I have had so many candles lit for me throughout my lifetime with prayers of intercession. A typical phone conversation with my mother where I will admit to being nervous for graduate school applications will be shot down with, “Now you do not have to worry about that, Grandma has had a candle lit for your for over a month now.” I have been raised my whole life in a very Irish Roman Catholic family. I went to a private Catholic school through high school, and stories of Blessed Teresa and Padre Pio (who also bore a stigmata during his lifetime) were taught in almost every year in religion class. These were explained as acts of God and that science could not explain these miracles. This does not fit well into the Cartesian way of reason, which seems to need a definite answer.
Descartes mentions God many times throughout his meditations. I have to admit; his philosophy is difficult to keep straight by all of the questions, doubt, and attempts to reason. Any thing that Descartes is unsure of he states it and suspends judgment. I feel like this is what I find myself doing also with some matters of faith. Blessed Teresa for example, I have no idea what to make of it, I cannot image someone wishing a stigmata upon himself or herself. My logical scientific thinking is that it is impossible that she could have gone on so many years without food and water. Instead, I have chosen to suspend judgment. I would call that a part of faith, and scientifically it is a battle. I wish I knew the answers, or that it could be easier, but that just will not ever happen and I am coming to terms with that.
My grandparents are two of the most dedicated Catholics I know. They both had unwavering faith, as I think about it, I am not sure how they were able to get past the doubts and just believe. It has brought them a world of happiness and peace; something that I think everyone strives to reach in their own life. I am on my own journey and it has come with questions and doubts, but I feel like that is how it has to be in order to grow. To try and search for the truth and what you believe in.
This is a nice reflection on the conflicts between the Cartesian method of reasoning and religion. Growing up in this society, I myself have found it hard to ever have any religious faith because it has always been impounded into my brain that everything needs a reason, cause or justification. It is difficult to just accept things the way they are and to just have the utmost faith in a religion. I think it is important to have unwavering values and beliefs so it is interesting to try and see how different people fulfill that part of their life.
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