Man Should Not Scrutinize This Sacrament in Curiosity, But Humbly Imitate Christ and Submit Reason to Holy Faith
The Voice of Christ
BEWARE of curious and vain examination of this most profound Sacrament, if you do not wish
to be plunged into the depths of doubt. He who scrutinizes its majesty too closely will be
overwhelmed by its glory.
God can do more than man can understand. A pious and humble search for truth He will allow,
a search that is ever ready to learn and that seeks to walk in the reasonable doctrine of the fathers.
Blest is the simplicity that leaves the difficult way of dispute and goes forward on the level,
firm path of God’s commandments. Many have lost devotion because they wished to search into
things beyond them.
Faith is required of you, and a sincere life, not a lofty intellect nor a delving into the mysteries
of God. If you neither know nor understand things beneath you, how can you comprehend what is
above you? Submit yourself to God and humble reason to faith, and the light of understanding will
be given you so far as it is good and necessary for you. Some are gravely tempted concerning faith
and the Sacrament but this disturbance is not laid to them but to the enemy.
Be not disturbed, dispute not in your mind, answer not the doubts sent by the devil, but believe
the words of God, believe His saints and prophets and the evil enemy will flee from you. It is often
very profitable for the servant of God to suffer such things. For Satan does not tempt unbelievers
and sinners whom he already holds securely, but in many ways he does tempt and trouble the
faithful servant.
Go forward, then, with sincere and unflinching faith, and with humble reverence approach this
Sacrament. Whatever you cannot understand commit to the security of the all-powerful God, Who
does not deceive you. The man, however, who trusts in himself is deceived. God walks with sincere
men, reveals Himself to humble men, enlightens the understanding of pure minds, and hides His
grace from the curious and the proud.
Human reason is weak and can be deceived. True faith, however, cannot be deceived. All reason
and natural science ought to come after faith, not go before it, nor oppose it. For in this most holy
and supremely excellent Sacrament, faith and love take precedence and work in a hidden manner.
God, eternal, incomprehensible, and infinitely powerful, does great and inscrutable things in
heaven and on earth, and there is no searching into His marvelous works. If all the works of God
were such that human reason could easily grasp them, they would not be called wonderful or beyond
the power of words to tell.