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there's a reading for the Easter season
and I think is very important for this
question of faith and reason and I said
that it might work here on YouTube
one of the major objections that comes
up is precisely along these lines that
what we call faith is just unreasonable
it's just old pre-scientific nonsense
believing in Bronze Age mythology it's
falling for any old fairy story etc
right that's all faith is it's
irrational well this story now toward
the end of John's Gospel about doubting
Thomas I think sheds a lot of light on
this issue let me just read a little bit
you know it well but I'll read a little
bit in the beginning Thomas called
didymus one of the twelve was not with
them when Jesus came so Jesus came in
the room but Thomas wasn't there so the
other disciples said to him we've seen
the Lord but he said to them unless I
see the mark of the nails in his hands
put my finger into the nail marks put my
hand on the side I will not believe okay
the famous doubting Thomas now what do
we make of this well this proves you
know that questions are bad you should
just have faith and not ask questions
no that's the wrong way to think about
the caf attrition loves questions I'll
give me one indication why Mary here's
the Annunciation from the angel what's
she saying how's this possible for I've
had no relations with a man she's asking
a very good honest question Mary also we
hear pondered these things in her heart
she took in the date of Revelation but
didn't just dumb ly take it in she
reflected on it asked questions about it
pondered it in her heart it makes her
the model of all theology or think of
the namesake of this ancient figure his
namesake from Middle Ages Thomas Aquinas
read any two pages of times
acquaintances anything you have a role
what do you find question upon question
upon question including in the beginning
of the Summa theologia this famous
question ultram day was sit which means
whether there's a God now I submit to
you if you can ask that question you
any question in theology the cafe
tradition never says don't ask questions
it loves questions welcomes them here's
a reason why we don't hold to the feed a
soul of principle which is a reformation
principle by faith alone we hold to the
feet as a trot Co tradition faith and
reason or to go back to st. and some
fitas cuarón's intellect ohm faith
seeking understanding we don't drive a
wedge between faith and reason we don't
say you have put reason to sleep to have
faith no no see here's the thing
authentic faith is never in for a
rational I mean lower than reason that's
credulity that's superstition what
everyone on YouTube is always going
after I agree with you I would say to my
youtube friends I agree with you I'm
against superstition too if you're if
you're accepting you're surrendering
something now that's in for a rational
forget it that's childish faith isn't
that though authentic faith is as I've
said before super irrational it's a
surrender yes but on the far side of
reason reason having done all its work
now there's a surrender to a reality
which I can't even in principle control
but one that beguiles me from the far
side of reason if I can put it that way
now you need a lot of examples the best
one the best analogy for this is is
falling in love so when you are
attracted to someone so young man's
tried to a young woman he'll watch her
he'll maybe ask her friends about her
he'll investigate
maybe he'll google her name and find out
where she was educated and her
background at cetera if he's like
Sherlock Holmes you know very observant
and very skilled in deduction he might
be able to determine a lot about her
based on that but but he'll never know
her heart
really until he sits down with her and
she of her own free will opens her heart
and opens her mouth and speaks at which
point he has to make a decision do I
believe her do I surrender
to this revelation beyond anything I can
grasp on my own and see that's why we
speak of someone falling in love if all
you're doing is controlling the process
well you're not never gonna fall in love
you know you might be a acquaintance of
that person but you'll never be an
intimate of that person so with faith
there's a lot we can know about God on
the basis of our reflection or
observation in the world our
philosophical musings you know retime is
Aquinas you'll find out all you can know
about God philosophically but then
finally there's a surrender on the far
side of reason and that's authentic
faith you know and that's why the
Catholic Church never puts questions to
bed but it resists a rationalism that is
aggressive and controlling now with that
in mind go back to didymus to st. Thomas
right listen again to him unless I see
the mark of the nails in his hands and
put my finger into the nail marks and
put my hand into his side I will not
believe
is it wrong to question no but is it
wrong to be so aggressive in one's
rationalism that one wants orderly to
control the situation
yeah that's a problem that's a problem
because you'll never get God that way
God can't be gotten that way with our
grasping self asserting minds in that
sense faith goes beyond reason doesn't
put it to sleep doesn't negate it or
marginalize it but it goes beyond it you
know and that's part of the story of
Thomas because the Lord when he comes
back and he appears he's mr. Thomas well
good put your finger in the wounds put
your hand in my side but then he adds
blessed are those who have not seen in a
believe see who's really blessed those
who don't have to control it with their
rationalistic Minds but who are willing
to surrender on the far side of reason
and just a last thought about this I
think it's very important that Thomas
didn't see the Lord when he was away
from the twelve right he's away from the
apostolic band
but when he comes back with them that's
when he sees the Lord what's the lesson
the lesson is we get the Lord in the
church it's in the community of a church
that collection of believers in Jesus
across space and time where we
understand him where we get him in the
fullest sense one of the ways not to get
him is to stay outside the church and
again here I think of a lot of my
friends on YouTube you know even those
so-called self professed agnostics and
atheists who stubbornly come back to my
website over and over again and ask
religious questions and challenge what
I'm saying well see there whether they
admit it or not they're hungry and
thirsty for God it's obvious in every
word they write you know but the problem
is they're seeking Christ they're
seeking God apart from the church and
what's gonna happen is your questions
and answers are gonna get skewed the
best way to see him so you're able to
say with Saint Thomas my lord and my god
the best way to do that is to stay
within this rich spirit-led interpretive
tradition that we call the church
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