faith. We should have nothing to do with persons such as these.
With the same object of defending his faith, a Catholic will abstain from assisting at the ceremonies in places of worship, even in Catholic churches, where his instinct of faith is troubled, and he will in the same way abstain from taking part in an ambiguous form of worship.
2° As far as he is able, by prayer, alms, and sacrifice, a faithful Catholic will assist those who have undertaken some direct action to fight against the agents of the subversion introduced into the Church militant, against those wolves in sheep’s clothing who have entered the sheepfold to falsify the deposit of faith.
3° By praying to God to help us to keep the faith, a grace which must be asked for with perseverance; by begging Him to preserve it also in the Catholic Hierarchy: “Ut dominum Apostolicum et omnes ecclesiasticos ordines in sancta religions conservare digneris. Te rogamus audi nos. - That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to preserve our Apostolic prelate, and all orders of the Church in holy religion, we beseech Thee, hear us.” (Litany of Saints); and by imploring Him to raise up and help the defenders of the faith. Finally, by asking God to humble the enemies of His Holy Church: “Ut inimicos sanctae Ecclesiae humiliate digneris. Te rogamus, audi nos. - That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to humble the enemies of Holy Church, we beseech Thee, hear us.”
b) To obey Holy Church.
The Church, as we shall have the opportunity later on to recall, is the Mystical Body of Christ. She is holy and infallible. She is “Mater et Magistra”, that is, the Mother and Mistress of the faith. Do we not say in the well-known prayer: “My God, I firmly believe all the truths ... that Thou dost teach us through Thy Church.” And so if anyone, whether it be an Angel, or one of the clergy, should teach us something which is not in accordance with the traditional teaching of the Church, (see Col. I, 8-9) then to defend our faith, we must obey the Church, in her traditional teaching, and, following the counsel of the Apostle, we will anathematize this angel or this churchman.
Conclusion
Faith, of which we have given some account, does not destroy man’s intelligence, and the believer, far from being diminished thereby, is exalted by his faith.9 In effect, in comparison with someone without it, the Christian with his faith, is in the position of an educated and cultured man, compared to an uncultured and ignorant man.
The cultured man is enriched by all the knowledge which his teachers have imparted to him in their instruction; and this knowledge has enabled him to develop and Enlighten his intelligence. Knowledge does not diminish men.
The believer is enriched by the knowledge which God has communicated to him by His Revelation, and this knowledge has enabled him to develop his intelligence, by guarding him from error and enlightening him still further. Far from diminishing him, faith exalts him.
We meet men who are very intelligent but who are without culture, because they have not had an opportunity to study. The fact of being uncultured gives them no superiority. Doubtless, even without culture, they will not be less intelligent, but it is only too evident that knowledge would certainly have caused a great expansion of their specifically human faculties.
In the same way, we know of very intelligent and cultured men who are without faith, because they have not had the opportunity to encounter the true God; unless, of course, they are men who “loved darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil.” (John III, 19) About this we will know in eternity. The fact, however, of being unbelievers gives them no superiority, and it remains true that, here too, faith could not but have helped their intelligence to expand yet more.
The believer is a man who sees with more truth and further than other men, since he sees things from the standpoint of God.
Consequently, let us be proud to possess faith. The mentality of the believer should not be that of someone who is downtrodden, but that of a true “son of the family”, heir to a great name, descended from a line of heroes and saints, who tried to preserve and develop the qualities which were transmitted to them by their ancestors. Privilege entails responsibility, “noblesse oblige”!
“But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood; we are heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Regenerated by baptism we are made partakers of the divine nature.” (I Peter II, 9; Rom VIII, 17; II Peter I, 4)
Should we glory in it! Certainly, (see Rom. V, 2 and XV, 17) but not with conceit nor arrogance, because “what hast thou, that thou hast not received? And if thou, hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it.” (I Cor IV, 7)
Here also, because of his privilege, the believer must shoulder his obligation to strive, with God’s grace, to acquire the mentality of the divine family into which he has entered (see Gal IV, 5-7), and to recover a clearer knowledge of his faith, to revive, purify it, confirm it and proclaim it. This is an urgent necessity at the present time.
Fr. NOËL BARBARA
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“If anyone shall say that the assent of Christian faith is not a free act, but necessarily produced by the arguments of human reason; or that the grace of God is necessary for that Living Faith only which worketh by charity (Gal. V, 6) let him be anathema.”
Vatican Council I. Denz. 1814.
To God, as revealer, is to be given the “obedience of faith” (Rom. XVI, 26; cf. also Rom. 1, 5; 11 Cor. X, 5-6), whereby man abandons himself freely and entirely to God, yielding to Him “the full obedience of intelligence and will”, and voluntarily assenting to the revelation given by Him. In order that this faith may be forthcoming there is need for God’s prevenient and assisting grace, together with the interior aid of the Holy Ghost to move the heart and turn it towards God, open the eyes of the mind, and bestow upon all “sweetness in consenting to and believing the truth.”
(Council of Orange II, can: 7; Denz. 180, and Vatican Council I, Denz. 1791)
The Holiness of the Church is a dogma of faith: “Credo in unam SANCTAM catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.” But this Holy Church is made up of sinners and, too often, OUR sins - ours and not those attributed to our Mother, which cannot have any since she is Holy - are such that they obscure to the point of almost totally hiding, this Holiness of the Church of Christ, especially from the eyes of those outside her.
“All of you who live In a society which, for many reasons puts your faith to the test, you are like those who navigate in a stormy sea: a tempest of incredulity, irreligion, diversity of opinions, liberty and licence given to spectacles which are contrary to your beliefs, to the Christian way of living, to God, to Christ, to the Church. Nothing afflicts us so much as to see mounted the attacks, ambushes and other perils against the stability and salvation of our sons. He who has the heart of a brother or of a father, as the Pastor of souls must have, lives and suffers in a continual and sincere anxiety, an anxiety which grows in proportion to the violence, the extension and subtlety of errors, the spiritual and moral seductions encompassing us.”
(Paul VI, Audience of 12 April 1967)
“On the form given to society, conformed or otherwise to divine law, depends the good or evil of souls: that is, whether men, who are all called to live by the grace of Christ, breathe, in the earthly conditions of their lives, the healthy and life-giving air of the truth and the moral virtues, or whether, on the contrary, they take in the deadly, often fatal germ, of error and depravity. In such circumstances and expectations, how could the Church, a Mother so loving and solicitous for the good of her children, be permitted to remain indifferent at the sight of the dangers facing them, or keep silent, or behave as if she did not see or understand the social conditions which, voluntarily or not, make it arduous or in practice impossible for them to live a Christian life in conformity with the commandments of the Sovereign Lawgiver.”
(Pius XII, Radio message, 1 June 1941)
“Secularization is used to impede belief, hope and love. It drives souls to damnation...
“How I tremble for you, politicians, who have not the courage to stand up against secularization, you, who are the docile slaves of secularism. When the Supreme Judge demands of you an account of your private and public life, when He reproaches you with having lost these souls, what will you reply in the midst of the flames and tortures of hell?”
(Fr. Janvier, Discourse at Nancy, 5 April 1926)
“It is clear that the priest is a man chosen and set apart from others ... and to this first consideration, must be added that of the witness to God and Our Saviour, which the priest must give before the world. ‘Et eritis mihi testes’ - ‘You will be My witnesses’. Witness is a word which often recurs on the lips of Our Lord. As He was a witness of His Father, so we too must be witnesses of Him.
“This witness must be seen and understood without difficulty by everyone: ‘Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all.’
“The priest’s cassock serves these two ends, clearly and unambiguously the priest is in the world but not of it, he is separate from the world even whilst living in it, and he is also thus protected from evil.”
(Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers, “Letter on the subject of wearing the cassock”, 11 February 1963)
“The second object of the feast of Corpus Christi is instruction. The Church wishes, in celebrating Corpus Christi with such solemnity, to teach us to reflect on, to value, and to honour the Blessed Eucharist, because of the importance which It has, not only in Itself from a theological point of view, but also for the importance It has for us, especially from the SPIRITUAL AND SOCIAL point of view.”
(Paul VI, 25 May 1967)
The faith of false religions, being nothing more than an adherence to error, can only raise man to the extent that it communicates to him that fragment of truth which it has retained; for common sense recognizes that in all error there is some element of truth.
This is brilliant!........My dear grandmother told me: Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future.....There is a lot to be said about the company one keeps.....Thanks!