Father Nicholas Nelson: Why are you Catholic?

Handing on the Faith 

We can prove in a philosophical way that there is a God, a First Cause and sustainer of all that exists. The First Vatican Council proclaimed this fact: “God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason, through the things that he created” (Dei Filius 2). 

However, we cannot prove that Jesus Christ is this God who has revealed to us through his church all that is true and who loves us more than we could ever imagine. For this relationship we need the theological and supernatural virtue of faith. 

And this is exactly as it should be. God doesn’t want to be a math equation. What type of a relationship can you have with a math equation? There is no trust, no vulnerability, no love in such a relationship. 

However, faith is not blind. It is anything but blind. Indeed, those who have faith in Christ are not being unreasonable, for there are manifold signs of God’s love. The church calls these signs “motives of credibility.” 

“Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church’s growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability ‘are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all’; they are ‘motives of credibility’ which show that the assent of faith is ‘by no means a blind impulse of the mind’” (CCC 156). 

This supernatural faith is beyond what our human nature can accomplish. It must be given from above. So, the motives of credibility allow natural reason to rest in knowing that faith is reasonable, opening us to receiving the supernatural gift that is faith in Christ. 

This month, I wish to take a brief look at a few of these “motives of credibility.” 

Consider how Jesus fulfills many prophecies. One example is the prophecy of Jonah. “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). 

Consider Jesus’ miracles. A great example of this is when John the Baptist sends his disciples to investigate if Jesus is the Messiah. “When John heard in prison of the works of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to him with this question, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them’” (John 7:21-22). 

Consider the miracles present from the times of the early church until now. Remember when Peter healed the crippled man: “But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:6-8). 

And even into modern times, we have miracles such as the “Day the Sun Danced” at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. 

Lawrence Feingold, a Catholic theologian and philosopher, makes an argument in the form of a dilemma that further illuminates this point. He says, “Either the Church spread by miracles, in which case God has confirmed her mission, or it spread without miracles. Even if the latter is true, it would be no less miraculous to have lasted 2,000 years.” 

Consider the holiness in the church’s members. When we remember the history of the church and the countless saints, canonized or not, we cannot fail to acknowledge that there must be something to the Catholic Church. Because left to our own disordered passions, darkened intellect, and weakened will, we are prone to great evil. 

Consider propagation and the spread of the faith. It spread despite very obvious obstacles. First, there have been numerous persecutions. 

Second, the Christian faith teaches supernatural mysteries exceeding the power of reason, such as the Trinity, the Incarnation and Passion, and grace. The human mind naturally resists what is above our reason. 

Third, Christianity teaches a high moral code, especially regarding marriage and sexuality. Humans naturally resist limits to our passions. 

Finally, Christian hope promises a supernatural beatitude — seeing God face to face with the eyes of the mind — rather than sensual pleasures. 

Considering these four obstacles, it is remarkable that the Catholic faith did take root and spread. 

Finally, Feingold says, “What is miraculous is rather the internal unity of the Catholic Church in communion with the Roman Pontiff through twenty centuries, surviving great crises and historical vicissitudes, and yet always preserving the same faith. Why did the Catholic Church not go the way of the Protestant denominations? What maintains its unity, catholicity, apostolicity, and holiness? It is evidently the rock of Peter, the papacy, on which Christ founded the Church (Matthew 16:18). Catholics see this foundation — and the four marks that rest on it — as a sure sign of the divine origin of the Church.” 

Have confidence in being Catholic. The motives of credibility demonstrate the reasonableness of the faith! 

Father Nick Nelson is pastor of Queen of Peace and Holy Family parishes in Cloquet and vocations director for the Diocese of Duluth. He studied at The Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome. Reach him at [email protected].