What Is Faith?… How To Protect The Gift Of Faith

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM

Part 5

In the previous article, we have seen how the most precious gift of faith, in itself necessary for eternal salvation, can be lost. It is a tragic reality, worse than death itself — because everybody dies, with or without faith, since death is unavoidable. But to die faithless is a miserable way to end one’s life, to put it rather mildly. . . .
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price suggests a beautiful illustration of the need to keep the faith: Once you find that pearl, you give everything to have it, and do your utmost not to lose it. And what are the best ways to keep it?
First of all, leading a good life, following the Commandments, is the fundamental way to keep the faith: because a good will leads to faith, and good will preserves it. Faith is a gift, freely given by God, but we must look after it. We must protect it. And here suffering in life and self-sacrifice play a vital role in nourishing our faith.
Yes, the life of faith is not just smooth sailing in a quiet lake of honey and sweet cream. Obstacles in life, of whatever sort they may be, if properly surmounted, powerfully nourish our faith. But what really helps is suffering and self-sacrifice. This is true of nations as well as of individuals.
Prayer and the frequent reception of the sacraments are the other necessary means to keep the faith. It is through them that we receive a greater infusion of divine grace, which carries us onward — and upward — toward making greater acts of faith.
A third element is the study of the faith — if I do not know my catechism well, I may be a sitting duck for the sophisms and fallacies of anti-Catholic people — or of liberal “Catholics.” St. Paul tells us to put on the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-11) and one of the elements of that armor is the shield of faith, wherewith we defend ourselves from the fiery darts of the most wicked one — the Devil and his minions.
The articles by Don Fier and yours truly in The Wanderer are aimed precisely at providing those shields to its readers. Apologetics today is an essential weapon to help us not to lose, or even weaken, the faith, as heresies abound inside the Church herself. And this is a tragic reality: The smoke of Satan has entered the Sanctuary of the Church, in the words of Pope Paul VI.
It is important to become aware of the loss of faith among Catholics in our days. Otherwise, we would be discussing religion without any contact with reality, like those Byzantine bishops in Constantinople who, as the Turks were invading the city, held theological discussions about whether or not angels could have been created male and female, as well as the proper colors for liturgical vestments. Today the city is called Istanbul, a fully Muslim metropolis.
But many times we are tempted to doubt the faith. It is not uncommon, because we are all children of Father Adam and subject to temptation. In the Lord’s Prayer we ask the Eternal Father to protect us in temptations, not to leave us alone when we are being tempted. But it is important to remember that temptation is not a sin, regardless of its intensity. Sin is to consent to the temptation, that is, to act on it scienter et volenter, knowingly and willingly.
The best attitude in times of temptation, apart from recourse to the divine assistance through prayer, is to be patient, to remember that it will not last forever. This is of particular importance, because when we are being tempted by pride, anger, jealousy, lust, or sloth, one of the cleverest tricks of the Evil One is to make us think that it will be always like that, that we will get no respite from the temptation. But it is not so. And we know it, because we have been through it before.
The foundation of our spiritual life is our faith. The house is built on it. The foundation must be rock solid, not unstable and moving like sand. Therefore, the enemy of our souls naturally desires to attack our faith, for he knows that it is the foundation of our spiritual life. And, when he has robbed us of faith, he has robbed us of all.
Many of the saints have suffered grievous trials from these temptations against the faith. But they held firm, and the grace which held them firm is within our reach also. And how should we respond to temptations against the faith, concretely speaking? The wisdom of the saints proposes four things:
We should pray for the grace to resist temptation and to grow in faith.
We should make acts of faith, like the man whose son was possessed by a devil and, when Jesus asked him if he believed, replied, “I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief.” Meaning, in my eyes I have faith, I believe, but from your point of view my belief looks like unbelief.
Saints and theologians warn us: Never argue with thoughts against the faith. Rather, avoid arguing and treat them as we would impure temptations.
Finally, let us beware of the presumption of trying to solve theological difficulties by our own efforts, especially if we are not learned enough on the teachings of the Church.
Running contrary to the wisdom of the saints, there are wrong ideas about the faith in Catholic circles in our day. Contemporary modernists (and they are legion in the Church) say that each believer receives his own special revelation through his own mind, as if faith were latent, within the soul, as a result of an individual revelation.
Their conclusion: Every faith is good and true for the individual who has it, since it wells up from within his subconscious mind, the result of his individual and totally subjective “experience of the divine.”
It is a heresy, of course. Modernism is religious relativism, which has heavily influenced the so-called post-Vatican II ecumenical movement. It has become commonplace today for many not to try to convert anybody, but “respect his individual experience of God.” St. Pius X called modernism the “synthesis of all heresies.”
In modernism, your beliefs or creeds vary from person to person, so that one man may hold as true what all others reject. And they are all right, in this view. Of course, this kind of irrational attitude is profoundly anti-Christian, because Christ came to the world to give a specific message for salvation, regardless of whatever is welling up within you from your feelings, sentiments, or preferences. Truth is one; errors are varied.
Next article: God in Himself, His essence and attributes.

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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.RaymonddeSouza.com.)