Part of why my faith has floundered is no doubt from a lack of Christian Fellowship. As a non Catholic, I have come to see the Sunday service as a place to go and worship with others but this has been a weakening interest over time. Then came the fact that I just didn’t get much out of the service. The longer I separated from the service the more my faith waned and the less solace I took in Christ.
Father Souza (a friend of mine from Officer Candidate School) explores part of this issue through the Catholic Faith. How can I get more out of going to Mass? | Father Gerald Souza’s Blog:
“ Faith is the acceptance of something told by another. Faith is divided into two categories which both stem from the authority of the source, human or divine. Human faith accepts something because the person speaking it is accepted to honest. Divine faith, on the other hand, acknowledges something to be true because God is the one to be believed.”
In my case the further I have strayed from service my human faith has faltered in terms of trusting the teacher. This then is a spiral, the less faith I have in a preacher/church/bible study the less likely I am to attend and the less responsive I will be to the lessons they have to teach.
The second point Father Souza makes is this:
“Faith, as a theological virtue, is something which is infused to persons by God when they enter into His friendship (usually at baptism). Since faith is a virtue, it is something which must be practiced. The best way for us to think of the infused virtue of faith is as acapacity. The baptized person now has the capacity to assent to divinely revealed truths. We can talk about the Deposit of Faith, or collection of divinely revealed truths, later. More important than having the answers to various religious questions, is the choice to assent to what God has spoken.”
The problem then arises that complacency in faith leads to a loss of virtue. If by not attending service you are already making yourself intrinsically less likely to be receptive and then continuing by not partaking in the Divine Faith, rejection of faith continues to spiral out of control.
The only solution to the problem is in fact taking an initial plunge. For those who have never been sure, for those who just don’t know and are full of questions the only way to get answers is in fact to ask. Perhaps it is pride that keeps me away. A simple desire to look for answers on my own and not ask for help. Perhaps this pride is what weakens my own Divine Faith.
Regardless of the issue, it would appear that Father Souza is correct. The only way to get anything out of service is by actively engaging one’s Faith, be it Divine or Human.
