Chief Truths of the Faith
Introduction
"Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee." - St. Augustine
1. The Desire for Happiness. All men have at least one aspiration in common - they all wish to be perfectly happy. This desire is so deeply rooted in our hearts that it can never be destroyed. It is a part of our very nature, and must, therefore, have been planted therein by God Himself, the Author of our nature. Now, if the all-wise God created us with such an ardent longing for perfect happiness, He also wishes us to attain it.
2. Earthly Goods and Happiness. Many seek happiness in the possession of earthly goods, such as riches, honors, pleasures. But these things cannot make us perfectly happy. They are all vain and perishable, often embitter our life, and invariably forsake us in death. Solomon, one of the most fortunate of kings, was bound to confess: "I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and provinces...; and whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not; and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure...And I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun" (Eccles. 2: 8-11).
3. "God Alone Sufficeth." Only a good that is perfect in every way, that never changes, and never ends, an satisfy our desire for perfect happiness. There is only one such Supreme Good - God. Hence, we cannot find perfect happiness except in the possession of God. "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee," says St. Augustine. And the Venerable Thomas a Kempis begins his Imitation of Christ with the golden words: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, besides loving God and serving Him alone."
4. How We Can Possess God. We cannot possess God as we possess a house or a farm or a sum of money. These are material things, and God is a spirit. We can possess Him only as we possess something true, good, and beautiful, with out intellect and our will, by knowledge and love. Our eternal happiness will consist in contemplating and loving God, the Supreme Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Hence, our happiness in this life, and the only means of attaining eternal happiness in the next, consists in knowing and loving God with all the powers of our intellect and our will. "This is eternal life: That they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17: 3). And the first and the greatest commandment is this: "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind" (Matt. 22: 37)
5. Love and Service. If we know and love God, we will also serve Him. Love and service go hand in hand. We serve a person if we do his will. God has made His will known to us in the commandments which He has given us. Hence, we serve God if we keep His commandments. Our Lord said to the rich young man: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matt 19: 17). And the Beloved Disciple says: "This is the charity [love] of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5: 3).
Our life's purpose, therefore, is to know, love, and serve God here on earth, in order that our desire for perfect happiness may be satisfied by the possession of God in Heaven.
6. Grace and Our Life's Purpose. Of ourselves, by our own natural strength, we could never know God properly, love Him truly, and keep His commandments faithfully. For this we need a special help from God. "Without Me," says Our Lord, "you can do nothing" (John 15: 5). We call this special help grace, because it is a favor, or free gift of God. By it He enlightens our mind and strengthens our will to know Him and to love Him. By it He performs the greatest marvel of His love: He makes us holy and pleasing in His sight, adopts us as His children, gives us the right to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. These wonderful gifts can be obtained by all through the means of grace, the most important of which are Prayer and the Sacraments.
Since our whole Religion, our whole duty as creatures, consists in knowing, loving, and serving God with the help of divine grace, the study of Religion is the most important of all our studies. This study falls naturally into three parts:
1. Knowledge of God - the Truths of our holy Faith
2. Love and Service of God - our Duties to God, to Ourselves, and to our Neighbor
3. Grace and the Means of Grace - the Sacraments, the Holy Mass
Section I: Faith and the Sources of Faith
Chapter I: Our Knowledge of God
"The fool said in his heart: There is no God." - Ps. 52: 1
1. How We Know God. Our first duty is to know God. In Heaven we shall know Him face to face, but in this life He is hidden from our direct knowledge. We can, however, know something about Him by carefully noticing the things He has made, and still more by firmly believing what He has told us about Himself. In other words, we know God both by the natural light of reason and by the supernatural light of faith.
2. Earthly Goods and Happiness. Many seek happiness in the possession of earthly goods, such as riches, honors, pleasures. But these things cannot make us perfectly happy. They are all vain and perishable, often embitter our life, and invariably forsake us in death. Solomon, one of the most fortunate of kings, was bound to confess: "I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and provinces...; and whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not; and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure...And I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun" (Eccles. 2: 8-11).
3. "God Alone Sufficeth." Only a good that is perfect in every way, that never changes, and never ends, an satisfy our desire for perfect happiness. There is only one such Supreme Good - God. Hence, we cannot find perfect happiness except in the possession of God. "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee," says St. Augustine. And the Venerable Thomas a Kempis begins his Imitation of Christ with the golden words: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, besides loving God and serving Him alone."
4. How We Can Possess God. We cannot possess God as we possess a house or a farm or a sum of money. These are material things, and God is a spirit. We can possess Him only as we possess something true, good, and beautiful, with out intellect and our will, by knowledge and love. Our eternal happiness will consist in contemplating and loving God, the Supreme Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. Hence, our happiness in this life, and the only means of attaining eternal happiness in the next, consists in knowing and loving God with all the powers of our intellect and our will. "This is eternal life: That they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17: 3). And the first and the greatest commandment is this: "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind" (Matt. 22: 37)
5. Love and Service. If we know and love God, we will also serve Him. Love and service go hand in hand. We serve a person if we do his will. God has made His will known to us in the commandments which He has given us. Hence, we serve God if we keep His commandments. Our Lord said to the rich young man: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matt 19: 17). And the Beloved Disciple says: "This is the charity [love] of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5: 3).
Our life's purpose, therefore, is to know, love, and serve God here on earth, in order that our desire for perfect happiness may be satisfied by the possession of God in Heaven.
6. Grace and Our Life's Purpose. Of ourselves, by our own natural strength, we could never know God properly, love Him truly, and keep His commandments faithfully. For this we need a special help from God. "Without Me," says Our Lord, "you can do nothing" (John 15: 5). We call this special help grace, because it is a favor, or free gift of God. By it He enlightens our mind and strengthens our will to know Him and to love Him. By it He performs the greatest marvel of His love: He makes us holy and pleasing in His sight, adopts us as His children, gives us the right to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. These wonderful gifts can be obtained by all through the means of grace, the most important of which are Prayer and the Sacraments.
Since our whole Religion, our whole duty as creatures, consists in knowing, loving, and serving God with the help of divine grace, the study of Religion is the most important of all our studies. This study falls naturally into three parts:
1. Knowledge of God - the Truths of our holy Faith
2. Love and Service of God - our Duties to God, to Ourselves, and to our Neighbor
3. Grace and the Means of Grace - the Sacraments, the Holy Mass