Rev. R. C. Bodkin, C.M.
This is a point of the utmost importance. It might in truth be said that it is to know how to act in Difficulties and Doubts, which almost of necessity present themselves to the mind in matters of religion, as the mind expands and comes to maturity, that the whole of this little treatise is written. Faith is, in a sense, so delicate and precious that the smallest doubt deliberately entertained contrary to any article of our can never belief, even for a minute, is destructive of all true belief. Article of If you are not ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of the truths of Religion so that you could not by any possibility be mistaken — if you hesitate, or waver, or doubt about any one of them, that moment you cease to have the certainty of Faith, and your best reason for pursuing your doubt is, as Cardinal Newman puts it, you wish to be converted, and to become a Catholic again, and so have undoubting Faith, so that you may cry out with great earnestness and sincerity in all your difficulties: ” I believe, Lord — help mine unbelief.” ” I believe most firmly and undoubtingly all that You have taught — be it ever so incomprehensible to me. I believe it because You have taught it — You, who are the Eternal Truth — Who cannot lie — no matter what my poor weak blind reason may suggest to the contrary.” This, surely, is not asking too much — to believe what GOD has revealed. It is paying to Him the true homage of our understanding — bowing down the noblest power of our soul to submit to what He has said.
Cardinal Newman puts all this admirably. He says: “It is quite true that the Church does not allow her children to entertain any doubt of her teaching, and that because they are Catholics, only while they have Faith, and Faith is incompatible with doubt. No one can be a Catholic without a simple faith that what the Church declares in God’s name is God’s word, and therefore true. A man must be as certain of the Church’s mission as of the mission of the Apostles. A person who says, ‘I believe at this moment; but I cannot be certain that I shall believe to-morrow,’ does not believe. A man who says, ‘I believe as far as I can tell, but there may be arguments in the background which may change my view,’ — such a man has not faith at all. When Protestants quarrel with us for saying that those who join us must give up all ideas of ever doubting the Church, they quarrel with us for insisting on the necessity of Faith. Let them speak plainly; this is our offence, and nothing else. I must insist on this: Faith implies a confidence that the thing believed is really true; but if it is once true, it can never be false. If it is once true, true that God became man, what is the meaning of my bargaining to be allowed in time to doubt or to disbelieve that God became man? I am but asking to be allowed to doubt or to disbelieve a truth. I do not see the privilege of this. I am but asking leave to fall into error. I may love by halves; I may obey by halves; I believe by halves— either I have Faith, or I have it not.” — (Discourses, pp. 215-6).
Again, he says: “If a Catholic were to follow out a doubt he has already disbelieved, I have not to warn him doubt he has against losing his faith; he has lost it; he fell from grace lost his faith the moment he deliberately determined to pursue his doubt. No one can doubt what he is sure of.”
“Could a man be said to trust in God and to love Him who was familiar with doubts, whether there was a God at all — or whether He was good or just or almighty, and who maintained that unless he did this he was a poor slave —that his mind was in bondage, and that he could render no free service to his Creator? Why, I should say that that man was worshipping his own dear self and not his God. I should say (and all would agree with me) that the man in question was a very self-conceited, self-wise man; that he had neither love, nor faith, nor fear, nor anything supernatural about him; that his pride must be broken, and his heart made new before he was capable of any religious act at all. Let the world cry out if it will, that a Catholic’s reason is in fetters; let it call him a bigot if he does not reserve his right of doubting, but he knows full well himself that he would be an ingrate and a fool if he did. Fetters, indeed! yes, ‘ the cords of Adam, ‑-the fetters of love—These are what bind him to Holy Church; he is with the Apostle, the slave of Christ, the Church’s Lord, united to her, never to part while life lasts.” — (Discourses, p. 219.)
“Trust me when I tell you that it is no difficult thing or a Catholic to believe, and that unless he grievously mismanages himself, the difficult thing is for him to doubt. It is not without an effort that he unlearns to believe. He does violence to his mind in withholding his faith.”
“When objections occur to him as easily, they may, if he lives in the world they are as odious and unwelcome to him as impure thoughts to the virtuous. He does certainly shrink from them; he flings them away; but why? not in the first place as dangerous, but as cruel and base. His loving Lord has done everything for him, and has He deserved such a return? Why must I (a convert) re-examine what I examined once for all? Why must I listen to every word which flits past me against Him under pain of being called a bigot and a slave when it would be vile to treat a friend after such a manner? If I am convinced in my reason and persuaded in my heart why may I not be allowed to remain unmolested in my worship?” — (Discourses, p. 122.)
Here, then, we see —
First, that to entertain a doubt deliberately about any article of our creed causes us to cease to be Catholics.
Secondly, that we must be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN about each and every truth of our religion so THAT BY NO POSSIBILITY could one of these doctrines turn out to be false.
Thirdly, that it is no privilege to be allowed to disbelieve a truth, and —
Fourthly, that we should fling away immediately as we should an impure thought any suggestion to disbelieve.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE CANNOT STUDY OUR RELIGION AND EXAMINE ITS PROOFS, BUT THAT WE CAN NEVER DOUBT.
This does not mean that we cannot study our religion and examine its proofs and see what may be said against cannot study it and what we should say to defend ourselves from attack. But it means that during all this period of study we never hesitate about the truth of the doctrines of our religion. Just as I know for certain at present that the earth is round and it would be folly in me to disbelieve it — still, without in any way doubting this truth for an instant, I may proceed to study carefully what are the proofs of this assertion — whether they are conclusive or not, etc., and I may even go so far as to reject some of them as useless. Yet, in the whole of this process I never, even for a moment, doubt the truth that the earth is round.
Cardinal Newman says: “It is quite true, that inquiry (as distinguished from mere investigation) is inconsistent with belief. He who inquires has not found; he is in doubt where the truth lies, and wishes his present profession either proved or disproved. WE CANNOT, WITHOUT ABSURDITY, CALL OUESELVES AT ONCE INQUIRERS AND BELIEVERS. A Catholic cannot then inquire into the truth of his creed — (he may examine the proofs, etc.) — but he cannot inquire. It is merely common sense to tell him that, if he is seeking, he has not found. If seeking includes doubting, and doubting excludes believing, then the Catholic who sets about inquiring thereby declares that he is not a Catholic. He has already lost the faith. And this is his best defense to himself for inquiring, viz., that he is no longer a Catholic, and wishes to become one. They who would forbid him to inquire would in that case be shutting the stable door when the steed is stolen. What can he do better than inquire if he is in doubt? How else can he become a Catholic again? Not to inquire in his case is to be satisfied with disbelief.” — (Grammar of Assent, 191.)
Taken from The Great Fundamental Truths of Religion by Re, C.M. Bodkin, C.M. Imprimatur 1906.
A CATHOLIC CAN NEVER DOUBT AN ARTICLE OF FAITH, EVEN FOR A MINUTE.
Rev. R. C. Bodkin, C.M.
This is a point of the utmost importance. It might in truth be said that it is to know how to act in Difficulties and Doubts, which almost of necessity present themselves to the mind in matters of religion, as the mind expands and comes to maturity, that the whole of this little treatise is written. Faith is, in a sense, so delicate and precious that the smallest doubt deliberately entertained contrary to any article of our can never belief, even for a minute, is destructive of all true belief. Article of If you are not ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of the truths of Religion so that you could not by any possibility be mistaken — if you hesitate, or waver, or doubt about any one of them, that moment you cease to have the certainty of Faith, and your best reason for pursuing your doubt is, as Cardinal Newman puts it, you wish to be converted, and to become a Catholic again, and so have undoubting Faith, so that you may cry out with great earnestness and sincerity in all your difficulties: ” I believe, Lord — help mine unbelief.” ” I believe most firmly and undoubtingly all that You have taught — be it ever so incomprehensible to me. I believe it because You have taught it — You, who are the Eternal Truth — Who cannot lie — no matter what my poor weak blind reason may suggest to the contrary.” This, surely, is not asking too much — to believe what GOD has revealed. It is paying to Him the true homage of our understanding — bowing down the noblest power of our soul to submit to what He has said.
Cardinal Newman puts all this admirably. He says: “It is quite true that the Church does not allow her children to entertain any doubt of her teaching, and that because they are Catholics, only while they have Faith, and Faith is incompatible with doubt. No one can be a Catholic without a simple faith that what the Church declares in God’s name is God’s word, and therefore true. A man must be as certain of the Church’s mission as of the mission of the Apostles. A person who says, ‘I believe at this moment; but I cannot be certain that I shall believe to-morrow,’ does not believe. A man who says, ‘I believe as far as I can tell, but there may be arguments in the background which may change my view,’ — such a man has not faith at all. When Protestants quarrel with us for saying that those who join us must give up all ideas of ever doubting the Church, they quarrel with us for insisting on the necessity of Faith. Let them speak plainly; this is our offence, and nothing else. I must insist on this: Faith implies a confidence that the thing believed is really true; but if it is once true, it can never be false. If it is once true, true that God became man, what is the meaning of my bargaining to be allowed in time to doubt or to disbelieve that God became man? I am but asking to be allowed to doubt or to disbelieve a truth. I do not see the privilege of this. I am but asking leave to fall into error. I may love by halves; I may obey by halves; I believe by halves— either I have Faith, or I have it not.” — (Discourses, pp. 215-6).
Again, he says: “If a Catholic were to follow out a doubt he has already disbelieved, I have not to warn him doubt he has against losing his faith; he has lost it; he fell from grace lost his faith the moment he deliberately determined to pursue his doubt. No one can doubt what he is sure of.”
“Could a man be said to trust in God and to love Him who was familiar with doubts, whether there was a God at all — or whether He was good or just or almighty, and who maintained that unless he did this he was a poor slave —that his mind was in bondage, and that he could render no free service to his Creator? Why, I should say that that man was worshipping his own dear self and not his God. I should say (and all would agree with me) that the man in question was a very self-conceited, self-wise man; that he had neither love, nor faith, nor fear, nor anything supernatural about him; that his pride must be broken, and his heart made new before he was capable of any religious act at all. Let the world cry out if it will, that a Catholic’s reason is in fetters; let it call him a bigot if he does not reserve his right of doubting, but he knows full well himself that he would be an ingrate and a fool if he did. Fetters, indeed! yes, ‘ the cords of Adam, ‑-the fetters of love—These are what bind him to Holy Church; he is with the Apostle, the slave of Christ, the Church’s Lord, united to her, never to part while life lasts.” — (Discourses, p. 219.)
“Trust me when I tell you that it is no difficult thing or a Catholic to believe, and that unless he grievously mismanages himself, the difficult thing is for him to doubt. It is not without an effort that he unlearns to believe. He does violence to his mind in withholding his faith.”
“When objections occur to him as easily, they may, if he lives in the world they are as odious and unwelcome to him as impure thoughts to the virtuous. He does certainly shrink from them; he flings them away; but why? not in the first place as dangerous, but as cruel and base. His loving Lord has done everything for him, and has He deserved such a return? Why must I (a convert) re-examine what I examined once for all? Why must I listen to every word which flits past me against Him under pain of being called a bigot and a slave when it would be vile to treat a friend after such a manner? If I am convinced in my reason and persuaded in my heart why may I not be allowed to remain unmolested in my worship?” — (Discourses, p. 122.)
Here, then, we see —
First, that to entertain a doubt deliberately about any article of our creed causes us to cease to be Catholics.
Secondly, that we must be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN about each and every truth of our religion so THAT BY NO POSSIBILITY could one of these doctrines turn out to be false.
Thirdly, that it is no privilege to be allowed to disbelieve a truth, and —
Fourthly, that we should fling away immediately as we should an impure thought any suggestion to disbelieve.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE CANNOT STUDY OUR RELIGION AND EXAMINE ITS PROOFS, BUT THAT WE CAN NEVER DOUBT.
This does not mean that we cannot study our religion and examine its proofs and see what may be said against cannot study it and what we should say to defend ourselves from attack. But it means that during all this period of study we never hesitate about the truth of the doctrines of our religion. Just as I know for certain at present that the earth is round and it would be folly in me to disbelieve it — still, without in any way doubting this truth for an instant, I may proceed to study carefully what are the proofs of this assertion — whether they are conclusive or not, etc., and I may even go so far as to reject some of them as useless. Yet, in the whole of this process I never, even for a moment, doubt the truth that the earth is round.
Cardinal Newman says: “It is quite true, that inquiry (as distinguished from mere investigation) is inconsistent with belief. He who inquires has not found; he is in doubt where the truth lies, and wishes his present profession either proved or disproved. WE CANNOT, WITHOUT ABSURDITY, CALL OUESELVES AT ONCE INQUIRERS AND BELIEVERS. A Catholic cannot then inquire into the truth of his creed — (he may examine the proofs, etc.) — but he cannot inquire. It is merely common sense to tell him that, if he is seeking, he has not found. If seeking includes doubting, and doubting excludes believing, then the Catholic who sets about inquiring thereby declares that he is not a Catholic. He has already lost the faith. And this is his best defense to himself for inquiring, viz., that he is no longer a Catholic, and wishes to become one. They who would forbid him to inquire would in that case be shutting the stable door when the steed is stolen. What can he do better than inquire if he is in doubt? How else can he become a Catholic again? Not to inquire in his case is to be satisfied with disbelief.” — (Grammar of Assent, 191.)
Taken from The Great Fundamental Truths of Religion by Re, C.M. Bodkin, C.M. Imprimatur 1906.
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