Faith and reason are both intimately involved in searching for and finding the truth. We each grow up in some form of culture which shapes our perceptions and values. Through this culture we gain our understanding of the world and the human beings place within it. Our culture is made up of a community of like minded persons. I am one of them and through my interactions with others I work out my way of coping with the world and living.
But, an indispensable part of living involves the dimension of values and morality. Each culture has to deal with questions about the Divinity because, the answers to these questions shapes how a culture interprets the world and human existence. So, faith and reason are both necessary for each individual's life having meaning to the individual as well as the value of human life within any particular culture.
Faith of any kind, Islam, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian is cultural. Christianity, for example, involves accepting a series of truths like "there is a God", "Jesus is the Son of God", and "through Jesus becoming human God has linked himself to mankind". A new cultural identity comes into being, the "people of God", which is a gathering of all peoples who believe in the Incarnation of Christ.
Jesus is the truth who gives peace. We all yearn for peace but it will only be found when we admit that all humans share a common destiny which regardless of their historical and cultural differences leads to cooperation with people of other cultures. True peace is more than the absence of war. It involves seeking sincere relationships with other cultures, a willingness to forgive, be just, and faithful to their word.
Jesus himself is the way, the truth and the life. "His grace makes it possible", as Pope Benedict writes, "for us to live in and by the truth, since he alone is completely true and faithful. Jesus is the truth which brings us peace."
We find love by self giving, emptying our self to be filled with Christ. Actually this self emptying leads to a true finding of self and communion with Jesus who is the Word of God in person. The Christian who is willing to give everything even himself knows that he has really found himself. Someone who can both believe and say "We have found love" has to pass this gift on. He knows that in doing so he does no one violence, does not destroy anyone's identity, does not disrupt cultures, but rather sets them free to realize their own great potential.
Bibliography
Pope Benedict XVI, Benedictus, Ignatius Press, Yonkers, N.Y., 2006, pp. 225, 314, and 323.
Dr. Bernard J.Fleury's lifelong interest in History from the perspective of the people who lived it is evident in A Bee in His Bonnet, Print, E-Book, Audio Book, on website: http://www.greatgeneration.net. His firm belief in the synthesis of faith and reason (theology and science) as two aspects of a single reality-The Light - God, is clearly evident in his book Called into Life by the Light, Print, E-Book, Audio Book, on website: http://www.intolifebylight.com.
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