1. The all important ACT OF FAITH It is Charity, really, that is all important. Charity is the crown that makes us deserving of eternal life. But without Faith we cannot have the virtue of Charity. So in this respect Faith is more important.
2. Faith – by St. Thomas of Aquinas
Faith is a state of the mind by which it assents to propositions, not by its intrinsic evidence, but because of the Authority of God.
There are three elements in the Act of Faith. First, is that it is an act of the mind. Secondly, that there should be propositions presented to the mind. Thirdly, even if the propositions have intrinsic evidence of its veracity, they are not believed because of its veracity but because they were proposed by God.
3. The Faith of the Magi.
Let us journey with the Magi in their journey of Faith. The Magi were, probably, Persians who have heard of the prophecies of Balaam. They belong to that group that are interested in such things as astrology, prophecies, magic, etc. So it seems that one day, while watching the stars to increase their knowledge of astrology, they saw a star whose movement was strange. This reminded them of the prophecy of Balaam about a star that will appear when the child of the virgin is born.
Now, there is nothing in that vision that should inform them to go look for a child in Bethlehem. But a proposition was presented to their minds. And that is for them to leave their cities and homes and travel to a far place in the East. Their traveling would make them past through long, lonely vast deserts conducive to prayer and meditation. As they reached Herod’s place, they received another proposition; that the child would be born in Bethlehem. They left Herod and the star re-appeared and led them to a house where they saw the child with Mary. That scenario was another proposition; that this is a God, therefore, you must adore Him.
Notice that some elements Faith are already present; the act of the intellect and the propositions presented to the intellect, At first sight the propositions were had their intrinsic worth because they were proposed by men. The prophecy was proposed by Balaam, the go signal to search was proposed by a star, to go to Bethlehem was proposed by the Pharisees and Scribes.
Who proposed that the child with his mother was the awaited King of the Jews? God alone.
The proposals from Balaam, from the star and from the Pharisees and the Scribes were from God, also. But these were not obviously coming the authority of God. So any ‘assent’ of the part of the Magi would not be an act of Faith.
It was when the Magi were in front of the Child with His Mother that God proposed to the Magi that this is the King of the Jews, the promised Messiah.
The Pharisees and the Scribes had exactly the same information that the Magi had. In fact they were the ones who gave the second to the last proposition, yet they were not able to reach the Act of Faith that the Magi reached. Why? They lacked the two last steps for a mature Act of Faith. Let us continue with the Magi.
The Magi received the propositions from Balaam, from the star, from the chief priest and the Scribes and again from the star. They assented to these proposition. But these are propositions from creatures and humans. So their assent cannot be an act of Faith.
The Chief priest and Scribes, on the other hand, did not even give an assent to the proposition presented to them by the Magi, that the King of the Jews is born. This shows utterly the absence of Faith.
4. The assent of the Magi.
When the Magi, following the star that suddenly re-appeared after their meeting with Herod, the Chief priests and the Scribes, reached the house where they saw the Child with His Mother, that scenario was a proposal with the authority of God. God was proposing; this is My Mother and This is My Son, the King of the Jews. Remember, they worshiped the Child.
Notice that St. Joseph was not around to fulfill the prophecy that the virgin would give birth. The Magi would be a little confused if they saw Joseph there. They might Mary was not the virgin described by Balaam.
Further proof of the Magi’s Faith. After worshiping the Child they received another proposal; i.e. not to return to Herod but return to their country by another route. Note that the Magi rejected an invitation by King Herod to return to him. Ordinarily that could earn them a death sentence for refusing a king’s invitation. But they felt that the proposition to return home by another route is from God who spoke to them in a dream. And they assented to that proposition, skipped Herod’s invitation and returned home as instructed by God.
The Magi made an act of Faith by knowing the propositions presented to them, accepting the last propositions as coming from God and giving assent to those propositions coming from God. And this is further confirmed by their assenting to the proposition to avoid Herod as coming from God and obeying it.
Note that when one has made an Act of supernatural Faith, from then on everything that one does is the right thing to do, as did the Magi. They rejected King Herod’s invitation and return by another route as dictated by their Faith.
5. A project with the Diocesan Priests.
A project was approved by the Bishop’s Conference for the spiritual improvement of the Parish Priests. Since all priests have intellects, the project was meant to expose them to the proposals of the Magisterium as revealed by Christ and interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. The proposal was distributed in the form of a newsletter. It was distributed to all priests for more than 35 years. 35 years!!! And no noticeable fruit of Faith was noticed after 35 years being exposed to the proposed objects of Faith. What happened? There was no intellectual assent to the fact that these proposals were proposed by the authority of God as found in Divine Revelation. That is the only reason. And it prevented most if not all the priest in this country from making an Act of Faith.
6. The assent is a personal act.
The assent to the proposal because of the authority of God was never taught in the seminary or theological schools. It was not taught in the newsletter….because it is supposed to be done as a personal act by each priest. An act they never did because of the modern heresy of looking for intrinsic proofs for the proposals which St. Thomas emphasized should never be the motivation for believing. So as Joseph Ratzinger noticed in his ‘Ratzinger Report’ the Catholic Church is suffering a ‘Crisis of Faith.’ The world has no Faith because the priest, bishops, and cardinals, themselves, do not have Faith. If the teachers do not have Faith, what do we expect from the students.
7. Faith goes along with humility, the first Beatitude, the visible signs of the Catholic Church and with Charity.
To know the state of the Faith of all the priests and bishops, all we have to do is look at the Faith of their model, the Pope.
Pope Francis is advertised as a very humble person. But all his humility is not according to the humility described by St. Ignatius of Loyola whose description of humility was taken from St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Thomas of Aquinas and specially St. Benedict whose Rule St. Ignatius studied while he was in Manresa guided by Cisneros, a Benedictine Abbot.
His humility is pure P.R. That kind shown by actors and politicians to please people and gain votes. That is why his PR are mostly directed to transvestites, atheist, Evangelicals, Masons, heretics and other peripherals. And the Vatican has employed an expensive PR office for that purpose. But for good Catholics like Cardinal Burke and Archbishop Livieres not an ounce of PR. What is more evident is the ‘superbia’ of St. Gregory the Great.
If there is no true humility, there is no first Beatitude to whom the kingdom of God is promised. Imagine, having a Pope that is not sure to go to heaven because he does not even have the first Beatitude.
Because true humility cannot be found, the visible signs of true Catholicity as enumerated in the Nicene Creed cannot, also, be found in him. Not one. And if we use the Marks of the Catholicity written by his co-Jesuit confrere St. Robert Bellarmine, doctor of the Church, whose works has just been translated into English and, therefore, can be used more widely, we cannot find any single mark of the true Church in him. Not even No. 1 nor No. 2 which he is violating the most.
Without true Christian humility, which is ‘poor in spirit, without the 4 or 15 Marks of the true Church, and without Charity that builds on Faith……all of these are signs is due to the absence of Faith.
Pope Francis is the display window of the entire Catholic priesthood just as, St. John Chrysostom wrote, a monastery is the display window of the whole Catholic Church. If just one monastery is corrupt, it is a sign that most of the monasteries are corrupt. If we cannot find Faith, or true christian humility, or the 4 or 15 Marks of the true Church in Pope Francis, we will not find the same in most of the priests and bishops and in most parishes and dioceses.
8. What do we do to have Faith.
St. Thomas had defined what we should do. First, we must have an intellect. I think we all have that. Secondly, we should have in our intellect all the teachings of Jesus Christ as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church and as proposed by the Magisterium of the Church. Thirdly, we must be certain that these propositions are teachings of God and not by man even if his name is Francis. And fourth, we must make an assent to these truths revealed by God just because they are revealed by God. Today, hardly anybody had done this fourth step. So some of us can be theologian but not Catholic. Learn, therefore, from the Magi, who during that era only a handful of souls could do. May we be among those handful.