“In the beginning was the Logos,
and the Logos was with God,
and the Logos was God.”
(The Gospel of John 1:1)

‘Logos’ is a Greek word meaning ‘word’ or ‘reason’,
and is the root of the english word ‘logic’.

Fides et Ratio (Latin: faith and reason) is an encyclical promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 14 September 1998. It deals primarily with the relationship between faith and reason. The Pope posits that faith and reason are not only compatible, but essential together. Faith without reason, he argues, leads to superstition. Reason without faith, he argues, leads to nihilism and relativism. (Wikipedia)

Pope Benedict agrees: “reason and faith need one another in order to fulfil their true nature and their mission.”

Human reason can probe the elements of our universe, it can discover laws of physics, it can peer inside organic matter, can discern proteins and elements and DNA, tissues, organs, and organisms, it can synthesize new chemicals and structures, can invent new technologies and reshape the world around us, making it bend to the human will. But can human reason provide . . . a reason . . . for the human will, for technology, for chemicals and compounds, for galaxies and quarks, for the laws of physics, for being itself? Can reason tell us why speed travels at 299,792,458 metres per second in a vaccum? Not how, but why?

Here we enter the realm of philosophy. WEF5 tells us that “[reason] never has had and hopefully never will have any philosophical basis.!” Is WEF5 right, can we never understand why things are the way they are, beyond cause and effect? Is there a reason behind the reasons?

The Catholic Church says, “Yes. There is a reason behind the reasons. It is reason itself - the logos.”

Pope Benedict explains:

“It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God governs the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love-a Person. And if we know this Person and he knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its laws, we are free. In ancient times, honest enquiring minds were aware of this. Heaven is not empty. Life is not a simple product of laws and the randomness of matter, but within everything and at the same time above everything, there is a personal will, there is a Spirit who in Jesus has revealed himself as Love.”

Why is the speed of light 299,792,458 metres per second? The agnostic says, “we can never know.” The atheist says, “chance, randomness, just the way it is.” The Catholic says, “because existence was created for a reason, by reason itself. Moreover, this reason, this power that ordered the speed of light, that built atoms and galaxies, this reason loves you, and is love itself.”

Nihilists and relativists trust reason within their lives, but refuse to acknowledge a reason behind their lives. Superstitious fundamentalists trust reason behind their lives, but not within their lives. The fully alive human being is the one who acknowledges reason as permeating both heaven and earth, both within and behind their existence, and within that acknowledgment, within that trust that the universe has a reason, we discover love.

Where is the proof? I offer you Mother Theresa, Francis of Assisi, John Paul II, Ignatius of Loyola, Peter and Paul, Mary and Joseph, and all the saints. I offer you the greatest proof and greatest stumbling block - the risen body of Jesus Christ, which you may go visit and experience in any local Catholic Church in your area.

The proof, so to speak, is in the pudding.