SUMMATION of the Blessed Margaret of Castello Chapter meeting, Saturday, November 19, 2016 at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Boise. The readings for the meeting were from "The Bridge" section of The Dialog from St. Catherine of Siena and a short biography of St Albert the Great, his feast having been celebrated this past November, 15, 2016.
"The Bridge" per The Dialog, is the span between earth and Heaven, Jesus Christ being the Bridge. This teaching from God the Father through St. Catherine is worth reading and reflecting on in prayers; as it bears the testimony and reflection of the Holy Scriptures. God the Father calls each of us when He tells St. Catherine that "[y]ou who have the gift of reason were made not for yourselves but for me, to serve me with all your heart and all your love."
The call to faith and to reason is resounded in the study of St. Albert the Great who lived in the 12th Century. As a key originator of the scientific method St. Albert was a "universal Doctor" or teacher not only of the queen of all sciences, theology, but also the study of all physical sciences. As St Albert taught, reason is a gift from God--to understand the natural and physical world and. Faith is given to us to learn of divine and eternal things. God may be discovered through the light of reason; but to ultimately know Him and the Knowledge of God is in Faith.
If people see Faith as opposed to reason, rationalism arises. It admits to no objective truth. All is relative in time. Human life becomes cheap, men and women become objects to be manipulated, and the immoral killing of innocent persons becomes the norm. Expediency is the measure of ethics and politics.
On the other hand, if people abandon reason, and look to faith alone, feelings and experiences become the measure of truth. Mysticism and superstition arise. Erroneous understanding of salvation becomes evident. The universal Faith that guides the World is abandoned and each person becomes the priest and prophet of his or her own church.
The Holy Scriptures tell us to worship God the Father, in spirit and in truth. This love of truth is to come to know a loving God, and it enables us to bear with our neighbors in truth and most certainly in Love.
Lay Dominicans strive to comprehend the wonders of the created order but also the truths of the Faith; to grasp the goodness and beauty of God--on the path with their neighbor to Holiness.
Please comment.
John Keenan, OPL
Formation Director
Blessed Margaret of Castello Chapter.
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