The latest article on Baptism was not inserted in the Newsletter so it is presented here.

With God’s blessing and my prayers.

In His Service,

Father Courtney Edward Krier

Baptism ~ Means of Salvation

Preparation for Grace

Introduction (c)

Justification, Righteousness and Sanctifying Grace (3)

With God’s prevenient grace—the call to hear His voice, the seed planted, the light illuminating the darkness of the mind, the invitation to the wedding feast—accepted or received into a willing heart (cf. Pohle, Grace, 32), God does not abandon the individual, but continues to give his actual grace, or assisting grace, that strengthens and sustains the will in turning to God.

But all things that are reproved, are made manifest by the light; for all that is made manifest is light. Wherefore he saith: Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee. (Eph. 5:14)

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings. (Rom. 8:26)

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, . . . with fear and trembling work out your salvation. For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will. And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Phil. 2:12-15)

Saint Augustine provides this example of Peter:

This love [great love of God] the Apostle Peter did not yet possess, when he for fear thrice denied the Lord. (Matthew 26:69-75) There is no fear in love, says the Evangelist John in his first Epistle, but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John4:18) But yet, however small and imperfect his love was, it was not wholly wanting when he said to the Lord, I will lay down my life for Your sake; (John13:37) for he supposed himself able to effect what he felt himself willing to do. And who was it that had begun to give him his love, however small, but He who prepares the will, and perfects by His co-operation what He initiates by His operation? Forasmuch as in beginning He works in us that we may have the will, and in perfecting works with us when we have the will. On which account the apostle says, I am confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6) He operates, therefore, without us, in order that we may will; but when we will, and so will that we may act, He co-operates with us. We can, however, ourselves do nothing to effect good works of piety without Him either working that we may will, or co-working when we will. Now, concerning His working that we may will, it is said: It is God which works in you, even to will. (Philippians 2:13) While of His co-working with us, when we will and act by willing, the apostle says, We know that in all things there is co-working for good to them that love God. What does this phrase, all things, mean, but the terrible and cruel sufferings which affect our condition? That burden, indeed, of Christ, which is heavy for our infirmity, becomes light to love. For to such did the Lord say that His burden was light, (Matthew 11:30) as Peter was when he suffered for Christ, not as he was when he denied Him. (Grace and Freewill, xvii, 33)

Pohle (cf. Grace, 296-97) has the steps to justification in the following procedure after one has received faith: First, one recognizes sin for what it is and has fear of divine justice. Second, one turns to the mercy of God and moves from fear to hope. Third, with hope in God’s mercy one desires God’s goodness and begins to love (i.e., give oneself to God). Fourth, knowing that sin stands between, one repents of one’s sins and asks for forgiveness (contrition and firm purpose of amendment). If contrition is based on love of God, that is, perfect contrition, and the desire to be pleasing to and to please God, justification takes place at that moment. If the contrition is based only on fear of God’s justice or another supernatural motive (attrition)—for there must be contrition, that is, sorrow for sin because it offends God and separates one from Him (loss of heaven, condemnation to hell) and demands a plea to be forgiven—the sacramental reception of baptism would bestow justification (just as the Sacrament of Penance renews sanctification if one has attrition).

If contrition is dictated and transfused by perfect love, and the sinner has an explicit or at least implicit desire for the Sacrament, justification takes place at once. If, on the other hand, the sinner’s sorrow is imperfect (attritio), he attains justification only by actual reception of the Sacrament (Baptism or Penance). (Pohle, 297)

This is based upon the Council of Trent, which at the Sixth Session (chapter 4) decreed: 

After the promulgation of the Gospel this passing cannot take place without the water of regeneration (can. 5; D861) or the desire for it, as it is written: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John iii. 5; D796).

It is this same Council that marvelous formulated the process of justification when it decreed:

Now they are disposed to that justice [can. 7 and 9] when, aroused and assisted by divine grace, receiving faith “by hearing” [Rom. 10:17], they are freely moved toward God, believing that to be true which has been divinely revealed and promised [can. 12 and 14], and this especially, that the sinner is justified by God through his grace, “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” [Rom. 3:24], and when knowing that they are sinners, turning themselves away from the fear of divine justice, by which they are profitably aroused [can. 8], to a consideration of the mercy of God, they are raised to hope, trusting that God will be merciful to them for the sake of Christ, and they begin to love him as the source of all justice and are therefore moved against sins by a certain hatred and detestation [can. 9], that is, by that repentance, which must be performed before baptism [Acts 2:38]; and finally when they resolve to receive baptism, to begin a new life and to keep the commandments of God. Concerning this disposition it is written: “He that cometh to God must believe, that he is and is a rewarder to them that seek him” [Heb. 11:6], and, “Be of good faith, son, thy sins are forgiven thee” [Matt. 9:2; Mark 2:5], and, “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” [Sirach.1:27], and, “Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit” [Acts 2:38], and, “Going therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” [Matt. 28:19], and finally, “Prepare your hearts unto the Lord” [1 Samuel 7:3]. (Sess. VI, cap. 6; D 798.)

This is in accordance with Scripture, in which one reads:

But God will not leave off his mercy, and he will not destroy, nor abolish his own works, neither will he out up by the roots the offspring of his elect: and he will not utterly take away the seed of him that loveth the Lord. (Eccles. 47:24)

And Romans 10:9: For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. That is, the same faith as Abraham, who believed everything God said, even that Sara, whose womb was “dead” would give “life” and fulfilled all God commanded. (Cf. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom., 17)

Finally, St Paul gives this basis of Faith, which also is interpreted as necessary for an adult to arrive at justification: Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)

Before commenting of Justification and Sanctifying Grace, to answer some questions, the following presentation on explicit faith and implicit faith should be inserted. Faith is necessary for justification, but what is necessary to believe? Theologians have various opinions since there has been no Church definitions on most issues. Here there is discussed that which is taken up by Joseph Pohle (cf. Grace, 279-284)

In analyzing the notions of fides and necessitas theologians distinguish between fides explicita and fides implicita, and between necessitas medii and necessitas praecepti.

Fides explicita is an express and fully developed belief in the truths of revelation; fides implicita, a virtual belief in whatever may be contained in a dogma explicitly professed. I make an act of implicit faith when I say, for instance: “I believe whatever the Church teaches,” or: “I heartily accept whatever God has revealed.”

The necessitas medii is based on the objective relation of means to an end, and consequently binds all men, even the ignorant and those who are in error without their own fault. Such, for example, is the necessity of the eye for seeing, of wings for flying, of grace for performing salutary acts, of the lumen gloriae for the beatific vision. The necessitas praecepti, on the other hand, is founded entirely on the will of God, who positively commands or forbids under pain of grievous sin, but is willing to condone non-compliance with his precepts when it is owing to guiltless ignorance. This applies to all positive divine precepts, e. g. the law of fasting and abstinence. It is to be noted that the necessitas medii always involves the necessitas praecepti, because God must needs will and impose upon us by positive precept whatever is objectively necessary as a means of salvation. (ibid., 279-80)

Having provided what the terms mean, Pohle goes on to state the questions. The first is: 

Are sinners preparing for justification, and the faithful in general, obliged by necessity of precept to believe explicitly all revealed truths? The answer is, No; because this is practically impossible, and God does not demand the impossible. (ibid., 280)

And he explains in the following words:

Generally speaking, it is sufficient to have an explicit knowledge of, and give one’s firm assent to, the more important dogmas and moral precepts—the twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed, the Commandments of God and the Church, the Sacraments (as needed), and the Our Father. All other revealed truths need be held only fide implicita. More is of course demanded of educated persons and those who are in duty bound to instruct others, such as priests and teachers. (Ibid., 281)

Saint Thomas provides the following in his Summa Theologica (IIa IIae, q. 2, art 7) that addresses this:

Augustine says (De Corr. et Gratia vii; Ep. cxc): “Our faith is sound if we believe that no man, old or young is delivered from the contagion of death and the bonds of sin, except by the one Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ.”

. . . As stated above (5; 1, 8), the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion is the way by which men obtain beatitude; for it is written (Acts 4:12): “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” Therefore belief of some kind in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation was necessary at all times and for all persons, but this belief differed according to differences of times and persons. The reason of this is that before the state of sin, man believed, explicitly in Christ’s Incarnation, in so far as it was intended for the consummation of glory, but not as it was intended to deliver man from sin by the Passion and Resurrection, since man had no foreknowledge of his future sin. He does, however, seem to have had foreknowledge of the Incarnation of Christ, from the fact that he said (Genesis 2:24): “Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife,” of which the Apostle says (Ephesians5:32) that “this is a great sacrament . . . in Christ and the Church,” and it is incredible that the first man was ignorant about this sacrament.

But after sin, man believed explicitly in Christ, not only as to the Incarnation, but also as to the Passion and Resurrection, whereby the human race is delivered from sin and death: for they would not, else, have foreshadowed Christ’s Passion by certain sacrifices both before and after the Law, the meaning of which sacrifices was known by the learned explicitly, while the simple folk, under the veil of those sacrifices, believed them to be ordained by God in reference to Christ’s coming, and thus their knowledge was covered with a veil, so to speak. And, as stated above (Question 1, Article 7), the nearer they were to Christ, the more distinct was their knowledge of Christ’s mysteries.

After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the Incarnation, of which we have spoken above (Question 1, Article 8). As to other minute points in reference to the articles of the Incarnation, men have been bound to believe them more or less explicitly according to each one’s state and office.

Therefore, if one has been exposed to the truths of faith, one is obliged to believe the truths. If one is obliged to learn those truths of the faith, he must learn them and believe them. This brings us to the second question.

A more important and more difficult question is this: Are there any dogmas, and if so how many, which must be believed by all men fide explicita and necessitate medii? St. Paul says (Heb. 11:6): “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him.” (Grace, 281)

And Pohle continues, recognizing that Paul is speaking of Faith, and therefore what must be believed, states:

With but few exceptions, Catholic theologians maintain that the Apostle in this passage means theological faith, based upon supernatural motives. This interpretation is borne out by the context, by such parallel texts as John III, 11 sqq., 32 sqq., 2 Tim. I, 12, I John V, 9 sq., and by the decisions of several councils. [Cf. Conc. Trid., Sess. VI, cap. 6; Conc. Vatican., Sess. III, cap. 3.]There can be no reasonable doubt that all men, to be justified and saved, must have an explicit belief in at least two dogmas, viz.: the existence of God and eternal retribution. Pope Innocent XI [Holy Office, March 4, 1679; D1172]condemned the Jansenist proposition that explicit belief in divine retribution is not necessary for salvation. (Ibid.)

Finally, having set the extreme (those who have not been exposed to the Gospel message or Divine Revelation), Pohle asks the question for even these:

Are there any other dogmas which must be explicitly believed necessitate medii? The only dogmas which might come in question are: the Trinity, the Incarnation, the immortality of the soul, and the necessity of grace. The last-mentioned two may be omitted from the list, because St. Paul does not mention them, and for the additional reason that belief in immortality is included in the dogma of eternal retribution, while the necessity of grace is inseparably bound up with the dogma of Divine Providence, which in its turn is but a particular aspect of eternal retribution. Hence the only two dogmas in regard to which the question at the beginning of this paragraph can reasonably be asked, are the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation.

Theologians are divided in the matter. Some maintain that no human being can or could ever be saved without explicit belief in both the Trinity and the Incarnation. Others hold that this necessitas medii did not exist under the Old Covenant.[ Gregory of Valentia, Becanus, Thomas Sanchez, and many Thomists.] A third school avers that no such necessity can be proved either for the Old or the New Dispensation. [Suarez, De Lugo, and a large number of other theologians.] (Ibid., 282)