1 Peter 3:13-16
Reason for our Hope
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
St. Peter teaches us that we should want to and be eager to do good...And when we suffer from doing good and what is right, then we are blessed...In our hearts we should know and remember that Jesus is Special...He is our Messiah and He is LORD...
It seems faith, reason, and hope go hand in hand...The reason St. Peter had so much hope was that He personally knew Jesus as LORD...He got to see and know Jesus when He lived, but St. Peter also saw his LORD after His resurrection...St. Peter is telling us to be ready to spread the gospel...When we meet and are around others we should know the reasons we have for believing in Jesus...We should not have to be spontaneous about why we believe in the LORD...People should see our very hope in our lives by how we live...This hope revolves around Him...And when we talk to others, we should do it with gentleness and respect, because the tough, rough teachers and disciples often have a harder time convincing the nonbeliever...
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that faith and reason are ways to the Truth...We have two ways of knowing things...One is through our reasoning abilities and the other is through our faith abilities...We use our reasoning through our life's experiences to get to Truth...We also use our faith to get to the Truth...We can look around and see all the trees, the stars, the sun, the sky, the earth and know that these are good works of God...When we believe that He created these (and other) good works of nature, we are using both our faith and our reason...Faith, hope and reason all go hand in hand and are different ways to the Truth...They are also the ways to God...God is the Absolute Truth...We may realize this through great hope, or great faith, or great reasoning...We may use a combination of hope and reasoning, or faith and reasoning to believe in Him...Faith and hope grow from our reasoning abilities...Faith and hope are partners in reason...We can be lost, if we have all reasoning ability and no faith...And we can be lost, if we have all faith and no reason to back the faith (we have)...
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that the goal of human life is to meet and have eternal fellowship with God...I think when we meet Jesus face to face that is when faith, hope, and reason all will meet...Meeting Him, will make faith, hope, reason, and love all come together...He is not only the truth, but He is life...He is the way to eternal life, and the eternal fellowship we seek with our Father...