| We have spoken of the progress of the Christian moral
virtues in the illuminative way; now we shall discuss the progress of
the theological virtues, first of all that of faith and its influence
on our whole life. By so doing we shall be prepared to see what mental
prayer should be in the illuminative way. We shall see the nature of
the spirit of faith, then how it should grow in us, finally what its
excellence and power should be that we may continually live by it,
according to the words of Scripture: "The just man liveth by faith."
(1)
THE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT OF FAITH
In reality man always lives according to one spirit or another;
whether it be according to the spirit of nature, when he does not go
beyond practical naturalism, or according to the spirit of faith, when
he tends seriously toward his last end, toward heaven and sanctity.
The spirit according to which we live is a special manner of
considering all things, of seeing, judging, feeling, loving,
sympathizing, willing, and acting. It is a particular mentality or
disposition that colors almost all our judgments and acts, and
communicates to our life its elevation or depression. Consequently the
spirit of faith is a special manner of judging all things from the
higher point of view of essentially supernatural faith, which is based
on the authority of God revealing, on the veracity of God, Author of
grace and glory, who by the road of faith wishes to lead us to eternal
life.
We may better grasp the nature of the spirit of faith by
considering the spirit opposed to it, which is a sort of spiritual
blindness that enables man to attain divine things only materially and
from without.(2) Thus Israel, the chosen people, did not have a
sufficiently spiritual understanding of the privilege which it had
received and in which, with the coming of the Savior, other peoples,
called also to receive the divine revelation, were to share. The Jews
thought that the bread reserved to the children of Israel should not
be given to pagans. Christ reminds us of this way of thinking in the
first words He addresses to the woman of Canaan; then He immediately
inspires her with the admirable reply: "Yea, Lord; for the whelps also
eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters." Then
Jesus answering, said to her: "O woman, great is thy faith: be it done
to thee as thou wilt. And her daughter was cured from that hour." (3)
The spirit of faith, which the Jews lacked and this humble woman
possessed, is the spirit of divine and universal truth, the very
object of faith, above any particularism of peoples or human
societies. Thus St. Paul, who was at first strictly attached to the
Synagogue and its prejudices, became the Apostle of the Gentiles.
Similarly the glory of St. Augustine and St. Thomas does not consist
in their being the masters of only a group of disciples, but in their
being the common doctors of the Church.
The spirit of faith can have this universality only because of its
eminent simplicity, which is a participation in the wisdom of God. The
act of faith, as St. Thomas points out, is far above reasoning, a
simple act by which we believe at the same time in God revealing and
in God revealed.(4) By this essentially supernatural act we adhere
infallibly to God who reveals and to the mysteries revealed. Thus by
this simple act, superior to all reasoning, we tend in obscurity
toward the contemplation of divine things above all the certitudes of
a natural order. The essentially supernatural certitude of infused
faith, as we said before,(5) greatly surpasses the rational certitude
that man can have of the divine origin of the Gospel through the
historical and critical study of the miracles which confirm it.
Faith, which is a gift of God,(6) is like a spiritual sense
enabling us to hear the harmony of revealed mysteries, or the harmony
of the voice of God, before we are admitted to see Him face to face.
Infused faith is like a superior musical sense enabling us to hear
more or less indistinctly the meaning of a mysterious spiritual
harmony of which God is the author. St. Paul states the matter
clearly: "We have received not the spirit of this world, but the
Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us
from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of
human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the sensual man perceiveth not these things
that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the
spiritual man judgeth all things; and he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But
we have the mind of Christ." (7)
For judging in this manner, faith is aided by the gift of
understanding, which makes man penetrate the meaning of the mysteries,
and by the gift of wisdom, which makes him taste them. But it is faith
itself which makes us adhere infallibly to the word of God.
The theological virtue of infused faith, in spite of the obscurity
of the mysteries, is very superior to the intuitive and very luminous
knowledge which the angels possess naturally. Infused faith, in
reality, belongs to the same order as eternal life, of which it is
like the seed; as St. Paul says, it is "the substance of things to be
hoped for," (8) the basis of our justification.(9) The angels
themselves needed to receive this gratuitous gift of God in order to
tend to the supernatural end to which they were called.(10)
As St. Francis de Sales (11) says in substance, when God gives us
faith, He enters our soul and speaks to our spirit, not by way of
discourse but by His inspiration. When faith comes, the soul strips
Itself of all discourses and arguments and, subjecting them to faith,
it enthrones faith on them, recognizing it as queen. When the light of
faith has cast the splendor of its truths on our understanding, our
will immediately feels the warmth of celestial love.(12)
THE GROWTH OF INFUSED FAITH IN US
It is important for the sanctification of our souls to remember
that faith should daily increase in us. It may be greater in a poorly
educated but holy, just man than in a theologian. St. Thomas Aquinas
states: "A man's faith may be described as being greater, in one way,
on the part of his intellect, on account of its greater certitude and
firmness, and, in another way, on the part of his will, on account of
his greater promptitude, devotion, or confidence." (13) The reason is
that "faith results from the gift of grace, which is not equally in
all." (14) Thus our Lord says of certain of His disciples that they
are still men "of little faith," (15) "slow of heart to believe," (16)
whereas He said to the woman of Canaan: "O woman, great is thy faith."
(17)
"But my just man liveth by faith," (18) and increasingly so. There
are holy individuals who have never made a conceptual analysis of the
dogmas of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and who have
never deduced from these dogmas the theological conclusions known to
all theologians; but in these souls the infused virtue of faith is far
more elevated, more intense than in many theologians. Many recent
beatifications and canonizations confirm this fact. When we read the
life of St. Bernadette of Lourdes or of St. Gemma Galgani, we can well
exclaim: God grant that I may one day have as great faith as these
souls!
Theologians say justly that faith may grow either in extension or
in depth or in intensity. Our faith is extended when we gradually
learn all that has been defined by the Church on the mysteries of the
Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the other points of
Christian doctrine. Thus theologians know explicitly all that has been
defined by the Church; but it does not follow that they have a faith
as intense and profound as it is extended. On the contrary, among the
faithful there are saints who are ignorant of several points of
doctrine defined by the Church, for example, the redemptive
Incarnation and the Eucharist, and who penetrate profoundly these
mysteries of salvation as they are simply announced in the Gospel. St.
Benedict Joseph Labre, for example, never had occasion to read a
theological treatise on the Incarnation, but he lived profoundly by
this mystery and that of the Eucharist.
The apostles asked for this faith that is greater in depth and
intensity when they said to the Lord: "Increase our faith." (19) And
Jesus answered: "All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer,
believing, you shall receive." (20) We shall obtain it especially if
we ask perseveringly for ourselves what is necessary or manifestly
useful to salvation, like the increase of the virtues.
THE EXCELLENCE AND THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT OF
FAITH
The value of the spirit of faith is measured in trial by the
difficulties which it surmounts. St. Paul says this eloquently in the
Epistle to the Hebrews: "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
Isaac: and he that had received the promises, offered up his only
begotten son. . . . Accounting that God is able to raise up even from
the dead. . . . By faith he [Moses] left Egypt, not fearing the
fierceness of the king [Pharao]: for he endured as seeing Him that is
invisible. . . . For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, Barac,
Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the prophets; who by faith
conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions [like Daniel], quenched the violence of fire [like the
three children in the furnace]. . . . And others had trial of
mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bands and prisons. They were
stoned [like Zachary], they were cut asunder [like Isaias], they were
tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in
sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted; of
whom the world was not worthy." (21) (This same type of thing has been
renewed in our own day in Russia and Mexico.) And St. Paul concludes:
"And therefore, . . . let us run by patience to the fight proposed to
us: looking on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, who having joy
set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now
sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God." (22)
In his commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Thomas
Aquinas, carried away by the word of God and raised to the
contemplation of this mystery, tells us: "Consider Christ who bore
such contradiction on the part of sinners. . . , and in no matter what
tribulation, you will find the remedy in the cross of Jesus. You will
find in it the example of all the virtues. As St. Gregory the Great
says, if we recall the passion of our Savior, there is nothing so hard
and so painful that we cannot bear it with patience and love." (23)
The more the spirit of faith grows in us, the more we grasp the
sense of the mystery of Christ, who came into this world for our
salvation. That we may have this understanding, the Church, our
Mother, places daily before our eyes at the end of Mass the prologue
of the Gospel of St. John, which contains the synthesis of what
revelation teaches about the mystery of Christ. Let us nourish our
souls daily with this sublime page which we shall never sufficiently
penetrate. It recalls to us the three births of the Word: His eternal
birth, His temporal birth according to the flesh, and His spiritual
birth in souls. It is the summary of what is loftiest in the four
Gospels.
In this summary of Christian faith we have, first of all, the
eternal birth of the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God." We have here a clear
statement of the consubstantiality of the Word. "No man has seen God
at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him." (24) Thus light is thrown on the loftiest words
of the Messianic psalms: "The Lord hath said to Me: Thou art My Son;
this day have I begotten Thee," (25) today in the unique instant of
immobile eternity. "For to which of the angels," St. Paul asks, "hath
He said at any time: Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee?"
(26) The Word, splendor of the Father, is infinitely above all
creatures, whom He created and preserves.
We should also nourish our souls with what is said in the same
prologue about the temporal birth of the Son of God: "And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we saw His glory, the glory as it
were of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."
(27) This temporal birth of Christ is the realization of all the
Messianic prophecies and the source of all the graces that men will
receive until the end of the world.
Lastly, we should live by what this same prologue tells us of the
spiritual birth of the Word in our souls: "He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave them
power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name,
who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God." (28) He gave them to become children of God
by adoption, as He is the Son of God by nature. Our sonship is a
figure of His, for we read in the same chapter: "And of His fullness
we all have received, and grace for grace." (29)
To show us how He wishes to live in us, the Son of God says to us:
"If anyone love Me, he will keep My word. And My Father will love him,
and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him." (30) It is
not only the created gift of grace that will come, it is the divine
Persons: the Father, the Son, and also the Holy Ghost promised by the
Savior to His disciples.
Instead of daily reciting the Credo and the Gloria in a mechanical
manner, instead of almost mechanically saying the prologue of the
Fourth Gospel, we should live more profoundly by this very substantial
abridgment of divine revelation. The spirit of faith should thus,
while growing, normally give us in ever greater measure the meaning of
the mystery of Christ, the supernatural meaning that should gradually
become penetrating and sweet contemplation, the source of peace and
joy, according to St. Paul's words: "Rejoice in the Lord always. . . .
And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding; keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (31)
A PRACTICAL MANNER OF LIVING BY THE SPIRIT OF
FAITH
We should live by the spirit of faith by judging all things under
its superior light, thus considering God first of all, then our own
soul, next our neighbor, and all the events of life.
Is it necessary to say that we should consider God in the light of
faith? Unfortunately, it is only too necessary. Do we not often
consider God Himself in the light of our prejudices, our very human
sentiments, our petty passions, contrary to the testimony that He
Himself gives us in Scripture? Does it not happen even in prayer that
we listen to ourselves, that we ascribe to the Lord our own
reflections which are more or less inspired by our self-love? In hours
of presumption, are we not inclined to think that the divine mercy is
for us, and divine justice for those who do not please us? In moments
of discouragement, on the contrary, do we not in practice doubt the
love of God for us, and His boundless mercy? We often disfigure the
spiritual physiognomy of God, considering it from the point of view of
our egoism, and not from that of salvation, under the true light of
divine revelation.
From the point of view of faith, God appears not through the
movements of our self-love, but in the mirror of the mysteries of the
life and passion of the Savior and in that of the life of the Church,
renewed daily by the Eucharist. Then the eye of faith, which St.
Catherine of Siena often speaks of, is increasingly purified by the
mortification of the senses, of inordinate passions, of personal
judgment and self-will. Only then does this blindfold of pride
gradually fall away, this veil which hinders us from glimpsing divine
things or allows only their shadows and difficulties to appear. Often
we consider the truths of faith in the same way as people who see the
stained-glass windows of a cathedral only from without; it is under
the interior light that we should learn to contemplate them.
We should consider ourselves in the light of faith. If we see
ourselves only under a natural light, we discover in ourselves natural
qualities that we often exaggerate. Then contact with reality, with
trial, shows us our exaggeration; and we fall into depression or
discouragement.
In the light of faith we would recognize the supernatural treasures
that God placed in us by baptism and increased by Communion. We would
daily realize a little better the value of sanctifying grace, of the
indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in us; we would consider what the
fruit of a fervent Communion should be; the grandeur of the Christian
vocation, in the light of the precept of love, would become
increasingly apparent to us.
We would also see more clearly the obstacles that hinder the
development of grace in us: the levity that makes us forget we have in
us the seed of eternal life, and a foolish pride, completely contrary
to the spirit of wisdom. From this higher point of view, we would not
delay in discovering in ourselves two things that are exceedingly
important for us to know: our predominant fault and our principal
attraction of grace, the black and the white, what must be destroyed
and what should grow.
But it is our neighbor especially whom we forget to consider in the
light of. faith. We see him in the light of reason, which is deformed
by our prejudices, egoism, pride, jealousies, and other passions.
Consequently we approve in our neighbor what pleases us from a human
point of view, what is conformed to our natural tastes or to our
whims, what is useful to us, what makes us important, what our
neighbor owes us. As a result, we condemn in him what annoys us, often
what renders him superior to us, what offends us. How many rash,
harsh, pitiless judgments, how many more or less conscious calumnies
spring from this gaze that is darkened by selflove and pride!
If we could see our neighbor in the light of faith, with a pure
spiritual gaze, what profit for him and for us! Then we would see in
our superiors the representatives of God; we would obey them
wholeheartedly without criticism, as we would our Lord Himself. In
people who are naturally not congenial to us, we would see souls
redeemed by the blood of Christ, who are part of His mystical body and
perhaps nearer to His Sacred Heart than we are. Our supernatural gaze
would pierce the opaque envelope of flesh and blood which prevents us
from seeing the souls that surround us. Often we live for long years
in the company of beautiful souls without ever suspecting it. We must
merit to see souls in order to love them deeply and sincerely. Had we
this love, we could then tell them salutary truths and hear such
truths from them.
Similarly, if we saw in the light of faith persons who naturally
please us, we would occasionally discover in them supernatural virtues
that would greatly elevate and purify our affection. With benevolence
we would also see the obstacles to the perfect reign of our Lord in
them, and we could with true charity give them friendly advice or
receive it from them in order to advance seriously in the way of God.
Lastly, we should see all the events of our lives, whether
agreeable or painful, in the light of faith in order to live truly by
the spirit of faith. We are often content to see the felicitous or
unfortunate occurrences, as well as the facts of daily life, under
their sensible aspect, which is accessible to the senses of the
animal, or from the point of view of our more or less deformed reason.
Rarely do we consider them from the supernatural point of view which
would show us, as St. Paul says, that "to them that love God all
things work together unto good," (32) even contradictions, the most
painful and unforeseen vexations, even sin, says St. Augustine, if we
humble ourselves for it.
In the injustices of men which we may have to undergo, we would
also often discover the justice of God and, when wrongly accused of
faults, we would see a well-merited punishment for hidden sins for
which no one reproves us. We would also comprehend the meaning of the
divine trials and of the purification which God has in view when He
sends them to us.
We shall speak farther on of the passive purification of faith by
certain of these trials, which free this theological virtue from all
alloy and bring into powerful relief its formal motive: the first
revealing Truth. Before reaching this stage, let us grow in faith, not
judging everything from the sole point of view of reason. We must know
how to renounce certain inferior lights or quasi-lights, that we may
receive others that are far higher. The sun must set to enable us to
see the stars in the depths of the heavens; likewise we must renounce
the misuse of reason, which may be called practical rationalism, that
we may discover the highly superior splendor of the great mysteries of
faith and live profoundly by them.(38)
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