A Reflection on Truth
"Abandoning the investigation of being, modern philosophical research has concentrated instead upon human knowing." -John Paul II
What is "the investigation of being"? It is the inevitable yearning of the soul to ask the ultimate questions: Who am I, What am I called to be, Where am I to go? The defiance of truth has forced society to turn in on itself. It has chosen to turn a deaf ear to these questions that form the very fiber of human existence.
To abandon this quest for self-knowledge means to neglect the quest for truth. Yet what is the cause of this abandonment or neglect? Modern society has developed a certain pride in its quest to know more complex systems of thought that it has failed to recognize a truth which transcends all things. It loses focus on the human capacity for knowledge and eventually ignores the truth about being and about God. Society has settled on partial truths at the risk of being swayed by, as the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI puts it, "every wind of doctrine".
This is where faith comes in. With faith, comes the grace which will proclaim the whole truth openly. This proclamation; however, must be accompanied with love, and as the Holy Father quoted Scripture in his first message to the cardinals, "Charity without truth would be blind; truth without charity would be like "a clanging cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1).
We must be bearers of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. As members of the Church, we march forward with the words of Pope John Paul II, "Be not Afraid, open wide the doors to Christ!".
-A reflection based on John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio
What is "the investigation of being"? It is the inevitable yearning of the soul to ask the ultimate questions: Who am I, What am I called to be, Where am I to go? The defiance of truth has forced society to turn in on itself. It has chosen to turn a deaf ear to these questions that form the very fiber of human existence.
To abandon this quest for self-knowledge means to neglect the quest for truth. Yet what is the cause of this abandonment or neglect? Modern society has developed a certain pride in its quest to know more complex systems of thought that it has failed to recognize a truth which transcends all things. It loses focus on the human capacity for knowledge and eventually ignores the truth about being and about God. Society has settled on partial truths at the risk of being swayed by, as the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI puts it, "every wind of doctrine".
This is where faith comes in. With faith, comes the grace which will proclaim the whole truth openly. This proclamation; however, must be accompanied with love, and as the Holy Father quoted Scripture in his first message to the cardinals, "Charity without truth would be blind; truth without charity would be like "a clanging cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1).
We must be bearers of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. As members of the Church, we march forward with the words of Pope John Paul II, "Be not Afraid, open wide the doors to Christ!".
-A reflection based on John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio
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