Fides et Ratio - Pope John Paul II (1998) Chapter 1: #7-15

Hi everyone, welcome back to the voice of the Magisterium podcast, where we are giving

you the opportunity to hear the text of key church documents in audio form. We've just

started a long series in the very important encyclical from Pope John Paul II called

Fides at Racheo or Faith and Reason in English. So last time in our first episode, we had

a look at some background for this document and it's absolutely worth listening to that

first episode to get a feel for what this document is about and what it's going to cover.

So we did the introduction last time, now we get to chapter 1 in today's episode. So these

are the words of Pope John Paul II. Chapter 1, the revelation of God's wisdom. Jesus

Revealer of the Father, paragraph 7. Underlying all of the church's thinking is the awareness

that she is the bearer of a message which has its origin in God himself. The knowledge which

the church offers to man has its origin not in any speculation of her own, however sublime,

but in the word of God which she has revealed in faith. At the origin of our life of faith,

there is an encounter unique in kind which disclosures a mystery hidden for long ages,

but which now is revealed. Quote, in his goodness and wisdom, God chose to reveal himself

and to make known to us the hidden purpose of his will, by which through Christ the word

made flesh man has access to the Father in the Holy Spirit and comes to share in the divine

nature. Unquote, from the second Vatican Ecumenical Council's dogmatic constitution on divine

revelation, day verbum number two. This initiative is utterly gratuitous moving from God to men

and women in order to bring them to salvation. As the source of love God desires to make

himself known and the knowledge which the human being has of God perfects all that the

human mind can know of the meaning of life. Paragraph eight, restating almost to the letter the

teaching of the first Vatican Council's constitution day filious and taking into account the principle

set out by the Council of Trent. The second Vatican Council's constitution day verbum pursued the

age-old journey of understanding faith, reflecting on revelation in the light of the teaching of

Scripture and of the entire patristic tradition. At the first Vatican Council, the Father's had stressed

the supernatural character of God's revelation. On the basis of mistaken and very widespread assertions,

the rationalist critique of the time attacked faith and denied the possibility of any knowledge

which was not the fruit of reason's natural capacities. This obliged the Council to reaffirm

emphatically that there exists a knowledge which is peculiar to faith, surpassing the knowledge

proper to human reason which nevertheless by its nature can discover the creator. This knowledge

expresses a truth based upon the very fact of God who reveals himself, a truth which is most

certain since God neither deceives nor wishes to deceive. Paragraph nine, the first Vatican Council

teaches then that the truth attained by philosophy and the truth of revelation are neither identical

nor mutually exclusive. Quote, there exists a twofold order of knowledge distinct not only as regards

their source but also as regards their object, with regard to the source because we know in one

by natural reason in the other by divine faith, with regard to the object because besides those

things which natural reason can attain, there are proposed for our belief mysteries hidden in God

which, unless they are divinely revealed, cannot be known. Unquote, from first Vatican Council's

dogmatic constitution on the Catholic faith, day filious, number four. Based upon God's testimony

and enjoying the supernatural assistance of grace, faith is of an order other than philosophical

knowledge which depends upon sense perception and experience and which advances by the light of

the intellect alone. Philosophy and the sciences function within the order of natural reason,

while faith in lightened and guided by the spirit recognizes in the message of salvation, quote,

the fullness of grace and truth. Unquote, which God has willed to reveal in history and definitively

through his son Jesus Christ. Paragraph 10, contemplating Jesus as revealer, the fathers of the

Second Vatican Council stressed the salvific character of God's revelation in history,

describing it in these terms. Quote, in this revelation the invisible God out of the abundance of

his love speaks to men and women as friends and lives among them so that he may invite and take

them into communion with himself. This plan of revelation is realized by deeds and words having

an inner unity. The deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the

teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the

mystery contained in them. By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and human salvation

is made clear to us in Christ who is the mediator and at the same time the fullness of all

revelation. Unquote, from day-verbum number two, paragraph 11, God's revelation is therefore

immersed in time and history. Jesus Christ took flesh in the quote, fullness of time. Unquote,

from Galatians 4 verse 4, and 2000 years later, I feel bound to restate forcefully the quote,

in Christianity, time has a fundamental importance. Unquote, from Pope John Paul II's

Apostolic letter Tertio Millenio ad Venienti, 1994, number 10. It is within time that the whole

work of creation and salvation comes to light and it emerges clearly above all that with the

incarnation of the Son of God, our life is even now a foretaste of the fulfillment of time which

is to come. The truth about himself and his life which God has entrusted to humanity is immersed

therefore in time and history and it was declared once and for all in the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth.

The constitution day-verbum puts it eloquently, quote, after speaking in many places and varied

ways through the prophets, God last of all in these days has spoken to us by his Son. Unquote,

from Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 to 2, for he sent his Son the eternal word who enlightens

all people so that he might dwell among them and tell them the innermost realities about God.

Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, sent as a human being to human beings, speaks the words of God,

John chapter 3 verse 34, and contemplates the work of salvation which his Father gave him to do.

To see Jesus is to see his Father, John chapter 14 verse 9. For this reason, Jesus perfected

revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself

through his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially through his death and glorious

resurrection from the dead and finally his sending of the Spirit of truth. Unquote, from day-verbum

number 4. For the people of God therefore history becomes a path to be followed to the end,

so that by the unceasing action of the Holy Spirit, the contents of revealed truth may find

their full expression. This is the teaching of the Constitution Day verbum when it states that,

quote, as the century succeed one another, the church constantly progresses towards the fullness

of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her. Unquote,

from day-verbum number 8 paragraph 12. History therefore becomes the arena where we see what

God does for humanity. God comes to us in the things we know best and can verify most easily,

the things of our everyday life, apart from which we cannot understand ourselves.

In the incarnation of the Son of God, we see forward the enduring and definitive synthesis,

which the human mind of itself could not even have imagined. The eternal enters time,

the whole lies hidden in the part. God takes on a human face. The truth communicative in Christ's

revelation is therefore no longer confined to a particular place or culture, but is offered to

every man and woman who would welcome it as the word which is the absolutely valid source of

meaning for human life. Now in Christ, all have access to the Father, since by his death and

resurrection, Christ has bestowed the divine life which the first Adam had refused. Through this

revelation, men and women are offered the ultimate truth about their own life and about the goal

of history. As the Constitution Gautumeth Spez puts it, quote, only in the mystery of the incarnate

word does the mystery of man take on light, unquote, from Gautumeth Spez No. 22.

Seen in any other terms, the mystery of personal existence remains an insoluble riddle.

Where might the human being seek the answer to dramatic questions such as pain,

the suffering of the innocent and death, if not in the light streaming from the mystery of Christ's

passion, death and resurrection, reason before the mystery. Paragraph 13. It should nonetheless be

kept in mind that revelation remains charged with mystery. It is true that Jesus with his entire

life revealed the countenance of the Father for he came to teach the secret things of God.

But our vision of the face of God is always fragmentary and impaired by the limits of our understanding.

Faith alone makes it possible to penetrate the mystery in a way that allows us to understand it

coherently. The council teaches that, quote, the obedience of faith must be given to God who reveals

himself, unquote, from day-verbum No. 5. This brief but dense statement points to a fundamental

truth of Christianity. Faith is said first to be an obedient response to God. This implies that

God be acknowledged in his divinity, transcendence and supreme freedom. By the authority of his

absolute transcendence, God who makes himself known is also the source of the credibility

of what he reveals. By faith, men and women give their ascent to this divine testimony.

This means that they acknowledge fully and integrally the truth of what is revealed because

it is God himself who is the guarantor of that truth. They can make no claim upon this truth,

which comes to them as gift, and which, set within the context of interpersonal communication,

urges reason to be open to it and to embrace its profound meaning. This is why the Church has

always considered the act of entrusting oneself to God to be a moment of fundamental decision

which engages the whole person. In that act, the intellect and the will display their spiritual

nature, enabling the subject to act in a way which realises personal freedom to the full.

The first Vatican Council to which the quotation above refers, teaches that the obedience of faith

requires the engagement of the intellect and the will. Quote, since human beings are totally

dependent on God as their Creator and Lord, and created reason is completely subject to uncreated

truth. We are obliged to yield through faith to God the revealer full submission of intellect and

will. From Vatican 1's day filious number three, it is not just that freedom is part of the

act of faith, it is absolutely required. Indeed, it is faith that allows individuals to give

consummate expression to their own freedom. Put differently, freedom is not realised in decisions

made against God. For how could it be an exercise of true freedom to refuse to be open to the very

reality which enables our self-realisation? Men and women can accomplish no more important act in

their lives than the act of faith. It is here that freedom reaches the certainty of truth and

chooses to live in that truth. To assist reason in its effort to understand the mystery,

there are the signs which revelation itself presents. These serve to lead the search for truth to new

depths, enabling the mind in its autonomous exploration to penetrate within the mystery by use of

reasons own methods of which it is rightly jealous. Yet these signs also urge reason to look

beyond their status as signs in order to grasp the deeper meaning which they bear. They contain a

hidden truth to which the mind is drawn and which it cannot ignore without destroying the very signs

which it is given. In a sense then, we return to the sacramental character of revelation

and especially to the sign of the Eucharist in which the indesoluble unity between the signifier

and signified makes it possible to grasp the depths of the mystery. In the Eucharist, Christ is

truly present and alive, working through his spirit. Yet as St Thomas said so well, quote,

what you neither see nor grasp faith confirms for you, leaving nature far behind, a sign it is

that now appears hiding in mystery realities sublime. Unquote, from Thomas Aquinas sequence for

the solemnity of the body and blood of the Lord. He is echoed by the philosopher Pascal, quote,

just as Jesus Christ went unrecognized among men, so does his truth appear without external

difference among common modes of thought. So too does the Eucharist remain among common bread.

Unquote, from Pascal's ponces, number seven eight nine. In short, the knowledge proper to faith

does not destroy the mystery, it only reveals it the more, showing how necessary it is for people's

lives. Christ the Lord, quote, in revealing the mystery of the father and his love, fully reveals

man to himself and makes clear his supreme calling. Unquote, from the Second Vatican Council's

pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world, Gaudium at Spez, number 22, which used to

share in the divine mystery of the life of the Trinity. Paragraph 14, from the teaching of the two

Vatican councils, there also emerges a genuinely novel consideration for philosophical learning.

Revelation has set within history a point of reference, which cannot be ignored if the mystery

of human life is to be known. Yet this knowledge refers back constantly to the mystery of God,

which the human mind cannot exhaust, but can only receive an embrace in faith. Between these

true poles, reason has its own specific field in which it can inquire and understand, restricted

only by its finiteness before the infinite mystery of God. Revelation therefore introduces into our

history a universal and ultimate truth which stirs the human mind to ceaseless effort. Indeed,

it empowers reason continually to extend the range of its knowledge until it senses that it has

done all in its power, leaving no stone unturned. To assist our reflection on this point, we have one

of the most fruitful and important minds in human history, a point of reference for both philosophy

and theology, Saint Ansel. In his prosologian, the Archbishop of Canterbury puts it this way,

quote, thinking of this problem frequently and intently, at times it seemed I was ready to grasp

what I was seeking. At other times, it alluded my thought completely, until finally,

despairing of being able to find it, I wanted to abandon the search for something which was

impossible to find. I wanted to rid myself of that thought because, by filling my mind,

it distracted me from other problems from which I could gain some profit. But it would then present

itself with ever greater insistence. Woe is me, one of the poor children of Eve, far from God.

What did I set out to do and what have I accomplished? What was I aiming for and how far have I got?

What did I aspire to and what did I long for? O Lord, you are not only then that

them which nothing greater can be conceived, but you are greater than all that can be conceived.

If you were not such something greater than you could be thought, but this is impossible,

unquote, from St. Anselms, Prosologian, Promeum and Numbers 1 and 15.

Paragraph 15. The truth of Christian revelation found in Jesus of Nazareth

enables all men and women to embrace the mystery of their own life. As absolute truth,

it summons human beings to be open to the transcendent, whilst respecting both their autonomy

as creatures and their freedom. At this point, the relationship between freedom and truth is

complete and we understand the full meaning of the Lord's words. Quote, you will know the truth

and the truth will make you free." From John 8.32. Christian revelation is the true

load star of men and women as they strive to make their way amid the pressures of an

immanentist habit of mind and the constrictions of a technocratic logic. It is the ultimate

possibility offered by God for the human being to know in all its fullness the seminal plan of love

which began with creation. To those wishing to know the truth, if they can look beyond themselves

and their own concerns, there is given the possibility of taking full and harmonious

possession of their lives, precisely by following the path of truth. Here the words of the book

of Deuteronomy are pertinent. Quote, this command which I command you is not too hard for you,

neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, who will go up for us to heaven

and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say,

who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?

But the word is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart that you can do it."

From Deuteronomy 30.11-14. This text finds in echo in the famous

dictum of the Holy philosopher and theologian Augustin. Quote, do not wander far and wide but return

into yourself. Deep within man there dwells the truth. Unquote, from St. Augustin's day-vara

religioni, 39.72. These considerations prompt a first conclusion. The truth made known to us by

revelation is neither the product nor the consummation of an argument devised by human reason.

It appears instead as something gratuitous which itself stirs thought and seeks acceptance

as an expression of love. This revealed truth is set within our history as an anticipation

of that ultimate and definitive vision of God which is reserved for those who believe in Him

and seek Him with us in sea of heart. The ultimate purpose of personal existence then

is the theme of philosophy and theology alike. For all their difference of method and content,

both disciplines point to that quote, path of life. Unquote, from Psalm 16 verse 11,

which as faith tells us, leads us in the end to the full and lasting joy of the contemplation of

the triune God. So that ends chapter 1 of Fides at Rasier. That chapter was about the

revelation of God's wisdom. So their Pope John Paul II, as he often does, uses quite long

paragraphs, quite dense paragraphs as a way of introducing some basic terms like faith, reason

and revelation. And as he would have noticed there, he surveyed some teachings from Vatican I and

Vatican II about the nature of faith as it relates to reason. And in that last paragraph,

drew the conclusion that faith, particularly revelation, goes far beyond reason. In revelation,

God has revealed Himself in a fundamentally unique way that is a special gift from God to us

as an expression of love, as he says in that paragraph. So Pope John Paul II's writings are

often quite dense. You might like to go back and re-listen to chapter 1 again. Next time we will

move on to chapter 2, which is about how faith is seeking understanding. Thanks so much for your

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