From the Cabin

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

The Necessity of Faith

The operation of the intelligence is the first step in all human responsible action. Supernatural action must therefore begin with supernatural consciousness, and the knowledge of that higher order; and faith becomes the necessary foundation of the divine life in us. That which we can work out for ourselves by natural methods is not sufficient; it can never be more than is contained in the inferior and worldly order of things, and will never admit us into the higher universe where God is unveiled in new ways to the soul's perceptions. Faith is a necessary condition of every act of supernatural virtue. "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. xi. 6). We must have this infused gift in order to grasp divine truths, to nurture aspirations that rise beyond this world, to make the invisible a present reality to us, to feel actual love for God. We need the influence of a higher knowledge and higher hopes, to help us to resist the passions of sense, to avoid sin, to bear the troubles of life, to meet death with tranquillity and joy. What an immense field of new action faith opens to us! What value it gives to our actions! It is not a yoke laid upon us, not a restraint and servitude of our natural faculties, but happiness, glory and new life.

Daily Visits to Jesus and Mary

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Monday, September 12, 2022

The Course of Faith

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Ordinary science is acquired by observation, study, reasoning, information. The supernatural science of God in faith is different. It is the gift of God, not dependent on our abilities or our efforts, unintelligible to those who do not possess it. The habit or potentiality must first be infused into the soul from above; and this, in the ordinary course, is effected by Baptism, which therefore is called an Illumination. The habit may exist independently of its exercise, as the habit or potentiality of reason exists in infants who have not yet arrived at the use of it. The genesis of faith proceeds in three stages with those who have the power of putting it into action by means of conscious knowledge and the assent to it.

1. The truth has to be proposed as reasonably credible through the voice of God speaking in Scripture or the Church.

2. This external grace is accompanied by an inward illumination of the intellect and an impulse towards the truth impressed on the will.

3. Then follows the consent of the will, and the harmony of the human with the divine action. The two former elements are from God; the last is from man, and is influenced by the character which he has formed for himself by his habits of action. By being unfaithful in small things, man prepares himself to be unfaithful in that which is great; and he may so harden his heart as to make it impervious to divine influences like the heart of Pharaoh. God "will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. ii. 4). Thank Him for the light and be faithful to it.

Daily Visits to Jesus and Mary

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Sunday, September 11, 2022

Belief and Unbelief

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Even if the Christian faith were a product of the human mind, and were as tentative and doubtful as the opposite theories, belief would still be better than unbelief, more beneficial in its results, and therefore presumably nearer to the truth. The unbeliever often regrets the past days when he enjoyed peace in believing, and wishes that they could return. No upright believer has ever wished to disbelieve; the corrupt and vicious alone desire to be rid of their faith that they may be free from its restraints and reproaches. The thought of God, of His watchful Providence, His love, and the equity which will one day remedy all the wrongs of life, gives a strength and peacefulness such as unbelief and self-indulgence can never afford. Even the thought of God's rigorous holiness and His vengeance on sin is for our comfort, as restraining those irregular impulses which are prejudicial to worldly happiness and progress. So essential is religious belief to social order, that one has well said that, if there were no God, it would be necessary to invent the idea. Suppose, however, that there were no presumption in favour of belief over unbelief, and that each theory were equally uncertain, the believer exposes himself to no risk; if all things end at death he has suffered no harm; but if the unbeliever should prove to be wrong, what a fearful awakening it will be to discover that he is cut off forever from the perfect life which he obstinately rejected. Rejoice in your possession of the faith. Truly "happy are the people whose God is the Lord" (Ps. cxliii. 15).

Daily Visits to Jesus and Mary

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Saturday, September 10, 2022

The Motives of Credibility

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The truths revealed by God are beyond our grasp and are mysterious to us, so that we cannot fully see their intrinsic cogency. But they have an extrinsic cogency which is enough to justify us in believing them without comprehending. These are called the motives of credibility. The first of these is the personality of Jesus Christ. To those who have not yet the light of faith He is known historically, and He must be recognized as the noblest, holiest
and most wonderful of beings; His wisdom and probity were superior to all human sagacity and sincerity; He was the greatest intellectual and moral force ever manifested, permanent and inexhaustible, of undying interest and beauty. Jesus declared Himself to be the Son of God. To make such a claim falsely would be an incredible folly which would before long discredit the claimant; it would be an act of wickedness absolutely inconsistent with the life and death of Jesus and the influence He has exercised for ages. His historically known character proves that His claim is necessarily credible, although it does not elucidate the mystery of that claim or explain the fact. The whole system of Christianity with the antecedent system of the Old Testament centers in Christ and is accredited by His authority. Hold firmly in all difficulties to the Lord Jesus. You can explain all things by Him, and believe the most incomprehensible mysteries on His word. "I am not troubled following Thee for my shepherd" (Jer. xvii. 16).

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Friday, September 9, 2022

The Infallible Guide

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The divine system of religion is as complete as the system of nature. Everything in it is adapted for its purposes, and every genuine want of humanity is provided for. The perfection of the natural order is a sign that there is perfect provision for our supernatural requirements if we care to look for it. God does not give His children a stone for bread; He does not render His highest gifts nugatory by leaving them incomplete. Religion, like the civil order, is a visible organization of men subject to worldly conditions, and it needs an outward machinery of government. As in the State, a paper constitution, however excellent, is worthless unless connected with a living active organism. Experience has shown that the written word of God, when divorced from the rest of the divine system, speaks with an uncertain sound that conveys contradictory meanings to different minds, and that it has never yet welded men into a solid unity such as Christ declared His kingdom to be. What a mockery is a revelation which no two men understand alike, a legal code which has no judicial court to explain, dispense, enforce it, a kingdom that has no administrative head, a corporate body which has no common idea or joint action! It would not be worthy of Him who said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John xiv. 18), that He should leave us to be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph. iv. 14), and dependent as to our highest interests on the vacillations of human opinions. How great the benefits which God has conveyed to you in the Church!

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Thursday, September 8, 2022

The Birth of Mary

"Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?" (Cant. vi. 9). The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was indeed like the dawn, caused by the sun, and announcing the approach of day. Mary appeared, the early reflection, by her grace and sinlessness, of the first beams of the Sun of justice. That dawn was eagerly looked for during the long night of the old dispensation, continually promised and prefigured. Our Lady is compared to the moon, fair and beautiful, a subordinate luminary, with no light of its own, but shining with a reflected brightness. She is also "the woman clothed with the sun" (Apoc. xii. 1), bright with the sun's brightness, with the glory of Jesus Christ, because she is the image of His virtues, and has her dignity from Him. She is terrible to the hosts of hell, as being the only one over whom they had never prevailed, and as the Mother of their Conqueror. As in every other case, the splendour of this work of God was shrouded in humility. Except the parents of Mary perhaps, none knew the greatness of this child of promise. The day which gave joy to the unseen world passed without notice in the sphere where it occurred. She herself did not suspect, till the angel announced it, the designs that God had for her. Consider how God regarded the day of Mary's birth; consider what it was to God the Son who was to be born of her; consider its importance to the world and to you.

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The Rule of Faith

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We have received the totality of God's revelation and have been enlightened by the infused gift of faith, yet we are not therefore rendered self-sufficing, infallible, and exempt from all danger of error. There is need, further, of a guardian for that revelation and a guide for our belief. Evil besets good at every step; errors intrude themselves into the domain of faith; that which is holiest is liable to be perverted to our destruction. Doctrine goes through a process of development; new cases arise to which it is not easy to apply the old principles; laws need to be explained, extended, modified; on each of these occasions we are in danger of taking a wrong line, and a mistake may have very serious effects. An external authority is required for the administration and maintenance of truth just as much as for its original transmission to us. The individual is not capable of fulfilling these functions for himself; God does not help him to do so when there are delegates duly commissioned for the purpose. The pious eunuch under the influence of grace was reading the Word of God; when asked by St. Philip if he understood, he humbly answered: "How can I unless some one show me? "(Acts viii. 31). The devout centurion, Cornelius, and the destined Apostle of the Gentiles, although enjoying direct revelations from God, were yet directed to submit to appointed men for their instruction in the faith, so "that no flesh should glory in His sight" (1 Cor. i. 29). No man is a judge in his own case. Self-sufficiency is the worst of all guides. Follow humbly the Church which God has made the judge of faith, lest you become the sport of your own fancies and of Satan.

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