Faith and intelligence as opposed?
Many put in juxtaposition intelligence with faith. If we interpret incorrectly the phrase of Jesus:
In that hour, Jesus, moved by the Holy Spirit, he exulted and said: «I give you praise, or father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent, and revealed them to the little ones! Yup, Father, because so you liked it!
(Luca 10:21)
one might think that one has to completely put aside one's intelligence in order to accept God's Word. But that's not true at all. The Word is addressed not only to our heart but also to our mind; in fact Jesus also said:
Listen to me all and you will understand (Marco 7:14)
To face the things of God like a child (Matteo 18:3-4) it means giving full trust to God who speaks to us, accept with simplicity what is offered to us. On the other hand, those who reason with the pretense of knowing and understanding everything, or to be able to contradict God, it places itself above Him, therefore outside the sphere of action of His grace.
The disciple Peter could tell the Lord:
“We have believed and we have known that you are the saint of God” (Giovanni 6:69)
It's still:
By faith we mean ... (Jews 11:3)
This means, than to understand, we must first have faith and then God will make us understand the truth by removing the hams from our eyes. The reverse is not the case: we cannot understand the works of the Lord if we do not entrust ourselves to him and believe in him. Indeed, it is said that whoever believes in Jesus will be freed, he will be freed from everything, even from the questions that haunt his mind, will understand everything, thank God who will enlighten him.
Faith is not belief, it is the trust that man, intelligent creature, he must have in his Creator. How receptivity is a test of intelligence on the part of a student, so is faith on the part of man. As the seriously busy student he listens to his teacher's lectures and learns, in the same way whoever listens to God and welcomes his words with humility is trust, it grows in the knowledge of itself and its Creator, and appropriates all of His promises for the present and for eternity.
