Fides et Ratio: A few thoughts - Part I

As some of you may have read in earlier posts, I am giving a presentation on Fides et Ratio this friday. It is a small venue and the group is small, but it is my first "public" presentation of any type in Alaska. The topic is "Faith and Reason." I am going to briefly explaining Fides et Ratio, the encyclical, and then I will try to explain the purpose, setting, and meaning of the encyclical to a newly formed apostolate. The purpose of this apostoalte, or its Charism if you will, is still uncertain but seems to be that of apologetics and the building of well formed Catholics.

While preparing for my presentation, I started having doubts about whether I should be tackling the subject matter, which is deep and philosophical and based in complex Catholic Theology. These are some thoughts I had:
Reading this encyclical, and understanding it is quite the task. As a person who was trained in history and philosophy, I have a strong foundation for this type of work, and the concepts contained within. I am by no means an expert though. Added to that is my legal degree from a Catholic law school rooted in the Natural Law tradition. Again, this gives me no expertise. So I started to have doubts if I was qualified... but then I began to think, "Who would be qualified to explain this?" Maybe a theological or philosophical scholar... if they were well trained. A Bishop or Priest, versed in this area? What about a philosopher that has more education than me... say a Ph.D in philosophy? Well... maybe, maybe not.

A section struck me that made me realize, that although encyclicals are generally aimed at Bishops, they are intended to help guide Catholics. So we as lay Catholics, should read them to help understand the direction and teaching of the Church. So then, maybe I am qualified, if nothing else, to at least interpret and help others discern the meaning of this text...right?

I wasn't so sure. Again, I felt... as if maybe I was treading in water, that I shouldn't be swimming in. But then I read this passage:

...some philosophers have abandoned the search for truth in itself and made their sole aim the attainment of a subjective certainty or a pragmatic sense of utility. This in turn has obscurred the true dignity of reason, which is no longer equipped to kow the truth and to seek the absolute.

If philosophers have abandoned the search for truth; VERITAS, the are they really philosophers? This question seems to be a tangent down a dirt road that I dare not travel right now, but it most definitely calls into question their credentials as to whether or not they are "qualified" in such ideas. Doesn't it?

I think as the Body of Christ, we are called to learn about our faith and understand it as fully as we can. We must not settle for the pragmatic or subjective certainty. That is the easy way out. If Christ is the TRUTH and THE WAY, should we not then seek him to his full end? The ABSOLUTE END? Shouldn't we strive for ABSOLUTE TRUTH, and not just some "educated" persons opinion of what that truth might be? Should we listen to the "philosophers" words of warning, that Truth exists not in absolute, but instead only in a conception of some set of norms or rules?

There is much more  I want to say about this, but I am still trying to fully formulate these ideas. It is interesting to re-read a work like Fides et Ratio after a period of time. I am able to gleem much more from it, now that I have finished law school, have worked in the world, and have studied my faith more deeply. It is interesting to see how Faith and Reason, which seem so intangible, are actually quite important to the day to day life of a Catholic.

The Meaning of Friendship...

I think that friendship at least in its purest form means that time and distance don't matter. In other words, you can call a true friend at any time of the day. You can also remain friends with a true friend regardless of the distance... and I don't mean simply commenting on their facebook status. It is interesting living in Alaska how we have so quickly met some amazing people... the type that are true friends at least for now. I know that time and distance change a lot of things. Sometimes it really is just too difficult to remain friends with people over time and distance.

I think that is what makes God so amazing. At no point in your life are you evermore than a confession and pledge away from the friendship of Christ. In fact God made it EASIER for us to be close to him and love him by SENDING Christ to us to ease that ability to rekindle the friendship with him.

I know this is a very simplistic way of looking at things, but daily life, friendships, and the drama of our "real lives" sometimes busy us to the point that we forget that we have a TRUE FRIEND IN CHRIST.

Facts & Meaning

At Mass last night the Homily started with a very interesting concept. Our priest began by explaining that as we move into the year 2010 we are fully in an age where facts and information inundate us from all angles. We have cell phones now that give us email, texts, twitter feeds, and that we can even read and update our blogs on. We can now literally take a picture with our handheld phone, research online about the item we just photographed, post it on our blog, and disseminate that information to thousands of people in the matter of minutes. [In the case of my blog, I could disseminate it to about 10 people :P] Twitter and Texting limit us to 140 or 160 characters. Newspapers are dying... while these "instant" devices which are small and "quick" are almost commonplace. There is no denying that information and facts concerning almost everything are literally at any of our "fingertips" at almost any time.

The problem is that we no longer want the FULL story. Newspapers are dying and yet Twitter and Facebook have us eating information 140 characters at a time. We no longer care about the fully story or the MEANING, we just want the punch line. Our question for information, solely for information's sake is killing our pursuit of meaning and the truth.

Information is not a bad thing. In fact, it knowledge is essential to discovering the truth about many things. Ultimately, Christ - the pure truth requires knowledge of HIM so that we can be with him. We must accept and believe the Truth and therefore can only do so after acquiring that knowledge. What is dangerous about information and its pursuit is that it seems many have abandoned meaning for the quest information.

We see this all the time in Christianity. We want to access information but we don't want the back story. We kneel in Mass because we are supposed to. We want the Mass in English so that WE  can understand it better. Everything needs to be chopped up into little bits. We don't have time for the Mystery, we just want the bottom line. We can't kneel at Mass because it would take too long, so we stand. We can't have only the priest distribute Communion because people process in a line and so we institute Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to speed things up. We are in a constant pursuit of gratification through information. Jesus argued against the Pharisees because of there adherence solely to the Law. They lacked the meaning behind the law. He also fought against the money changers who took advantage of the temple, again for the lack of their understanding to the meaning. These two factions were on opposite ends of the spectrum - pure law vs. no law; and yet Jesus fought against them both.

Meaning is important because meaning gives itself to the truth. We can only find the truth when we understand the meaning of the information which we acquire and how it relates to the truth. When we stop searching for meaning, we stop searching for truth. Everything we do in the Catholic faith has meaning behind it; if you don't know why you are doing it you should learn. Yes, there is virtue in obedience, but that obedience must eventually lend itself to knowledge. We must reclaim the meaning to our faith. "True Presence" must mean something. The rubrics of the mass and the GIRM must become our base, not our of sheer obedience but because of that which they uphold - the TRUTH. If we really trully believe in Jesus and his "once for all" crucifixion for the salvation of our souls we must commit ourselves to that belief through the way in which we worship. We must find meaning in our worship and we must reclaim the meaning to our faith. There are many ways to to this: reading the GIRM, going to Adoration, studying the rubrics, and even going through an RCIA program - not because we have to but because we want to.