On What To Do When Reason Seems To Fail

We hit upon this point in the last paragraph, and we talked a little about  the way the saints have overcome so many difficulties because of their great faith.  As Catholics, we record such heroes because we know that we're always going to come up with the same sort of challenges in our own lives, and it's nice to have an inspiring example to follow.

But something very specific I want to address here, is that most of the saints follow a pattern... not just in the challenges and difficulties they face (which always caused doubt in their minds) but particularly where those challenges come from.  We tend to forget that 9 times out of 10, the biggest challenge to the faith of these saints comes directly from the Church-or at least from authorities within the Church.

God gives us these treasures (the saints) to help keep His Church on the right path... so it stands to reason that those most opposed to the saints, as they fulfill God's will, are the very ones God wishes to correct.

Most of the saints we study had an authoritative figure who did everything possible to stifle his or her works.  Saint Damien of Molokai faced extreme opposition from his superiors, who would not send him the provisions he needed to help the lepers in Hawaii.  Father Augustine Tolton (the first black priest in America, who is on his way to becoming a saint) just barely made it to the priesthood, and then was suppressed by both his peers and his bishops.  Even Saint Padre Pio, a miracle worker whose fame was worldwide, was prevented from saying public mass for a long time.

These examples are modern day saints, but the ancient ones all follow the same sort of patterns.  So each one of them felt the darkness and doubt that goes hand in hand with proclaiming the Good News.  And since the opposition came from the very institution they were trying to promote, you can bet that they suffered from more doubts than any of us ever will.  The doubts were natural and reasonable... but they overcame these difficulties through faith.

In our Church today, we face all sorts of opposition from within our own walls.  Priests and bishops will not speak out against abortion or contraception.  Lay people are doing more to stop the culture of death than the Church authorities.  So it's very natural that we should feel as though maybe we're wrong about it... maybe it doesn't matter as much as we think it does.  Maybe our moral compass is off a little and the reasoning behind our convictions is skewed.

During such doubts, we have to remember that faith is what will take over when reason fails us... because our own use of reason and understanding of things WILL fail us at times. Especially when everyone around us (including those ahead of us) have abandoned the reasonable doctrines.