Someone recently described my belief in the existence of Satan (and presumably my belief in Christ and the sacred nature of his bride the Church and what she teaches) as a fairytale, and that my life must therefore be sad. This shows the great divide between believers and unbelievers.
I am certain that people who don’t believe in God or angels or Satan (to his glee) think they have come to the only logical conclusion possible . I call their logic nonsense. The reason they have come to such conclusions is an error with their fundamental assumptions. The materialist holds the illogical conclusion that there is nothing beyond what he can see, as if his belief was a prerequisite for its existence. For how else can one dismiss out of hand the existence of the unseen. In contrast, to a mind that is not closed to the possibility, one cannot help but see the hand of God in creation. That, ultimately, something caused us to be; that meaning cannot stem from meaninglessness. When one does not exclude the existence of God as a premise, then belief in God is reasonable and rational from a purely naturalistic perspective.
But my belief rests not only on naturalistic observations, but on Christ. The second person of the Trinity came down from heaven for the salvation of men - this is the source of my faith, my hope. Why do I believe this? Because of the cloud of witnesses and the impact that Christ and his Church have had on the world. That he is and that he has changed the world more profoundly than any man is obvious to all but the most foolish. In looking at his life and what he taught he was either mad, a liar, or telling the truth. What is most consistent with what he said and did and what is most consistent with his palpable impact in the world is that his claim is Truth. The Son of God died, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, and will come again.
That same Christ founded his Church - his sacrament here on earth. He vowed he would never leave her. He founded her on the Rock of Peter, and promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against her. This is the Church that continues in unbroken succession in the Catholic Church. Prompted by a gift from the Holy Spirit, this is the Church whose faith I believe. Once you see the truth, once that gift of faith is received, once the light has been shown, the rational mind cannot help but see it.
This is a stumbling block to many. The unbeliever cannot see what a believer sees. They refuse to enter into the mystery, and unless you enter in you just won’t get it. It remains just a stumbling block. But for the one who accepts the gift of faith, who enters into the mystery, he can glimpse the beauty of this deeper reality. The believer sees, not directly, but as in a dark mirror, the reality that is so much greater than the mere physical. A reality that incorporates, penetrates, permeates the physical, but is greater than it.
If you do not believe, I ask you to do one thing. Pray for faith. Do so as you are, but do it sincerely and with humility. Ask Christ to give you faith. If you do, it will change your life. Maybe not in a magic lightening bolt, maybe not right away, but it nonetheless will change your life.
