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“Ask a Priest: What If I Feel Drawn to Islam?”

June 25, 2019 / Ask a Priest

Q: I am the only Catholic in my family, and I have been in the Church for almost five years. I always sought to protect the Church and live out the faith as best as I can. However, lately I have been having an internal struggle. I identify as being a conservative both in my faith life and political life. This has had positive effects and negative effects on me. I started to become more closed-minded by listening to propaganda or one-sided media, and started to disregard those who did not agree with me. My family saw me becoming more brainwashed, and this has had an effect on how I viewed the world, particularly how I viewed Muslims. I saw them as being a sort of evil that I must protect myself and others from. However, I decided to take a step back and learn about the religion of Islam. The more I learn about it, the more I feel called to it and I feel an inner peace. I have been trying to pray about this by saying a daily rosary, going to confession more frequently, and other things, but nothing seems to be working. I know that it is a grave sin for me to leave the Church, but I do not know what I should do. Please help me, I feel lost, confused, frustrated and scared. God bless. – E.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: You mention feeling an inner peace, but then say that you feel lost, confused, frustrated and scared. All this could be a sign that the devil is around and up to his tricks. Particularly vulnerable to his tricks are people who are a bit isolated.

The fact that you are the only Catholic in your family might help to explain part of the problem. The Catholic faith, as with any system of religion, is easier to live when it is lived within a community of believers, including family. Conversely, being the lone Catholic at home can leave you feeling out of place.

And if you have been a bit isolated, it is understandable that you are given to certain extremes — at first embracing one-sided media, then exposing yourself to material that weakens your faith.

You mention that you are praying the rosary and frequenting the sacrament of confession. This is good. This is a start. It might be good to remind yourself of the power of the sacraments and of Marian devotion and ask whether you really want to give those up.

You mention “other things” that you are doing. Here I’ll have to speculate. One thing that might be missing is community-oriented activities. It might help you to get involved with volunteer projects or parish activities and to network with faithful Catholics.

You also might be in need of going deeper in what is known as mental prayer, or Christian meditation. You can learn more about that through my colleague Father John Bartunek’s book A Guide to Christian Meditation, or this short video on the “‘Four C’s’ of Christian Meditation.”

Catholicism lived well is a Catholicism that helps lift us a purely political outlook on life.

A bane of the Internet/social media age is the tendency for partisan websites and chat rooms, etc., to lure people into silos. They slip into an ideological cocoon and stop talking with people with whom they disagree. From there, positions harden. Reason suffers. And where reason wanes, faith can weaken, since the two should ideally complement each other.

Your e-mail address indicates that you at a college. If so, you might consider getting involved with the Catholic community on campus. It might sponsor Catholic speakers and even retreats that could be helpful for you.

In the meantime, recognize this pull to abandon the Catholic faith for what it is: a temptation. And one to be resisted.

Also, you might want to get a Catholic perspective on Islam. Two suggested books are Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics and 111 Questions on Islam.

It might be helpful to find a spiritual director, too. I hope some of this helps. Count on my prayers.

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“Ask a Priest: What Is an Atheist to Think in the Face of Evil?”

October 24, 2017 / Ask a Priest

Q: I have to say up front that I’m an atheist. I’ve tried having conversations about faith with quite a few Christians who got very emotional and angry with me, and I don’t want that. So I ask that you bear with me, and keep in mind that I’m approaching you respectfully and in good faith, so to speak. I was raised Protestant, but as I grew older I began to have troubling questions about the nature of God and existence. There were things I read in the Bible and heard in church that struck as wrong, things God did and said that seemed evil. I began to have a crisis of faith. I tried reading, asking friends and pastors, and nobody could give me truly satisfying answers. Eventually, while thinking about the problem of evil, I realized that I couldn’t justify my faith anymore, and came to the conclusion that I don’t believe in God. Over the years I’ve continued to think about these questions, and I think that the one thing I can’t justify, the one fatal question, is still the problem of evil. I’ve never come up with or read a satisfying resolution to the issue, and frankly it’s really starting to bother me. So, Father, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the problem of evil, and have an open discussion about it. Thanks so much for your time and forbearance. – D.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: My guess is that you aren’t quite the atheist you call yourself. It sounds as though deep down your problem isn’t about believing in God’s existence. It is about how to reconcile the presence of evil in the world with an all-good, omnipotent God.

The good news is that you have lots of company. Explaining the presence of evil is probably one of the most difficult questions ever raised. This question, in fact, inspired the Book of Job, one of the most profound works in the Old Testament.

Before I return to the question of evil, let me back up a moment and address your point about the Bible.

The Old Testament, as you have learned, can be extremely unsettling. There is a lot of brutal material in it, at least to our 21st-century sensibilities.

A few ideas are worth keeping in mind.

First, the Bible isn’t a simple manual for moral behavior. It is a complex set of works written over many centuries that sketches the drama of the history of salvation. The Old Testament, in particular, is a “dialogue,” as one scholar has described it here in The Consuming Fire.

God revealed himself slowly to the world. The height of his revelation was Jesus Christ, his Son. Hence, the way to interpret the Bible is through the light of Christ. Everything before him was a preparation for the coming of Christ.

Sometimes God spoke to the ancients of the Old Testament in ways that they could understand, but which wouldn’t go over well today with us. But that’s because we have the advantage of knowing about Christ. This includes you, too, for you probably look at the world through a Christian lens. You recognize (from what I gather) that violence is not good. This is a kind of Christian thinking embedded in the world, thanks to the coming of Christ and his Church.

God was dealing with rough people in the Old Testament, and so some of the “dialogue” between him and the people seems rough. It’s like a parent who sends a 4-year-old to his room for not eating his vegetables. That same parent wouldn’t do that with a 20-year-old. Is that because the parent has changed? No, it’s because the child has grown, and thus the parent interacts with the adult offspring differently from the 4-year-old. That is sort of the way to view the Old Testament at times. Then, too, some of the dictums about putting enemies to the sword might have been interpretations by the prophets or other figures, not necessarily directives from God himself.

Now, back to the question of evil.

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. But a few points might help.

First, God’s original plan for the world did not include evil. Indeed, “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good” (Genesis 1:31).

What ushered evil and suffering into the world was the sin of the first humans. This is a very profound mystery in itself. We all inherit a fallen human nature from Adam which makes us prone to sin. This might sound bizarre, except that it makes perfect sense when we look around and see all the evil deeds that people do.

God allows these evil deeds because he respects the freedom he gave us. He doesn’t want us to be robots. He wants us to love him freely. If we misuse our freedom and do bad things that cause ourselves and others harm, God tends to let us feel the consequences of that.

He allows this evil to happen because he can bring something good out of it. Some of the worst sinners turned out to be great saints, after their conversion and their experience of God’s mercy. St. Augustine, for instance, was no Boy Scout. And St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, was a man of the world but not in an exemplary way. Yet God used their experience of sin to help turn them into great saints.

Most importantly, God sent his Son to suffer and die for us on a cross. By taking up the cross, Jesus gave meaning to suffering because he gave it redemptive power. Jesus’ obedience to his Father and his suffering on a cross is what paid the price for our sins and gave us a chance at salvation. Jesus overcame evil with love, though he didn’t eliminate evil from the world.

There is still a lot of mystery in all this. Which is why after 2,000 years the Gospel and Scripture in general is still mysterious. By entering into this mystery we can draw closer to God and learn about his goodness.

It takes faith, no doubt, but it is not arbitrary. There is something profound about the holiness of God and the nastiness of sin. The battle between the two is something we all face within ourselves.

For more perspective, you might find two works of Peter Kreeft helpful. One is his audio course “Faith and Reason“. Your local library system might have a copy.

The second work is “Making Sense Out of Suffering“. A related piece is also on his website HERE.

I hope some of this helps. I wish you well on your journey as you seek the truth.

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“Ask a Priest: How Can I Help My Agnostic Sister?”

October 13, 2017 / Ask a Priest

Q: I seem to be having a dark night of the soul. I asked my sister if she has prayed about her rather difficult situation, and she said she doesn’t believe in prayer. This hit me pretty hard because I thought, even though she has been away from the Church for years, she still prayed to God. Since I learned this, I would call her an agnostic. She is a nurse practitioner and highly intelligent and can be condescending. During our conversation, I mentioned the topic of near-death experiences that to me had seemed compelling and might be indicative of the afterlife and God’s existence. But now I’m quite skeptical after talking to my sister. She believes near-death experiences are nothing more than the result of brain activity (hallucinations) and have nothing to do with life after death. Also, my sister believes God is just energy and not a person. Please pray for us. I am horrified at the possibility that the God of the Bible doesn’t exist and there is no heaven. I hope this spell passes as it is an awful feeling. Please give me your best feedback. – K.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: You mention that your sister is highly intelligent. Perhaps she is very good at being a nurse. One of the qualities of professionals in any field is that a person doesn’t stray outside his bounds of competence. In that case, your sister might know a lot about nursing, but her judgments about the existence of God and the power of prayer are a bit outside the bounds of medical science.

So I don’t think you need to worry about God not existing. He exists, all right, and he created everything we see around us.

Heaven exists too. It is simply the state of being with God. It is perfect happiness, perfect bliss — what all of us dream for.

It sounds as though your sister has lost, at least for now, whatever faith she had. I won’t try to guess why. You mention that she is going through a difficult situation. Perhaps this situation has wreaked havoc on her spiritual life.

What I would recommend is that you put her high on your prayer list. Faith is a gift, and as a gift it can be lost through neglect. But it can also be regained with the grace of God and lots of prayer. The key thing is that you might need to do the praying for her for the foreseeable future.

I can’t speak much about these near-death or life-after-death experiences. Perhaps God gives certain people a grace to experience something supernatural. That is his prerogative. But it is not a matter of formal doctrine, per se. It might be what we call a private revelation — if it helps people, it helps them. But it isn’t the core of Catholic teaching.

In the meantime you want to be sure to guard your own faith. If we spend too much time with people who are irreligious or anti-Christian, their influence can wear off on us. You don’t want that to happen.

Your relationship with God is the most important one of your life. This doesn’t mean that you cut off your relationship with your sister. On the contrary, you want to help her as best you can.

But if a simple conversation with her is enough to shake your own faith, you need to keep a healthy distance from her.

Guarding your own faith will a way to help her. For that reason you might to make time for prayer each day. Frequent the sacraments if you are Catholic. And take time to study the faith. Helpful here would be the Catechism or its Compendium.

Perhaps your sister might be open to reconsidering her own ideas. Perhaps she would be willing to listen to Peter Kreeft’s Faith and Reason.

Or she might be interested in Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, which explains how these “life after death” experiences can’t be just brain activity. The author used to be an atheist.

These works might be available through a local library system.

Above all, keep praying for your sister.

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“Ask a Priest: Did the Church Teach That the Earth is 6,000 Years Old?”

May 9, 2017 / Ask a Priest

Q: One of my college professors was talking about geologic time. She mentioned James Ussher, the man accredited with the 6,000-year time span for the age of the earth. She said that he was a Catholic bishop and that his writings were decreed by the Catholic Church, and that this presented a problem for scientists in that time because to suggest anything otherwise would be going against the Catholic Church which she said would have led to excommunication or death. Is this true? Every source I’ve looked at online says that James Ussher was an Anglican archbishop. Wouldn’t this mean that he was Protestant and not Catholic? Also, was this teaching or his teaching decreed by the Catholic Church? Thank you so much! – G.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: As best I can tell, James Ussher was with the Church of Ireland, so he would have been part of the Anglican Communion, and hence a Protestant in the wide sense, but certainly outside the visible bounds of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has never officially taught that the world is 6,000 years old. That 6,000-year figure comes from a literalist reading of Scripture. This is not a good way to read the Bible. The creation accounts in the Book of Genesis are theological and not meant to be read as a science textbook.

There are no excommunications connected to people who believe the world to be millions or even billions of years old.

Your comment about there being “a problem for scientists in that time” points to the deeper issue involving the relation between faith and reason. It might come as a surprise to some people today, but the Catholic Church sees no contradiction between faith and science (or “faith and reason”). Both were created by God, and truth cannot contradict truth.

There is no reason why a person of strong faith couldn’t be a great scientist, and vice versa. You could find a list of examples HERE. The “problem” between faith and science is when scientists make statements that go beyond the bounds of science or when people of faith make scientific claims that are clearly contradicted by evidence.

The Catechism in No. 2293 says, “Basic scientific research, as well as applied research, is a significant expression of man’s dominion over creation. Science and technology are precious resources when placed at the service of man and promote his integral development for the benefit of all.”

For more reading on the relation between faith and reason, see Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et Ratio. I hope some of this helps.

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“Ask a Priest: What If I’m Starting to Question Jesus’ Divinity?”

December 25, 2015 / Ask a Priest

Q: I am having problems with myself concluding that Jesus Christ is truly God. In today’s world, many of the atheists are very outspoken and let their opinion be known. I’m not quite sure if their point of view is starting to leak over onto me (as a lot of my good friends are atheist) or it is because my faith has become weak and I just do not believe anymore. I want to believe but with the research that I’ve done, I’m not sure I can go back to my Catholic beliefs wholeheartedly. Do you have any advice on what the next steps for me should be? How do you feel that Jesus’ presence is integrated into everyday life? Is it bad that I am questioning my religion, or is this a test that every Christian goes through? -A.T.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: It is understandable that at some point you will question the tenets of your faith. God created faith and reason, and he wants us to use our intellect in order to better understand our faith. Someone who doesn’t make an effort to learn more about his faith is probably living with a childish faith.

Now, it is good to qualify the above statement. Faith is a gift, and like other gifts it can be lost. We can lose it through laziness or habitual sin or through negligence by not guarding it.

You mention that a lot of your good friends are atheist. This sends up a red flag immediately. If you are hanging out with a lot of atheists, then it is not surprising that they will have an impact on your thinking. That is not a prudent way to protect your faith.

It is one thing to have to deal with atheists in daily life – at school, at work – but it is another to have a lot of pals who reject God. Like the ocean waves that continually pound coastal rocks, their skepticism can wear away the foundations of your faith.

So what to do? As a Catholic your working assumption should be in favor of the faith. That means if you encounter something you don’t understand, let your first response be one of faith. You can pray, “Lord, I don’t understand this, but I want to be enlightened, I want to be able to accept this.”

Then make an effort to learn more about a topic. Go to the Catechism. Read books of Catholic apologetics. Or find someone who can explain things to you. The Catholic faith is reasonable. It might go beyond reason and our ability to grasp it (such as the notion of the Trinity), but it won’t go against reason. Thus the faith has nothing to hide from intellectual probing.

Above all, maintain a good prayer life and sacramental life. Prayer and the sacraments nourish our faith. Without them and the grace they bring, our faith withers. To nourish your prayer life, consider doing the online retreats at RC Spirituality and reading The Better Part.

You always might want to start looking for another set of friends. It can be enormously helpful to be around Catholics who are trying to live their faith. The faith is best understood and best lived within a believing community. Getting involved in Church-related projects, that is, the work of evangelization, can also strengthen one’s faith.

Moreover, you might find spending time with the Gospels in front of the Blessed Sacrament to be immensely helpful. The center of our faith is a Person: Jesus Christ. Our faith can be thought of as our relationship with him. He suffered and died for you, for your redemption, for love of you. When you make time to speak to him during the day, you will more easily detect his workings in your life. This is one way to integrate Our Lord into your day.

(A helpful resource could be Peter Kreeft’s audio course “Faith and Reason”; your local library system might carry it.) I hope some of this helps. God bless.

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“Ask a Priest: Couldn’t the New Testament Be Made Up?”

December 11, 2015 / Ask a Priest

Q: I was brought up Jewish but I was never religious. I used to believe in God, but when I was about 15 (I’m 18 now) I turned to deism, and then atheism/agnosticism. Recently I have felt God’s presence, and so I’m trying to figure out my beliefs and what is right. However, sometimes I wonder if I am just trying to convince myself that God exists, out of comfort and fitting in. I’ve recently been looking into Christianity, but I’m having a lot of trouble. First, the evidence of Jesus performing miracles. I know it is stated in the Bible, but wouldn’t what the writers say be biased? Perhaps they wrote about Jesus performing miracles and rising from the dead because they wanted to keep people interested and believing in Jesus. (I don’t mean to be offensive, sorry if I have offended you.) Second, some Christian beliefs confuse me. For starters, do Christians believe Jesus is the son of God? This confuses me, as monotheistic religions believe there is one God; would God having a son be a contradiction of this? And worshipping Jesus, like a statue of Jesus, isn’t that worshipping idols? I thought that was also against Christian beliefs. Furthermore, what does the phrase “Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins” mean? Christians, and people of other religions, still sin today? So, let’s say a Christian murdered someone. Wouldn’t he still go to hell? Or would he not, because Jesus died? Finally, why don’t Christians do Jewish festivals? Christianity grew out of Judaism, half the Bible is the Old Testament, and Jesus himself was Jewish. Sorry for this really long e-mail, I would really appreciate any help. -E.D.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Thanks for your note. It sounds as if God is giving you some great graces, as he tries to nudge you closer to his embrace. You are a beloved daughter of God, and he only wants the best for you.

Your questions show that you are thinking deeply about Our Lord. That is a good sign. It is good, too, that you are asking questions; Our Lord wants you to use both your intellect and your heart to find him.

Permit me to try to answer your questions succinctly.

Regarding the biblical account of Jesus’ miracles (and don’t worry, your question doesn’t offend me!), a proper answer could fill a book. Suffice it to offer a few observations.

First, it is good to remember that the New Testament is the product of a believing community. The texts had credibility in antiquity because there were a lot of eyewitnesses still running around. Hence there were folks who could corroborate the stories of the miracles and the resurrection.

Now, there are other religions and cultures that have produced texts that speak of extraordinary things – so what makes the New Testament credible? One big reason might be this: Many of the folks who believed in the miracles of Jesus and his resurrection were willing to die for their beliefs. Most of the apostles were martyred. Peter was crucified upside down. Bartholomew reportedly was skinned alive. Paul was beheaded. You get the idea. This doesn’t prove the New Testament stories, but it does indicate that many folks sincerely believed in the events, enough to accept martyrdom.

Another key point, at least for the resurrection, was that no one ever produced the body of Jesus. All we had was the empty tomb. Without the resurrection of Jesus, the whole edifice of Christianity collapses.

You raise questions about specific Christian beliefs. The core mystery of Christianity is the Trinity, or triune God. There is only one God – the same God of the Jews and Muslims. What God revealed in the New Testament is that he is three divine Persons in one God.

“Persons” is a word that philosophers and theologians had to invent in order to explain the Trinity. A “Person” in God is, in theological terms, a subsistent relation. Each relation is something real, it is not what (in philosophical terms) an accident. Your best friend, say, is Susan. Today Susan has blond hair; tomorrow she dyes it and ends up with black hair. Her hair color is an accident, but her essence (her “Susan-ness”) remains the same.

Now, the relations within God are not mere accidents; they are Persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. All three Persons have the same divine nature, which is why there is only one God.

Don’t worry if you can’t get your mind around this – no one really can. It is a mystery beyond our comprehension. And that in itself is one reason to believe it isn’t a human invention – even the sharpest philosopher would have never dreamt up something like the Trinity.

Closely linked to this mystery is the Incarnation, that is, the Second Person of the Trinity (the Son of God) took on human nature and walked among us. This is Jesus.

We make use of images to help remind us of Jesus. We don’t worship the image, we worship Jesus. It is akin to a man who has a photo of his wife and children on his desk. He loves his wife and kids – he doesn’t love the photo. But the photo reminds him of the ones he loves. Our use of images doesn’t violate the commandment against worshipping idols, since we don’t worship the image. Moreover, Jesus himself is a living icon or image of the invisible God. So there’s no problem with images of Jesus.

Regarding sin: To sin means to offend an infinitely good God. We are finite creatures. This means we finite creatures can never really make up for our offenses against an infinitely good God. Only God could make up for an offense against God. That is why the Son of God came into the world – he suffered and died for our redemption, to make up for our sins.

This doesn’t mean that we are guaranteed heaven. We still have to do our part. People indeed sin today; we see the results all around us. A Christian who murdered someone and was unrepentant would risk going to hell. If he repents, then he can be saved. But even there, his redemption depends on the redemptive work of Jesus.

Now, why don’t Christians “do Jewish festivals”?

The answer could be something like this. Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. He is the messiah that the Old Testament pointed to and awaited.

Christianity fulfills Judaism, in part by elevating the Old Testament signs and practices and feasts. Baptism, for instance, is prefigured by the Flood in the account of Noah, and in the crossing of the Red Sea. The death that was brought by the Flood and the parting of the Red Sea prefigures the death to sin that baptism brings about. (“Death to sin” means it takes away original sin and any actual sins that a person has on her soul.)

Besides, Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

Many of the Old Testament festivals no longer needed to be observed because a new set of liturgical practices, etc., replaced them.

For more reading you might check out Salvation Is From the Jews. For an overview on philosophy of religion, Peter Kreeft has an insightful audio course, “Faith and Reason“. You might be able to get the CD’s through your local library system.

I hope some of this helps. Count on being included in my prayers.

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“Ask a Priest: Am I Wrong to Have Questions About the Faith?”

November 10, 2015 / Ask a Priest

Q: Hello, I just went to a retreat and it opened my heart and eyes more than ever for the love of Christ. I just have so many questions about my Catholic religion and what we believe. Is it wrong of me to have questions? I personally 100% without a doubt believe in God and all that he has done for us. But I can’t help question why he would do some things such as, for example, have crime in the world, etc. But when I have those questions I immediately think, “Am I going to hell now because I doubted him?” or “Is this a sin to be curious?” because it’s not that I am doubting him, I am just curious! Thank you. –E.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Thanks for your note. It is wonderful to hear that the retreat helped open your heart to Christ. That is what our Catholic faith is all about – our relationship with Jesus.

It is good to remember that Jesus, who suffered and died for you, only wants the best for you. He has already given you so many gifts – including your life, your faith, and your intelligence.

He wants you to use your intelligence in order to understand your faith better. Thus, there is no problem in asking questions about the faith. This is how good theology begins – people of faith asking questions.

Our growth in the spiritual life can be thought of as a stroll down a path. In order to walk we need two feet – the foot of faith and the foot of reason. Faith helps us to move forward when our reason only takes us so far. But once we take the step of faith, our reason follows along and goes deeper into understanding what it is we accept in faith.

This use of reason helps us avoid the trap of fideism – a belief that faith and reason are incompatible, or that religion simply means believing things that make no sense. Nothing can be further from the truth.

God created faith and reason. Both are geared toward seeking the truth, which is why, when properly exercised, they cannot contradict each other.

So it isn’t a sin to be curious about the elements of our faith. On the contrary, God wants us to use our intelligence to understand it as best we can.

It might be worth clarifying some terms. It is OK to have a difficulty about the faith. That is normal. To doubt the faith, however, is a different thing. Doubting the faith means that we call God’s trustworthiness into question. Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) famously noted, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” My guess is that you have difficulties, not doubts, about the faith.

To help overcome difficulties, we are blessed to have the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as the treasury of the writings of the Church Fathers and the Popes.

Delving into the faith also takes prayer. The best theology is done on one’s knees. Having a full sacramental life and doing works of charity also open our hearts to the teachings of the Church.

For more reading see the YouCat or the Compendium of the Catechism. An audio course worth listening to is Peter Kreeft’s “Faith and Reason: The Philosophy of Religion“; your local library system might carry it.

I hope some of this helps. God bless.

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“Ask a Priest: How Does a Priest Know What He Believes Is True?”

August 14, 2015 / Ask a Priest

Q: How do you know that what you believe is right? The devil confuses people and tells them all kind of lies. So as a priest, how do you know that what you believe is correct and not just another lie? I mean no disrespect. -D.W.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Thanks for your note. Yours is one of the great questions that everyone has to grapple with in his own life. How can we be sure of what we believe? Scripture warns us, “Do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God” (1 John 4:1).

So how do I know that what I believe is correct? The short answer is: I see what the Church says.

God is truth. He “can neither deceive nor be deceived” (Catechism, No. 156). In other words, God won’t contradict himself. So he won’t reveal one thing to the Church and then reveal to me something that contradicts what he revealed to the Church. That would be confusion — a telltale sign of the devil’s presence.

What my reliance on the Church means in practice is this: When I tentatively embrace a belief or opinion, I can try to check its validity by looking at what the Church says on the topic. If my tentative view matches what the Church says, or at least doesn’t contradict what the Church teaches, then I can be reasonably sure that I’m heading in the right direction.

But this, in turn, raises an obvious question. How do I know what the Church teaches is true?

Here I could research and discover that Church teaching does not contradict Scripture. I could also look at Church documents over the centuries to see if there is continuity in the teaching. Church documents have lots of footnotes referring to earlier ecclesial documents. Ultimately, though, I trust the Church because I trust Christ; he founded it, and the Holy Spirit guides it.

This doesn’t mean, however, that the Church has an easy answer for everything. Life isn’t that simple. In fact, the Church admits its limitations. Vatican II’s pastoral constitution, Gaudium et Spes, says, “The Church guards the heritage of God’s word and draws from it moral and religious principles without always having at hand the solution to particular problems” (No. 33).

That was written in 1965. The world has gotten a lot more complicated since then. So grappling with modern-day problems takes prudence, prayer, and research.

A practical criterion that helps is this: Whatever is true is reasonable. Faith and reason go together; God invented both, so they won’t contradict each other. Some points of the faith go beyond what reason can discover (such as the Trinity), but they are not unreasonable. That is a fine distinction.

The truth is like a path through a forest. It takes two feet to walk the path – in this case, the foot of faith and the foot of reason. By alternating between faith and reason, we find that we can go deeper into the forest and experience it better.

I could go on, but perhaps this reply would answer your question in a sufficient way. Feel free to send further questions if you have them. (For more reading on God’s revelation of truth, and how the Church discerns it, see the Vatican II dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum). I hope this helps.

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“Ask a Priest: What If I Find It Hard to Believe Anymore?”

June 12, 2015 / Ask a Priest

Q: I am a university student who was brought up Catholic and was so strong in my faith, but now I honestly can’t find it in me to believe anymore. I just feel like I’m floating and on the fence. Recently I’ve started missing Mass because I just feel like I can’t face going through the motions when I don’t feel passionate about the faith anymore. I’m trying to figure it all out and feel like I need distance from religious things. But then not going to Mass makes me feel guilty. But then when I do go to Mass I can’t wait to leave. I feel like I am more of an agnostic at the moment but feel guilty for not strictly following the Catholic faith as I used to. It’s like a constant battle in my mind. -E.C.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: College can be a crisis moment when we drift from the moorings of our faith. You have passed the age when faith seemed simple. Such simplicity mirrors the trust we had as children in lots of things.

Now you are at an age when you are using your intellect more vigorously. You are questioning things you never questioned before. The simple faith you used to have might now seem simple-minded. It could be that God is inviting you to explore, to take more responsibility for your faith.

One other thing to consider is your moral life. Sometimes when we have faults in our moral life our faith-life also takes a dive. The diminished fervor you are experiencing might be connected to some moral falls — at least, it is a common pattern. Something to reflect on, anyway.

Perhaps a few observations might help you.

First, God gives us the gift of faith as well as the gift of intelligence, and he wants us to use both in order to mature in our understanding and living our Catholicism. Moving forward in our faith involves a two-step movement. Sometimes we move forward with the step of faith, sometimes with the step of reason.

Our Lord might want you to employ your reason more right now. That means delving deeper into what the Church teaches and why. Since God created both faith and reason, they don’t contradict each other. There is nothing unreasonable about the doctrines of the Church, understood properly. There might be mysterious factors — mystery will always be a part of God — but you won’t find anything that contradicts your reason. And as you go deeper intellectually into the faith, you might find your heart more engaged too.

Second, it helps to see your Catholic faith as a relationship, not just a set of doctrines and practices.

It is a relationship with Jesus, the man who loves you more than anyone and who suffered and died for your redemption. He only wants your holiness and happiness. He will never take anything from you; rather, he wants to elevate everything that you do and are.

Here it might help to spend time getting to know Jesus. Read some of the Gospels every day, and visit him in the Eucharist when you can. The more you make him a part of your life, the more you will want to stay close to him. If your relationship with him is OK, all the other relations in your life will fall into place. Apart from him, you will be restless. To help you with this, you may want to look at some easy-to-use resources: the Uncle Eddy posts (spiritual vitamins), the short videos (Retreat Guides) at rcspiritual.wpenginepowered.com, and any of a number of books such as The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer.

Third, try to see that living the faith means going beyond mere feelings. Feelings come and go, and as the years go on the consolations, the warm fuzzies, might not be that frequent. No matter. Faith needs to be coupled with love, and love is an act of the will — much deeper than mere feelings. A good resource to help you delve into the relationship between feelings, intellect, and faith is Seeking First the Kingdom: 30 Meditations on How to Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength.

Fourth, we as Catholics are meant to live our faith within a community. It would help, therefore, to have one or two friends who share the Catholic faith and who could help you get to Mass and the sacraments. Wouldn’t it be great to have one or two such friends who really care about your eternal salvation? You could encourage each other, challenge each other with questions and fraternal corrections, and generally support each other in the faith.

Aim to take particular advantage of the sacrament of confession. Approach the sacrament with confidence. Jesus is there, ready with his mercy and grace.

Stay close to the Blessed Virgin Mary too. She will intercede for you and help you realize how much her Son cares for you.

(For more online resources about the faith see the Catechism, or its Compendium.)

I hope some of this helps. Count on being included in one of my Mass intentions. God bless.

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