In The Temporal
Mission of the Holy Ghost, Cardinal Manning delineates points which prove
that the highest form of the use of Reason is the acceptance of Revelation.
Of course, as he notes in this book, this idea contradicts
the Rationalists, and the Protestants.
Rationalists maintain that only what can be understood by
Reason may be considered valid.
The good Cardinal also notes that the sign of the perfection
of Reason is the acceptance of the Revelation of the Catholic Church.
In other words, he underscores the point I have been
stressing for several years concerning perfection,that the first step is the
acceptance of the Teaching Magisterium of the Church.
In other words, the first rung on the step of perfection is
orthodoxy. This has been a theme on this blog for a long time.
Cardinal Manning writes that to submit to the “Voice of the
Holy Spirit in the Church is the absolute condition to attain a perfect
knowledge of revelation.”
What the Protestants deny is the continual Presence of the
Holy Spirit in the Church from the time of Christ to the present day.
The two huge errors in rational thinking may thus be
summarized in these notes:
1) Atheists,
agnostics, pagans, those of other “faith” and Protestant cannot begin to climb
the road to perfection with assent to orthodoxy, as passed down in the Catholic
Church;
2) Those
who belong to Protestant groups which deny orthodoxy in any way are actually
denying the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, only fully in and through the
Catholic Church.
Cardinal Manning writes that Reason is illuminated by God to
bring all to the Catholic Church, and that this “mission” of the Holy Spirit
has been entrusted to the Church.
He believes, as I do, that the natural moral laws, which are
part of the soul of all humans and part of the conscience of humans, also can
lead people to the truth. This is the basis of the seeking of God-moral natural
law.
In addition, Cardinal Manning elaborates on the fact that
all philosophies point to the truth of the Catholic Church. He also states that
nature itself leads one to God and to the truth of the Church. Obviously, the
Church has had a missionary effort, until modern times, to help those who have
come to some truth to find the fullness of truth.
Cardinal Manning emphasizes that there are not many
“Christianities”, but that there is one Christianity and that is Catholicism.
One of the weaknesses in modern catechesis has been the
ignoring of the fact that one cannot become perfect, follow the road to
perfection, without the acceptance of the Creed and the teaching of the
Eucharist.
Also, many Catholics who have fallen away, or even some who
attend weekly Mass, move away from orthodoxy in some way. I know one woman in
her 80s, who is Irish and believes that the Church is wrong about women
priests. She has moved off the road to perfection by adamantly refusing to
accept St. John Paul II’s infallible statement on this fact.
To depart from the teaching of the Church interrupts one’s
progress. Some step off the ladder because of contraception, divorce and
remarriage without annulment, acceptance of homosexual sins, and so on.
One must conform one’s mind to the mind of Christ.
Thankfully, if we “fall off the ladder” and repent, God is there is pick us up
and lead us onward and upward.
At baptism, one becomes a child of God and heir of heaven.
Not until then is one given the virtues necessary for the way of perfection.
The Indwelling of the Trinity means that the Catholic who follows Church
teaching does so in a unity of grace. Those who deny something which is given
through the Holy Spirit to the Church have caused a division in that Indwelling
of the Trinity. Manning compares the present day divisions of Protestant faiths
with the myriad groups of pagans at the time of the Coming of Christ-and that
the Incarnation ended all possible assents to paganism. St. Augustine
Strong words from a great Doctor of the Church and words
which are ignored by those involved in false ecumenism.
How have we moved so far from the truth that Protestant
sects are not “religions” as states in Dominus Iesus, and that there are few
differences in these sects either among themselves or with Catholicism?
How have priests come to accept the fallacy of mixed
marriages as not being a serious harm to the growth of perfection and the
pursuit of saintliness? There are Hahns who can testify to success in mutual
support for conversion.
Cardinal Manning refers to St.
Cyprian on “One God, one Christ, one Church”, as a statement which caused him
to realize that moral unity was dying among Christian denominations.
Do we not see this with the almost universal acceptance of divorce
and remarriage, homosexual relationships, and contraception among those
denominations?
Reason has not lead to a full acceptance of Revelation in
the Church because of sin. The “intrinsic anarchy” of the Protestant Revolt
continues, which is one reason why the Church cannot canonize either pagans or
Protestants. The anarchy of relativism only adds to the institutionalized chaos
of those who have chosen to depart from the unity of the Trinity, which is
found in and through the Catholic Church only.
Can one be saved outside the Church? Only through the merits
of the Church and this puts the onus on all of us to become saints, as we gain
the merits for this Church.
Pray for those who are separated from the Church. Pray for
those who continue in anarchy against the Teaching Magisterium.
Sadly, the remnant may become very small, indeed.
More on this excellent book later-- Cardinal Manning’s
section on the Church being immutable throughout all ages in knowledge,
discernment, and enunciation of the truth is truly exciting reading.
