The Four Effects of Supernatural Faith III

Recently, I was compelled by my patron St. Thomas Aquinas to discuss the four effects of supernatural faith. You can view the first two parts of this tome in, Part I  Part II. To quickly bring you up to speed. The theological virtue of faith is a gift of sanctifying grace given through the sacraments and the assent of the mind and the will to those things that God has revealed for salvation. One may not reject a single dogma of the divinely instituted bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, and be imbued with the theological virtue of faith. It is an impossibility. The first three effects of maintaining the theological virtue of faith are, in order, according to the good Doctor, it unites the soul to God, eternal life is begun in the soul, and the third is that our present life is rightly ordered.Take a moment to think about what that means. These effects are not isolated one from the other, rather, they are intimately bound up in each other. The soul is united to God as, has said yes to His offer of revelation through obedience. A soul with the theological virtue of faith recognizes that those things that God has revealed through His bride, have been revealed so that you might be united to God in love, so that, upon death, union with Him, will naturally lead to eternal union with Him. In other words, the Holy Spirit, unites you to the Holy Trinity right now, to the extent that you participate in God's revelation (Dogma, prayer, sacraments, virtuous life) you remain in a state of sanctifying grace (in intimate friendship with God). As long as we persevere, we will be united to him upon  death (and we are going to die), which should make the final judgement a bit less anxiety ridden and should lead to eternal life with God in Christ. This is what Christ meant when He said "Peace I give you, My peace I leave you, not as the world gives."  As a result, of our awareness of these two effects, our entire life is then radically ordered to serve this truth. There ought to be, and it is clearly seen in the lives of those with the theological virtue of faith, a radical shift in the manner in which a person lives their life. No more pawing at contingent things as if they were the source of your salvation, rather, a detachment from them. WE love them because they are true and good and beautiful, but, we are willing to let them go because they not ours to keep. They belong to God and we will not be taking them with us. A life set apart from the radical attachments to heresy and paganism that dominate the current landscape.The Fourth Effect of FaithIn order to maintain a rightly ordered manner of living, we have to overcome temptation. The fourth effect of faith is that by faith, we are able to overcome temptation. Every temptation is a result of our lower passions and our failure to properly "know ourselves," the world, or from the devil.Our lower passions or desires must be tempered by wisdom and virtue. Rightly, ordered faith, helps us to grow in those two things. Wisdom is God. Faith in the things that God has revealed is faith in His wisdom. It is literally to trust in God's wisdom, not your own. God will reveal you to you. He wants you to know that you struggle with humility or purity, or charity. You cannot right the ship if you tear the rudder from it and cast it into the sea. God is the rudder. He is wisdom, He is the light that enlightens your intellect and  your will with truth, so that you may first and foremost apply that truth to your own life and actions. If we allow our desires or feelings to cover our actions, we have lost. If we continue to "empower" ourselves to do what makes us feel good, we are saying yes to our bodies and the temptations presented by them and no to reason. Reason knows that sex outside of marriage is a utilitarian practice aimed at making an object of the human person. Reason knows that two men are naturally incompatible physically. The intellect must control the desires. It must analyze, first and foremost our own behavior in light of the truth and begin the process of saying no, to our sinful and unreasonable desires. It must say no to those feelings and desires that our body longs for that, reason knows is contradictory to truth. St. Thomas says of the temptations of the flesh:"The flesh 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 joy." Quoting St. Paul, he reminds us that "in all things taking the shield of faith."Our temptation to worldly things is similar. Either, we are attached to it in prosperity or filled with the fear of adversity. The first, is seen in the popularity of the prosperity gospel. The message is those with faith will "flourish" or "prosper." What if I do not have a mansion and a six figure salary? Am I without faith? What about the friends of the paralytic? The gospel seems to echo a contrary sentiment to that of Mr. Olsteen and his proteges. It was the rich man who rejected Christ's offer to peace and joy in eternal life through union with His body. It was Christ who said "It is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to attain heaven." This is the perversion of heretics for profit. Mr. Olsteen's message sounds good to those with itching ears. To those who love this world. It is however, not a separate message from the latter. Those who prefer the heretical message of Mr. Olsteen, clearly fear the cross. They hate suffering and can see no use for it. They reject the notion that it is meritorious. Essentially, rejecting the merit of Christ's own suffering. You cannot claim to be "in Christ" and reject the things that he did. I will take the resurrection but not the crucifixion. The resurrection does not come without the crucifixion.This is where many of our contemporaries come to despise us. We recognize that there is a fundamental statement made on the cross. True Christianity though the fulfillment of God's revelation and the means to the restoration of harmony in the world and among men will find itself at odds with the world. There will always be conflict and confrontation. For if Christianity is true, then it impossible for you or I or anyone, who believes this truth to simply "keep it positive." Faith compels us to confront error and to seek to right it wherever we may find it. St. Thomas reminds us that""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." The devil may or may not work in the previously mentioned temptations. Some of those temptations are simply are own weakness. The Devil's aid is not necessary. We may be willing to attach ourselves those worldly things or unwilling to examine our conscience and grow in virtue on our own. We do not always need the aid of the devil. However, the devil revels in our disobedience. He longs for us to reject and disobey God. He hopes that we will refuse to submit our will to the will of God the Father. "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist ye, strong in faith." The devil knows that Christ is Lord, he simply does not want you or anyone else to know or believe it. The devil knows that the Catholic mass is source of salvation and the moment that the highest means of union with God that we can achieve in this life. He simply does not want you are anyone else to believe it. The devil knows that Jesus Christ is fully present in the Eucharist in fact it was the source of great division among the disciples in the gospel of John. What is the passage at which they all turn away from Christ? John 6: 66. Why? Because, he tells them that His flesh our and our consumption of it is the object of our faith. Why do atheists attempt to secure the Eucharist for their black masses? Because, they know that Christ is present and they want to do what was done to him on calvary. If they do not believe it, they go to a great deal of trouble to simply set fire to a piece of bread. They believe, much like the devil believes, they simply have impenetrable hardness of heart.If we live according to the flesh. The world itself will devour us. There is much in the world that is true and good and beautiful. But, as I am reminded daily during the last gospel, St. John the Baptist, perhaps one of the greatest evangelists of all time, was not the light, he "came to give testimony to the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light." Neither are you or I. We are contingent beings, dependent on the "true light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world." Any light that radiates from your soul, is not yours, it is a result of your union in faith to Christ, who is the true light. Our vocation above all things is holiness. Holiness is a light shining in the darkness.  We cannot radiate holiness, if we do not give our assent to those things that God has revealed for our salvation. That requires us to order our life to the light of Christ and His truth. The four effects of faith are visible in only in those who have the supernatural or theological virtue of faith. These four effects are bound up in each other. If we do not give our assent to God's revelation, we will not experience the first effect, intimate union with God. If we do not have intimate union with God, eternal life is certainly not be initiated in our soul. If eternal life is not being intimated in our soul, our life is not being rightly ordered to the things of Christ for our salvation, and if our life is not ordered toward Christ, the temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil will win the day. If the devil wins the day, Christ's light will cease to radiate from the center of your soul!Pray the Rosary Daily! Be Holy, Not Worldly!