Author: Odon De Castro

Disentangling the “New Evangelization” that leads to “Porta Fidei.”

The ‘New Evangelization’ proposed by Pope Benedict as early as 2000 AD which consists in returning to the Apostolic Commission given by Christ and narrated in the last chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew is very simple and clear. It is easy for any preacher to use in examining himself if he has Faith or not. And it is easy for the preacher to teach it to the lay men and women for them to examine if they, in turn, have Faith of not. He who has Faith is already saved and he who does not have Faith is already condemned, Scriptures remind us. So the Holy Father wants all of us, without exemption, to find out if we have Faith. Our eternal salvation depends on this. But because it is difficult to describe and define Faith everybody thinks they have Faith just because they are baptized, confirmed, ordained or consecrated bishops. There are ways by which we can have Faith. But there are many more ways of losing Faith. The most common reason why souls do not have  Faith is because they never made the Act of Faith.

Pope Benedict had already reminded us last March that we should concentrate on ‘conversion.’ And the International Theological Commission that had been raised to Pontifical status has made a rejoinder after the Bishop’s Synod that ‘conversion’ should be the central preoccupation of the ‘New Evangelization’ that leads to ‘Porta Fidei.’  Conversion is the preparation that leads to Faith. If someone asks ‘how do you acquire Faith?’ The answer is ‘undergo conversion.’ The dynamics of conversion is the dynamics of Faith. Let us once more describe the Act of Faith.

In the Act of Faith, the memory is focused on its learned knowledge about God as learned from Divine Revelation.  Secondly, the intellect should be masticating and judging the knowledge it has in the memory. This is done with the help of the Fathers of the Church who have given the Church explanations of truths in Divine Revelation. And the intellect must assent to the knowledge it got and judged from the memory. Thirdly, the intellect must convince the free will that the knowledge it has judged and assented to which were taken from the memory is good thus convincing the free will to consent.

When the free will consents to the above process then and only then will God grant the soul the theological virtue of Faith. And suddenly the memory, intellect and free will rise up to the level of supernatural operations. Faith raises all our  actions into the supernatural and , therefore, meritorious level.

Now, let us further describe the Act of Faith using the Myself – God schema. So there is the Myself…. and I go inside myself. My mind goes into the functioning and contents of my mind. And my mind goes into the functioning and contents of my free will. When I enter into Myself, particularly into my mind and free will, I encounter the image and likeness of God within myself. Thus in entering myself I become conscious of God whose image within myself I have encountered. Now there is Myself  face to face with God. But as I enter into my mind I see my past, my present and my future…..and I see God face to face. So I am forced to make a judgment of my past, present and future before God.  That is the portion of the mind. Now let us go to the free will.

As my mind is faced with my past, present and future before God,  I have to decide which of my past, present and future I consider good and I can continue,  and I must decide which of my past, present and future I consider as bad and, therefore, I must stop. When I have decided on these my mind must assent to the process and then try to convince the free will to give its consent. When the free will gives its consent, then God gives my soul the gift of Faith. I begin my life in the supernatural level in a manner pleasing to God.

We have described the Act of Faith as it is actually being made, that is the memory filled with the truths about God, the intellect trying to understand the contents of the memory and assenting to its contents which by now is in the intellect. And there is the free will that is consenting to the above processes. But the memory cannot do the above if it is filled with worldly memories. The worldly memories will be preventing the memory in doing its part in the Act of Faith. If this happens the intellect will not be able to judge on the contents of the memory and thus be unable to give its assent to its judgment. If this happens then the free will will not be able to consent to the judgments of the intellect. So the soul continues to be Faithless.

This is exactly what will happen when one is in the world. With all the stimulation that will bombard the senses the three faculties of memory, intellect and free will will not be able to perform its part in the Act of Faith. So what do we do? St. Augustine suggested  the old monastic practice of  ‘fuga mundo.’ It will not completely solve the problem but it will be a very big help in forming the Act of Faith. Pope Benedict, also, gave this suggestion in an address in St. Paul outside the Walls.

It is unfortunate that in all the topics taken during the Bishop’s Synod to discuss the ‘New Evangelization’ that leads to ‘Porta Fidei’ there is NO description of an Act of Faith when that should be the central point in the ‘Year of Faith.’

THE ACT OF FAITH

The effort to Evangelize for the growth of the Catholic Church has a long history of conflict with evil angelic forces. But let us just look at this conflict from the beginnings of Vatican II. The topic to purify the Church’s Evangelization process for the growth of the Church begun around the third session of the council. And Archbishop Frings was vocal in showing the need for a very clear doctrinal description on Evangelization amidst attempts to compose a watered down, unclear and confusing document. A good document came out from his attempts. His periti was Joseph Ratzinger. But after Vatican II the document was not given importance and the proposals of missiologists and other dissident theologians who insisted on merely psychological, sociological, and environmental issues prevailed.  Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II tried to patch up the vacuum in the Evangelization process that made it ineffective. The present Pope had given  his  all out effort during his Pontificate to right  the Evangelization which is the very life of the Church. But efforts to derail the process continued up to this very moment. It waned for a moment when Cardinal Ratzinger pin pointed these efforts on derailment as coming from men with no Faith in his ‘Ratzinger Report.’ But almost rose again in the form of a movement to create a new man- made catholic church. First theorized by a priest pseudo-scientist, it has become a battle cry under the banner of reform and renewal……towards nowhere. Schools of theology had embraced it and bishops are unwittingly preaching this heresy because its undercurrents are in the 58 proposals of the Bishop’s synod.

The Holy Father gave us, as Cardinal Prefect of the CDF,  the ‘New Evangelization’ as early as 2000 AD. He had described the four steps towards Eternal Life, of which Evangelization is only the first step. The Pope put this first step under the title of ‘conversion’ since Evangelization is the process  of conversion that leads to Faith. This is clearly described in the ‘Apostolic Commission’ which Christ gave to His disciples…. the instruction to Evangelize, going to all nations etc…The Fathers of the Church like St. Augustine  had described this process so well,  on how to preach. And the Catholic Church had been doing this for the last more than 2000 years.

 Evangelization was going on well until something around the 15th  century happened that caused so much confusion in the Church up to the present. The ‘Way of Evangelization’ that leads to ‘conversion’ of souls that disposes them to the Act of Faith became so confused there was fear that hardly anyone was evangelizing properly and hardly anyone was undergoing conversion. The signs of the presence of Faith that was most evident in the Church that made her stand out as the true Church was nowhere to be found. What we see now is the opposite. These opposite signs are found in Bishops, priests, brothers, nuns and lay faithful. It is the sign of vices which cannot exist side by side with the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. Cardinal Ratzinger described what went wrong;”  a defect in the method and contents of Evangelization.” That is like saying everything went wrong.

So Pope Benedict called a ‘Year of Faifh.’ But even now we see signs of confusion exactly what happened during Vatican II.  It is the same malevolent spirit!  The office that sent the Lineamenta, a letter of instruction from the Vatican to all bishops,  issued a defective document dissimilar from the instruction of the Pope. The ‘Instrumentum Laboris’ which is the response of all the bishops around the world, also, showed, a defective concept of Evangelization. The very Bishop’s Synod just concluded and its 58 resolutions show confusion but more importantly noncompliance to the instruction of the Holy Father. The proposals are similar to the proposals made during Vatican II that Archbishop Frings considered ‘impossible and unacceptable.”

Then we mentioned a light in the midst of the storm. The International Theological Comission, a group of 30 Catholic Theologians gathered to, first, advice the CDF but now officially advising the Magisterium, came up with a document in aid of the Evangelization that leads to Porta Fidei.  They repeated the 4 – pt schema of the Holy Father and, as the Holy Father stressed last March, emphasized the importance of ‘conversion’ as  CENTRAL to the ‘Year of Faith.’

As soon as the only bright light shone amidst the storm, the light was immediately covered with clouds as a Theological school of a famed religious order in Rome came out to use one of their order’s author  of doubtful orthodoxy as a model of Evangelization. This author had been corrected several times by Rome for dangerous doctrine, specially of Pantheism and a dangerous ‘spirit’ in proposing an entirely ‘new catholic church’  a heresy so prevalent among Bishops and theologians yet they call it the ‘new Evangelization.”

The confusion and attempts to derail the Pope’s efforts to lead souls to Faith and the salvation of their souls continuous unabatted.  And like the classical story of the Trojan Horse in the siege of Troy the enemy is within the Church in both the Bishops, the clerics, the theological schools, the seminaries and in the big religious order of the Church. With people like these the Pope does not need enemies.

Not all bishops and theologians are tainted by this ‘spirit’. But the few who are faithful to the Church are not vocal. Fortunately we have the ITC. The Holy Father and the International Theological Commission had this simple suggestion: for this  ‘Year of Faith’ …. simply teach ourselves and others how the Act of Faith is to be done. All the other topics can be set aside first. And here it is according to St. Augustine.

We must make the Act of Faith in the same way  the Blessed Trinity would do it……if they had to do it. Of course, the Blessed Trinity does not need to do it. 

The Blessed Trinity is three person in one God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We have been made to the image and likeness of God. Our memory represents the Father, our intellect represents the Son and our free will represents the Holy Spirit. But because of original and actual sins our memory, our intellect and our free will are not perfect images and likenss of God. Inspite of this defect our memory, intellect and free will are still the closes image and likeness of God we can have. No other religion can have an image of their own man-make gods as Catholics have of our God. In short, we can see the face of our God while others can see only a sculpture or painting of their gods. And  the image of the God of the Catholic Church is within man himself.

The Holy Father had encourage all men to check on their beliefs in God, precisely by checking the image of their gods within them. If God would create man He would make him in a manner that he can recognize his creator. And what better way than for God to leave His image within man, himself. But man cannot know the image and likeness of God within him unless he does something first. And this something is the proper disposition for the Act of Faith.

So we have the three faculties of man that makes him similar to the image and likeness of God: the memory, the intellect and the free will. Now let us describe a soul that has the proper disposition to receive the grace of Faith after which he becomes a Faithful, he is inside the kingdom of God, he is wise, happy and holy and would now gradually learn all the teachings of Christ. Slowly, of course. It will take some time to accomplish this and lead him to the theological virtue of Charity. Let us go back to Faith. This is our interest in this ‘Year of Faith’….to make the Act of Faith.

Let us go to the Memory, the image and likeness of God the Father within man. Man reads and listens to everything he can naturally learn about God, specially Jesus Christ. As he closes the book or stops listening to a lecture he must retain all these information about God or Jesus Christ in his memory. And this he has to do 24 hours (keep in mind we are describing a soul so advanced in his quest for God that he is about to receive the grace of Faith and not a recent convert.) This is the first element in the Act of Faith that must be kept in  mind. This is not yet Faith because two other things are still to be done.

Secondly, while all these Godly thoughts are in the memory and sustained in the memory permanenetly ……let us go to the next faculty, the intellect. The intellect should try to understand in the natural level the contents of the memory.  While Divine Revelation is a help in filling up the memory with truths, the Fathers of the Church will be needed in interpreting the contents of the memory. So now we have the memory and the intellect in place for the Act of Faith. The intellect must not only interpret the contents of the memory correctly but must ALSO assent to both the contents of the memory and the intellect’s interpretation or explanation of the contents of the memory. Now the first two steps in the elements of the ACT of Faith are in place. Needless to say there should be absolutely no errors in the memory and in the interpretation or understanding of what is in the memory.

Then comes the third step, the free will or the heart. After the memory had stored all natural truths about God, after the intellect had meditated and thought about those truths and had given its mark of assent to those truths as worthy of belief, then the intellect convinces the blind faculty. the free will to love the truths the mind had judged to be good. The free will considers all these and convinced that it would be a good thing to love those truths pertaining to God and Jesus Christ,  the free will gives its consent and loves God and/or Jesus Christ.

When the soul has his memory, intellect and free will in this state we say that he has the proper disposition to receive the gift of Faith. God, then,  gives him the theological virtue of Faith and he undergoes a complete change and shows all the signs of Faith, namely, wisdom, happiness and holiness. But this Faith is weak at the beginning. It will be God who will directly instruct him on what to do to increase in Faith that would eventually lead to Hope and Charity. This is all we have to learn in this ‘Year of Faith.’

Many bishops, priests, brothers, nuns, members of ecclesial communities, converts from other sects and the vast number of converts from Africa and Asia may not realize it. They were INTELLECTUALLY attracted to the beauty of the Catholic Religion but have not really made an act of supernatural Faith…..because they had not been properly Evangelize, i.e. they were not taught how to make the Act of Faith. Even the 58 proposals issued by the Bishop’s Synod does not contain even a mention on how to make the Act of Faith. Except for the Pope I have not heard or read in any document on the ‘Year of Faith’ any description of the Act of Faith. The above is from St. Augustine. So what are we going to talk about in the ‘Year of Faith?’ Shouldn’t it be simply what  the Act of Faith  is ?

The process in which we acquire a memory as described above, an intellect as described above and a free will as described above is the long process called ‘conversion.’ This is not something we can accomplish overnight. Often not even in twenty or thirty years. Though it all depends on the generosity of the soul.

Faith is when we can keep our memories, intellects and free will as described above every second for all our lifetime.

AT LAST, A SANE VOICE AMIDST THE CONFUSION

The Holy Father had announced a ‘New Evangelization.’ He, not only explained ‘Evangelization’, but gave the four complete steps that lead to Eternal Life. Evangelization is only the first step  and it leads to the second step which is ‘Porta Fidei.’ The Pope set aside temporarily the last two steps for this ‘Year of Faith’ because only the first step is needed and this leads to the second step which is  Faith.

Though the Holy Father gave this talk on ‘New Evangelization’ as early as in 2000, and though he gave many indications of the great importance of this topic, very few seems to have gotten what he was saying. The word ‘New Evangelization’ had been quoted by many  bishops in their speeches but it never came close to what the Pope was referring to.  And all the efforts to implement the Popes ‘New Evangelization’ that leads to ‘Porta Fidei’ had been total digression from the main goal of the Holy Father…..from the ‘Lineamenta,’ to the ‘Instrumentum Laboris,’ to the 58 proposals made during the Bishop’s Synod.  A watcher to this scenario could only loose heart at what is happening to the Church. But at last, a tiny voice amidst the confusion…..a clear voice from the International Theological Commission.

The International Theological Commission is a group of Catholic theologians from around the world appointed by the Pope upon suggestion of the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith. Each member have a renewable five year term and they meet together in person once every year for a week. Their main job  is to advise the Magisterium of the Church especially the CDF. In support of the ‘Year of Faith’ proclaimed by Pope Benedict they came out offering their services. And their short declaration of assistance to the Church contained a perfect knowledge of the ‘MIND’ of Pope Benedict on his ‘New Evangelization that leads to ‘Porta Fidei.’ What a consolation  to hear a perfect echo of Pope Benedict.

The ‘Year of Faith’ is for all Bishops, priests, brothers, nuns and all lay people to find out if they have Faith. No one is exempted. The inclusion of Bishops and priest was very clear from the ‘Ratzinger Report,’ from the ‘Year of St. Paul,’  from the ‘Year of the Priests,’ summarized in ‘Veritatis Splendor,’ and most clearly in the ‘New Evangelization’ that leads to ‘Porta Fidei.’  It is the Bishops and priest who are undergoing a crisis of Faith. The signs are all clear from the fact that no shepherd is sounding the proverbial trumpet  mentioned by St. Paul, to the worldwide problem of priests that seems not to wane down to the very Bishops who caannot pin point where the problem of the Church is. A brief review of ‘what are the signs of Faith’ shows that there is no Faith in the Church today  (with an exception that can only be described as the work of the grace of God.)

This,  of course, will redound to the crisis of Faith among the lay people who are taught by the bishops and priest. The crisis of Faith among the lay people cannot be blamed anywhere else except on the pastors.

The ‘Lineamenta’ and ‘Instrumentum laboris’ and the 58 proposals made by the bishop’s synod are all working on the assumption that all the bishops and priest have the theological virtue of Faith and the only work to be done is  to lead the laymen towards the ‘door of Faith.’ On the contrary, because they intentionally removed ‘conversion’ from their schema, this shows they have no Faith because conversion is essential to Faith and all who have Faith will emphasize the importance of conversion. Pope Benedict, seeing the trend of mind in the Bishop’s Synod, re-emphasized the importance of conversion  last March to priests and deacons. And the International Theological Commission emphasized that too saying: ‘the message of conversion is central to the Year of Faith’……and this is what  the Bishop’s documents intentionally omitted stating it was not important. Though Proposition 22 of the Bishop’s Synod talked about ‘conversion’ its description does not approach at all the ‘conversion’ of Pope Benedict.

How in the first place did the laymen happened to have no Faith. Isn’t it because of the faithlessness of their pastors and Bishops? A typical example is the speech of a Bishop-theologian, invited to address  the Bishop’s Synod, where he begun by encouraging religious pluralism, a long time heresy and recently condemned again by the Pope at the urging of the International theological commission during its sixth term …and followed by corrections world-side of priests holding such heresy. And the speaker was a Bishop – theologian addressing the Bishop’s Synod.  And he is one of those who will evangelize? In fact in his speech he described his  religious pluralism as  Pope Benedict’s ‘New Evangelization.’ Heresy and truth?

The ‘Year of Faith’ is a command of the Pope for Cardinals, Bishops, priest, brothers, sisters and all laymen…. without exemption, to examine themselves if they have Faith following the guidelines he had already given. It has to begin there. I know it is humiliating. But then we have to begin with humility somehow.

In the ‘Year of Faith’ all we have to learn is how the Act of Faith is made and what are the proper dispositions of the mind and free will that will help us receive the gift of Faith and response to it properly. Nothing else. Everything that is being learned are in the natural level so everyone can do it.

Returning briefly to the Gospel of the 31th Sunday in Ordinary time we just have to do what the Scribe did to be near the ‘Kingdom of God’ (the words used by the Pope referring to Faith.) The Scribe had the knowledge that he should love God with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his strength and will all his soul. One proper disposition that every soul should have is to know how the mind works…and then use his entire knowledge to know God. After knowing God his mind should instruct his free will to love God. That’s it. That is one of the proper disposition that prepares a soul to receive the gift of Faith. We still have to work on three more.

Who knows  how the mind works?  And one has to go  into one’s mind to see what it contains. Does it contain the knowledge of God or does it contain garbage? Considering out present age it is impossible to enter into our minds to find out what it contains because man’s minds are continuously  focused outside towards the things of the world. There is no introspection. There is no knowing of oneself. We also have to know God and knowing God consists in going into one’s mind and heart…which are the image and likeness of God. No one has time for that. Souls today would rather know the basketball scores than who is God.  In short, analysis shows that conditions are not conducive to making the Act of Faith. So help is needed. And the Holy Father gave us these helps. Like strong medicine few will like it.

WHEN ARE WE NEAR THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

The Holy Father had stated that this ‘New Evangelization’ is not ‘new’. It is the old, traditional evangelization used from the time of Christ, through the apostles and by the Magisterium of the Church up to the present. And the Pope said that he only used the word ‘new’ because today no one seems to know about it.

Then the Holy Father gave us the four steps that lead to Eternal Life, namely, a.) Conversion,  b.) Entrance into the kingdom of God (or Faith),  c.) Union with the created soul of the Church, Jesus Christ and union with the uncreated soul of the Church, the Holy Spirit (or Hope and Charity).  And finally,  d.) Eternal Life. Those are the complete steps that lead to wisdom, happiness and union with God for all eternity.

During this “Year of Faith” the Holy Father is putting emphasis only on the first two steps:  a.) conversion  and   b.) entrance into the kingdom of God  (or entrance into the Catholic Church  OR Faith.) Notice how short and simple and how well summarized the Holy Father had shown us the path that leads to FAITH….two steps,  a.)Conversion    and   b.) Entrance into the kingdom of God. Since entrance in the Kingdom is God’s work, the Holy Father wants us to  concentrate on conversion ONLY, as he emphasized last March in a talk to priests and deacons because the rests of the steps are God’s work, not men’s.

We have seen how the “Lineamenta”  intentionally removed CONVERSION in the process of evangelization.  We have seen, also how in the “Instrumentum Laboris”  the first two steps are missing. And now we see the 58 proposals made as a result of the Bishop’s just concluded Synod in Rome.

On the one hand the Pope gave us a short and simple schema. On the other hand we now have the long 58 proposals of the Bishop’s Synod in Rome.  To say the least The Synod’s proposal  is too long and it is too confusing.  I am more  forced  to focus on imigration  and inculturation problems rather than finding out if I have Faith or not. What matter for me right now is IF I HAVE FAITH  because my very salvation is at stake. At least I must know if I am far or near the kingdom of God,  i.e. if I am near or far from attaining Faith. Better still if I already have the theological virtue of Faith or not. That is the goal of the ‘year of faith.’

Then I see the delegates attending the Bishop’s Synod coming out from the assembly. I saw Protestants, heretics, schismatics, rebellious theologians and even a woman Methodist bishop. Are these the people who are going to implement the Evangelization that leads to Faith. Are these the people who would advice a Church who had been splendidly evangelizing the world for the last 2000 years? It seems ‘yes’ because their ideas seem to have be reflected in the 58 proposals.

The Sundays in Ordinary Time are perfect lessons from Holy Mother the Church  on the topic of ‘Faith’. From the first up to the 34th Sunday we can practically see how far or near we are from entering the kingdom of God (or from receiving the gift of Faith.)  And the 31th  Sunday in Ordinary Time beautifully shows us the present situation with the Pope and the Bishop’s Synod. It shows us a Scribe who was ‘not far from the Kingdom of God,’ i.e. not far from Faith.  Where do I stand? Am I ‘not far’ from Faith or am I very far?

The Gospel begun with an argument between the Pharisee and Sadducees on one hand and the Scribes on the other hand. The Pharisees and Sadducees believed that to be saved one must do hundreds of external rituals like the washing of the hands and feet, washing of vessels, etc.  While the Scribes believed that to be saved they only had to make an internal act of Faith and good works. In the heated discussion the Scribes approached Christ and asked Him who was right. When Christ questioned the Scribe, he gave an answer which Christ described as “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”  The Scribe was not far from entering the Catholic Church. He was not far from making the Act of Faith that saves. What did the Scribe do that brought him close to the kingdom. And what was it that he did not yet do that prevented him from entering the kingdom where Faith is attained?

Let us look at the workings of  the mind of the Scribe. He said: “The Lord our God is Lord alone.” This is an act of the mind and that was the preamble of Faith. But it is in the natural level. It is not yet supernatural Faith.  This was an act of the mind.

The above natural act of Faith as an act of the mind must be accompanied with good works because Faith without good works is useless. The Scribe believed that “God is Lord alone,” and his Faith was accompanied with good works.  He said: I must love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and will all my strength. That was one good work. And he adds another good work; and I must love my neighbor as myself. Those were two good works that accompanied his faith. At this point he still cannot receive the supernatural gift of Faith from Christ because his assent and consent were still lacking.

By an act of his mind the Scribe knew that God is Lord alone and…. he had knowledge also that he must love God and his neighbor. That is the act preparatory to the act of Faith …. the mind knowing the existence of God and the duty to love God and neighbor. This is why Christ said he was not far from the kingdom of God.

If in my mind I have a natural description on God as Lord alone; if I have a knowledge on how the heart works  and how to love God with my heart; if I have a knowledge on how the free will works and how to love God with all my heart; if I know what is the strength God had given me and know how to love God with all my strength;  if I know what is a soul and the knowledge of how to love God with all my soul……..and if I know myself and know how to love myself  and if I know who is my neighbor and know how to love my neighbor ……THEN I am not far from the kingdom of God. I would not be far from Faith and not far from entering the Catholic Church. But I would not still be in IT.

How come the Scribe was not yet inside the Kingdom?   He was just one step away. But the Scribe did not know what was lacking. Evangelizing him was not yet complete. His conversion was not yet total.  His mind had to assent to what he knew and his free will must consent to what he knew. If he did these God would have given him the supernatural and theological virtue of Faith that saves.

Even if the Scribe was able to assent with his mind and consent with his free will to what he knew (that God is Lord alone and that he should love God and neighbor) he would have Faith but not yet Charity. What he had assented with his mind and consented with his free will,  he must now put it into practice. And that is Charity which together with Faith merits a soul Eternal Life.

The Initial beginnings of the Virtue of Faith.

Pope Benedict had given us in his “New Evangelization” the four steps we must take to attain Eternal Life; namely, first, Conversion. Secondly, entrance into the Kingdom of God or entrance into the Catholic Church. Thirdly, encounter with Christ and union with the Holy Spirit. And lastly, attainment of Eternal Life. Reviewing the Plan of Salvation is the first thing that every Pope does as he begins his Pontificate: he reminds the faithful the complete steps that lead to eternal life according to the teachings of Christ and handed down to us by the Apostles and their successors the Popes.

I have lived through six Popes and Pope Benedict is my sixth. But it is now only that I am learning the way to have eternal life. I just did not mind the first five Popes though they did their duties. I guess we only become serious when we grow old. Now that I have checked the stay of my soul with Pope Benedict’s reminder I suddenly find myself nowhere near eternal life. My salvation is at stake. The Holy Father wants all of us to take our salvation seriously that is why he is calling the “Year of Faith.” He wants everyone, Cardinals, Bishops, priests, brothers, sister, parents and children to check if they have the Catholic Faith by checking if they have accomplished, at least two of the four steps. Or as Christ Himself preached, if we had ‘repented and believed.’ This ‘Year of Faith” is just precisely that…..to repent and believe.

From the first initial steps of Conversion, through entrance into the Kingdom of God up to the end the attainment of eternal life….are all works of grace. There is absolutely nothing human involved in all these processes. The moment a soul responds to the initial grace given by God to the soul, that grace simply grows  from perfection to perfection until we are perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. This is growing from grace to grace. There is nothing man can do or contribute to aid the process. Any human effort might even forfeit the grace God gives because such attempts would be Pelagianism.

Let us look at the first initial grace. When does God give us that initial grace of Faith? Why does He give it to one and not to another. Why to Dimas and not to the other thief? This question bothered St. Augustine. He gave a very convincing reason but his answer can give us sleepless nights. This initial grace which is the beginning of Faith that gradually leads us to Eternal Life is not given to all. It is, in fact, given to very few. Let us pretend happily that we are one of those chosen;  how is this initial grace given to us and how do we react to it by the prompting of the same grace?

Let us look at the Gospel of the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (keeping in mind that all the  Sundays in Ordinary time are all about ‘attained Faith’ and are perfect lessons for this ‘Year of Faith.’) The story of Bartimaeus, the blind man shows the gradual steps he took from a life of sin, through conversion, to the attainment of Faith and finally to perfection and the attainment of Eternal Life. The story shows the four steps enumerated by Pope Benedict except for the union with the Holy Spirit which was not yet given at that time but the wording of the Gospel showed that Bartimaeus eventually attained the final steps.

We want to know what Bartimaeus did to acquire the proper disposition that made God give him the Faith that healed and saved him. This is the disposition we want to acquire during this year of Faith. The Gospel begun by describing the blind man as quietly sitting by the way side. This is the state of all man born in sin. He is totally blind to  all divine and supernatural realities. The ‘conversion’ of Bartimaeus begun when spiritually, like a blind man he completely lost interest with the world around him. Being blind he knew that there is nothing in the world that can make him happy. The world cannot be a source of happiness for a blind man. So Bartimaeus was just by the road side hoping there is something that could be a source of happiness for him.

Then he heard a crowd passing by together with Jesus. Bartimaeus was not known to have been shouting at people before. But now he calls out ‘Jesus Son of David, have pity on me.’ Observe that just previously he had become completely convinced that there is absolutely nothing in the world that could make him happy. From this state he now felt there is someone who can make him happy, Jesus. But he addresses Him as a human, the way a patient calls for a doctor. ‘Jesus Son of David’ was a human description of Christ. But that is the beginning of conversion. So the world around controlled by the devil tells him to shut up. ‘Don’t ask for happiness from Christ. Ask it from us, from the world, from jobs, from good times, from men, etc. This is the temptation not to begin one’s conversion. But Bartimaus cried out the louder but still in the human, natural level, “Son of David, have pity on me.”

Then Christ ordered his disciples to call him over. The disciples called him. And Bartimaeus did something that made him have the proper disposition to receive soon the grace of Faith. He obeyed. He obeyed Christ who gave the command. He did not obey the apostles who simply repeated the command. He stood up, threw away his last possession his coat and went to Christ. At this point Bartimaeus received the grace from Christ. Obedience enabled him to approach Christ. That is the only way to approach Christ, through obedience to His command. Then Christ asked him ‘What do you want me to do for you,” just for those around to hear what Bartimaeus wanted which he will eventually receive. ‘Rabboni, that I might see.” He was asking to see what could make him happy outside of the world that he had already found useless. He wanted to see divine truths and realities. He wanted to see the way to heaven and eternal happiness. he was praying for Faith. And Christ answered: I have already given you the virtue of Faith. Now, with Faith you will see divine realities, supernatural truths and the way to heaven. Faith has healed your spiritual blindness caused by original sin.

What is the sign of Faith? In the story of the calling of the apostles, they all left all things and followed Christ. Bartimaeus had lost all desires for worldly things due to his blindness, he had thrown away his last possession, his cloak. To show his Faith he follows Christ by living a life in obedience to all His Commandments which he begun when Christ first called him to come to him. Now he would continue to obey the rest of the commands.

The four steps that make up the necessary disposition that God may give us the grace of Faith are: first, the soul must be convinced that there is absolutely nothing in this world that can make him happy. Secondly, that he seeks and wait for a true source of happiness from all around him.  Thirdly, that he listens to the apostles of Christ who are telling us to go to Christ. And fourthly, he obeys Christ whom the apostles preach. A confirmation that he has  Faith is that the soul continues to follow Christ in obeying His other commandments. The  third step is ‘Evangelization’ and the Fourth is ‘Porta Fidei.’

The Conversion of John Cardinal Newman.

The four steps enumerated by Pope Benedict that leads to happiness in Union with God are; first, conversion. Secondly, entrance into the Kingdom of God or entrance into the Catholic Church. Thirdly, Encounter with Christ and the Holy Spirit. And fourthly, Life Everlasting.

We are discussing the first, Conversion. We have seen the ideal manner of conversion as exemplified in the life of St. Therese of Lisieux, co- Patroness of the ‘New Evangelization. We saw how she had the natural, initial focus of her mind on the ‘Self’ and on ‘God,’  how she made the intellectual conclusion that the “Self” is inferior to God and, therefore, she ought to subject herself to God.

Then, we saw how having had the proper disposition mentioned above, she received ‘grace’ from God and as a consequence made the Act of Faith with the assent of her mind and consent of her heart. Her proper disposition that is naturally lost early in age as a result of original sin was sustained by the zealous care of her parents, Zellie and Louise, giving her ample time to make her Act of Faith when her natural proper disposition was prolonged due to the zeal of her parents.

Then we saw how St. Augustine like St. Therese, had the initial natural proper disposition but could not be prolonged because of his pagan environment and, therefore, could not make the Act of Faith in his youth. He lost the proper disposition needed for the Act of Faith but at his adult age he examined his memory to recall the childhood days when he had that proper natural disposition. He recalled that time, put himself in the same proper disposition and made his Act of Faith. A little late in life but he was able to make it. Of course, a sharp mind and a good memory was his advantage.

Let us now look at the conversion of another favorite saint of Pope Benedict, Blessed John Cardinal Newman.  Like St. Therese and St. Augustine, John Newman had the initial, natural disposition wherein his mind at the very early age was focused on the ‘Self’ and on ‘God.’ His mind had realized that the God was much superior to the ‘Self” so he had to subject himself to that Creator. Unlike St. Therese, but more like St. Augustine, John Newman could not make the Act of Faith. St. Augustine could not make Act of Faith because he lost the natural, initial proper disposition. Newman preserved the initial natural disposition, he continued to use his conscience in thinking of ‘Himself’ and of ‘God’ but because of his Anglican upbringing he had wrong informations  about himself and about God. And he could not give an intellectual assent on an erroneous doctrine. And so he could not make an Act of Faith.  Fortunately in his effort to prove that the Anglican Church was the true Church and that the Catholic Church was erroneous he studied the Fathers of the Church. From that study he begun to know ‘Himself” and who is God, both in the right way. And with this right information, he was able to receive the grace of God and make his Act of Faith…..a little late but in good time enough for him to finish his conversion, enter the Catholic Church, become a priest, become a cardinal and become a Beatified.

In making the Act of Faith necessary for our salvation, most of us cannot imitate St. Therese because we are no longer young children and we do not have saintly parents as she had. We, also cannot imitate St. Augustine because he had a very sharp mind and memory that enabled him to become like a child again. We cannot also be like Blessed John Cardinal Newman because we did not live our lives in imitation to his fidelity to the voice of conscience. And we cannot devour the writings of the Fathers of the Church to check on the things we believe. We, probably, have no other way except Pope Benedict’s ‘New Evangelization’ to attain eternal life. So let us study his four steps zealously since the schema of the Lineamenta and Instrumentum Laboris for the Bishop’s Synod is different from the Holy Father’s….and this is what some Bishops are already using for their homilies. Basing those documents on the Traditional teaching of the Church, specially the Apostolic Commission of Christ to His Apostles written in the Gospel of Matthew, the two documents are defective. We are still hoping that the documents are modified to conform to Pope Benedict’s ‘New Evangelization.’

In the next article we shall describe an individual’s act of Faith.

The Importance of Conversion – The Conversion of St. Augustine

The ‘Year of Faith’ had begun. The Holy Father had given his opening address repeating the importance of ‘Conversion,’ the first step in the whole process of Evangelization. In a Mass at the Vatican with participants of the Bishop’s Synod attending,  the Pope received a portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness under whose protection the “New Evangelization” leading to ‘Porta Fidei” had been entrusted. We shall see later the significance of this gesture. But today everybody is talking about something else. A bishop in a large diocese here, talking in Catholic TV mentioned ‘the New Evangelization’  and wandered off to the hermeneutics of discontinuity. He cleverly started with the hermeneutics of continuity, which the Pope says is the right one, then slowly switched into the hermeneutics of discontinuity without anyone noticing the excursion into  dangerous heretical grounds. Bishops with rejected pet projects during Vatican II had not stopped insisting on their ideas up to the present and will do so again during the Bishop’s Synod. This bishop is known to belong to the Bologna group who believe in the hermeneutics of discontinuity.  Another young bishop from the States had, also, openly declared that everything before Vatican II was horrible while everything after Vatican II is heavenly. No different from the hermeneutics of discontinuity which the Pope had contradicted in many of his talks.

We have presented St. Therese as the model of conversion Though she was the most natural in her conversion she is not the model for most conversion. St. Augustine is the model for most. Like St. Therese he was born with the semi-permanent state of having a mind conscious of ONESELF face to face with the Creator who is superior to oneself. Augustine, also, had the humble attitude of wishing to submit himself to the superior Creator but his natural desire to submit himself did not persists. Maybe due to an unnatural environment since he lived in a pagan age. His father was a pagan, though his mother was a devout Christian, Augustine did not get a thorough Christian education. And so, his natural situation where his mind was conscious of the MYSELF face to face with God the Creator plus his  decision to submit himself to the Creator did not last long enough for him to maintain his humility and make him deserving of  the initial grace of conversion. In no time, he lost all; his mind’s consciousness of himself, his mind’s consciousness of the greatness of his Creator and  his consciousness of his obligation to submit himself to the Creator. His mind wandered far and wide.

While wandering far and wide the above natural thoughts were forgotten but were permanently registered in his memory. That is what memory is for. Let us go back briefly to St. Therese. St. Therese’s mind was focused on the “MYSELF’ and at the same time face to face with God, the Creator of the self to which she must subject herself totally. Of course at her early age her knowledge of ‘MYSELF’  and of God was insignificant but it was not that but the assent of her mind and consent of her will of which she was competent to do at her earliest age that made her worthy to receive the grace from God that begun her conversion.

In the case of St. Augustine, his mind was on the ‘MYSELF’ face to face with the Creator. His knowledge of the MYSELF and of the Creator was according to his very young age. But he was not able to make the assent of his mind and the consent of his Will to the truth he was faced with. And so we would suppose that he did not receive the grace of conversion from God. Thus he went on his wanderings away from God.

In Augustine’s quest for all kinds of truths he wandered away from God searching among all the garbage in the world until completely dissipated by his useless search he began to recall his youth and the thoughts he had during those time. He remembered his thoughts about himself which grew as it accumulated during the years. He, also, recalled the God he was face to face with which also grew during the passage of time. Of course, by the time he was an adult his knowledge of himself and of God was still full of errors. So an assent of the mind and a consent of the Will towards those errors would be useless. Augustine was moved to return to the Scriptures where his errors were dissipated. Once again he had a natural knowledge of the ‘MYSELF’, improved this time due to his excursions into different philosophies specially of Plato.  Also improved was his  natural knowledge of God, his creator. Then his mind made its assent and his will made its consent to subject himself completely to the God he now knew again. He had begun to be a child again and received the grace because it is for such as this that the Kingdom of God is for, as Christ would say. Because the mind of St. Augustine was very mature during this time his assent was more mature and his consent was more mature in which case the grace with the accompanying Faith he received from God was more mature.

As St. Augustine described it:  he came unto himself and rediscovered his nature as a man. But most important he discovered his personality which was for a moment during his restless years deteriorated into unnaturalness. But with his retreats in the mountains of Casisiacum, while his human nature remained the same, his personality that made up his humanity together with his human nature learned to love. That was a great improvement from the initial conversion he had experienced in Milan. This was an improvement not in his nature but in his personality. The former cannot be improved as it is; the latter can be improved depending on the object of its love.

Here St. Augustine showed his greatest fear. Realizing that grace for initial conversion that will guide a soul all through Faith, Hope, Charity and Eternal Life is given freely by God, he asked why does God give it to some and not to others. In humility he answers: that is not for us to ask of our Creator. Even if God answered we would not understand His answer. As for us we know God gives it to those who have become like children because to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

Prior to his conversion St. Augustine confessed to his inability to think of God as a spiritual substance or of human blessedness reserved for those destined to be saved. Without conversion a soul is completely ignorant of the spiritual world.

St. Augustine’s conversion is similar to the Prodigal Son. Blessed John Cardinal Newman’s is slightly different but likewise outstanding.  For many Catholics today, the three above models are very difficult to duplicate that is why there is a need for a “New Evangelization”. This is not essentially different from the Prodigal Son. The difference is only similar to the difference between the monasticism of  John Climacus and the monasticism of Saint Benedict.

We have seen the probable cause of the unexplainable massive lost of Faith in the Catholic Church as an error in teaching theology in the seminaries after the Council of Trent. The Holy Father Pope Benedict concluded this from the findings of the International Theological Commission of which he was formerly a part. Seminarians are supposed to be taught to rise up from the natural level and go up to the supernatural level where God, Himself, infuses the teachings of the New Testament like the Incarnation and Redemption. In his ‘New Evangelization’ the Pope described this perceived error as an error in Method and Structure. The consequence would be an error in teaching the contents of the Catholic Faith, the error of teaching dogmas instead of teaching Morals as theologians would describe it. Belief in dogmas goes along with a moral life, the latter coming first.

To correct the erroneous way in which Bishops and priest had been taught since after the Council of Trent  he gave us the classical four steps used by the Catholic Church from the beginning of Christianity and taught in her Liturgy. To reach perfection and attain Eternal Life, we must first pass through a Life of Conversion, then enter the Kingdom of God (this is accomplished when we receive the theological virtue of Faith); then Encounter Christ, the created soul of the Church and be united with the Holy Spirit, the uncreated soul of the Church. Having accomplished this we will attain eternal life. These are the four steps that Pope Benedict gave us in his ‘New Evangelization.’

This topic “The New Evangelization” that leads to “Porta Fidei” is the topic to be discussed by the Bishop’s Synod in Rome that begun this week and will go on for the next three weeks. And the Holy Fathers opening address to them contain these statements: That all Christians are called to holiness, which should include the complete four steps the Pope had enumerated. The reason he gave is that ‘Holiness’ is the only language understood by all, insinuating what he had already mentioned that vocal preaching as everyone is doing these days is not the way of the ‘New Evangelization.’ He already mentioned it in Aparecida that ‘contemplation’ is the way. He had repeated this often in his talks on the New Evangelization. And that is why St. Therese is the patroness of the ‘New Evangelization.’ a saint who had converted so many souls that she is considered the co-patroness of missionaries ….and yet she never left the clausura of her convent, never preached by mouth, never wrote theological treatises or articles, and never appeared in radio or television.  The life of a contemplative is the most eloquent form of Evangelization (which we shall explain later on.)

The Holy Father, in his opening address to the Bishop’s Synod repeated what we mentioned in the last article; that to encounter Christ we must reach  Faith acquired through grace. He also repeated that the “New Evangelization” is a call to ‘Conversion and reconciliation” two words that mean the same thing. And the symbol is the Crucifix, he adds. This, we mentioned before, was what was intentionally omitted in both the Lineamenta  and Instrumentum Laboris. ….and yet is essential for the whole process of Evangelization without which Faith is impossible. Then the Pope mentioned something to the effect that Evangelization is similar to making a marriage work……which we shall explain later.

Let us return briefly to the ‘initial’ grace necessary for the beginnings of conversion that leads to Faith. We shall take three examples, the case of St. Therese of Lisieux, declared Patroness of the ‘New Evangelization’, the case of St. Augustine whose conversion was so well documented in his confessions and the case of John Cardinal Newman whose conversion was aptly described in his Apologia pro Vita  Sua.

We have seen in the last article the natural disposition prelude to the initial grace that God grants which raises up the soul from the natural level to the supernatural level, which is the beginning of Conversion that leads to Faith.

Every child that is born is made to the image and likeness of God. The image and likeness is in the faculties of the soul namely the intellect or mind and the free will. At birth the mind becomes conscious of Itself, a creature AND at the same time he becomes conscious of a superior Creator whom he believes had created him. A continuous consciousness of this fact puts the soul in an attitude of complete subjection to his Creator. This is a semi-permanent situation…..until the soul with its two faculties become distracted by its worldly surroundings in which the semi-permanent situation ceases. And the soul is in trouble.

In the case of St. Therese, she also found herself in that semi-permanent condition…..a natural state. But this semi – permanent condition continued for some time probably due to favorable environmental conditions, like the conscious transfering of the family initiated by Louis, the Father, from the full, tempting commercial town to a more quiet provincial setting.  This semi-permanent condition became more permanent due to the splendid training given by Louis and Zellie to their children which gave Therese long enough time to make an assent of her mind and a consent of her free will to the semi-permanent condition……which made that condition permanent and supernatural by the grace of God. That is the beginning of Conversion and the beginning of the Life of Faith, which St. Therese never lost. She grew from Faith to the perfection of Charity thus the document declaring her doctor of the Church was entitled “The Science of Love” making her aptly the patroness of the four steps that lead to Eternal Life according to the complete schema of Pope Benedict.

St. Therese never lost contact with that semi-permanent natural condition wherein all souls are born with their minds knowing themselves and where they stand BEFORE the presece of God to whom the creature must be completely subject to  its Creator. That is called HUMILITY the perfect disposition to receive the gift of grace from God that will begin our entrance to the “Door of Faith.”

In the next articles we shall see the example of the conversions of St. Augustine and Blessed John Cardinal Newman, both favorites of Pope Benedict. Many souls, like ourselves, would fall under this category because we did not have the favorable environment St. Therese had and did not have the splendid parents that she had. Majority of souls, even of Catholics, would sadly fall under the example of Eve which this year of the Faith is trying to prevent. But which the Lineamenta and Instrumentum Laboris for this Bishop’s Synod is tending to because they had not followed the Pope’s schema.

The first thing necessary in Evangelization is not a Bishop’s Synod. It is GRACE which comes with the beginning of Conversion. From then on it will be grace upon grace….until the soul receives the grace of final perseverance and Eternal Life. The Lineamenta and Instrumentum Laboris had omitted the first two steps in Pope Benedict’s ‘New Evangelization’…..because they said it is not needed. They would, then,  have omitted the thing most needed in the whole process of Evangelization which is the initial grace. Without this first grace that comes at the beginning of Conversion the next graces will not follow.

Pope Benedict had noted why there is a need for ‘New Evangelization’…..because there was and still is an error in the ‘Structure and method of teaching’  the Catholic Faith AND there is an error in the ‘Contents’ in what was taught.  These errors probably occurred in seminaries and the consequence would  stagger our imagination.  Pope Benedict had already noticed the consequence in Tubingen when he saw that the seminarians did not believe in God. They were in fact communists. This was one of the best theological school. With this error in seminaries there would be no Faith in all seminaries after two generations.

But the gates of hell can never prevail over the Church. Where would true Catholics come from? The Holy Father knows. The answer is found in the last Chapter of the last Gospel according to John which we shall discuss later.

Now, let us look at the importance of ‘Conversion,’ the first step in Pope Benedict’s ‘New Evangelization’ while addressing priests and deacons last March, he described as the most important step in the ‘New Evangelization.’

 On the part of the Evangelized, grace is the most important first step. On the part of the ‘Evangelizer’ contemplation is the most important characteristic. Let us look first at the ones being Evangelized. The 27th Sunday in Ordinary time and the previous Sunday Gospels spoke about ‘being children’, learning from children and welcoming children. These Gospels are describing ‘Conversion.’ Conversion is to become like little children again ‘because the kingdom of God belongs to such as this.’  Pope Benedict’s second step is ‘The kingdom of God.’ Christ said : the Kingdom of God  belongs to such as these i.e. to those who are like children. Christ did not tell us to become little children which Nicodemus in fact mistook saying; Do we have to return to our mother’s womb. Christ said; ‘to be LIKE little children.’

Conversion is to be LIKE little children. If we become LIKE little children then it is to such as this that the Kingdom of God belong. So it is clear that the GRACE  that helps us begin our Conversion is given to us by God at the beginning of ‘Conversion.’  Exactly when?

Why did Christ tell us to be LIKE children? Let us study the natural psychology of a child. When a child is born,  his intellect suddenly exposed to the outside world becomes conscious of two things. First,  he becomes conscious of himself. And secondly with his intellect he reasons out that there must have been Someone who created him. That is a natural intellectual process of cause and effect. The child does not think his parents created him. He has no way of finding that out. So he is suddenly conscious of MYSELF before GOD my creator. He further uses his intellect to reason out that his Creator is much superior to himself having the great enormous power and wisdom to be able to create a masterpiece called MYSELF. Seeing MYSELF inferior to GOD  he reasons that he must be subject to this obviously superior Being. And consequently he must do what pleases this superior Being simply because it is obvious that He knows better than ME.

As long as the MIND of this child is in this MYSELF and GOD situation and is conscious that he must submit himself and please this SUPERIOR BEING he has the proper disposition to receive the beginnings of Faith but not yet.  Remember he is still a child and does not need a lengthy conversion.  There is no grace yet. The child has to do one more thing before he receives the grace he will need to propel him up to the perfection of FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY.

Let us go back briefly using the description of conversion according to St. Augustine and John Newman whom the Pope is quoting.  So the child’s mind is focused on MYSELF in the presence of GOD, THE SUPERIOR BEING.  He knows God is superior and, therefore he must be subject to Him. He knows he must do all things to please Him. He never removes his mind’s focus on these two things; MYSELF AND GOD. Here, he is still in the natural level.

When will he receive the Grace from God so necessary to begin his conversion and on which the next graces leading to perfection will depend on?  When his mind assents to these truths which is confronting him….and when his free will consents to these truths confronting him. When he does these things, God gives him the grace which includes the beginnings of supernatural Faith. He is now in the supernatural level.

This response rarely takes place. It happened to St. Therese of Lisieux. It did not happen to St. Augustine and Blessed John Newman. We shall show the difference between these three in another article.

Because the ‘Lineamenta’ stated that Conversion is not necessary and the Instrumentum Laboris based everything on that omission….unless this is modified or corrected during the Synod, The Bishops and priest all over the world will omit the most important step in Evangelization,’Conversion’ where the initial grace necessary to sustain all the process is attained. It is difficult to imagine any greater disaster that can ever occur in this world.

                  ‘CONVERSION’ – the first step in the ‘New Evangelization’ that leads to ‘Porta Fidei.’

“Conversion’ that leads to Faith. Another way of saying this is ‘Evangelization’ that leads to Faith. Pope Benedict referred to it as “New Evangelization” that leads to Faith. And the steps of Evangelization that leads to Faith are: Conversion, entrance to the Kingdom of God, encounter with Jesus Christ and Union with the Holy Spirit. The result of all these is attainment of ‘Eternal Life.’

Christ came to earth to teach us the way to eternal life. And this Way of life had been entrusted to the apostles and eventually to the Catholic Church through her official spokesman the Pope. And the present Pope, like all other Popes is doing his duty of making sure that all the souls under his Pontificate know exactly ‘The Way’ without error.

Specially today where everything seems to be on the decline, and as the Pope mentioned, ‘there is no way of stopping it.’ The only imminent thing that we can look forward to is OUR DEATH, either through the revolt of nature against rebelling mankind or man’s inhumanity to men. And there is no way to prepare for such eventuality except to assure that we have FAITH that leads to Eternal Life. With the ways things are going there is no other future.

Pope Benedict had not stopped repeating  this topic in all his talks to show the importance of FAITH. In fact if we gather all his addresses on the subject there was no need for a Bishop’s Synod. He had spelled out everything necessary for the attainment of Faith. Pope Pius XII, when confronted with the suggestion to call an Ecumenical Council to face the enormous problems of his Pontificate, including a raging global war, his answer was NO. God has given the Popes the light to give the solution. Whether men will accept it or not is another question. Pope Benedict had given us the solution to all the world’s problem today ‘New Evangelization’ that leads to Faith. FAITH that conquers the world…..is the solution. Without Faith, there is no other solution and the world’s total decline is inevitable. And since the Holy Father sees that the world will not listen, not even amongst the Catholics, his last advice  is: ‘Stop saving the world. You can’t. What is happening is Divine Justice. Just concentrate in preparing your souls by taking the proper steps necessary that leads to FAITH.

But the evil spirits are also active. In fact, too active. Dark clouds are appearing at the horizon  of the Bishop’s Synod. The Lineamenta issued from the Vatican to the Bishops is sounding an unclear bugle call, as St. Paul would describe it. The Instrumentum Laboris, a compilation of the responses of all the Bishop’s of the world is also an unclear bugle call.  An ordinary soul,  by reading both documents would not even suspect where to begin and where to end. Even bishops who have began preaching the ‘New Evangelization’ are airing unclear bugle sounds. Some of them are even expert theologians invited to advice the Bishop’s Synod.

But yesterday, a glow among the dark clouds. The Holy Father issued a list of other advisers to the Synod and they seem to be his picked men. We can only hope for a fine weather on those days in Rome.

The dark clouds omitted the two most important topics in Pope Benedicts schema, namely, first, ‘conversion’ and secondly ‘entrance into the kingdom of God.’ Let us leave for a moment the lengthy and the difficult to understand Lineamenta and Instrumentum laboris which Bishops are already preaching these days,  and concentrate on what Pope Benedict had already said.

Last March, the Holy Father addressed some priests and deacons. His message is ‘on the importance of Conversion.’ He said it was the most important element of the ‘New Evangelization.’  He calls it the “motor” that makes the soul go through the steps of evangelization that leads to Faith. It is the motor that makes holy souls that will renew the Church. Without it we go nowhere.

The instrumentum laboris for the Bishop’s Synod next month, however, mentioned that we don’t need conversion. Contradiction? Maybe we are not agreed on the definition of conversion. Let us clarify the word.  Since Pope Benedict is highly influenced by both St. Augustine and Blessed John Newman, let us see what the two had to say about “conversion.”

A soul must undergo complete conversion before he can deserve eternal life. Christ said: “Repent, believe.” Repent is conversion and Christ showed how this is done by living for 30 years a hidden life. That is how long it ordinarily takes……unless God has  very special plans for you. Faith is received immediately after conversion. It might take someone a shorter time  but one has to undergo all the necessary steps. What are the steps and at what point does Conversion begin?

The three general steps that lead to Faith, using the words of St. Augustine are:

A. for the mind to return and discover the self as the image of God and at the same time see the God who gave us that image…and how God stands in reference to us as creature. This is a critical initial step. This is where a soul begins to be a saints or begins to be a pagan.

B. if a soul does well in the above first step, his mind will realize that he is much inferior to God who is above all and Creator of all, …..and as a consequence will submit himself to this Almighty God in all things. This is still in the level of the mind but with the cooperation of the free will….which we shall describe later. This is accomplished by a right Conscience, says John Newman.  This is humility that makes a soul disposed to receive the beginnings of grace. God gives the soul grace here. Conversion begins here. But it is only a beginning. It has a long way to go.

C. After the soul has re-entered into his mind and discover both his mind confronted by God……….  AND realizing he must subject himself completely as creature to Creator……which is conversion….he begins to discover through revelation the Will of God…..not all of them immediately. He learns is slowly beginning with the commandments of God in the Old Testament  (10 commandments of the Father thus coming to know the Father as reflected in his own mind). Then he proceeds to study all the commands of Christ in the New Testament (specifically numbering more than 80) and how to obey them…..thus encountering Christ. This is the beginning of Faith in which the souls knows the Father and the Son. Faith will mature depending on how much of God’s commands he learns.Faith is when he has learned WHAT are all the commandments of God the Father in the Old Testament and WHAT are all the commandments of God the Son in the New Testament. To perfect that Faith the soul must also learn HOW those commands must be obeyed. Strictly speaking this is Evangelization. This is the contents of the Apostolic Commission given by Christ to the Apostles in the last chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew in the ‘commissioning of the disciples’.

We cannot do C, which is to have Faith and develop it into mature Faith unless we have done B, that is receive the grace of Conversion…..which is not given to all because of a defective letter A.

When by the grace of God we know all WHAT are the commandments of God, both in the Old and New Testament and, also the HOW all those commandments are to be obeyed,  this is mature Faith. When we put into practice what our minds have learned through Evangelization, this is the virtue of Charity. With Faith and Charity we would be deserving of Eternal Life.

The main reason why there is a great lost of Faith seen all over the Church from the sands of Africa to the Bishop’s palaces, from the priests to the chambers of the Pope, from the nuns to the seminarians….is because of a defective A…… a  defective first step.