04-20-2026, 09:32 AM
Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion
EIGHTH OBJECTION. RELIGION, INSTEAD OF SPEAKING SO MUCH OF THE LIFE TO COME, OUGHT RATHER TO OCCUPY ITSELF WITH THE PRESENT ONE, -AND DESTROY ITS MISERY.
Answer. Religion speaks much of the life to come, because that life, being eternal, is of vast importance, and is much more worthy than the present life, that we should be occupied with it. It is there, in fact, that is to be decided forever the great question ,of happiness or misery; on earth we do but prepare its solution.
But if she speaks a great deal of the life eternal, Religion is far from neglecting the life of this present world. All the interests of man are present to her; his soul, his body, his transitory life, his future and unchangeable life; she forgets nothing. If she does not completely destroy the miseries of life, it is because those miseries cannot be destroyed; and they cannot be destroyed because the causes which produce them cannot be suppressed.
Of these, the first is the inequality of physical strength, of bodily health, of talents, intelligence and energies in men. If, in consequence of an accident, or simply from the effect of old age, I lose the strength necessary for pursuing my trade or occupation, shall I not fall into misery? If, in spite of all my efforts, I am so unskilful as not to be able to work as well as my fellow-workmen, will not my customers prefer to deal with those who excel me ; and shall I not fall into misery? Yet, who can guarantee us from sickness, accidents or old age? Who can give talent to those who have it not? Who can render all men equal in strength, in intellect, in willingness? See, then, here a fertile source of misery, and one which it is impossible even for religion to destroy.
The second cause of human misery, not less profound than the first, arises from the vices incidental to our feeble nature, corrupted by sin; idleness, licentiousness, drunkenness, inordinate love of pleasure, revenge, pride, etc. Among a hundred poor persons, how many are unhappy through their own faults! Nineteen out of twenty. They accuse heaven, when they ought only to accuse themselves. The good poor soon find help; God and the faithful children of God never abandon them!
Poverty, like sickness and death, is the punishment of sin. It is impossible to destroy it; for it is impossible to destroy original sin, which is an established fact, and to render man impeccable. But that which is possible, and which religion performs admirably, is to lessen misery, to relieve and soften its pangs, to render it supportable, in fine, to sanctify itself. Religion reveres, in the body, the temple of that immortal soul, which is itself the living temple of God. She exerts herself to heal, to prevent even, all these afflictions, by the numberless charitable institutions, the asylums of every kind which abound in the Christian world.
Wherever her voice is listened to a the rich man becomes the friend, the brother and often the servant of the poor. He pours forth joyfully his superfluity into the lap of the afflicted. The poor man in his turn learns to hope. He learns, in the school of Jesus Christ, to endure with patience, and sometimes he even attains so high as to love sufferings, which he knows are destined, in the adorable designs of his heavenly Father, to prove his fidelity, to purify him of his failings, to render him more like to his poor and crucified Saviour, and to lay up for him ineffable treasures of happiness in the eternal Country! How many good poor have I not seen thanking God for their sufferings, and rejoicing in their privations!
Religion, therefore, does just what she ought by occupying herself with our happiness in this life, but occupying herself a great deal more with the life to come. None have any cause to complain of religion. Let the rich become good Christians and consequently charitable; and the poor become good Christians, and consequently patient and resigned ; this is the secret of happiness. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. xiv. 17 )
EIGHTH OBJECTION. RELIGION, INSTEAD OF SPEAKING SO MUCH OF THE LIFE TO COME, OUGHT RATHER TO OCCUPY ITSELF WITH THE PRESENT ONE, -AND DESTROY ITS MISERY.
Answer. Religion speaks much of the life to come, because that life, being eternal, is of vast importance, and is much more worthy than the present life, that we should be occupied with it. It is there, in fact, that is to be decided forever the great question ,of happiness or misery; on earth we do but prepare its solution.
But if she speaks a great deal of the life eternal, Religion is far from neglecting the life of this present world. All the interests of man are present to her; his soul, his body, his transitory life, his future and unchangeable life; she forgets nothing. If she does not completely destroy the miseries of life, it is because those miseries cannot be destroyed; and they cannot be destroyed because the causes which produce them cannot be suppressed.
Of these, the first is the inequality of physical strength, of bodily health, of talents, intelligence and energies in men. If, in consequence of an accident, or simply from the effect of old age, I lose the strength necessary for pursuing my trade or occupation, shall I not fall into misery? If, in spite of all my efforts, I am so unskilful as not to be able to work as well as my fellow-workmen, will not my customers prefer to deal with those who excel me ; and shall I not fall into misery? Yet, who can guarantee us from sickness, accidents or old age? Who can give talent to those who have it not? Who can render all men equal in strength, in intellect, in willingness? See, then, here a fertile source of misery, and one which it is impossible even for religion to destroy.
The second cause of human misery, not less profound than the first, arises from the vices incidental to our feeble nature, corrupted by sin; idleness, licentiousness, drunkenness, inordinate love of pleasure, revenge, pride, etc. Among a hundred poor persons, how many are unhappy through their own faults! Nineteen out of twenty. They accuse heaven, when they ought only to accuse themselves. The good poor soon find help; God and the faithful children of God never abandon them!
Poverty, like sickness and death, is the punishment of sin. It is impossible to destroy it; for it is impossible to destroy original sin, which is an established fact, and to render man impeccable. But that which is possible, and which religion performs admirably, is to lessen misery, to relieve and soften its pangs, to render it supportable, in fine, to sanctify itself. Religion reveres, in the body, the temple of that immortal soul, which is itself the living temple of God. She exerts herself to heal, to prevent even, all these afflictions, by the numberless charitable institutions, the asylums of every kind which abound in the Christian world.
Wherever her voice is listened to a the rich man becomes the friend, the brother and often the servant of the poor. He pours forth joyfully his superfluity into the lap of the afflicted. The poor man in his turn learns to hope. He learns, in the school of Jesus Christ, to endure with patience, and sometimes he even attains so high as to love sufferings, which he knows are destined, in the adorable designs of his heavenly Father, to prove his fidelity, to purify him of his failings, to render him more like to his poor and crucified Saviour, and to lay up for him ineffable treasures of happiness in the eternal Country! How many good poor have I not seen thanking God for their sufferings, and rejoicing in their privations!
Religion, therefore, does just what she ought by occupying herself with our happiness in this life, but occupying herself a great deal more with the life to come. None have any cause to complain of religion. Let the rich become good Christians and consequently charitable; and the poor become good Christians, and consequently patient and resigned ; this is the secret of happiness. "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Rom. xiv. 17 )
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre