Contemplating Science and Faith

Dear God of all creation, When Gregor Mendel knelt in his Augustinian monastery garden in Brno, carefully cross-pollinating pea plants with a small paintbrush, he was not abandoning his faith — he was practicing it. This monk who prayed the Divine Office seven times a day also unlocked the laws of heredity that still govern our understanding of genetics. He saw no contradiction because he understood what the Psalmist declared: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."…