Doubt is the Dialectical Partner of Faith: Fallen Away
Catholic's Discovery
Some people believe that doubting is the antithesis of faith,
and to express doubts in God or God's ability or God's love for
one and all is a sign the person has little or no faith. But
these critics could not be more wrong. Along my spiritual
journey to find God and ultimately to find God's love, I have
stumbled upon this truth: doubt forces a continuous
reexamination of one's faith, and thus doubting is the
dialectical partner of practicing one's faith.
When have you ever heard a preacher on a Sunday morning
religious program ever say "I want to encourage you to have
doubts. I want you to reexamine your faith. Don't believe
everything I say or you hear anyone else say. Use your mind and
your heart to determine what is right." I suspect most readers
would answer "never." That fact shows the preachers have been
preaching AT the viewers and not TO the viewers. For it is
essential to cultivate one's ability to doubt if a person is to
have faith in God.
When asked during an interview if it was assumed that all the
saints doubted at one point or another, the British essayist and
lay apostle of Christianity Malcolm Muggeridge offered the
following brilliant comment. "It is's not assumed, it's
certainly true that they did, and I would agree absolutely with
that. The only people I have met in this world who never doubt
are materialists and atheists. I think they have a sort of
ludicrous certainty that there is nothing transcendental to
know. But for me, at any rate, doubt has been an integral part
of coming to have faith."
As a Catholic, I wonder why doubt and the role of doubting as
reinforcement for faith was never expressed in any homily that I
heard in Sunday masses, nor was it ever a part of the Catholic
catechism classes that I had to attend. One of the prayers I
learned early in life is called "The Memorare." The opening
stanza of that prayer goes "Remember O most gracious Virgin
Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy
protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was
left unaided..."
Similarly, we were tought that certain blessings inured to those
who prayed the rosary. Among these blessings, are "7. Whoever
shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die with the
sacraments of the Church;" and "11. You shall obtain all you ask
of me by the recitation of the rosary." These promises were made
to "St. Dominic and Blessed Alan," and the official prayer card
that I have listing all fifteen promises carries the official
imprimatur of Patrick J. Hayes, D.D., Archbishop of New York.
Surely, these same rosary promises have been propagated in
dioceses throughout the world and given the official imprimatur
of local bishops. I have wondered if this "St. Dominic" is THE
St. Dominic, who established the Dominican order of priests and
nuns, and was a great figure in spreading education to the
masses.
Let's examine The Memorare. I can personally attest that on
numerous occasions, dozens of occasions, I have sought help and
protection from the Blessed Virgin Mary - even when reciting The
Memorare - and been left completely unaided. I'm not talking
about receiving some unexpected consolation or other assistance
than for which I prayed; I am talking about receiving no aid, no
assistance, nada, zip. Without doubt, I would just go on
mindlessly reciting The Memorare and keep ignoring all the
instances in which I received no aid. But I have doubt,
intelligence, and reason coupled with my faith. So I now doubt,
with considerable evidence to support my doubt, that The
Memorare is accurate. I cannot go so far as my Protestant
brethren and say praying to Mary the Mother of God is wrong.
However, church teaching on what we can expect from those
prayers is clearly wrong.
My own mother was very devoted to the rosary. She prayed it
frequently. I recall one time when she was first feeling the
effects of Alzheimer's disease, I found her one evening lying on
the couch in the living room, praying the rosary, with tears
coming down her cheeks. I asked her immediately what was wrong.
She said she called out to the grandchildren playing in the
backyard, but no one answered her, and she was scared that she
did not know where the grandchildren were. (In fact they were at
their homes a thousand miles away and had not come for a visit).
But it remains a poignant memory for me that in time of despair
where my mother felt she had lost her grandchildren, she turned
to the rosary to help turn around this terrible circumstance. My
dearly beloved mother died in September 2005 peacefully in her
sleep, but she did not receive the sacraments of the Church.
Similarly, we know that people who recite the rosary do not
receive all they ask; otherwise, everyone who had cancer or
everyone who was unemployed would simply pray the rosary and
their crises would be solved. It does not happen. We don't need
to doubt it does not happen; we know with absolute certainty
that many people, and indeed most people, who pray the rosary
with some special intention do not receive what they seek.
It may surprise you to learn that as a fallen away Catholic, I
still pray the rosary with a group of elderly ladies in our
church after mass on Fridays. My doubting has convinced me that
to dismiss the rosary altogether is wrong. I believe, but I
cannot prove, that the rosary achieves enormous consequences in
the spiritual world, even if not in our earthly existence.
Mostly, I am praying for the souls of my beloved father and
mother. I would do anything I could to help them, just as they
did what they could to help me in life. The love between us did
not end with death, but it goes on in the afterlife. My rosary
recitation today, in the wake of obvious evidence on the
limitations of the rosary to affect events here on earth, is the
best spiritual bouquet that I know to provide them in the
afterlife.
In summary, to all those struggling with their faith, which
should include everyone with a good heart, take comfort in
knowing that doubt is not a sin to be avoided. Doubt, according
to Malcolm Muggeridge paraphrasing St. Augustine, is like strips
of metal in reinforced concrete. Doubt makes faith stronger when
the person overcomes those doubts and returns to a modified
faith. Reexamine your faith continuously, and you will be led to
a deeper, more fulfilling realization of God who gives you faith.
Dr. Michael A. S. Guth, Ph.D., J.D. is a Professor of Financial
Economics and Law for several universities with on-line degree
programs and an attorney at law in Tennessee. He writes legal
briefs and appellate briefs for law firms as well as his own
clients. On the retail side, his law practice seeks to empower
individuals to represent themselves in court without a lawyer.
He assists these pro se parties by drafting court documents
(pleadings) and performing legal research. His contact
information is shown on each of the business web pages above.
In addition, Dr. Guth is a financial quant and former investment
banker, having worked for Credit Suisse First Boston and
Deutsche Bank in London and Frankfurt. He specializes in
developing investment strategies and hedging techniques using
derivatives. For five years, he consulted to the electric power
and gas industry in the USA, even managing the Middle Office
(financial risk control) function for two trading floors.
Dr. Guth has taught over 30 undergraduate and gradute courses
on-line. See http://michaelguth.com/courses.htm