#60 No Conflict Between Religion and Science

God is the author of ALL truth. The same God who is the God of our Faith, the God of the Bible, is the creator of the universe and everything in it. Because of this, there can be no true conflict between faith and reason or between science and religion.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth... because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God." (#159)

Pope John Paul II had this to say about the relationship between science and religion:

"Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes."

#57 Be Not Afraid!

Confidence in the faith is a joyful and contagious thing. It helps us get through tough times in which we are overcome by fear of the world and its evils. We need to prepare our children to go out and reclaim our culture. But how can we do this in the face of the threats that face us and them?

Cardinal Ratzinger suggests that we need to cultivate the virtue of hope...

To have Christian hope means to know about evil and yet to go out to meet the future with confidence. The core of faith rests upon accepting being loved by God, and therefore to believe is to say Yes, not only to him, but to creation, to creatures, above all, to men, to try to see the image of God in each person and thereby to become a lover. That's not easy, but the basic Yes, the conviction that God has created men, that he stands behind them, that they aren't simply negative, gives love a reference point that enables it to ground hope on the basis of faith.

(Salt of the Earth)

One Who Has Hope Lives Differently (#48)

As Catholics, our lives and priorities will be ordered in a different way than if we had no faith. This is a defining difference when it comes to education because, not only does it give a good example to our children, but it also prepares us to make everyday decisions about our children's education.

Here's what our Holy Father had to say in his encyclical on hope:

Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only "good news" - the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only "informative" but "performative." That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known - it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.

Suffering and Hope (#47)

It's natural to want to avoid pain, but there's a good reason why we say, "No pain, no gain." In the same way that we don't ban bicycles because children might get hurt, we don't shelter ourselves from love and friendship just because they involve the risk of hurt and disappointment. Pope Benedict XVI said:

We can try to limit suffering, to fight against it, but we cannot eliminate it. It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it, and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. (Spe Salvi)

The Strength of Beauty (#46)

I love finding wisdom that helps illuminate the positive ways in which we can counter-act the problems in our culture today. Here's what Cardinal Ratzinger had to say about the power that beauty has in drawing us away from what is opposed to God:

Thomas says that through the praise of God man ascends to God. Praise itself is a movement, a path; it is more than understanding, knowing and doing - it is an "ascent", a way of reaching him who dwells amid the praises of the angels. Thomas mentioned another factor: this ascent draws man away from what is opposed to God. Anyone who has ever experienced the transforming power of great liturgy, great art, great music, will know this. Thomas adds that the sound of musical praise leads us and others to a sense of reverence. It awakens the inner man... (Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy)

Certitude and the Saints (#45)

In his recent encyclical on hope, Pope Benedict XVI explained that:

...in truly great trials, where I must make a definitive decision to place the truth before my own welfare, career, and possessions, I need the certitude of that true, great hope of which we have spoken here. For this too we need witnesses - martyrs - who have given themselves totally, so as to show us the way - day after day. We need them if we are to prefer goodness to comfort, even in the little choices we face each day - know that this is how we live life to the full;... the capacity to suffer for the sake of truth is the measure of humanity. Yet this capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon. The saints were able to make the great journey of human existence in the way that Christ had done before them, because they were brimming with great hope.

Beauty in Education (# 13)

One important, though often overlooked, aspect of education is beauty.

Pope Benedict XVI said,

"Children exposed to what is aesthetically and morally excellent are helped to develop appreciation, prudence and the skills of discernment. Here it is important to recognize the fundamental value of parents' example and the benefits of introducing young people to children's classics in literature, to the fine arts and to uplifting music. While popular literature will always have its place in culture, the temptation to sensationalize should not be passively accepted in places of learning. Beauty, a kind of mirror of the divine, inspires and vivifies young hearts and minds, while ugliness and coarseness have a depressing impact on attitudes and behaviour."

Read his entire message, from the 41st World Communications Day here.