The Realm of Faith, Continued
EPISTLE 4
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned. — Mark 16:16
The Sermon on the Mount…is meant to inspire us with an active principle of charity which ought to make obligations and prohibitions unnecessary to us….— Ronald Knox
It is sometimes spoken of as a hardship that a Catholic is not allowed to inquire into the truth of his Creed; — of course he cannot, if he would retain the name of believer. He cannot be both inside and outside of the Church at once. It is merely common sense to tell him that, if he is seeking, he has not found. If seeking includes doubting, and doubting excludes believing, then the Catholic who sets about inquiring, thereby declares that he is not a Catholic. He has already lost faith.— John Henry Newman
“Words are like leaves, and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.” Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, Part Third.
The aim below, ’tis my wish and my hope:
Comply with the decree of Master Pope,
And squander not words, nor waste precious time,
And blight not Doctrine put to verse and rhyme.
For Canons ought not the foolish to bear.
So, please God, as I write this prayer,
Give content, balance, junction to each part,
And let faith be enhanc’d by reason’s art.
Faith evidences things appearing not;
It goes forth caring not for the world’s lot.
It craves not to espy the journey’s end,
And it does not to measures of chance bend.
In God, Almighty Father, I believe,
Creator Heaven and the Earth I cleave.
And Jesus Christ, His only Son, Logos,
Became incarnate by the Holy Ghost.
To blessed Virgin Mary He was born,
And under Pontius Pilate crown’d with thorn.
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In the long run, for my pastor, for me — for all of us — praying together at Mass in one voice of obedience and trust in the wisdom of the Church is the bottom line.