Catholic during the Great Apostasy

Part Three

12. We will speak the honest truth, my brothers, maintaining that when philosophical reason in antiquity, as we have already seen, was never able to solve any problem, could not overcome any difficulty, nor establish any truth; then, Catholic reason, inspired by the light of God’s word, arrived at the resolution of all difficulties in the order of philosophical, theological, and natural matters.

I lack the time, my brothers, to go through all these orders; therefore, I will limit myself to only two examples. I wish to present to you first that natural solution which the lofty, comprehensive, and certain philosophy of Christian times provided and compelled even the most demanding and hard-to-satisfy minds to accept, in a matter so important, concerning the origin of human concepts.

Regarding this important issue, philosophical reason, relying on its own strength, split into two great factions: the Platonists, who maintained that all concepts are created solely by the soul itself, and the Epicureans, who claimed that the soul is nothing more than a blank slate, *tabula rasa*, and that all concepts come to it already formed, shaped through the mediation of the senses or words.

Both these opinions, considered in their exclusive, definitive judgments, are erroneous; yet, taken under certain aspects, both contain some truth. Only Christian philosophy discovered what is true in both these sides and, combining them into one whole, provided the true doctrine in this great matter and resolved it itself.

As in the creation of a statue, it said to itself, two things are needed: the artist and the marble; the artist as the active, operative cause, and the marble as the material cause; similarly, in man, the body contributes to the formation of ideas, of concepts, as the material cause, insofar as through the senses or speech, the image (*phantasma*) of external objects penetrates the imagination; the soul, however, contributes as the active cause, for the soul, by virtue of reason—this faculty which is a reflection of divine reason—independently conceives and creates concepts from these images provided by the senses. Thus, it is true that both the body and the soul are necessary and contribute, each in its own distinct way, to the formation of concepts, that is, ideas.

Through this simple and beautiful solution, Catholic reason put an end to all disputes among Christian philosophers concerning this highly significant issue.

13. The same was true with the issue of certainty. In this matter, as in every other, the philosophical world divided into two hostile camps. One group maintained that certainty resides in man, that man possesses within himself the means to attain absolute certainty in all things; this was the system of the Dogmatists. The others said: no, man alone cannot be certain of anything, cannot acquire certainty even about his own existence, his own thought; certainty does not reside in the individual, isolated man, but only in collective man, in the whole human race. This was the opinion of the Academics.

Donate

Since the individual man exists, or rather possesses within himself reason, inner feeling, and a body, the Dogmatists, who attributed certainty of judgment to the individual man, further divided into three classes: 1) the rational Dogmatists, for whom certainty depended on the conviction of reason; these were the Platonists; 2) the fanatical Dogmatists, who considered heartfelt feelings, the inner movements of the soul (*Permotiones animi intimas*, Cicero) as the infallible oracle of certainty; this was the view of the Cyrenaics; 3) finally, the sensualists, for whom the sole and ultimate tribunal of truth was the testimony of the senses; this was the doctrine of Epicurus’ followers.

On the other hand, the Academics, who saw certainty only in the collective human race, in the abstract notion of the individual man, also divided into three distinct schools. The first, which recognized nothing certain beyond the realm of political and civil institutions in a country: this was Varro’s school; the second considered only the religious beliefs of each people as certain: this was the Ciceronian school; finally, the third school regarded the universal consensus of the entire human race, the common sense of the whole, as the sole principle of certainty: these were the followers of Carneades.

But both these opinions, though mutually opposed and following different paths, led to the same end: skepticism. For by accepting the principle that man already carries within himself the seed of all certainty, that he should trust his own light and is obliged to consider as true everything that appears true to him, it is evident that the door is opened to errors of all kinds; that one arrives at doubting every truth: which is precisely skepticism. On the other hand, if the individual man can have certainty about nothing, not even his own existence, what certainty can the common judgment of all people, the civil institutions of nations, or the religious beliefs of a people provide him? How can he know that there are other beings besides himself? Thus, the system of the Academics, by another path, leads to the same end as the Dogmatists: that is, to the most complete skepticism.

Christian philosophy, in the light of Jesus Christ, understanding man, took a stand between these two opinions, and with the people, whose speech is true philosophy, for it is the language of nature, acknowledged that man has within himself the principle of certainty, but not absolute certainty about all things, that man has complete certainty of the first principles, certainty of those truths of which human reason is, as it were, composed, or, to use the words of Saint Thomas, of which it is informed (*I*); before which human reason remains passive; to which it adds nothing of its own: therefore, Saint Thomas said: “Reason, when it merely perceives concepts, always does so truly,” *intelleclus simpliciter percipiens, semper est verus.*

The same was true of the senses; Christian philosophy did not despise their testimony. On the contrary, it placed in the senses the certainty of truths of the physical order, declaring: the sense is always true as long as it is directed toward objects within the scope of its action; *Sensus circa sensibilia proprium semper est verus.*

Man falls into error only when he begins to reason, when he begins to develop the first principles, when he starts to draw consequences from them. *Error est in intellectu componente vel dividente* (*2*). Therefore, regarding these reasonings, one must submit to the judgments of the Church, the authority of the learned, and the common opinion, aligning with those who have the right to judge the matter under consideration and, accordingly, determine whether we have made good or bad use of our reason.

This is how Christian philosophy reconciled the rights of reason with the rights of the common sense of the whole. And while the Dogmatists sought to create numbers while always remaining with the unit, and the Academics sought to establish numbers without units; Christian philosophy created true numbers, for starting from the unit, it doubled that same unit. That is, by maintaining that through one’s own means one can acquire certainty about the truth of the first principles and the existence of external objects beyond us, it laid a solid foundation for universal testimony, which is the result and sum of all these evident truths and all individual personal certainties (*1*).

In a similar manner, standing between two opposing opinions and striving to reconcile them, Christian philosophy resolved the moral question regarding free will and grace, the physical question concerning the internal nature of bodies and their properties: in a word, all questions of the scientific order; and it succeeded in ascertaining and convincing itself of truths of all kinds, proving them, developing them, and applying them to the happiness of the individual man and the entire community (*I2*).

14. In the end, the evangelical oracle was fulfilled in it, which says: *Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.* For Christian philosophers began by seeking Catholic truth, religious truth, without concerning themselves with the rest. They did not bother at all with the beauty of form, leaving that to the children of science who delight in playing with such trinkets. They aimed above all at what is most important for man, that is, at truth, at the word of God; they sought the kingdom of God: *Quaerite primum regnum Dei.* And what happened? The goodness and mercy of God gave them also everything they did not desire, everything they did not seek: *Et haec omnia adjicientur vobis.* They desired only what is honorable, and they came to know what is useful; they desired what is true, and they came to know what is beautiful. They desired only heaven, and they became masters of the earth. Truly, Christian Europe, closing its eyes to all temporal and purely human benefits, sought first and foremost exclusively the kingdom of God, zealously guarded the word of God and the evangelical revelation—and God gave it in abundance all temporal benefits. It became the center of enlightenment, knowledge, literature, art, wealth, strength, and refinement; it became the mistress, the queen of the world, and the arbiter of its destinies; nothing remains for it but to come to a good understanding with itself, and it will be able to conquer the entire world, to rule over the entire world.

Meanwhile, it turned out differently for other peoples who did not seek the kingdom of God in everything and above all; having lost the purity of faith, they themselves became creators, and their lands became the abode of all errors. Like the Jews, of whom Saint Augustine said: *Temporalia perdere timuerunt, et vitam aeternam non cogitaverunt et sic utrumque amiserunt* (Tractate 49 on John), preferring temporal things over religious and eternal ones, they lost the latter and did not possess the former. With the loss of faith, they lost all knowledge, all enlightenment, and, deprived of the happiness of spiritual life, nothing remained for them but the shadows of death.

15. What happens to entire nations often happens to individuals as well. Look at those among you who, misled by harmful teachings, tormented by terrible disappointments, did not guard the word of God they heard in their childhood days; but preferred human words over the word of God and ceased to believe in it. Outside the divine teaching of the Church, outside the word that came from the mouth of God and which is the true nourishment of man, in the debauchery of reason that has broken free from all laws, that recognizes no authority over itself, they hoped to find new development, new strength, new life for their spirit; but there they found nothing but misery, weakness, shadows, and death: *In tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent* (Luke 1:79).

In appearance, in name only, they are wise and learned people. In reality, believing in nothing that must be believed, they do not know at all what must necessarily be known, they are entirely ignorant of what must indispensably be understood, their mind is already dead: *Nomen habent quod vivant, et mortui sunt* (Revelation 3:1). Decay has no less taken hold of their spirit, which still prides itself on the empty appearances of erudition, just as it consumes the body of a rich man, though it be wrapped in costly fabrics and laid in precious marbles. They are true Lazaruses, long buried in the whitewashed tombs of their wisdom; rich in words but poor in certainty and truth, they repel Christian souls who cannot bear the foul stench of their godlessness: *Quadriduanus est, jam foetet* (John 11:39).

16. And have these poor souls, our brothers in holy baptism, died forever? Will they never return to life? No, no; they can live again, if only they wish to. Concerning Lazarus, laid in the tomb, to his weeping sister, the Son of God spoke these great and sublime words: *I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.* And immediately He adds: *Martha, do you believe this? Credis hoc!* And Martha responded: *Yes, Lord, I have always believed that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, who was to come into the world to save it.* And following this beautiful and sublime act of faith, the resurrection of Lazarus took place.

So, my friends, if there are among you those who, in terms of their spirit, are in the same condition as Lazarus was in terms of his body, I say to you, you have an easy means, provided by God, to rise again and return to the intellectual life you have lost. Let Martha, that is, your will, believe that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life—and her brother Lazarus, that is, your spirit, dead due to unbelief, can come to life through faith. But do not say: “Alas! I cannot believe.” Only desire to believe, pray to believe; and divine mercy will do the rest, and you will believe. For the desire to believe, the prayer for faith, is already faith itself; just as the desire to love, the prayer for love, is already love itself. Be bold, be bold, and if we have been weak and base enough to deny, let us have enough strength and greatness of soul to believe. Let us rise above ourselves and be ourselves.

In the secrecy of our conscience, let us fall at the feet of this most beloved Savior and say to Him: *Yes, yes, Lord, I believe, I want to believe, that You are the true Son of the living God, who came into this world to save it and to save me as well; Credo quia tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi, qui in hunc mundum venisti.* And in that moment, the great miracle that the almighty word of this Son of God performed on the body of Lazarus will be renewed and fulfilled in our mind, and once we recover this life of the spirit, which is a reflection of the eternal life of God Himself—we will never die again, *Et omnis, qui vivit et credit in me non morietur in aeternum.*

Finally, all of us gathered in this temple, let us not leave it until we make the firm resolution of the prophet-king, that is, whether we are happy possessors of the life of mind and heart, or whether in this very moment we are returning to it through faith and grace, that we do not wish to lose it ever again, that we do not wish to die through unbelief, doubt, or sin; that we always desire to live by faith in the word of God, by love of His commandments; that we zealously wish to fulfill this word of God, boldly confess it, and show the world the wonders that divine goodness has wrought for us and in us: *Non moriar, sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini* (Psalm 117:17).

And so, having attained peace of soul in this temporal life and happiness in eternity, we will learn from our own experience that man can only be truly happy when he listens to the word of God and keeps it: *Beati qui audiunt verbum Dei, et custodiunt illud!* Amen.

Religious and Moral Diary: a journal for the edification and benefit of both clergy and laity*, Vol. 24, No. 4 (April 1853).