Bishop Schneider: Instruction in the Faith (IV)

From  Gloria Dei 2019

Today, we post Part IV of Bishop Athanasius Schneider's series on the Catholic Faith.

Bishop Schneider's website is here >  Gloria Dei.

I have added images, highlights, Scriptural excerpts and other notes to his original text below.

The Knowledge of God

The knowledge of God consists in the knowledge of His perfections, His works, His will, and the means of grace instituted by Him. St. Paul bids us “increase in the knowledge of God” (Col. i. 10).[1] Now we  know God only through a glass in a dark manner; only in heaven shall we see Him face to face, and have a clear knowledge of His perfections (1 Cor. xiii. 12).[2]

[1] [9] Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding:
Ideo et nos ex qua die audivimus, non cessamus pro vobis orantes, et postulantes ut impleamini agnitione voluntatis ejus, in omni sapientia et intellectu spiritali :
[10] That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God:
ut ambuletis digne Deo per omnia placentes : in omni opere bono fructificantes, et crescentes in scientia Dei :
[2] [12] We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known.

Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate : tunc autem facie ad faciem. Nunc cognosco ex parte : tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum.

1. The happiness of the angels and the saints consists in the knowledge of God.

Our Lord tells us that “this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3)[1]. This is the food of which the archangel Raphael spoke, when he said to Tobias: “I use an invisible meat and drink, which cannot be seen by men” (Tob. xii. 19)[2]. In heaven the saints and angels have an immediate knowledge of God in the beatific vision. We on earth only know God through the medium of His works and of what He has revealed to us. Our knowledge, compared with that of the saints and angels, is like the knowledge of a country that one gets from maps and pictures as compared with the knowledge of one who has himself visited it.

[1] [3] Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Haec est autem vita aeterna : ut cognoscant te, solum Deum verum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum.
[2] [19] I seemed indeed to eat and to drink with you: but I use an invisible meat and drink, which cannot be seen by men.

Videbar quidem vobiscum manducare et bibere : sed ego cibo invisibili, et potu qui ab hominibus videri non potest, utor.

2. The knowledge of God is all-important, for without it there cannot be any happiness on earth, or a well-ordered life.

The knowledge of God is the food of our soul. Without it the soul feels hungry; we become discontented. He who does not possess interior peace, cannot enjoy riches, health, or any of the goods of this life; they all become distasteful to him. Yet few think about this food of the soul; they busy themselves, as Our Lord says, with the “meat that perishes” (John vi. 27)[1]. Without the knowledge of God a man is like one who walks in the dark, and stumbles at every step; he has no end or aim in life, no consolation in misfortune, and no hope in death. He cannot have any solid or lasting happiness, or any true contentment. Without a knowledge of God a well-ordered life is impossible. Just as an untilled field produces no good fruit, so a man who has not the knowledge of God can produce no good works. Ignorance and forgetfulness of God are the causes of most of the sins that men commit. Rash and false oaths, neglect of the service of God and of the sacraments, the love of gold, the sinful indulgence of the passions, are all due to willful ignorance and forgetfulness of God. Thus the prophet Osee exclaims “There is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and killing and theft and adultery have overflowed” (Osee iv. 2, 3)[2]. And St. Ignatius of Loyola cries out, “O God, Thou joy of my soul, if only men knew Thee, they never would offend Thee,” and experience shows that in the jails the greater part of the prisoners are those who knew nothing of God. When Frederick of Prussia at length recognized that the want of the knowledge of God was the cause of the increase in crime, he exclaimed, “Then I will have religion introduced into the country.” This is why the learning and the understanding of the Catechism, which is nothing else than an abridgment of the Christian religion, is all-important. But a mere knowledge of the truths of religion is not sufficient; they must also be practised.

[1] [27] Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you. For him hath God, the Father, sealed.
Operamini non cibum, qui perit, sed qui permanet in vitam aeternam, quem Filius hominis dabit vobis. Hunc enim Pater signavit Deus.
[2] [2] Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.
Maledictum, et mendacium, et homicidium, et furtum, et adulterium inundaverunt, et sanguis sanguinem tetigit.
[3] Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it shall languish with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.

Propter hoc lugebit terra, et infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea, in bestia agri, et in volucre caeli; sed et pisces maris congregabuntur.

3. We arrive at a right knowledge of God through faith in the truths which God has revealed.

It is true that by means of reason and from the contemplation of the creatures that God has made man can arrive at a knowledge of God (Rom. i. 20)[1]. “The heavens show forth the glory of God” (Ps. xviii. 2)[2]. But our reason is so weak and prone to err, that without revelation it is very difficult for man to attain to a clear and correct knowledge of God. What strange and perverted views of the Deity we find among heathen nations (cf. Wisd. ix. 16, 17)[3]. God therefore in His mercy comes to our aid with revelation. Through believing the truths that God has revealed, man attains to a clear and correct knowledge of God. Hence St. Anselm says, “The more I am nourished with the food of faith, the more my understanding is satisfied.” Faith is a divine light that shines in our souls (2 Cor. iv. 6)[4]. It is like a watch tower, from which we can see that which cannot be seen from the plain below; we learn respecting God that which cannot be learned by mere reason from the world around. It is a glass through which we perceive all the divine perfections. It is a staff which supports our feeble reason, and enables it to know God better. There are two books from which we gain a knowledge of God; the book of Nature, and Holy Scripture, which is the book of revelation.

[1] [20] For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.
Invisibilia enim ipsius, a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta, conspiciuntur : sempiterna quoque ejus virtus, et divinitas : ita ut sint inexcusabiles.
[2] [2] The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.

Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei, et opera manuum ejus annuntiat firmamentum.
[3] [16] And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things that are in heaven, who shall search out?
Et difficile aestimamus quae in terra sunt, et quae in prospectu sunt invenimus cum labore : quae autem in caelis sunt quis investigabit?
[17] And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above:

Sensum autem tuum quis sciet, nisi tu dederis sapientiam, et miseris spiritum sanctum tuum de altissimis,
[4] [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.

quoniam Deus, qui dixit de tenebris lucem splendescere, ipse illuxit in cordibus nostris ad illuminationem scientiae claritatis Dei, in facie Christi Jesu.

Divine revelation

The natural Revelation of God

Strictly speaking, it does not require faith to recognize the existence of God. For those who reason properly, God’s existence is a matter of knowledge. One can know that God exists by deduction from evidence and principles observable in nature. Many thinkers from classical to modern times have affirmed the existence of God as a matter of reason (for instance Plato, Aristotle etc.)

The First Vatican Council teaches:

“The same Holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the beginning and end of all things, may be certainly known by the natural light of human reason, by means of created things; “for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20)[1], but that it pleased His wisdom and bounty to reveal Himself, and the eternal decrees of His will, to mankind by another and a supernatural way: as the Apostle says, “God, having spoken on diverse occasions, and in many ways, in times past, to the fathers by the prophets; last of all, in these days, has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2)[2]. It is to be ascribed to this Divine Revelation, that such truths among things Divine as of themselves are not beyond human reason, can, even in the present condition of mankind, be known by everyone with facility, with firm assurance, and with no admixture of error.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, Chap. 3)

[1] [20] For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.
Invisibilia enim ipsius, a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta, conspiciuntur : sempiterna quoque ejus virtus, et divinitas : ita ut sint inexcusabiles.
[2] [1] God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all,
Multifariam, multisque modis olim Deus loquens patribus in prophetis :
[2] In these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.

novissime, diebus istis locutus est nobis in Filio, quem constituit haeredem universorum, per quem fecit et saecula :

“The Catholic Church, with one consent, has also ever held and does hold that there is a two-fold order of knowledge, distinct both in principle and also in object; in principle, because our knowledge, in the one, is by natural reason, and, in the other, is by Divine faith; in object, because, besides those things to which natural reason can attain, there are proposed, for our belief, mysteries hidden in God, which, unless Divinely-revealed, cannot be known.

Therefore, the Apostle, who testifies that God is known by the Gentiles through created things, still, when discoursing of the grace and truth which came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17)[1], says: “We speak of the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world unto our glory; which none of the leaders of this world knew … but to us God has revealed them by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” (1 Cor. 2:7-9)[2]. And the only-begotten Son himself gives thanks to the Father, because He has hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them to little ones (Matt. 11:25)[3].

[1] [17] For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
quia lex per Moysen data est, gratia et veritas per Jesum Christum facta est.
[2] [7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory:
sed loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio, quae abscondita est, quam praedestinavit Deus ante saecula in gloriam nostram,
[8] Which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
quam nemo principum hujus saeculi cognovit : si enim cognovissent, numquam Dominum gloriae crucifixissent.
[9] But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him.

Sed sicut scriptum est : Quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus iis qui diligunt illum :
[3] [25] At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to the little ones.

In illo tempore respondens Jesus dixit : Confiteor tibi, Pater, Domine caeli et terrae, quia abscondisti haec a sapientibus, et prudentibus, et revelasti ea parvulis.

And reason, indeed, enlightened by faith — when it seeks earnestly, piously, and somberly — attains by a gift from God some understanding of mysteries, even a very fruitful one; partly from the analogy of those things which it naturally knows, partly from the relations which the mysteries bear to one another and to the last end of man. But reason never becomes capable of apprehending mysteries as it does those truths which constitute its proper object. For the Divine mysteries by their own nature so far transcend the created intelligence that, even when delivered by revelation and received by faith, they remain covered with the veil of faith itself, and shrouded in a certain degree of darkness, so long as we are pilgrims in this mortal life, not yet with God; “For we walk by means of faith, and not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7)[1].

[1] [7] (For we walk by faith, and not by sight.)
( per fidem enim ambulamus, et non per speciem) :

But although faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason, since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind. And God cannot deny Himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth. The false appearance of such a contradiction is mainly due, either to the dogmas of faith not having been understood and expounded according to the mind of the Church, or to the inventions of opinion having been mistaken for the verdicts of reason.» (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith Dei Filius, Chap. 4)

“And not only can faith and reason never be opposed to one another, but they are of mutual aid one to the other. For right reason demonstrates the foundations of faith, and enlightened by its light, cultivates the science of Divine things; while faith frees and guards reason from errors, and furnishes it with manifold knowledge. Therefore, so far is the Church from opposing the cultivation of human arts and sciences, that it in many ways helps and promotes them. For the Church neither ignores nor despises the benefits of human life which result from the arts and sciences, but confesses that, as they came from God, the Lord of all science, so, if they be used rightly, they lead to God by the help of His grace. Nor does the Church forbid that each of these sciences, in its sphere, should make use of its own principles and its own methods. But, while recognizing this just liberty, it stands watchfully on guard, lest sciences, setting themselves against Divine teaching or transgressing their own limits, should invade and disturb the domain of faith.” (ibid.)

The same First Vatican Council teaches:

“If anyone shall say that the One True God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be certainly known by the natural light of human reason through created things; let him be anathema.” “If anyone shall say that Divine faith is not distinguished from natural knowledge of God and of moral truths, and therefore that it is not requisite for Divine faith that revealed truth be believed because of the authority of God Who reveals it; let him be anathema.”

God has in His mercy in the course of ages often revealed Himself to men (Heb. i. 1-2).

[1] God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all,
Multifariam, multisque modis olim Deus loquens patribus in prophetis :
[2] In these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.
novissime, diebus istis locutus est nobis in Filio, quem constituit haeredem universorum, per quem fecit et saecula :

God has often communicated to men a knowledge of His perfections, His decrees, and His holy will. Such revelation is called supernatural, as opposed to the natural revelation of Himself that He makes through His creation in the external world.

God’s revelation to man is generally made in the following way: He speaks to individuals and orders them to communicate to their fellow-men the revelation made to them.

Thus God spoke to Abraham, Noah, and Moses. He sent Noah to preach to sinful men before the Flood, He sent Moses to the Israelites when they were oppressed by Pharao. Sometimes God spoke to a number of men who were assembled together, as when He gave the law to the people on Mount Sinai, or when Our Lord was baptized by St. John and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, a voice being heard from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Sometimes God revealed Himself through angels, as for instance to Tobias through the archangel Raphael. When God spoke to men, He took the visible form of a man or of an angel, or He spoke from a cloud (as on Sinai), or from a burning bush, as He did to Moses, or amid a bright light from heaven, as to St. Paul, or in the whispering of the wind, as He did to Elias, or by some interior illumination (Deut. ii. 6-8). Those to whom God revealed Himself, and who had to bear witness before others to the divine message, were called messengers from God, and often received from Him the power of working miracles and of prophecy, in proof of their divine mission. (Cf. the miracles of Moses before Pharao, of Elias, the apostles, etc.)

Those who were specially entrusted with the communication to men of the divine revelation were the following: the patriarchs, the prophets, Jesus Christ the Son of God (Heb. i. 1), and His apostles.

Revelation is to mankind in general what education is to individual men. Revelation corresponds to the needs of the successive stages of human development, to the infancy, childhood, and youth of mankind. The patriarchs, who had more of the nature of children, needed less in the way of precepts, and God dealt with them in more familiar fashion; the people of Israel, in whom, as in the season of youth, self-will and sensuality were strong, had to be trained by strict laws and constant correction; but when mankind had arrived at the period of manhood, then God sent His Son and introduced the law of love (1 Cor. xiii. 11[1]; Gal. iii. 24[2]). Of all those who declared to men the divine revelation, the Son of God was pre-eminently the true witness. He says of Himself, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, that I should bear testimony to the truth” (John xviii. 37)[3]. He was of all witnesses the best, because He alone had seen God (John i. 18)[4]. The apostles also had to declare to men the divine revelation. They had to bear witness of what they had seen, and above all of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts x. 39)[5]. With the revelation given through Christ and His apostles, the revelation that was given for the instruction of all mankind was concluded.

[1] [11] When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.
Cum essem parvulus, loquebar ut parvulus, cogitabam ut parvulus. Quando autem factus sum vir, evacuavi quae erant parvuli.
[2] [24] Wherefore the law was our pedagogue in Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Itaque lex paedagogus noster fuit in Christo, ut ex fide justificemur.
[3] [37] Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice.

Dixit itaque ei Pilatus : Ergo rex es tu? Respondit Jesus : Tu dicis quia rex sum ego. Ego in hoc natus sum, et ad hoc veni in mundum, ut testimonium perhibeam veritati : omnis qui est ex veritate, audit vocem meam.
[4] [18] No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Deum nemo vidit umquam : unigenitus Filius, qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit.
[5] [39] And we are witnesses of all things that he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed, hanging him upon a tree.

Et nos testes sumus omnium quae fecit in regione Judaeorum, et Jerusalem, quem occiderunt suspendentes in ligno.

Revelation was necessary because, in consequence of original sin, man without revelation has never had a correct knowledge of God and of His will; and also because it was necessary that man should be prepared for the coming of the Redeemer.

The three Wise Men would never have found Christ if He had not revealed Himself to them by means of a star; so mankind would have lived far off from God, and would never have attained to a true knowledge of Him, if He had not revealed Himself to them. As the eye needs light to see things of sense, so human reason, which is the eye of the soul, needs revelation to perceive things divine (St. Augustine). Original sin and the indulgence of the senses had so dimmed human reason that it could no longer recognize God in His works (Wisd. ix. 16)[1]. This is proved by the history of paganism. The heathen worshipped countless deities, idols, beasts, and wicked men, and his worship was often immoral and horrible, as in the human sacrifices offered by him. The gods were often the patrons of vice. The greatest men among the heathens approved practices forbidden by the natural law. Thus Cicero approved of suicide, Plato of the exposing to death those children who were weak or deformed. Their theories when good were at variance with their practice. Socrates denounced polytheism, but before his death told his disciples to sacrifice a cock to Esculapius. Many of the best of the heathens recognized and lamented their ignorance of God. Besides, without a previous revelation the Saviour would have been neither known nor honoured as He ought to have been known and honoured; it was fitting that He should be announced beforehand, like a king coming to take possession of his kingdom. We ought indeed to be grateful to God that He has given us the light of revelation, just as a blind man is grateful to the physician who has restored his sight. Yet how many there are who willfully shut their eyes to the light of revelation even now!

[1] [16] And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things that are in heaven, who shall search out?
Et difficile aestimamus quae in terra sunt, et quae in prospectu sunt invenimus cum labore : quae autem in caelis sunt quis investigabit?

The Second Vatican Council gives this summary of the notion of Divine Revelation:

“2. In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9)[1] by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18[2]; 2 Peter 1:4)[3]. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15[4], 1 Tim. 1:17[5]) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11[6]; John 15:14-15[7]) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38[8]), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation.

[1] [9] That he might make known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in him,
ut notum faceret nobis sacramentum voluntatis suae, secundum beneplacitum ejus, quod proposuit in eo,
[2] [18] For by him we have access both in one Spirit to the Father.
Quoniam per ipsum habemus accessum ambo in uno Spiritu ad Patrem.
[3] [4] By whom he hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature: flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world.

per quem maxima, et pretiosa nobis promissa donavit : ut per haec efficiamini divinae consortes naturae : fugientes ejus, quae in mundo est, concupiscentiae corruptionem.
[4] [15] Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

qui est imago Dei invisibilis, primogenitus omnis creaturae :
[5] [17] Now to the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Regi autem saeculorum immortali, invisibili, soli Deo honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
[6] [11] And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend. And when he returned into the camp, his servant Josue the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the tabernacle.

Loquebatur autem Dominus ad Moysen facie ad faciem, sicut solet loqui homo ad amicum suum. Cumque ille reverteretur in castra, minister ejus Josue filius Nun, puer, non recedebat de tabernaculo.
[7] [14] You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.
Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio vobis.
[15] I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

Jam non dicam vos servos : quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus. Vos autem dixi amicos : quia omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis.
[8] [38] Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.

Post haec in terris visus est, et cum hominibus conversatus est.
[7] [14] You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.
Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio vobis.
[15] I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

Jam non dicam vos servos : quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus. Vos autem dixi amicos : quia omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis.

3. God, who through the Word creates all things (see John 1:3)[1] and keeps them in existence, gives men an enduring witness to Himself in created realities (see Rom. 1:19-20)[2]. Planning to make known the way of heavenly salvation, He went further and from the start manifested Himself to our first parents. Then after their fall His promise of redemption aroused in them the hope of being saved (see Gen. 3:15)[3] and from that time on He ceaselessly kept the human race in His care, to give eternal life to those who perseveringly do good in search of salvation (see Rom. 2:6-7)[4]. Then, at the time He had appointed He called Abraham in order to make of him a great nation (see Gen. 12:2)[5]. Through the patriarchs, and after them through Moses and the prophets, He taught this people to acknowledge Himself the one living and true God, provident father and just judge, and to wait for the Saviour promised by Him, and in this manner prepared the way for the Gospel down through the centuries.

[1] [3] All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.
Omnia per ipsum facta sunt : et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est.
[2] [19] Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them.
quia quod notum est Dei, manifestum est in illis. Deus enim illis manifestavit.
[20] For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.

Invisibilia enim ipsius, a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta, conspiciuntur : sempiterna quoque ejus virtus, et divinitas : ita ut sint inexcusabiles.
[3] [15] I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius : ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus.
[4] [6] Who will render to every man according to his works.
qui reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus :
[7] To them indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life:

iis quidem qui secundum patientiam boni operis, gloriam, et honorem, et incorruptionem quaerunt, vitam aeternam :
[5] [2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

Faciamque te in gentem magnam, et benedicam tibi, et magnificabo nomen tuum, erisque benedictus.

4. Then, after speaking in many and varied ways through the prophets, “now at last in these days God has spoken to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:1-2)[1]. For He sent His Son, the eternal Word, who enlightens all men, so that He might dwell among men and tell them of the innermost being of God (see John 1:1-18)[2]. Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, was sent as “a man to men.” (3) He “speaks the words of God” (John 3:34)[3], and completes the work of salvation which His Father gave Him to do (see John 5:36;[4] John 17:4[5]). To see Jesus is to see His Father (John 14:9)[6]. For this reason Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself: through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth. Moreover He confirmed with divine testimony what revelation proclaimed, that God is with us to free us from the darkness of sin and death, and to raise us up to life eternal. The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Tim. 6:14[7] and Tit. 2:13[8]). Through divine revelation, God chose to show forth and communicate Himself and the eternal decisions of His will regarding the salvation of men. That is to say, He chose to share with them those divine treasures which totally transcend the understanding of the human mind” (Dei Verbum, 2 – 6)

[1] [1] God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all,
Multifariam, multisque modis olim Deus loquens patribus in prophetis :
[2] [2] In these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.novissime, diebus istis locutus est nobis in Filio, quem constituit haeredem universorum, per quem fecit et saecula :
John 1:1-18
[3] [34] For he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God: for God doth not give the Spirit by measure.
Quem enim misit Deus, verba Dei loquitur : non enim ad mensuram dat Deus spiritum.
[4] [36] But I have a greater testimony than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to perfect; the works themselves, which I do, give testimony of me, that the Father hath sent me.
Ego autem habeo testimonium majus Joanne. Opera enim quae dedit mihi Pater ut perficiam ea : ipsa opera, quae ego facio, testimonium perhibent de me, quia Pater misit me :
[5] [4] I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Ego te clarificavi super terram : opus consummavi, quod dedisti mihi ut faciam
[6] [9] Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father?
Dicit ei Jesus : Tanto tempore vobiscum sum, et non cognovistis me? Philippe, qui videt me, videt et Patrem. Quomodo tu dicis : Ostende nobis Patrem?
[7] [14] That thou keep the commandment without spot, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,

ut serves mandatum sine macula, irreprehensibile usque in adventum Domini nostri Jesu Christi,
[8] [13] Looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,

exspectantes beatam spem, et adventum gloriae magni Dei, et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi :

Even since the death of Our Lord and His apostles, God has often revealed Himself to men by means of the so called private revelations. 

Balthasar's Feast. 1636-8. Rubens National Gallery London.

Instances of these subsequent private revelations are the appearances of Our Lord to Blessed Margaret Mary, and of Our Lady at Lourdes, Fatima etc. Many of the saints have had such revelations, i.e., St. Francis of Assisi, to whom Our Lord appeared upon the cross, and St. Anthony of Padua, in whose arms the Child Jesus deigned to rest. These private revelations were more especially given to those who were striving after perfection, in order to encourage them to greater perfection still. Yet God sometimes revealed Himself to wicked men, i.e., to Baltassar in the handwriting on the wall (Dan. v. 5, seq.)[1]. Hence a private revelation given to any one is not necessarily a mark of holiness. These revelations, moreover, were no further continuation of the Public Divine revelation intended for the instruction of the whole of mankind, which ended with the death of the last of the apostles; they are rather a confirmation of truths already revealed. Thus Our Lady, when she appeared at Lourdes, proclaimed herself the “Immaculate Conception,” so confirming the dogma which Pius IX had defined four years previously, and the countless miracles and cures that have taken place there have established the truth of the apparition. Yet it is always possible that the malice of the devil may introduce deceptions into private revelations. No one is therefore bound to give to private revelations (even though they have been approved by the Church) the same belief as to Divinely revealed truth. Approved private revelations are trustworthy because of the guarantee which gives the Church, however the Church cannot give the same guarantee of authenticity of a private revelation, as she gives it to the truths of the Public Divine Revelation.

“Throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Christian faith cannot accept ‘revelations’ that claim to surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such ‘revelations’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 67).

The Doctor of the Church, Saint John of the Cross, says:

“In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say… because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty” (No. 65; Saint John of the Cross,The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22).

We can summarize the theme of private revelations as follows:

1. The authority of private revelations is essentially different from that of the definitive public Revelation. The latter demands faith; in it in fact God himself speaks to us through human words and the mediation of the living community of the Church. Faith in God and in his word is different from any other human faith, trust or opinion. The certainty that it is God who is speaking gives me the assurance that I am in touch with truth itself. It gives me a certitude which is beyond verification by any human way of knowing. It is the certitude upon which I build my life and to which I entrust myself in dying.

2. Private revelation is a help to this faith, and shows its credibility precisely by leading me back to the definitive public Revelation. In this regard, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV, says in his classic treatise, which later became normative for beatifications and canonizations: “An assent of Catholic faith is not due to revelations approved in this way; it is not even possible. These revelations seek rather an assent of human faith in keeping with the requirements of prudence, which puts them before us as probable and credible to piety”.
Hence, ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation has three elements: the message contains nothing contrary to faith or morals; it is lawful to make it public; and the faithful are authorized to accept it with prudence.

God grants private revelations so that they may have an edifying effect for the life of the Church. They give rise to new devotional forms, or deepen and spread older forms. There must be a nurturing of faith, hope and love, which are the unchanging path to salvation for everyone. We might add that private revelations often spring from popular piety and leave their stamp on it, giving it a new impulse and opening the way for new forms of it. Private revelations have an effect even on the liturgy, as we see for instance in the feasts of Corpus Christi and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Cardinal Ratzinger said about private revelations the following:

 “In every age the Church has received the charism of prophecy, which must be scrutinized but not scorned. On this point, it should be kept in mind that prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the right path to take for the future.

[1] [CC BY-SA 2.0 

A person who foretells what is going to happen responds to the curiosity of the mind, which wants to draw back the veil on the future. The prophet speaks to the blindness of will and of reason, and declares the will of God as an indication and demand for the present time. In this case, prediction of the future is of secondary importance. What is essential is the actualization of the definitive Divine Revelation, which concerns me at the deepest level. The prophetic word (of a private revelation) is a warning or a consolation, or both together. In this sense there is a link between the charism of prophecy and the category of “the signs of the times” (Public Revelation and private revelations, “The message of Fatima”, 2000).

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam

Bishop Schneider: Instruction in the Faith (III)

From  Gloria Dei 2019

We continue with the third post of Bishop Athanasius Schneider's series on the Catholic Faith.

Bishop Schneider's website is here >  Gloria Dei.

I have added images, highlights, Scriptural excerpts and other notes to the text below.

In this talk we will reflect upon the theme “the Faith”

The Roman Catechism says:

“In preparing and instructing men in the teachings of Christ the Lord, the Fathers began by explaining the meaning of faith. Following their example, we have thought it well to treat first what pertains to that virtue. Though the word faith has a variety of meanings in the Sacred Scriptures, we here speak only of that faith by which we yield our entire assent to whatever has been divinely revealed.

About the necessity of Faith the Roman Catechism says:

“That faith thus understood is necessary to salvation no man can reasonably doubt, particularly since it is written: Without faith it is impossible to please God. For as the end proposed to man as his ultimate happiness is far above the reach of human understanding, it was therefore necessary that it should be made known to him by God. This knowledge, however, is nothing else than faith, by which we yield our unhesitating assent to whatever the authority of our Holy Mother the Church teaches us to have been revealed by God; for the faithful cannot doubt those things of which God, who is truth itself, is the author. Hence we see the great difference that exists between this faith which we give to God and that which we yield to the writers of human history.” (The Roman Catechism, Introduction)

The Roman Catechism explains the meaning of the phrase “I Believe”

“The word believe does not here mean to think, to suppose, to be of opinion; but, as the Sacred Scriptures teach, it expresses the deepest conviction, by which the mind gives a firm and unhesitating assent to God revealing His mysterious truths. As far, therefore, as regards use of the word here, he who firmly and without hesitation is convinced of anything is said to believe.”

Faith Excludes Doubt

The knowledge derived through faith must not be considered less certain because its objects are not seen; for the divine light by which we know them, although it does not render them evident, yet suffers us not to doubt them. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath himself shone in our hearts, that the gospel be not hidden to us, as to those that perish (cf. 2 Cor. 4: 6.3)

[6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.
quoniam Deus, qui dixit de tenebris lucem splendescere, ipse illuxit in cordibus nostris ad illuminationem scientiae claritatis Dei, in facie Christi Jesu.
[3] And if our gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost,
Quod si etiam opertum est Evangelium nostrum, in iis, qui pereunt, est opertum :

Faith Excludes Curiosity

From what has been said it follows that he who is gifted with this heavenly knowledge of faith is free from an inquisitive insane curiosity. For when God commands us to believe He does not propose to us to search into His divine judgments, or inquire into their reason and cause, but demands an unchangeable faith, by which the mind rests content in the knowledge of eternal truth. And indeed, since we have the testimony of the Apostle Paul that God is true; and every man a liar (cf. Rom. 3: 4),[1] and since it would argue arrogance and presumption to disbelieve the word of a grave and sensible man affirming anything as true, and to demand that he prove his statements by arguments or witnesses, how rash and foolish are those, who, hearing the words of God Himself, demand reasons for His heavenly and saving doctrines? Faith, therefore, must exclude not only all doubt, but all incredulous desire for demonstration.

[1] [4] But God is true; and every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou art judged.
Est autem Deus verax : omnis autem homo mendax, sicut scriptum est : Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis : et vincas cum judicaris:

He who says, “I believe,” besides declaring the inward assent of the mind, which is an internal act of faith, should also openly profess and with alacrity acknowledge and proclaim what he inwardly and in his heart believes. For the faithful should be animated by the same spirit that spoke by the lips of the Prophet when he said in the Psalm: “I believe; and therefore did I speak” (Ps. 115: 10),[1] and should follow the example of the Apostles who replied to the princes of the people: “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4: 20)[2] We should be encouraged by these noble words of St. Paul: “I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1: 16);[3] and likewise by those other words; in which the truth of this doctrine is expressly confirmed: “With the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.[4]

[1] [10] I have believed, therefore have I spoken; but I have been humbled exceedingly.
Alleluja. Credidi, propter quod locutus sum; ego autem humiliatus sum nimis
[2] [20] For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Non enim possumus quae vidimus et audivimus non loqui.
[3] [16] For I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and to the Greek.
Non enim erubesco Evangelium. Virtus enim Dei est in salutem omni credenti, Judaeo primum, et Graeco.
[4] [10] For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.
Corde enim creditur ad justitiam : ore autem confessio fit ad salutem.

From these words we may learn how exalted are the dignity and excellence of Christian wisdom, and what a debt of gratitude we owe to the divine goodness. For to us it is given at once to mount as by the steps of faith to the knowledge of what is most sublime and desirable.” (Rom 10: 10) (Roman Catechism, I Part, 2, 1-5)

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) explains the nature and effects of Faith, saying:

“The first thing that is necessary for every Christian is faith, without which no one is truly called a faithful Christian. Faith brings about four good effects.

1) The first is that through faith the soul is united to God, and by it there is between the soul and God a union akin to marriage. “I will espouse thee in faith.” (Osee 2: 20),[1] says God through the Prophet Osee. When a man is baptized the first question that is asked him is: “Do you believe in God?” This is because Baptism is the first Sacrament of faith. Hence, the Lord said: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” (Mark 16: 16)[2] Baptism without faith is of no value. Indeed, it must be known that no one is acceptable before God unless he has faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” says the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb. 11: 6)[3] St. Augustine explains these words of St. Paul, “All that is not of faith is sin,” (Rom. 14: 23)[4] in this way: “Where there is no knowledge of the eternal and unchanging Truth, virtue even in the midst of the best moral life is false.”

[1] [20] And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
Et sponsabo te mihi in fide; et scies quia ego Dominus.
[2] [16] He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.
Qui crediderit, et baptizatus fuerit, salvus erit : qui vero non crediderit, condemnabitur.
[3] [6] But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him.
Sine fide autem impossibile est placere Deo. Credere enim oportet accedentem ad Deum quia est, et inquirentibus se remunerator sit
[4] [23] But he that discerneth, if he eat, is condemned; because not of faith. For all that is not of faith is sin.
Qui autem discernit, si manducaverit, damnatus est : quia non ex fide. Omne autem, quod non est ex fide, peccatum est.

2) The second effect of faith is that eternal life is already begun in us; for eternal life is nothing else than knowing God. This the Lord announced when He said: “This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17: 3)[1] This knowledge of God begins here through faith, but it is perfected the future life when we shall know God as He is. Therefore, St. Paul says: “Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for.” (Heb. 11: 1)[2] No one then can arrive at perfect happiness of heaven, which is the true knowledge of God, unless first he knows God through faith. “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.” (John 20: 29)[3]

[1] [3] Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Haec est autem vita aeterna : ut cognoscant te, solum Deum verum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum.
[2] [1] Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.
Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium.
[3] [29] Jesus saith to him: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.
Dixit ei Jesus : Quia vidisti me, Thoma, credidisti : beati qui non viderunt, et crediderunt.

3) The third good that comes from faith is that right direction which it gives to our present life. Now, in order that one live a good life, it is necessary that he knows what is necessary to live rightly; and if he depends for all this required knowledge on his own efforts alone, either he will never attain such knowledge, or if so, only after a long time. But faith teaches us all that is necessary to live a good life. It teaches us that there is one God who is the rewarder of good and the punisher of evil; that there is a life other than this one, and other like truths whereby we are attracted to live rightly and to avoid what evil. “The just man liveth by faith” says God through the Prophet Habakuk (Hab. 2: 4)[1] This is evident in that not one of the philosophers before the coming of Christ could, through his own powers, know God and the means necessary for salvation as well as any old woman since Christ’s coming knows Him through faith. And, therefore, it is said in Isaias that “the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord.” (Isa. 11: 9)[2]

[1] [4] Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in himself: but the just shall live in his faith.
Ecce qui incredulus est, non erit recta anima ejus in semetipso; justus autem in fide sua vivet.
[2] [9] They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering waters of the sea.
Non nocebunt, et non occident in universo monte sancto meo, quia repleta est terra scientia Domini, sicut aquae maris operientes.

The fourth effect of faith is that by it we overcome temptations: “The holy ones by faith conquered kingdoms” says the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb. 11: 33)[1] We know that every temptation is either from the world or the flesh or the devil. The devil would have us disobey God and not be subject to Him. This is removed by faith, since through it we know that He is the Lord of all things and must therefore be obeyed. Saint Peter writes in his First Letter, “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith.” (1 Peter 5: 8)[2] The world tempts us either by attaching us to it in prosperity, or by filling us with fear of adversity. But faith overcomes this in that we believe in a life to come better than this one, and hence we despise the riches of this world and we are not terrified in the face of adversity. “This is the victory which overcometh the world... our faith”, says the Apostle John (1 John 5: 4).[3] The flesh, however, tempts us by attracting us to the swiftly passing pleasures of this present life. But faith shows us that, if we cling to these things inordinately, we shall lose eternal joys. “In all things taking the shield of faith”, admonishes us Saint Paul (Eph. 6: 16) [15][4] We see from this that it is very necessary to have faith.

[1] [33] Who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
qui per fidem vicerunt regna, operati sunt justitiam, adepti sunt repromissiones, obturaverunt ora leonum,
[2] [8] Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
Sobrii estote, et vigilate : quia adversarius vester diabolus tamquam leo rugiens circuit, quaerens quem devoret :
[3] [4] For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.
Quoniam omne quod natum est ex Deo, vincit mundum : et haec est victoria, quae vincit mundum, fides nostra.
[4] [16] In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.
in omnibus sumentes scutum fidei, in quo possitis omnia tela nequissimi ignea extinguere :

(St Thomas continues) We now can resume the four effects of the Faith:

1. Union with God.
2. The beginning of eternal life in us.
3. The right direction of our moral life.
4. The victory over the temptations.

Faith is “the evidence of things that appear not.” But someone will say that it is foolish to believe what is not seen, and that one should not believe in things that he cannot see. I answer by saying that the imperfect nature of our intellect takes away the basis of this difficulty. For if man of himself could in a perfect manner know all things visible and invisible, it would indeed be foolish to believe what he does not see. But our manner of knowing is so weak that no philosopher could perfectly investigate the nature of even one little fly. We even read that a certain philosopher spent thirty years in solitude in order to know the nature of the bee. If, therefore, our intellect is so weak, it is foolish to be willing to believe concerning God only that which man can know by himself alone. And against this is the word of Job: “Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge.” (Job 36: 26)[1] One can also answer this question by supposing that a certain master had said something concerning his own special branch of knowledge, and some uneducated person would contradict him for no other reason than that he could not understand what the master said! Such a person would be considered very foolish. So, the intellect of the Angels as greatly exceeds the intellect of the greatest philosopher as much as that of the greatest philosopher exceeds the intellect of the uneducated man. Therefore, the philosopher is foolish if he refuses to believe what an Angel says, and far greater fool to refuse to believe what God says.

[1] [26] Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge: the number of his years is inestimable.
Ecce Deus magnus vincens scientiam nostram : numerus annorum ejus inaestimabilis. 

Then, again, if one were willing to believe only those things which one knows with certitude, one could not live in this world. How could one live unless one believed others? How could one know that this man is one’s own father? Therefore, it is necessary that one believe others in matters which one cannot know perfectly for oneself. But no one is so worthy of belief as is God, and hence they who do not believe the words of faith are not wise, but foolish and proud. As the Apostle Paul says: “He is proud, knowing nothing.” (1 Tim. 6: 4)[1] And also Saint Paul says: “I know whom I have believed; and I am certain.” (2 Tim. 1: 12)[2]

[1] [4] He is proud, knowing nothing, but sick about questions and strifes of words; from which arise envies, contentions, blasphemies, evil suspicions,
superbus est, nihil sciens, sed languens circa quaestiones, et pugnas verborum : ex quibus oriuntur invidiae, contentiones, blasphemiae, suspiciones malae,
[1] [12] For which cause I also suffer these things: but I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him, against that day.
Ob quam causam etiam haec patior, sed non confundor. Scio enim cui credidi, et certus sum quia potens est depositum meum servare in illum diem.

Finally, one can say also that God proves the truth of the things which faith teaches. Thus, if a king sends letters signed with his seal, no one would dare to say that those letters did not represent the will of the king. In like manner, everything that the Saint Apostles believed and handed down to us concerning the faith of Christ is signed with the seal of God. This seal consists of those works which no mere creature could accomplish; they are the miracles by which Christ confirmed the sayings of the apostles and of the Saints.
If, however, you would say that no one has witnessed these miracles, I would reply in this manner. It is a fact that the entire world worshipped idols and that the faith of Christ was persecuted, as the histories of the pagans also testify. But now all are turned to Christ–wise men and noble and rich–converted by the words of the poor and simple preachers of Christ. Now, this fact was either miracle or it was not. If it is miraculous, you have what you asked for, a visible fact; if it is not, then there could not be a greater miracle than that the whole world should have been converted without miracles. And we need go no further. We are more certain, therefore, in believing the things of faith than those things which can be seen, because God’s knowledge never deceives us, but the visible sense of man is often in error“ (The Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas, prologue; see also Summa Theologica II-II, Q. 2, 3, 4).

The Roman Catechism teaches us that we have to distinguish the natural knowledge of God in virtue of the natural light of our reason and the supernatural knowledge of God by virtue of the suprenatural lihht of the Divine gift of Faith.

The knowledge of God is more easily obtained through Faith than through reason

“There is a great difference between Christian philosophy and human wisdom. The latter, guided solely by the light of nature, advances slowly by reasoning on sensible objects and effects, and only after long and laborious investigation is it able at length to contemplate with difficulty the invisible things of God, to discover and understand a First Cause and Author of all things. Christian Faith, on the contrary, so quickens the human mind that without difficulty it pierces the heavens, and, illumined with divine light, contemplates first, the eternal source of light, and in its radiance all created things: so that we experience with the utmost pleasure of mind that we have been called, as the Prince of the Apostles says, out of darkness into his admirable light, and believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable (cf. 1 Peter 2: 9).[1]

[1] [9] But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Vos autem genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta, populus acquisitionis : ut virtutes annuntietis ejus qui de tenebris vos vocavit in admirabile lumen suum. 

Justly, therefore, do the faithful profess first to believe in God, whose majesty, with the Prophet Jeremiah, we declare incomprehensible (cf. Jer. 32: 12).[1] For, as the Apostle says, “God dwells in light inaccessible, which no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6: 16)[2]; as God Himself, speaking to Moses, said: “No man shall see my face and live.” (Ex. 33: 20)[3] The mind cannot rise to the contemplation of the Divinity, whom nothing approaches in sublimity, unless it be entirely disengaged from the senses, and of this in the present life we art naturally incapable.”

[1] [19] Great in counsel and incomprehensible in thought: whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam, to render unto every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his devices.
Magnus consilio, et incomprehensibilis cogitatu : cujus oculi aperti sunt super omnes vias filiorum Adam, ut reddas unicuique secundum vias suas, et secundum fructum adinventionum ejus.
[2] [16] Who only hath immortality, and inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and empire everlasting. Amen.
qui solus habet immortalitatem, et lucem inhabitat inaccessibilem : quem nullus hominum vidit, sed nec videre potest : cui honor, et imperium sempiternum. Amen.
[3] [20] And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live.
Rursumque ait : Non poteris videre faciem meam : non enim videbit me homo et vivet.

The knowledge of God obtained through Faith is clearer

“But while this is so, yet God, as the Apostle Paul says, “left not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14: 16)[1] Hence it is that the philosophers conceived no mean idea of the Divinity, ascribed to Him nothing corporeal, gross or composite. They considered Him the perfection and fullness of all good, from whom, as from an eternal, inexhaustible fountain of goodness and benignity, flows every perfect gift to all creatures. They called Him the wise, the author and lover of truth, the just, the most beneficent, and gave Him also many other appellations expressive of supreme and absolute perfection. They recognized that His immense and infinite power fills every place and extends to all things.

These truths the Sacred Scriptures express far better and much more clearly, as in the following passages: “God is spirit” (John 4: 24)[2]; “Be ye perfect, even as also your heavenly Father is perfect” (Math. 5: 48)[3]; “All things are naked and open to his eyes” (Heb. 4: 13)[4]; “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!” (Rom. 11: 33)[5], “God is true” (Rom. 3: 4)[6]; “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6)[7]; “Thy right hand is full of justice” (Ps. 47: 11)[8]; “Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature” (Ps. 144: 16)[9]; and finally: “Whither shall go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art there. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea” (Ps. 138: 7-9)[10], etc., and “Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?” (Jer. 23: 24)[11]

[1] [16] Nevertheless he left not himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
Et quidem non sine testimonio semetipsum reliquit benefaciens de caelo, dans pluvias et tempora fructifera, implens cibo et laetitia corda nostra.
[2] [24] God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.
Spiritus est Deus : et eos qui adorant eum, in spiritu et veritate oportet adorare.
[3] [48] Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.
Estote ergo vos perfecti, sicut et Pater vester caelestis perfectus est.
[4] [13] Neither is there any creature invisible in his sight: but all things are naked and open to his eyes, to whom our speech is.
Et non est ulla creatura invisibilis in conspectu ejus : omnia autem nuda et aperta sunt oculis ejus, ad quem nobis sermo.
[5] [33] O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!
O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae, et scientiae Dei : quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus!
[6] [4] But God is true; and every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou art judged.
Est autem Deus verax : omnis autem homo mendax, sicut scriptum est : Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis : et vincas cum judicaris.
[7] [6] Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.
Dicit ei Jesus : Ego sum via, et veritas, et vita. Nemo venit ad Patrem, nisi per me.
[8] [11] According to thy name, O God, so also is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of justice.
Secundum nomen tuum, Deus, sic et laus tua in fines terrae; justitia plena est dextera tua.
[9] [16] Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living creature.
Aperis tu manum tuam, et imples omne animal benedictione.
[10] [7] Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?
Quo ibo a spiritu tuo? et quo a facie tua fugiam?
[8] If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.
Si ascendero in caelum, tu illic es; si descendero in infernum, ades.
[9] If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:
Si sumpsero pennas meas diluculo, et habitavero in extremis maris,
[11] [24] Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
Si occultabitur vir in absconditis, et ego non videbo eum? dicit Dominus. Numquid non caelum et terram ego impleo? dicit Dominus.

The knowledge of God obtained through Faith is more certain

“These great and sublime truths regarding the nature of God, which are in full accord with Scripture, the philosophers were able to learn from an investigation of God’s works. But even here we see the necessity of divine revelation if we reflect that not only does faith, as we have already observed, make known clearly and at once to the rude and unlettered, those truths which only the learned could discover, and that by long study; but also that the knowledge obtained through faith is much more certain and more secure against error than if it were the result of philosophical inquiry”.

The knowledge of God obtained through Faith is more ample and exalted

“How much more exalted must not that knowledge of God be considered, which cannot be acquired in common by all from the contemplation of nature, but is peculiar to those who are illumined by the light of faith? This knowledge is contained in the Articles of the Creed, which disclose to us the unity of the Divine Essence and the distinction of Three Persons, and show also that God Himself is the ultimate end of our being, from whom we are to expect the enjoyment of the eternal happiness of heaven, according to the words of St. Paul: “God is a rewarder of them that seek Him.” (Heb. 11: 6)[1] How great are these rewards, and whether they are such that human knowledge could aspire to their attainment, we learn from these words of Isaias uttered long before those of the Apostle: “From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen besides thee, O God, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee.” (Is. 64: 4)[2]

[1] [6] But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him.
Sine fide autem impossibile est placere Deo. Credere enim oportet accedentem ad Deum quia est, et inquirentibus se remunerator sit.
[2] [4] From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee.
A saeculo non audierunt, neque auribus perceperunt; oculus non vidit, Deus, absque te, quae praeparasti exspectantibus te.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam