Basic Faith Tenets

Basic tenets of my faith

I am revert to Catholicism. I was a cradle Catholic, then fell away from the Church during when the post-Vatican-II reform movement in the United States got well and truly out of hand during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It also didn’t hurt that I was young, full of hormones, and not at all interested in any body telling me that I couldn’t have sex with my girlfriend unless I got married first. I live a terribly sinful life, and I know the pleasures and temptations of lust, materialism, pride, anger, you name it, and except for murder, I’ve done it.

I came back to the Church in 2005, in response to not only the prompting of the Holy Spirit, but also because I had finally reached a state of maturity that allowed my eyes and ears to be opened to the ancient message of Catholicism.

There were many, many pivotal moments in my journey, and I will write about those in more detail, but suffice the following to stand as some of the basic beliefs that I have come to recognize as being true. Absolutely true.

As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Truth Himself speaks truly, or else there’s nothing true.” Jesus did not only speak the truth, He is the truth. He did not just bring the word of God, He is the Word of God made man. It is a great mystery, a profoundly beautiful thing, and a reality that I could contemplate for the rest of my life without fully understanding.

Here are two points, two encounters with the truth that brought me back and that support my faith today. My faith is a gift, not an intellectual process, but all of us need to use the intellect on the road to loving God:

1: The Eucharist

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” John 6:53-56

What does it mean? Jesus lost almost all of his disciples after this teaching. It was not until Holy Thursday, the night of the Last Supper, when Jesus celebrated the first holy Mass, that it became clear to His disciples how he was to achieve this seemingly impossible task, of feeding them His own blood and flesh. He did it by transforming bread & wine, while keeping their appearance unchanged, so as not to offend our weakness.

Jesus told them to do this, in memory of Him. He empowered the apostles to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to effect this change, this transubstantiation, in order that He, Christ, would remain physically present among us until “the end of the age” exactly as He promised.

Conclusion: the Eucharist is really Christ. Body, blood, soul and divinity. Jesus is really, truly, physically present in every Catholic & Orthodox tabernacle in the world. He may be present spiritually among other believers, but nowhere else on the planet is He truly and consistently completely present, other than within the sanctuary of a Catholic or Orthodox Church.

Because of the reality of Christ’s complete and overwhelmingly holy presence, I cannot choose any other church. To do so would be to reject Jesus, to turn my back and walk away from Him. This I cannot do.


2: The Need For More Than “Faith Alone”

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.” James 2:14 - 18

What does it mean? The fundamental problem of the Protestant rejection of the Catholic and Orthodox faith handed down to us by the Apostles is this notion of the concept of a lack of accountability for one’s actions in this world, so long as one makes some sort of “sinner’s prayer” or similar expression of faith in Christ, one time in one’s life.

Conclusion: Although faith is absolutely necessary for salvation, it is far from all that is needed. Martin Luther promoted the idea that faith solved all things, and that anyone could interpret scripture for himself, alone, and have a solitary relationship with Christ, based on a mere expression of faith, alone. Neither of these ideas are biblical, and both go directly against sacred scripture, as well as sacred tradition, which pre-dates sacred scripture. Read the early church fathers for more on this.

Luther knew that scripture contradicted his radical idea of “faith alone”, and consequently he edited, mistranslated, and threw out seven books of the Bible when he created a new version to suit his easier view of salvation, his view in which he was free to indulge in his sinfulness, because he arrogantly assured himself of Christ’s forgiveness no matter what.

The idea of faith without, or despite, one’s actions is a mockery of love and devotion – it’s like telling your wife “I love you”, then slapping her, saying “I’m sorry – I still love you” and slapping her again. This is what the Protestant does to Christ. “I love you Jesus, don’t judge me by my actions.” That’s crazy. Your actions are the way that you prove your faith. Without actions, faith is mere words.

“See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone… For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:24 & 2:26

Jesus told the woman caught in adultery: “Your sins are forgiven you. Go forth and sin no more.” He did not say “sin proudly”. Jesus tells us to reform our lives, and to do our very best to “sin no more”. When we fall short, we go to Confession, call ourselves to account, and are re-infused with the grace and forgiveness of God via the ministry of an ordained priest.

Confession is a beautiful experience. It’s a terrible shame that among the thefts of Martin Luther from European Christians in the 1500s, he not only stole away Jesus in the Tabernacle, he also took away the best channel of grace other than baptism.