I Don't Understand

The lesson for us is not to let reason put limitations on what God can do in answer to faith and trust. Every time we pray in difficult or desperate situations we affirm that God is not limited by what our reason says is possible. Pascal said, "Reason is a poor thing if it cannot recognize its own limits." — Don Talafous OSB

Contrary to what the Enlightenment proclaimed, reason does have limitations. Not everything can be, or should be, explained and followed in a logical manner. If God and his mighty works could be explained, then he wouldn’t be God and we wouldn’t need him. Should we throw reason out all together? Nay! Reason is necessary and helpful for communication, discovery of new cures and inventions, education, and living peaceably with others. Our error is in making it the ultimate and final test for all things. Mankind leans toward extremes. If we don’t like the way things are going, then we swing to the opposite pole and claim that it solves all problems. We didn’t like what the Roman Catholic church was doing in the 16^th century, so we threw out all that was good along with the bad and came up with a completely new way of worshiping God - the Reformation. There were many attempts within the Roman Catholic church that advocated and pled for reforms and a return to holiness and reverence. Wouldn’t this have been a much better way to go about reform? I understand that there are times in history where dialogue and reasoning are no longer effective. This may have been the situation back when the German monk, Martin Luther, nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg Door in 1517. But 500 years later, it may be time to go back and evaluate where the Reformation has brought us. In our quest to understand and explain scripture and the Christian walk, have we missed the untold benefits and blessings of those things that can never be explained? What have we done with the mysteries of God?