The Grace of Faith Transforms Our Reasoned Certitude

Monsignor Ronald A. Knox out of the Magnificat by way of the Doctors of the Catholic Church.

“Your faith has saved you”

We don’t, strictly speaking, lead people a certain way by proving that our religion is probable and then invite them to take a jump, which jump we call faith. No, we claim to establish more than a probability; we claim to establish a moral certainty. Moral certainty is not inescapably evident to the mind, like mathematical certainty, but it is certainly still; sufficient reason on which to base a decision that is to alter the whole of our lives and the whole of our attitude toward life – if we will let it have its way with us…In the process of making the act of faith, we attain certitude …

The office of grace is not to provide a substitute for our natural operations, but to perfect our natural operations. It is the same power that manifest itself at Cana of Galilee, turning water into wine. When we are confirmed , we resolve to be good soldiers of Christ, and the grace of the sacrament transforms that resolve into something stronger than our natural powers could ever achieve…The grace of faith is not a substitute for reasoned certitude; it transforms our reasoned certitude and elevates it to a supernatural level.

Monsignor Ronald A. Knox ( + 1957) was a British Catholic apologist and translator of the Bible.