Syria: Franciscan monk killed in raid on monastery

(Vatican Radio) The Custody of the Holy Land has announced the death of Fr Franҫois Mourad, a Syrian monk, and the assault of the Franciscan monastery of St Anthony of Padua in Ghassanieh, a predominantly Christian village in the district of Jisr al-Shughur in the province of Idlib, near the border with Turkey.
Father François Mourad was apparently alone in the monastery when it was completely pillaged.The circumstances surrounding his death are not clear.
Father François was well known in this region to which he retired several years ago to live as a hermit. After completing his novitiate in Rome as a Franciscan of the Custody, he heard a more urgent call from the Lord to lead a contemplative life.
Since the beginning of the war in Syria, he left his hermitage to be with a friar in fragile health and to serve a neighboring community of religious sisters, as well as to seek a bit more security. The tragic circumstances of his death are particularly painful.
The Custody’s presence in Syria is multifaceted, having always followed its mission of service to the people and continuing to do so in these troubled times, without political or religious distinction.
Fr. Mourad was just one of the many men and women religious putting their faith on the front line in Syria, refusing to abandon the communities they serve, Christian and Muslim. They stay because they want to be a sign of hope, light and comfort to people in the midst of destruction. Mons. Kozar is President of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).
Speaking to Emer McCarthy he described how at their recent meeting here at the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Reunion of Aid Agencies for Oriental Churches (ROACO) heard from representatives of this silent network that stretches across Syria.
Among them Franciscan priest, Fr. Hanna. He lives in a small village north of Aleppo the scene of a constant tug of war between government forces and rebels He spoke of how he rings the bell to mark the hours of the day and as a sign of hope for the whole population. In Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and other cities, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd also provide continuous assistance to the displaced, particularly women and children in distress, bringing clean clothes, food and words of comfort.
“More than money these people need our support” said Mons. Kozar. “They need us to lobby our governments, our Congressmen our representatives to put an end to this war now!”

What Holds Your Sanity Together?

Bricks and Mortar

(Reason and Faith)

In the year 1637, René Descartes wrote the famous phrase "Cogito ergo sum"  or in English “I think, therefore I am.” (French: Je pense, donc je suis), found in part IV of his Discourse on the Method. This phrase in turn has helped earn him the title of the “Father of Modern Philosophy”. Now even though this statement opens the doors to a hyper skepticism, it is not a new thought. The ancient sophists were among the first to question all of reality, including that of the philosopher Gorgias, who seems to have argued that there is nothing and even if there was something nothing can be known of it. However, to begin thinking like this, on the matrix and the post modern era, one might agree that this type of hyper skepticism leads to a paralysis. A prison of solipsism. In this all logic and reason is stopped, because nothing more can be known. Still, logic and reason have and do progress, despite some people arguing only the self exists, and this can be attributed to a balance of faith and reason.

It was the philosopher David Hume who said that "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions" (A Treatise of Human Nature) which can be explained in a metaphor saying that our axiomatic roots are in the soil of personal and emotive experience and the flower of reason grows from that soil (A Private Conversation). In other words all men have to start somewhere to arrive anywhere.

In searching for a balance, a perfect starting point in which all men travel down their journey of conscious life, it seems to most likely begin with the self (Cogito ergo sum). However, the next step must be in turn a belief of some kind, otherwise one will be trapped in the dungeon of only self existence as stated before. Now this next step, this belief, is often our natural belief in our senses. However, this is a belief nonetheless. This claim that a human being has hands, eyes or feet, that one can smell or taste is not a rational claim from speculation. It is actually a belief, and it is a belief because there is no objective way to prove that a man is not living his life in something comparable to the 1999 film, the Matrix.

However, just because a man cannot know something with one-hundred percent certainty, does not mean humans cannot still reason and progress with the use of both faith and reason. As Pope John Paul II said “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.” (Fides et Ratio).

Now, the metaphor one might like to use to fully understand this harmony of faith and reason is that of a wall. In masonry, when building a brick wall, both bricks and mortar must be used (Tuckpointing / Repointing Masonry Walls). If the wall were made entirely out of bricks it could easily collapse, and even more so if one tried to make an entire wall out of mortar. In this one can say both must be together in harmony, the same way as faith and reason must be in harmony. Faith, in this analogy, is the mortar and the bricks are the reason.

Mankind begins with the knowledge of the self, “Cogito ergo sum”, and from this first “brick” man chooses to make the leap of faith and lays down the mortar. This leap of faith is the act of believing in or accepting something intangible or unprovable, or without empirical evidence. A concept given to mankind by the philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. However, he himself did not use the term, as he called the leap of faith, a leap to faith. In his book Concluding Unscientific Postscript, he characterizes the heart of the leap of faith, the leap. He has said "Thinking can turn toward itself in order to think about itself and skepticism can emerge. But this thinking about itself never accomplishes anything." This is Kierkegaard addressing, once again, that one does not want to be trapped in the prison of solipsism, being paralysed and never moving forward.

In addition, it is just as important to keep in mind that taking a reckless leap of faith is not good either. In this one can get lost in a sea or web of untruths and lies. The famous saying tells mankind “You cannot always believe what you read.” This stands true, as bias and agendas roam this earth. One of the best examples of this may be the infamous website titled “Martin Luther King, Jr.: A True Historical Examination” (http://www.martinlutherking.org/). On this site is an abundance of hateful and slanderous actions that are claimed to have been performed by Mr. King. However, when one does a little research one finds that the site is operated by Stormfront, a community of White Nationalists (http://www.stormfront.org/forum/).

Now even despite the lies of this world one must continue to think and take leaps of faith. Mankind does not want to be trapped in soliptism nor the web of treacherous lies. However, how then does one know what to place their faith in if nothing is certain.

The answer is that of using the same method that scientist and historians use to conclude on the universal facts in their realm of expertise. It is a balance of reasoning and odds that can let one know where to place one's faith.

A good example of this would be the argument for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the early first century. The Gospel of Basilides objected to the reality of the passion saying that there was no suffering of Jesus Christ leading up to and including the crucifixion. It in turn works with the Islamic belief that Jesus was never crucified as stated in the Qur'an, "And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain." (Sura 4 Verse 157). However in contrast to this claim, there are many works that say Christ was crucified. For example, all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in the Bible claim that Jesus Christ was crucified. In addition, the story of the Crucifixion is backed by the historians Josephus and Tacitus. This and the abundance of claims saying that the crucifixion did occur is contrasted to the claims that it did not. In addition to the reliability of the sources saying it occurred versus the reliability of the opposers is also contrasted. Historians then use this information to say it is safe to say that Jesus Christ lived and was crucified.

Now the question is, “is there a chance Christ was not crucified” and the answer is of course there is a chance. However, with what one can know using tiny leaps of faith along the way one can believe. It is with these tiny leaps of faith that mankind can build their wall of faith and reason. It is with this that humanity does not have to be trapped either in a web of lies or paralysis of soliptism. In Aristotle's model of virtue, in which he uses it to find the golden mean between two vices, mankind can use this in order to find the mean between the two vices of hyper skepticism and gullibility. This golden mean is that of the two wings Faith and Reason, Brick and Mortar.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason. - Blaise Pascal

Works Cited

Descartes, René, Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane, G. R. T. Ross, David Eugene Smith, William Hale White, Marcia L. Latham, Amelia Hutchison Stirling, René Descartes, René Descartes, René Descartes, and Benedictus De Spinoza. Rules for the Direction of the Mind. Discourse on the Method. Meditations on First Philosophy. Objections against the Meditations and Replies. The Geometry. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1955. Print.

Eddy, Paul R., and Gregory A. Boyd. The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007. Print.

Ganeri, Anita. The Quran. London: Evans, 2002. Print.

Grant, Robert M. Gnosticism; a Source Book of Heretical Writings from the Early Christian Period. New York: Harper, 1961. Print.

Habermas, Gary R., and Gary R. Habermas. The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ. Joplin, MO: College Pub., 1996. Print.

Hannay, Alastair, and Gordon Daniel Marino. The Cambridge Companion to Kierkegaard. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.

The Holy Bible: Translated from the Latin Vulgate : Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and Other Editions in Divers Languages : With Annotations, References, and an Historical and Chronological Index : The Whole Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulagte. Rockford, IL: Tan and Pub., 1971. Print.

Hume, David, and L. A. Selby-Bigge. A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume. Oxford: Clarendon, 1897. Print.

John, Paul. Encyclical Letter, Fides Et Ratio, of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II: To the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Relationship between Faith and Reason. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1998. Print.

Kierkegaard, Søren, David F. Swenson, and Walter Lowrie. Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript;. Princeton: Princeton UP, for American Scandinavian Foundation, 1941. Print.

Long, Zachary. "A Private Conversation." 2013 Conversation. Springfield, Virginia. 16 Apr. 2013. Conversation.

The Matrix. Prod. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. By Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. 1999.

Russell, Bertrand. A History of Western Philosophy. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1972. Print.

"Tuckpointing / Repointing Masonry Walls." Tuckpointing / Repointing Masonry Walls. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.

Van, Voorst Robert E. Jesus outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2000. Print.