YL5 Week 5 part 2: Reflections on Fides et Ratio

 YL5 Week 5 part 2: Reflections on Fides et Ratio

"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 - in a word, to know himself - so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves," - Preface to St. Pope John Paul II's Fides et Ratio

I think I found myself today committing that mind-body dualism error that was mentioned in week 1's Principles & Perspectives module. I had separated the spiritual aspect of medicine from its corporal content. 

Last Thursday was a tough module for me because I'm really terrible at genetics and always have been. I tried to hunker down and study it a different way than I had before, and on the way I think I burned myself out slightly. I felt unmotivated to study and thought that I should just replace this with time for spiritual faith. I mean people said this module is hard to predict how we're going to be tested on, so mag-alay lang (faith as the only recourse). And it became a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy for me. 

This is also paired with the fact that October 1 came last Friday– the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux and the beginning of the month of the rosary. The spiritual insights I gained were humbling. I've been reflecting more on the child-likeness that characterizes the disciples that get to embrace the Lord without restrictions. This was re-emphasized Saturday, the feast of the Guardian angels. I remember that prayer to my guardian angel I was taught since I was a kid– Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love entrusts me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide– amen. 

While this is all well and good, it seemed I have been using this time to escape from rather than to deeply ponder and meditate on genetics and the knowledge/spiritual lessons that can be gained from it. It may take some digging but it isn't useless. But I felt useless studying it. Instead of praying to learn this more deeply, I had prayed for this module to pass quickly. And quickly it did. The exam came and it went, albeit extended a day later. 

What I learned from this week particularly is a reminder about myself regarding my faith and why a separation of work from faith is artificial to me. I discovered this at the very end of the week when I watched Capturing Christianity's video A Brilliant Catholic Apologist Tries to Convert Me. In terms of conversion, I am reminded by the many conversions that all center on this story of my faith is founded on faith and reason– Fides et Ratio. 

One of the many slogans I hold is that Faith and Reason do not contradict each other. I find myself making arguments not based on Biblical insight but on the arguments themselves. This isn't surprising coming from a philosophical background. The approach emphasizes the Catholic Intellectual Tradition that finds itself comfortable not requiring its arguments to be faith based, but rather faith guided. The best arguments against Euthanasia is truly one founded on religion and theology but the argument for Euthanasia is weaker than the natural argument– dare I say the scientific argument– against Euthanasia without the religious foundation. This is because the eternal law and the divine law confirm what we find in the natural law which we come to through our use of reason. 

In other words, this is why Pope St. John Paul II proclaims that faith and reason are like two wings to fly to the height of contemplation of truth. Today is a lesson of synergy that took hold of me quickly when I started transing (yes already so soon) for the next module on cell physiology. I am a sucker for the nervous system so being assigned the action of the action potential was a good start. 

There indeed are different kinds of expressions of one's faith, especially in the Catholic tradition. I've experienced it in Saint Mary's College of California, whose emphasis was on education yes but education with concern for the poor, for social justice, and search for the common good. How this fed into the intellectual milieu was to de-emphasize the Catholic intellectual tradition in favor of working towards issues we can all agree upon in terms of combating poverty and volunteering for social justice. It truly is a Lasallian institution like that I grew up with in through elementary and middle school.

Likewise, here in the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, it appears to really be a Jesuit institution. I can see how it truly emphasizes intellectual rigor and low-key evangelism through studying. Studying really can be a form of prayer if one offers it up. And conversion can take time. God is in the business of converting hearts after all, not me. The Jesuit motto "Finding God in all things" is a driving force of the entire institution. In seeking truth in medicine, we can find God, who is known through three transcendentals– the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. And I'm starting to see how the school a good fit for me. A relatively new institution (established 2007) finding its way through incorporating that motto with other Jesuit mottos such as "Cura Personalis" (care of the whole person). For me, it is to incorporate these parts of myself– the spiritual and the rational– because they are inseparable to me.  

I even remember while working for my HR paper for my MBA Principles of Management class last Thursday. One of the concepts about change management that's important is cultivating a sense of urgency. This strikes a cord to a long-term learning kind of person like me. The sense of urgency should be integrated into all actions; I put all of that into faith alone. One last Jesuit motto to reflect on– to be contemplatives in action. 

The cell module will culminate in a final exam on Wednesday, of which I'm renewed to commit myself to studying for–to learn this lesson incorporating all these parts of the "cell" of myself– the faith, the science, the music, the medicine– into one prayerful effort in grace and in truth.