Is faith reasonable? (Vatican I)

What is the relationship of reason and faith? 

The First Vatican Council answered this question in their Decrees. Session 3 (Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith), Chapter 3 (Of Faith and Reason) declares the following: 

There is a twofold order of knowledge, distinct both in principle and in object: in principle, because our knowledge in the one is by natural reason, and in the other by divine faith; in object, because, besides those things to which natural reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief mysteries hidden in God, which, unless divinely revealed, cannot be known.

 Reason can partially understand the mysteries of God, but it can’t understand them completely (as it can material things).  Still, there is no conflict: 

There can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason; since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, and God cannot deny Himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.

 Moreover, 

they are of mutual aid one to the other: for right reason demonstrates the foundations of faith, and, enlightened by its light, cultivates the science of things divine; while faith frees and guards reason from errors, and furnishes it with manifold knowledge.

Richard John Neuhaus wrote the following about this document:

[It] corrected both the underestimation (in fideism and radical traditionalism) and the overestimation (in rationalism and ontologism) of reason’s natural capacities. Vatican I taught that faith and reason, revelation and the natural knowledge of God, are distinct but inseparable.  (From https://www.firstthings.com/article/1998/12/a-passion-for-truth-the-way-of-faith-and-reason)

 Thomas Joseph White wrote this summary:

[It] insisted, against secular reason, on the infallibility of divine revelation: Revelation is a gift that human rationality cannot procure for itself. Yet it also underscored the high natural capacities of human reason, our philosophical capacity to know of the existence of God and to cooperate with divine revelation. Against the reductive tendency of modern thought that so quickly rejects appeal to divine authority, that council sought to underscore the existence of a fruitful, liberating interaction between sacred theology and human rationality. The two are not at war, but may mutually interact with one another in peace and liveliness. Revelation is a gift to human reason seeking perspective. Reason seeking meaning can arrive at the threshold of the question of God and can therefore admit the possibility of divine revelation.  (From https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/11/the-tridentine-genius-of-vatican-ii)

 

The Comfort of Giving Alms

In A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation (rendered in modern English by Mary Gottschalk), St. Thomas More discussed where one can find true comfort when afflicted by tribulation (pain or sorrow).  This post will discuss one of More's comforts and some related ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas, described by Peter Kreeft in Practical Theology, his book on the Summa Theologica. 

More discussed different types of tribulation, including “the kind of tribulation that we voluntarily take upon ourselves, … affliction of the flesh or bestowal of our goods as we willingly undertake in atonement for our own sins and out of devotion to God.”  This includes not only penance (for specific sins) but also the fasting and almsgiving that Christians perform during the penitential season of Lent (for our sins more generally). 

More wrote that “the courage that … kindles your heart and inflames it toward that tribulation shall … give you in it such comfort and such joy that the pleasure of your soul will surpass the pain of your body.”  To me, this echoes Psalm 51:7-8, where we ask God, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.”

According to Aquinas, almsgiving includes the seven corporal works of mercy and the seven spiritual works of mercy (cf. http://scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2447.htm).  Aquinas wrote that “we are bound to give alms of our surplus, and also to give alms to one whose need is extreme; otherwise almsgiving, like any other greater good, is a matter of counsel.”  Kreeft commented, “The more generosity, the merrier, both for the receiver and also for the giver.  If you are surprised to hear that, you’ve never practiced sacrificial giving and experienced its inevitable deep joy.  Try it, you’ll like it.”

When I fast or serve others, I voluntarily endure a tribulation (such as hunger or just the loss of something more enjoyable).  If I do this with love, selflessly, “for God’s sake,” then I will experience the comfort of joy.

The comfort of penance

A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, by St. Thomas More, rendered in modern English by Mary Gottschalk, discusses where one can find true comfort when afflicted by tribulation (pain or sorrow).  This post will discuss one of More's comforts and some related ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas, described by Peter Kreeft in Practical Theology, his book on the Summa Theologica. 

We are all sinners, and More wrote that one type of tribulation is the pain caused by one’s sins.  This tribulation can be a comfort, however, if one prays for the grace to endure the pain “meekly and patiently” and also confesses that the pain is not enough to compensate for the fault.  In that case, one can also ask God to receive the pain as a form of penance for the sin.  More emphasized that no penance or good work is worth anything without faith and without God’s grace.

Regarding penance, Aquinas wrote that “the remission of the debt of temporal punishment belongs to cooperating grace in so far as man, by bearing patiently with the help of divine grace, is released also from the debt of temporal punishment.”  Kreeft explained that “accepting the humblings and humiliations that come to us in this life” is a way to “rehearse” for our role in our sanctification, which of course is a gift from God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that sin “injures and weakens the sinner himself” and absolution “does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused.”  By completing his penance, one can “recover his full spiritual health.”  The penance helps “configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all.”

When I sin, I injure God, I injure others, and I injure myself.  The pain I experience because of the sin can be a comfort if I accept it as a penance for the sin.  Then the pain, with God’s grace and forgiveness, helps restore my spiritual health and my relationship with God.

A Comfort in Tribulation

A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, by St. Thomas More, rendered in modern English by Mary Gottschalk, discusses where one can find true comfort when afflicted by tribulation (pain or sorrow).  This post will discuss More's first comfort and some related ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas, described by Peter Kreeft in Practical Theology, his book on the Summa Theologica.

More argued that the first comfort in tribulation is the desire and longing to be comforted by God.  This desire includes letting God decide how to comfort us: by removing or diminishing the tribulation or by giving us patience and spiritual consolation to endure it.  Whichever occurs is good.  Aquinas wrote that great pain can distract us and keep us from contemplating the truth, which is a great good, so removing such pain can lead us back to God. 

If the tribulation continues and God gives us patience, then we can endure it.  Aquinas wrote that some pain is beneficial, for we learn from it: we can become compassionate, courageous, and wise.  Moreover, the pain may prevent us from a moral failing or fault.  More wrote that God may "send us sorrow and sickness to make us draw toward Him" (and pray to Him) when we forget Him.
 
The key is to let God decide.  Aquinas wrote that we must trust God; although we can't understand the reasons for the tribulation, we can understand that God can produce good out of any evil (including our tribulations).  This "well-ordered" attitude, inspired by God, is a great comfort.