The purpose of the intellectual life is to enhance the spiritual life. The more you know about God’s revelation the more you love him, and the more you love him the better your spiritual life. It will increase like an exponential function all the way to infinity. This might come off as a strong intellectualism, but I think if an appropriate balance is understood, then a Catholic can gaze into the mysterious depths of God in a way that will enhance, not diminish, his/her spiritual life.
Knowledge and love is a reciprocal relationship. Our love of something is governed by a desire for that particular thing. We have to know that the things exists, at the very least. This initial “apprehension” of the object precedes any desire for said thing. There has been, and probably will be for ever, a debate on the “first act of the will.” Is it desire for the good in general, or does it indeed have a specific object, namely God? What does this look like, if we think that God is goodness itself? This metaphysical discussion touches on the great Nature-Grace debate. For more information on the acts of the intellect and will see Charles-Rene Billuart and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Another starting source can be the work of Matthias Joseph Scheeben.
My concern in this post is to point out the need for the common lay Catholic to study the Faith. A balanced study of doctrine, both as explicated in official Church documents and notable Theologians/Saints, such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Boethius, Blessed John Duns Scotus, St. John Paul II, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese of Lisieux, is critical to the intellectual formation of any dedicated Catholic. If a Catholic, fills their mind and heart with solid orthodox theology and practices the Faith, by attending Sunday Mass and spending time with God in Adoration, and many other prayerful practices, then I think that will only enhance their love for God and for others.
God has created us with a beautiful capacity to reason through problems and concepts. Essentially, we can engage the created world, which is a unique ability distinct from any other creature. This is a gift to human nature and also intrinsically part of human nature. In some sense, there is a responsibility for a human person to engage with the world in such a way as to search for its cause. That is the search for God.
Certainly, the faithful person who prays daily and converses with God presupposes knowledge of God’s existence. And there is use of the person’s capacity to reason during prayer. However, a continued exercise of one’s intellect, through study, ordered towards holy mysteries, has a specific and unique result of lifting one’s heart to God unlike any other practice. Indeed, the intellectual life should lead to that contemplative state where God whispers into the heart of the receiver.
The Catholic Tutor 