61. Why Must a Catholic Learn Theology?

"Not to think of anything but God."

"Ever to know more and more the will of God."

The Prayer

Fr. Lasance's The Blessed Sacrament Prayer Book gives this beautiful petition on page 226:

O Father! O Son! O Holy Ghost! O Holy Trinity! O Jesus! O Mary! O ye blessed angels of God, all ye saints of paradise, men and women, obtain for me these graces, which I ask through the precious blood of Jesus Christ:

1. Ever to do the holy will of God.

2. Ever to live in union with God.

3. Not to think of anything but God.

4. To love God alone.

5. To do all for God.

6. To seek only the glory of God.

7. To sanctify myself solely for God.

8. To know well my own utter nothingness.

9. Ever to know more and more the will of God.

10. Here ask for any special grace.

Mary, most holy, offer to the Eternal Father the most precious blood of Jesus Christ for my soul, for the holy souls in purgatory, for the needs of holy Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for all the world.

Introduction

Theology is not merely an interest for certain temperaments. It is not a hobby for men who like books, arguments, and distinctions. It is not a scholar's pastime while ordinary Catholics are excused from knowing what God has revealed.

Every Catholic has a duty to know God according to his state. The duty is not the same in every soul. A priest must know more than a child. A father must know what is needed to govern his home. A mother must know what is needed to form her children. A convert must learn what he was never taught. A soul in crisis must learn enough to distinguish truth from error, the Bride from the counterfeit, the Good Shepherd from the wolf.

But no Catholic is excused from desiring to know God's will.

The old prayer asks for two graces that belong together: "Not to think of anything but God" and "Ever to know more and more the will of God." Those petitions prove the point. The Catholic does not pray merely to feel close to God. He prays that his mind may be turned toward God and that he may know what God wills, because love must obey.

Theology Means Knowing God

Theology means the knowledge of God and of all things in relation to God. It is not sterile speculation when it is rightly ordered. It is the mind kneeling before revelation.

To know who God is, what He has revealed, what He commands, what He forbids, how He saves, how He is worshipped, what His Church is, what sin does, what grace gives, what death means, and what judgment awaits: this is not extra information. It is the knowledge by which the soul learns how to live.

Ignorance of God is not humility. A man may be simple without being negligent. Holy simplicity loves truth and receives what God teaches. Negligent simplicity refuses to learn and then calls the refusal peace.

Theology becomes dangerous only when it is separated from prayer, humility, obedience, and charity. But ignorance becomes deadly when it is chosen.

The Will of God Must Be Known

The prayer asks to know more and more the will of God. This is not curiosity. It is duty.

A soul cannot do God's will while refusing to learn it. A father cannot govern his household by guesses. A mother cannot form children by instinct alone. A young person cannot resist temptation without doctrine. A Catholic in crisis cannot recognize wolves if he has never learned the marks of truth.

The modern habit says, "I am not interested in theology." That sentence is spiritually dangerous. It often means, "I do not want the labor of knowing what God requires." It can become a polite form of disobedience.

Of course, not every soul is called to the same depth of study. But every soul is called to docility. Every soul must learn the catechism, the commandments, the sacraments, the duties of state, the danger of sin, the necessity of grace, and the truth of the Church.

To refuse this knowledge is to refuse light.

Love Needs Truth

Many souls say they love God while remaining indifferent to doctrine. But love without truth becomes sentiment. If a man loves God, he wants to know Him as He has revealed Himself. If he loves Christ, he wants to know what Christ teaches. If he loves the Church, he wants to know the faith she guards.

No wife would be praised for saying she loves her husband but has no interest in knowing his mind. No child would be praised for saying he loves his father but does not care what his father commands. Love seeks knowledge because love seeks union.

So it is with God. The soul that loves Him asks: Who art Thou? What hast Thou revealed? What dost Thou command? What must I avoid? How must I worship? Where is Thy Church? How shall I be saved?

Theology is love seeking the truth of the Beloved.

Thinking of God

The petition "Not to think of anything but God" does not mean a Catholic neglects work, family, study, meals, duties, or ordinary responsibilities. It means that all things are to be seen under God, ordered to God, judged by God, and returned to God.

This is one reason theology is a duty. The mind cannot be God-centered if it refuses to learn God's truth. A soul that thinks about work without God becomes worldly. A soul that thinks about family without God becomes naturalist. A soul that thinks about crisis without God becomes frantic or bitter. A soul that thinks about doctrine without God becomes proud.

To think of God is not to escape reality. It is to see reality truthfully.

The Catholic must learn to ask: what does God reveal here? what does God command here? what does God forbid here? what does God permit here? what does God desire from me here? Theology trains the mind to bring every thought back beneath divine truth.

This is not abstraction. It is practical holiness.

Doctrine Guards the Soul

Doctrine is not cold. It is protective. It guards the soul from poison.

Without doctrine, a soul cannot recognize false mercy, false obedience, false ecumenism, false worship, private judgment, modernism, indifferentism, or wolves in sheep's clothing. It may mistake softness for charity, novelty for renewal, contradiction for mystery, and silence for holiness.

This is why the crisis has been so effective. Many sheep were not taught. They were trained to feel, attend, belong, obey externally, and avoid trouble, but not to judge by doctrine. When wolves entered, the sheep had little protection.

A Catholic who learns theology rightly is not becoming proud. He is learning the shepherd's voice.

Theology Is Not Curiosity

There is a false study that feeds pride. It gathers terms, arguments, controversies, dates, and quotes in order to win disputes or feel superior. That is not the theology of saints.

True theology is ordered to God and duty. It makes the soul more reverent, more obedient, more exact in worship, more humble in confession, more faithful in prayer, more careful with sin, and more charitable toward souls.

If study makes a soul restless, contemptuous, prayerless, and disobedient, something is wrong. But the abuse of study does not excuse ignorance. Food can be abused by gluttony; that does not make starvation holy.

The Catholic must study as a servant, not as a collector of weapons for vanity.

According to State in Life

The duty to learn theology is measured by state in life. A priest has a grave duty to know doctrine because he must teach, absolve, preach, and guard souls. A parent must know enough to form children and protect the home. A catechist must know what he hands on. A young adult must know enough to choose rightly and resist corruption. A soul seeking the true Church must know enough to distinguish marks, authority, sacraments, and error.

No one may hide behind another's office to avoid his own duty. The father cannot say, "The priest will handle doctrine," while his children are being formed by the world. The mother cannot say, "I am not theological," while her children learn lies. The layman cannot say, "This is above me," when wolves are leading souls into false worship.

Grace gives duties. Duties require knowledge.

The Prayer Teaches the Duty

The prayer in the image asks for many graces: to do the holy will of God, to live in union with God, not to think of anything but God, to love God alone, to do all for God, to seek only His glory, to sanctify oneself for God, to know one's nothingness, and then to know more and more the will of God.

Notice the order. The desire to know God's will is not detached from holiness. It belongs inside a life of love, humility, union, and sanctification.

This is the safe form of theology. It is not study as vanity. It is study as surrender.

The soul asks to know more because it wants to obey more. It asks for light because it wants to love rightly. It asks for doctrine because it wants to belong wholly to God.

Against the Hireling Spirit

The hireling prefers sheep who do not ask doctrinal questions. He likes religious people who are busy, sincere, emotional, polite, and manageable. He may tell them they are too busy trying to become holy to worry about doctrine, crisis, error, or wolves.

But there is no holiness where the will of God is not sought. There is no holiness in refusing to know what endangers souls. There is no holiness in leaving the mind unfed while the heart claims devotion.

The saints did not despise doctrine. The martyrs died for doctrine. The Fathers fought over doctrine. Councils judged doctrine. The catechisms teach doctrine. The Church guards doctrine because doctrine guards the way to God.

Theology is not an interruption of holiness. It is one of holiness's duties.

Conclusion

A Catholic must learn theology because he must know God, love God, serve God, and do God's will. He need not become a scholar in the same way as a priest or doctor of the Church. But he must not choose ignorance.

The soul should ask daily for the grace to know more and more the will of God. Then it should act on that prayer: learn the catechism, read sound doctrine, ask good questions, receive correction, study Scripture with the Church, and judge every spirit by the faith.

Theology is not a pastime for the interested.

It is the duty of a soul that wants to obey.

Notes

[1] Fr. F. X. Lasance, The Blessed Sacrament Prayer Book, "Invocations and Petitions," p. 226. The final printed instruction continues with the Glory be, Hail Mary, and Eternal Rest prayers.