Sharpening the Inner Eye
MOSAIC, Winter 2008

Very Rev. Msgr. Jeffrey M. Monforton

"Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given to me; I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me" (Wisdom 7:7). 

The faith journey you and I share is not unlike those of our ancestors, our most recent relatives or those whose lives are chronicled in Sacred Scripture. To engage in a quest of self-knowledge is to participate in a journey human in nature.

Our faith teaches us that reason alone is insufficient in understanding of self. Pope John Paul II illustrated this in his encyclical, Fides et Ratio (On the Relationship between Faith and Reason): ". . . the world and the events of history cannot be understood in depth without professing faith in the God who is at work in them. Faith sharpens the inner eye, opening the mind to discover in the flux of events the workings of Providence" (no. 16).

In other words, as John Paul II quotes the Book of Proverbs: "The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps" (16:9). Faith and reason cannot be separated without compromising one's capacity to know one's self. 

Sacred Heart Major Seminary embraces the corollary that solid philosophical grounding is necessary for one to appreciate the nuances of theological language. Divine faith and natural reason are mutually inclusive, that is, one complements the other. (Read more about the relationship between faith and reason in the Winter 2008 issue of the Mosaic.)

As the First Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, Dei Filius, teaches, there are certain things the mind can grasp through natural reason while other hidden truths cannot be understood unless God reveals them. The light of the intellect requires the Holy Spirit's guidance. 

Sacred Scripture instructs us that abandoning one's belief in God and his divine wisdom for one's human intellect is a fool-hardy quest (see Book of Wisdom). It is belief in Jesus' identity where God's self-revelation in the midst of human history becomes evident and Jesus' cross no longer becomes a stumbling block for human reason. Human activity, whether one is serving our disadvantaged brothers and sisters or contemplating some philosophical concept, is incomplete without the nourishing presence of Christ.

Wishing you our Lord's blessings in this year of 2008, I am,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Very Rev. Msgr. Jeffrey M. Monforton
Rector/President