General Intention for the Month of October

(September 30, 2010) Catholic Universities: That Catholic Universities may increasingly become places where, in light of the gospel, people may experience the unity of faith and reason.
Over the centuries, colleges founded to educate students from the perspective of faith have drifted away from faith and become wholly secular. Pope Benedict XVI, previously a university professor himself, is keenly aware of the way faith can be set aside in an educational institution. And when faith departs, so ultimately does reason. Truth comes by faith and reason working together. In the words of Pope John Paul II: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth.” Pope Benedict XVI tells us that the danger for the western world is that today, precisely because of the greatness of his knowledge and power man will fail to face up to the question of the truth. This would mean at the same time that reason would ultimately bow to the pressure of interests and the attraction of utility, constrained to recognize this as the ultimate criterion. The crisis of today’s higher education comes not just from the lack of faith, but also from the lack of reason. To some, truth has become an illusion. Truth depends on God. In a world without faith in God, any “truth” is just as good (or as bad) as any other. Jesus embodies the truth that God is Love and we are God’s children. He is the truth that makes us free. By faith, we affirm the values upon which all knowledge depends: we affirm truth, virtue, and beauty. They lead us to God. All the advances of science will do no good and might well do harm without similar advances in wisdom. On the united wings of faith and reason, we can steer straight to the Truth and our destiny in God. This month we are asked to pray that Catholic universities may increasingly become places where people may experience the unity of faith and reason.