Faith in general consists of believing something on the testimony of another,
and faith in God consists of believing something on the testimony of God. When God speaks,
his Word is addressed to the core of each person and answers our deepest questions and desires.
When someone welcomes the word of God in faith, the natural desire of reason to understand the
world is not frustrated, but finds rather a friend and an ally. Faith and reason are in harmony,
and the harmony can be spelled out in seven principles. Let us consider each of them in turn.
The first principle, the Consistency Principle, is that right faith and right reason are logically
consistent with each other. We say right faith as distinct from a mistake or misinterpretation
of what God has revealed. And we say right reason as distinct from mistakes and misunderstandings
of things. The consistency principle is based on a simple point. Whatever God has revealed
is true, and whatever right reason knows is also true. Since all truth is one,
it is quite impossible for right faith and right reason to contradict one another. However,
it can at first seem like they contradict, and in many cases give that impression. But it is only an
appearance. Patient and thoughtful inquiry brings to light a deeper consistency. The task at hand is
to undertake inquiry and research to resolve the appearance of contradiction. For example, it seems
at first glance that the claim that Jesus rose from the dead contradicts the evident claim that
dead men do not rise from the dead. But on deeper reflection, many distinctions come to light.
The claim that dead men do not rise from the dead is most plausible when understood
to mean that dead men do not rise from the dead by the power of natural causes alone,
but no one claims that Jesus rose from the dead by the power of natural causes alone.
Jesus rose from the dead by the power of God. And that is quite possible.
The second principle, the Support Principle, is that right reason can demonstrate many truths
about God and support some of the truths we believe by faith. For example, philosophy gives
many sound arguments for the existence of God and various attributes of God, and that would be
an example of demonstrating things about God. An example of support would be how sound historical
research, even research conducted by agnostic or atheistic historians, supports the fact of
the historical existence of Jesus, his death by crucifixion, and the fact of the empty tomb.
The third principle, the Defense Principle, is that right reason can refute objections brought
against the things we believe by faith. People often advance arguments or objections against
the Catholic faith, and right reason can find the fallacy in the argument. It is not
always easy or obvious at first sight, and some objections prompt serious theological inquiry.
But sometimes the answers are more obvious. For example, someone might say that it is impossible
for God to be Triune because 1+1+1=3 and not one. A line of reply is to say that it is a category
mistake to interpret the mystery of the Trinity in mathematical terms at all. But more importantly,
the persons of the Trinity are divine persons, and not created persons, and divine persons are not
subject to the limits of created persons. The fourth principle, the Service Principle,
is that right reason can discover many truths that serve to understand what God has revealed.
Over the course of centuries, human beings have discovered many principles of reason
that light up the intelligibility of what God has revealed. For example, a basic philosophical
distinction is between means and ends, and a basic principle is that means are for the sake of ends.
Now, equipped with that principle, we can turn to consider some mysteries of faith.
God is the Holy Trinity – three distinct divine persons in one divine essence.
Jesus of Nazareth is the second person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal Son of God incarnate
in the flesh. There are seven sacraments. The Eucharist is the real presence of Christ
body, blood, soul, and divinity. At first these mysteries of faith can seem like random points.
They seem juxtaposed alongside of each other without any internal order or intelligibility.
But let us now view the same mysteries of faith in light of the principle
that means are for the sake of an end. When we do, we can see that the Incarnation of
the Word in Jesus Christ is for the sake of the union of humanity with the Trinity,
and the seven sacraments – and especially the Eucharist – are given to us for the sake of our
union with the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. In this light, all these mysteries of faith
are not a random set of points, but reveal the path by which human beings enter into the divine,
Triune life. That path is Jesus Christ and the sacraments of the Church. The fifth principle, the
Correction Principle, is that right faith serves to correct errors that reason commonly makes.
For example, it is a somewhat common mistake for human beings to fall into the error
of thinking that whatever exists is just material, there is no spiritual human soul,
and there is no afterlife. Now, it is possible for sound philosophy to refute these errors and give
good arguments for the opposite positions. But the task of doing so is a tall order,
and takes a long time, and a lot of study, and a lot of intelligence to follow the reasoning
deeply. When a person of faith, however, hears these errors, the faith immediately corrects them.
For God has revealed that there exists far more than just material things, and
that human beings have a spiritual and immortal soul, and that the soul lives on after death.
Faith detects the error immediately while reason labors along slowly to catch up with the truth.
The sixth principle, the Sapiential Principle, is that right faith allows a person to see all things
in relation to God. When someone believes that God created the world and that he orders all things
well according to his providence, then a wonderful form of contemplation opens up to the person.
He or she can read the world in light of God. The Fathers of the Church were accustomed
to reading the world this way, and it is high time for all of us all to revive the practice.
For example, the earth is approximately 92.5 million miles from the sun. If the earth had
been just a bit closer, it would have been too hot for there to be life on earth as we know it.
If the earth had been just a bit further from the sun, it would have been too cold for there
to be life on earth as we know it. The earth is at just the right distance from the sun for life on
earth as we know it to develop and flourish. When someone with faith ponders such scientific facts,
the only appropriate response is to marvel at the wisdom of God and praise him for it all.
Finally, the seventh principle, the Fulfillment Principle, is that right faith provides answers
to some of the most profound questions that human reason raises but cannot answer on its
own or cannot answer easily. For example, reason raises the question of what happens after death,
but reason cannot really answer the question. It is more or less beyond the range of reason.
But faith in what God revealed answers the question. Faith teaches us about the
four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Thanks to these seven principles,
faith and reason are in full harmony with each other. Over the course of time, faith and reason
grow gradually more and more into a single light that shows us the path to eternal life in God.
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