Dear Parishioners,

It was a hectic week here at the Cathedral Basilica as we hosted the funeral for firefighter Benjamin Polson, who lost his life in the line of duty.  If you could not attend the funeral or watch it on our live stream, you can access it by clicking here.  Many thanks to everyone who assisted in the funeral and extended the welcome spirit of the Cathedral Parish to all who attended. Please continue the keep the family in your prayers as they mourn this great loss.

During my time as a college Seminarian, we would attend classes at St. Louis University.  On the Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a group of students in the College of Philosophy and Letters would spend the feast day reading aloud the Summa Theologica.  The Summa is the best-known work of St. Thomas and is a compendium of all the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church.  It was intended to be an instructional guide for theology students.

With his charism as a philosopher and theologian, he offered an effective model of harmony between faith and reason, dimensions of the human spirit that are completely fulfilled in the encounter and dialogue with one another.

According to St Thomas' thought, human reason, as it were, "breathes": it moves within a vast open horizon in which it can express the best of itself.  When, instead, man reduces himself to thinking only of material objects or those that can be proven, he closes himself to the great questions about life, himself, and God and is thereby impoverished.  The relationship between faith and reason is a serious challenge to the culture we find ourselves in today.  Saint John Paul II wrote an Encyclical entitled Fides et Ratio - “Faith and Reason” - to address this topic.

I raise this topic because the state of our world seems to indicate we have left faith and reason behind.  Instead of seeing “faith and reason as two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth” (Fides et Ratio), many have turned to the self as the center of truth and see reason as being separate from faith.  It is necessary to admit that the tendency to consider “true” only that which can be experienced constitutes a limitation of human reason and that this tendency has led to the coexistence of rationalism and materialism, hyper-technology and unbridled instinct. 

Faith presupposes reason and perfects it, and reason, enlightened by faith, finds the strength to rise to the knowledge of God and spiritual realities.  Human reason loses nothing by opening itself to the content of faith, which, indeed, requires its free and conscious adherence.  

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Just a reminder that Father Marco is available Tuesdays and Thursdays for Spiritual Conversation and Confessions from 10 - 12 Noon and 2 - 4 pm. You will find him in just off the Narthex of the Cathedral.