“The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among
the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific
learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false.” - St. Thomas Aquinas
First of all, I just want to say that everyone, and I mean everyone, should read St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Bernard, and all the Doctors of the Church. Seriously. They were so amazingly blessed by God, especially in their writings, and it's always just so amazing to read what the Holy Spirit helped them to write. The knowledge of God and of the Church and how to live and love for Him is always amazing, and reading them is almost necessary to live more completely for the Lord God, especially when bringing other people to Him, whether they're new to it or if we're helping to bring them back home.
The Church has always known how difficult it is for people to accept truth, especially Truth Himself. It's an inherent trait of being fallen, of being away from Truth Himself, that we shy away from any kind of truth, from what is real, from what our natural faculties, grounded in natural law, are directed towards. It's difficult for everyone, although less for people who come closer to God, and it becomes easier to know truth as you come closer to Him, in direct proportion. It's what we were made for, and even though we're fallen, it's what we still seek in our daily lives. We want to find truth, and yet we don't want to be anywhere near it. Like always, we, as humans, live paradoxically.
As those who try to know, live for, and love Truth Himself, the Lord God Almighty, we are obligated and in fact commanded to share His Truth with everyone, both those who know it already and those who don't. To live this out is required of us to come closer to our Beloved, our Bridegroom Who calls us to Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit in complete trust and surrender to Truth. The way we can live it out is by showing and sharing the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ with all those around us, even when they want to go away from it. With this command, it's necessary for us to first know truth, to live and love it ourselves The truths in Scripture, the truths of Sacred Tradition, the truths taught by the Magisterium, and the truths we can come to know by logic that lead us to truths about God. This is why it's so important to read the writings of the Saints, why it's so important to study the teachings of God revealed through His Bride the Church. Those who we meet who we want to bring to Christ will ask us questions, and we must be prepared to meet them in full capacity in order to do His will.
Of course, not only is knowing these truths required, but living them is even more necessary, especially to show to the people who we want to be given to Christ. Although "practice what you preach" is a cliche phrase, it is so often forgotten. We may tell people these things we know theologically, but if we do not live them then there is no point, and people will begin more and more to see hypocrisy from those who act as such, and the masses of the people latch on to even the smallest acts of hypocrisy like a starving leech. So we must always live for the Truth we know, not only to be more and more His, but to give others more and more reason to be His. In conclusion, we must know and live out truth for the sake of Truth Himself, the Lord God, to come closer to Him and to bring others closer to Him, and while we as fallen humans run away from truth, we still have the God-gifted drive to seek after it with our full force, and we who know Truth must be prepared to share the truth of the Lord Jesus' redemption and the hope of His salvation, of His love.
All you Doctors of the Church, please pray for us and for those who do not know Truth yet!
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