Christmas homily of Pope Benedict XVI at Midnight Mass

Here's an excerpt from the pope's words:

"God became poor. His Son was born in the poverty of the stable. In the child Jesus, God made himself dependent, in need of human love, he put himself in the position of asking for human love – our love. Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity. Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light."

Read the Holy Father's Christmas homily at the Vatican's website.

Merry Christmas!

A Child Is Born (Well... a different one)!

Benedict Joseph was born on December 24th at 1:17 a.m.!
Named after our dear Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, as well as St. Benedict the Father of Western Monasticism. Joseph is a family name (my great-grandfather, grandfather, and my own middle name); it is also fitting to name him after St. Joseph during this Christmas season. Deo gratias!
Mrs. A. and baby are well.
Thank you for your continued prayers.
Merry Christmas!
-Mr. A.

Images from the Windy City

Prima Pars (126 images)...


Secunda Pars (62 images)...

The Empire Builder (or, What I Saw On the Train)

Ok, gang. You all have to write papers, so in solidarity I too wrote one. After our discussion with your parents today, I decided to share a piece I wrote for the Wanderer Forum Foundation. Click here if you are interested.

Rommen and Ratzinger on Metaphysics: Its Importance for the Law and Society

In Fr. Robert J. Araujo, S.J.'s remarks on the natural law, he referenced a brilliant German lawyer and thinker, Heinrich Rommen. (If you haven't read Rommen, shame on you!) He was imprisoned by and later fled the Nazis for his defense of law as an "ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated" (Summa Theologiae I-II, 90, art. 4). The Nazi regime--as well as any totalitarian regime--in its embracing of the Modernist position (which is nothing other than the embrace of the Enlightenment project, specifically that of Descartes), perverted law from an "ordinance of reason" to be rather an "ordinance of will."

In our example in class the other day, we saw how an arbitrary exercise of the will can result in an unjust law. In the example given, we looked at the "reasonableness" aspect of the definition of law. But what is the foundation for a law's reasonableness? The answer lies in the Chesterton quote below. There we saw that one cannot escape the essential question of being or existence; and even more, the Ultimate Being or Existence Himself, God. In philosophy, this area of inquiry is called metaphysics. Rommen expands upon this in his magisterial tome The Natural Law. He looks historically at the times when natural law was esteemed:

The idea of natural law obtains general acceptance only in the periods when metaphysics, queen of the sciences, is dominant. It recedes or suffers an eclipse, on the other hand, when being and oughtness, morality and law, are separated, when the essences of things and their ontological order are viewed as unknowable. The natural law, consequently, depends on the science of being, on metaphysics (The Natural Law, 141).

I cannot emphasize enough, dear students, the importance of considering this fundamental question. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger in an article entitled, "Faith, Philosophy, and Theology," [11 Communio 351, 357 (1984)] stated: "The true philosopher, if he wishes to reach the ultimate questions, cannot free himself from the question of God, the foundation and end of being itself." The implications of this for the society are profound. It is the difference between the gulag and freedom.

GKC, Aquinas, Children, Grass: The Primacy of Existence

As we read McInerny's distinction between the Modernist View vs. the Classical View, I thought this quote by the great G.K. Chesterton to be well worth our consideration:

Without pretending to span within such limits the essential Thomist idea, I may be allowed to throw out a sort of rough version of the fundamental question, which I think I have known myself, consciously or unconsciously since my childhood. When a child looks out a nursery window and sees anything, say the green lawn of the garden, what does he actually know; or does he know anything? There are all sorts of nursery games of negative philosophy played round this question. A brilliant Victorian scientist delighted in declaring that the child does not see any grass at all; but only a sort of green mist reflected in a tiny mirror of the human eye. This piece of rationalism has always struck me as almost insanely irrational. If he is not sure of the existence of the grass, which he sees through the glass of a window, how on earth can he be sure of the existence of the retina, which he sees through the glass of a microscope? If sight deceives, why can it not go on deceiving? Men of another school answer that grass is a mere green impression on the mind; and that he can be sure of nothing except the mind. They declare that he can only be conscious of his own consciousness; which happens to be the one thing that we know that the child is not conscious of at all. In that sense, it would be far truer to say that there is grass and no child, than to say that there is a conscious child but no grass. St. Thomas Aquinas, suddenly intervening in this nursery quarrel, says emphatically that the child is aware of Ens. Long before he knows that grass is grass, or self is self, he knows that something is something. Perhaps it would be best to say very emphatically (with a blow on the table), "There is an Is". This is as much monkish credulity as St. Thomas asks of us at the start. Very few unbelievers start by asking us to believe so little. And yet, upon this sharp pin-point of reality, he rears by long logical processes that have never really been successfullly overthrown, the whole cosmic system of Christendom.

Ens is the present participle of the Latin verb esse. It means "being" or "existing." Existence is glorious! It is the hallmark and the sublime mystery of God Himself, Who named Himself "I Am Who Am." It is upon this foundation of ultimate reality, Existence Himself, that every thing else hangs.

Memorabilia

 

The Greatest English Teacher

Fabulous article that I can relate well to (I'll have to check my grammar on that dangling preposition). Required reading for all of you. Here is a sample:

Father John Becker, S.J., sat at the front of the classroom, paperback in hand, glasses pushed to the end of his nose. As he spoke, he looked intently from one student to another.

"This semester, I am going to teach you how to read 'King Lear,'" he said. "It may be Shakespeare's most difficult play. But it has a powerful message to tell."

When we were done reading "Lear," the priest promised, we would not only understand it, but we would have learned the secret of understanding any thing written in English — anything, that is, with a meaning to discern.

And we would love Shakespeare.

At the time, I don't think any of us understood what Father Becker meant. But the things he started teaching us that day made him the greatest English teacher I ever had.

Read the rest here.
The Greatest English Teacher CNSnews.com

(Incidentally, the English Grammar Book referred to in the article sits on my bookshelf. It is the classic, Writing Handbook by Frs. Michael P. Kammer, S.J. and Charles W. Mulligan, S.J. and updated by my English teacher at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Fr. Bernard J. Streicher, S.J. Get it...you will not regret it!)

At St. John Cantius...

Preparing for Mass at St. John Cantius Church - 12/4/11

More photos from the Chicago trip to come...

Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy (a commentary on our culture)

This video is absolutely hilarious [pardon the brusque expression at the end]!  File it under "Our Dumb Culture"!

A little Something for your Advent: St. John Cantius: 18th Century Neapolitan Praesepio

Here is a interesting post on one of the items we saw at St. John Cantius. The beautiful 18th century Neapolitan Praesepio.

With the Cardinal

Senior Capstone Seminar students with Francis Cardinal George, OMI

"I told him his name was in the ledger too."

While at brunch we were amazed to meet and greet Tony Mockus, an actor who has played in several famous movies and is a parishioner of St. John Cantius.

This is a memorable scene where he plays the judge in "The Untouchables", a Chicago mob classic about Al Capone and Eliott Ness.  Click on the You Tube image to view...

Mr. Adkins and Tony Mockus

Mrs. Houghton and Tony Mockus

"We'll say 'hi' to the cardinal for you."

We'll all be in Chicagoland over the weekend to visit with His Eminence, Francis Cardinal George.  Below are some highlights of our itinerary.  We'll recap the journey here when we return...

[From the Saint Agnes School Parent Newsletter]

"Seniors in the Capstone Seminar class are traveling to Chicago with Fr. Ubel, Mr. DeJak, Mr. Adkins and Mrs. Houghton leaving this Saturday morning Dec 3^rd via train and returning Tuesday Dec 6^th. They will arrive at iconic Union Station in the afternoon and during their stay, students will have the opportunity to:

• visit with Fr. Robert Araujo, S.J., an internationally respected lawyer and expert on Aquinas and the Natural Law
• pray Solemn Vespers for the Second Sunday of Advent at the Monastery of the Holy Cross
• visit the famous Chicago Institute of Art
• tour the beautiful parish of St. John Cantius, known for its cultivation of sacred music and art
  sightsee in downtown Chicago from atop the Hancock building
• eat at at the legendary Pizzeria Uno 
• and -the highlight of the trip- we have a private audience and meeting with Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago and former President of the USCCB. The trip coincides with our readings of The Rule of St. Benedict, The Confessions of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas' Treatise on Law. A more detailed itinerary will soon appear on the Saint Agnes website.

The trip coincides with our readings of The Rule of St. Benedict, The Confessions of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas' Treatise on Law."

Chicago Trip Installment 2: St. John Cantius

On Sunday we will be visiting the "daughter parish" of Saint Agnes: St. John Cantius. If it weren't for Msgr. Richard Schuler and Saint Agnes, St. John Cantius wouldn't be the beacon of Catholic Culture that it is today! Check out this video to gain a taste of the glory that is St. John's!

Great quote on Natural Law

The following quote is from an address that the students read for Wednesday's class by Dr. Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus, Notre Dame Law School. 


THE NATURAL LAW


Albino Luciani - John Paul I



Charles E. Rice
Professor Emeritus, Notre Dame Law School
Address, Canon Law Conference
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
LaCrosse, Wisconsin
August 9, 2011

What is the natural law and why do we need it? The “September Pope,” John Paul I, at his general audience on September 6, 1978, gave us a clue:

Once a man went to buy a motorcar from the agent. The latter talked to him plainly: “Look here, it’s a good car; mind that you treat it well: premium petrol in the tank, and for the joints, oil, the good stuff.” But the other replied: “Oh, no, for your information, I can’t stand even the smell of petrol, nor oil; I’ll put champagne, which I like so much, in the tank and I’ll oil the joints with jam.” “Do what you like: but don’t come and complain if you end up in a ditch, with your car!”

“The Lord,” he continued, “did something similar with us: he gave us this body, animated by an intelligent soul, a good will. He said, ‘this machine is a good one, but treat it well.’” And God did more: “God gave [the Commandments] to us not to satisfy a whim, not in his own interest, but solely in our interest.” The Commandments are specifications of the natural law. Together they constitute a set of manufacturer’s directions, given by our Creator “solely for our interest.”

When the seller warned the buyer to “treat it well,” he meant the buyer should do good by his car. Everything has a nature, built into it by its maker. The good is that which is in accord with the nature of the thing. It is good to put gasoline in the tank. It is not good to put champagne or sand in the tank because that violates the nature of the car. If you do put champagne or sand in the tank, you will be pro-choice, but you will also be a pedestrian. That is so because the natural law is the story of how things work. John Paul I reminds us that our culture is like the guy who puts sand in his gas tank and is surprised when the car doesn’t run.

Read the full piece here at the Wanderer Forum Foundation's website.

Capstone Parent Day

Dear parents,

We cordially invite you to Capstone Seminar Parent Day on Friday, December 16th from 12:45-2:35.

• Read and discuss a selection from St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica (Treatise on Law)!
• Watch the students discuss one of the Great Books of the Catholic intellectual tradition!
• Enjoy the ambiance of the beautiful high school library!
• Drink coffee and eat cookies!
• And finally, watch a slide show of images from our Chicago trip!

Please RSVP to Mr. Adkins.

Hope to see you all on December 16th!

At right, Gozzoli's "The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas", 1471

The Medal of St. Benedict

Here's some information I mined from the Benedictines in Collegeville on the medal of St. Benedict, a medallion with some very interesting iconography.

Origin of the Medal of Saint Benedict

For the early Christians, the cross was a favorite symbol and badge of their faith in Christ. From the writings of St. Gregory the Great (540-604), we know that St. Benedict had a deep faith in the Cross and worked miracles with the sign of the cross. This faith in, and special devotion to, the Cross was passed on to succeeding generations of Benedictines.

Devotion to the Cross of Christ also gave rise to the striking of medals that bore the image of St. Benedict holding a cross aloft in his right hand and his Rule for Monasteries in the other hand. Thus, the Cross has always been closely associated with the Medal of St. Benedict, which is often referred to as the Medal-Cross of St. Benedict.

In the course of time, other additions were made, such as the Latin petition on the margin of the medal, asking that by St. Benedict's presence we may be strengthened in the hour of death, as will be explained later.

We do not know just when the first medal of St. Benedict was struck. At some point in history a series of capital letters was placed around the large figure of the cross on the reverse side of the medal. For a long time the meaning of these letters was unknown, but in 1647 a manuscript dating back to 1415 was found at the Abbey of Metten in Bavaria, giving an explanation of the letters. They are the initial letters of a Latin prayer of exorcism against Satan, as will be explained below.

The Jubilee Medal of Montecassino

The above features were finally incorporated in a newly designed medal struck in 1880 under the supervision of the monks of Montecassino, Italy, to mark the 1400th anniversary of the birth of St. Benedict. The design of this medal was produced at St. Martin's Archabbey, Beuron, Germany, at the request of the prior of Montecassino, Very Rev. Boniface Krug OSB (1838-1909). Prior Boniface was a native of Baltimore and originally a monk of St. Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, until he was chosen to become prior and latter archabbot of Montecassino.

Since that time, the Jubilee Medal of 1880 has proven to be more popular throughout the Christian world than any other medal ever struck to honor St. Benedict.

Description of the Jubilee Medal

Because the Jubilee Medal of 1880 has all the important features ever associated with the Medal of St. Benedict, the following description of this medal can serve to make clear the nature and intent of any medal of St. Benedict, no matter what shape or design it may legitimately have.

The Cross of Eternal Salvation

On the face of the medal is the image of Saint Benedict. In his right hand he holds the cross, the Christian's symbol of salvation. The cross reminds us of the zealous work of evangelizing and civilizing England and Europe carried out mainly by the Benedictine monks and nuns, especially for the sixth to the ninth/tenth centuries.

Rule and Raven

In St. Benedict's left hand is his Rule for Monasteries that could well be summed up in the words of the Prolog exhorting us to "walk in God's ways, with the Gospel as our guide."

On a pedestal to the right of St. Benedict is the poisoned cup, shattered when he made the sign of the cross over it. On a pedestal to the left is a raven about to carry away a loaf of poisoned bread that a jealous enemy had sent to St. Benedict.

C. S. P. B.

Above the cup and the raven are the Latin words: Crux s. patris Benedicti (The Cross of our holy father Benedict). On the margin of the medal, encircling the figure of Benedict, are the Latin words: Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur! (May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our death!). Benedictines have always regarded St. Benedict as a special patron of a happy death. He himself died in the chapel at Montecassino while standing with his arms raised up to heaven, supported by the brothers of the monastery, shortly after St. Benedict had received Holy Communion.

Monte Cassino

Below Benedict we read: ex SM Casino MDCCCLXXX (from holy Monte Cassino, 1880). This is the medal struck to commemorate the 1400th anniversary of the birth of Saint Benedict.

Reverse Side of the Medal

Crux mihi lux

On the back of the medal, the cross is dominant. On the arms of the cross are the initial letters of a rhythmic Latin prayer: Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Nunquam draco sit mihi dux! (May the holy cross be my light! May the dragon never be my guide!).

In the angles of the cross, the letters C S P B stand for Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (The cross of our holy father Benedict).

Peace

Above the cross is the word pax (peace), that has been a Benedictine motto for centuries. Around the margin of the back of the medal, the letters V R S N S M V - S M Q L I V B are the initial letters, as mentioned above, of a Latin prayer of exorcism against Satan: Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas! (Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!)

Use of the Medal

There is no special way prescribed for carrying or wearing the Medal of St. Benedict. It can be worn on a chain around the neck, attached to one's rosary, kept in one's pocket or purse, or placed in one's car or home. The medal is often put into the foundations of houses and building, on the walls of barns and sheds, or in one's place of business.

The purpose of using the medal in any of the above ways is to call down God's blessing and protection upon us, wherever we are, and upon our homes and possessions, especially through the intercession of St. Benedict. By the conscious and devout use of the medal, it becomes, as it were, a constant silent prayer and reminder to us of our dignity as followers of Christ.

The medal is a prayer of exorcism against Satan, a prayer for strength in time of temptation, a prayer for peace among ourselves and among the nations of the world, a prayer that the Cross of Christ be our light and guide, a prayer of firm rejection of all that is evil, a prayer of petition that we may with Christian courage "walk in God's ways, with the Gospel as our guide," as St. Benedict urges us.

A profitable spiritual experience can be ours if we but take the time to study the array of inscriptions and representations found on the two sides of the medal. The lessons found there can be pondered over and over to bring true peace of mind and heart into our lives as we struggle to overcome the weaknesses of our human nature and realize that our human condition is not perfect, but that with the help of God and the intercession of the saints our condition can become better.

The Medal of St. Benedict can serve as a constant reminder of the need for us to take up our cross daily and "follow the true King, Christ our Lord," and thus learn "to share in his heavenly kingdom," as St. Benedict urges us in the Prolog of his Rule.

Two Special Uses of the Medal

By a rescript of the Sacred Congregation of Religious (4 May 1965) lay Oblates of St. Benedict are permitted to wear the Medal of St. Benedict instead of the small black cloth scapular formerly worn.

By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (6 March 1959), the Blessing of St. Maur over the sick is permitted to be given with a Medal of St. Benedict instead of with a relic of the True Cross, since the latter is difficult to obtain.

Approved Blessing
of the Medal of St. Benedict

Medals of Saint Benedict are sacramentals that may be blessed legitimately by any priest or deacon -- not necessarily a Benedictine (Instr., 26 Sept. 1964; Can. 1168). The following English form may be used.

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

R. Who made heaven and earth.

In the name of God the Father + almighty, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, I exorcise these medals against the power and attacks of the evil one. May all who use these medals devoutly be blessed with health of soul and body. In the name of the Father + almighty, of the Son + Jesus Christ our Lord, and of the Holy + Spirit the Paraclete, and in the love of the same Lord Jesus Christ who will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.

Amen.

Let us pray. Almighty God, the boundless source of all good things, we humbly ask that, through the intercession of Saint Benedict, you pour out your blessings + upon these medals. May those who use them devoutly and earnestly strive to perform good works be blessed by you with health of soul and body, the grace of a holy life, and remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.

May they also with the help of your merciful love, resist the temptation of the evil one and strive to exercise true charity and justice toward all, so that one day they may appear sinless and holy in your sight. This we ask though Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The medals are then sprinkled with holy water.

Permissu superiorum

Nihil obstat and Imprimatur, Saint Cloud, 24 April 1980.

Chicago Trip Installment 1: How to Pass the Time on the Train

In order to prepare for the trip to Chicago via train (especially during this season of Advent), I submit to you the following training video. I expect all to pass the time thusly, especially between St. Paul and Milwaukee.

Thanking that than which nothing greater can be conceived

We had a great conversation in yesterday's class on chapter ii of St. Anselm's Proslogion. Keep in mind that Anselm starts from a position of faith and is wrestling with the idea of God and its reasonableness. Faith in God is reasonable. Fides et ratio inform one another.

The frustration with the argument is legitimate and I remember feeling the same frustration when I read this for the first time as an undergraduate. The important thing to keep in mind with Anselm and all of these authors is to try not only to understand the words and meanings of their thoughts and writings but also--in the words of the late great Thomist, Fr. Leo Sweeney, S.J. (1918-2001)--to "inner-stand" them. A goofy word, I admit, but one that seems to capture what your job is as a student.

That job is to give the authors that you are reading a fair hearing. Ask yourself: who is this guy? what are his influences? what is the culture he is living in? what are the cultural assumptions of his time? Likewise, in addition to these questions, we must have the courage to leave aside some of our own 20th-21st century cultural assumptions (e.g., "Equality," understood popularly today as egalitarianism, was not understood that way in the 11th century.) The preoccupation with higher things--i.e., God, His nature, our life with Him, how to live well--was much more a part of an 11th century man's mind than ours today. This robust "life of the mind" is very instructive to us moderns and, indeed, as it is simply human, shows us the way. As a friend of mine once said (and I paraphrase), "sometimes the answer to the question you are asking has already been given; you just have to have the courage to open up a 900 year old book to find it!"

So keep wrestling with these authors; give them a fair shake; see them as good guys who are trying to find the right answers to life's questions; and remember to thank "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" for the great gift of your intellect to know and understand.

Happy Thanksgiving!

student sayings... [installment #1]

So far, our students have read and discussed the following works:

• Fifty Questions on the Natural Law, by Prof. Charles Rice (a selection on human nature and "personhood")
• Apostolic Fathers (selections such as St. Ignatius of Antioch)
• The Didache
• The Rule of St. Benedict
• The Confessions of St. Augustine
• St. Anselm's "Proslogion" or The Ontological Proofs of God's Existence
• "How the Monks Saved Civilization", by Thomas Woods (from How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization)
• "Address to Ministers of Culture", Pope Benedict XVI (on why the men and women went to the monasteries)
• The Compact History of the Catholic Church, by Prof. Alan Schreck (to give contextual background to the readings)

Below are some excerpts from the students' weekly papers; I believe they are a testament to the value of engaging such rich texts.

Reflecting on the importance and emphasis of the abbot by St. Benedict in the "Regula", Zach writes:

"The abbot is important; there is no doubt about it.  Without him, the monasteries would have never been successes, and thus would never have saved civilization and nothing would exist today as it does."

In our discussions, we noted that St. Benedict's Rule seemed almost "obvious" or common sense.  We wondered why the book had such an impact on the development of western culture.  Marianna reflects:

"[The Rule of St. Benedict] is about things that we already know.  But then I started thinking that in the past, these rules might not have been obvious as they are to us today." 

She also writes,

"...St. Benedict's fourth step of humility: 'He only that persevereth to the end shall be saved, let thy heart be comforted and expect the Lord.'  The phrase connected with me.  [...] It reminds us readers that we need to trust in the Lord no matter what."

We encouraged our students to attend the All Souls' Day Mass at the Church of Saint Agnes, in which is played Mozart's famous "Requiem" liturgy accompanied by full choir and string quartet; on this, Rose wrote:

"... I noticed right away the black vestments the priests were wearing; I liked the color black for it reminded me of the judgment all souls must endure.  Finally, the music registered in my head, and I was blown away.  [...] What truly moved me was the Dies Irae.  The English translation itself is something to marvel at, yet when Latin and the music are added, it is simply stunning.  [...]  The verses that really stood out to me were the ones that read, "The evil-doers have been silenced / Doomed to the bitter flames / Call me with the Blessed".  That struck me as something powerful, and it was even more so when the choir belted out "Confutatis Maledictis" over and over again."

Finally, reflecting upon St. Augustine's Confessions where in Books X-XII the great Doctor of the Church muses upon time, eternity, memory and the Triune God, Rebekah wrote on the mystery of God's being:

"God alone is eternal.  So where then did God begin?  He did not, because nothing was before Him.  [...]  Time is the means by which humans live their day to day lives.  So then is it a safe assumption to say that God, our Eternal Creator, runs by the same concept of time as humans do?  [...]  One cannot understand the fullness of God's eternal being.  It is impossible, and it is almost equally impossible to think of how time does not exist with God.  [...]  But this unsolvable mystery is a stepping stone to finding a relationship with the Lord."

These are mere snapshots of what our students are reading, writing and thinking about.  It is rewarding to see you, dear students, developing your own Catholic mind.

Building a "culture of the word"

The pope instructs "ministers of culture"

After reading The Rule of St. Benedict, we took in the pope's "Address to Ministers of Culture" when he visited Paris, France and Lourdes.  The pope gathered all the intellectual elites, politicians and dignitaries and, gathering them at an ancient Cluniac monastery, sought to teach them to re-discover their roots: in western monasticism.

The address is quite remarkable. 

The pope points out how every Christian is called to live in and develop a "culture of the word" whereby he contemplates the Scriptures and the various other great writings of the Church - precisely what we are doing in the Capstone Seminar.  I hoped to emphasize, dear students, that we are - in our class and in our small way - developing and living in a unique "culture of the word". 

Here's what the pope says [my emphasis]:

"What motivated men [the monks] to come together to these places?  What did they want?  How did they live?

"First and foremost, it must be frankly admitted straight away that it was not their intention to create a culture nor even to preserve a culture from the past.  Their motivation was much more basic.  Their goal was: quaerere Deum.  Amid the confusion of the times, in which nothing seemed permanent, they wanted to do the essential – to make an effort to find what was perennially valid and lasting, life itself.  They were searching for God.  They wanted to go from the inessential to the essential, to the only truly important and reliable thing there is.  It is sometimes said that they were “eschatologically” oriented.  But this is not to be understood in a temporal sense, as if they were looking ahead to the end of the world or to their own death, but in an existential sense: they were seeking the definitive behind the provisional.  Quaerere Deum: because they were Christians, this was not an expedition into a trackless wilderness, a search leading them into total darkness.  God himself had provided signposts, indeed he had marked out a path which was theirs to find and to follow.  This path was his word, which had been disclosed to men in the books of the sacred Scriptures.  Thus, by inner necessity, the search for God demands a culture of the word or – as Jean Leclercq put it: eschatology and grammar are intimately connected with one another in Western monasticism (cf. L’amour des lettres et le désir de Dieu).  The longing for God, the désir de Dieu, includes amour des lettres, love of the word, exploration of all its dimensions.  Because in the biblical word God comes towards us and we towards him, we must learn to penetrate the secret of language, to understand it in its construction and in the manner of its expression.  Thus it is through the search for God that the secular sciences take on their importance, sciences which show us the path towards language.  Because the search for God required the culture of the word, it was appropriate that the monastery should have a library, pointing out pathways to the word.  It was also appropriate to have a school, in which these pathways could be opened up.  Benedict calls the monastery a dominici servitii schola.  The monastery serves eruditio, the formation and education of man – a formation whose ultimate aim is that man should learn how to serve God.  But it also includes the formation of reason – education – through which man learns to perceive, in the midst of words, the Word itself."

Read the entire address of the pope here at the Vatican's website.

On science & stem cells

In the excerpt below from the pope's recent address to an international conference on stem-cell research, he summarized well the gifts and limits of scientific inquiry:

"Scientific research provides a unique opportunity to explore the wonder of the universe, the complexity of nature and the distinctive beauty of life, including human life. But since human beings are endowed with immortal souls and are created in the image and likeness of God, there are dimensions of human existence that lie beyond the limits of what the natural sciences are competent to determine. If these limits are transgressed, there is a serious risk that the unique dignity and inviolability of human life could be subordinated to purely utilitarian considerations. But if instead these limits are duly respected, science can make a truly remarkable contribution to promoting and safeguarding the dignity of man: indeed herein lies its true utility. Man, the agent of scientific research, will sometimes, in his biological nature, form the object of that research. Nevertheless, his transcendent dignity entitles him always to remain the ultimate beneficiary of scientific research and never to be reduced to its instrument."

In our recent discussions on The Rule of St. Benedict and Thomas Woods' "How the Monks Saved Civilization", we were reminded that the monks developed modern scientific inquiry from the fundamental belief that God's creation is good.  It is easy to forget this, but it is the fundamental reason why the west surpassed the east in scientific inquiry: faith in the God of Jesus Christ.  How can we have "science" if the cosmos isn't intelligible (random, chance, just an explosion) and if it hasn't been ordered by a Creator?  The image at right is of Monseigneur Georges Lemaître, a Belgian priest and scientist who developed the "Big Bang" theory; clearly this priest believed that we are more than simply the product of an explosion.

It is rewarding to have these conversations; it is even more rewarding to have them with high school seniors!

Read the rest of the pope's address at Vatican Radio.

Pupils Delighted

This article very much summarizes what we are attempting to do with the seniors in the Capstone Seminar.

"Pupils Delighted"
by Anthony Esolen

Here's an excerpt in medias res: 

"The Pearson Integrated Humanities Program must have violated every educational truism of our time. Two hundred freshmen and sophomores, for six hours a week for two years, sat in the company of three professors, John Senior, Frank Nelick, and Dennis Quinn, who discussed art, poetry, music, history, philosophy, and Scripture with one another, while the students overheard them and eventually learned to participate in the discussions themselves. The students also recited poetry, learned to waltz, and were introduced to such words as truth, faith, honor, love, courtesy, decency, simplicity, and modesty, not words much used in an Age of Iron, but then, Don Quixote was sent into that time precisely to bring back something of the Age of Gold.
The motto of the program was Nascantur in Admiratione, “Let Them Be Born in Wonder.” One of the pages of the brochure explains why:

In our day wonder has been so cheapened by sensationalism and so crippled by skepticism that the college freshman, instead of being as one newly awakened to the excitement of learning, is often, rather, as one who has never been born. To such a young person learning is so much drudgery and routine, alien to his real interests, remote from reality itself. To revive wonder may be said to summarize the aims of the Pearson Program. Hence it should be regarded as an elementary or elemental course, where one discovers the love of wisdom; a course for beginners, who look upon the primary things of the world, as it were, for the first time.
An ancient philosopher said that to look at the stars is to become a lover of wisdom—a philosopher. Since the Pearson Program aims to make all students philosophers in that sense, we say, with a modern poet, “Look at the stars! Look, look up at the skies!” Not only are students in the program required to look, literally, at the stars, but they are also expected to look up through poetry and through all that is great in Western civilization. It is by the light of the stars (or “something like a star”) that we discover the world, ourselves, and our destination."

Read Anthony Esolen's entire piece at Touchstone Magazine.

The Amazing Capacity of the Human Mind...

He's called "The Human Camera".

DeJak's latest: "For University Students..."

Dear students,

After panning the modern academy, Mr. DeJak's musings in his latest article also wisely apply to high school students, and so you are advised to read and pay attention to his recommendations from "How to Survive the Academic Environment: A Practical Guide":

4. Have a Right View of Education.  Reject outright the pragmatic notion that education is job-training. If that is your notion of education, then stay at home and “train for a better career” with Sally Struthers and her correspondence schools. True education is about the apprehension of truth, goodness and beauty—in a word, about seeking the ultimate reality—God. Indeed, reading Cicero or Shakespeare will not bring you money, but it may bring you happiness and provide you a habit of mind that will make you successful in any terrestrial endeavor.

St. Augustine of Hippo

5. Read Augustine and Aquinas.  No modern master can surpass these guys. (Indeed read modern masters, such as Chesterton, as well!) In order to cultivate common sense and a solid grounding in authentically Catholic thinking, no Catholic can afford to be ignorant of these thinkers. To start out, gather your cadre and read together Augustine’s Confessions. Later, read Aquinas on anything—might I suggest selections from the Summa on God’s existence and law.

6. Read Good Poetry and Literature.  C.S. Lewis once said, “If you must read the newspapers, be sure to give yourself a good mouthwash with [J.R.R. Tolkien’s] The Lord of the Rings.” I don’t think that I can improve upon that statement.

7. Shun Technology, Engage the Human Things.  I will be accused here of contradiction by the very fact that I have posted this article online. The point is not to condemn technology or to become a full-fledged Luddite; rather, it is to maintain one’s sanity and freedom in a world that is increasingly made up of robots. No IM-ing will ever take the place of a real face-to-face conversation, nor will email ever have the same savor or feeling as a handwritten letter, nor will a fake fireplace on a screen come close to the real thing. Take walks and converse with your friends—preferably in wooded areas. Look at a tree. As I have written elsewhere: “Today it is easy to be taken with the advanced mechanical things of man’s intelligence: iPads, iPods, and the world wide web. Aren’t lily pads, pea pods and spider webs equally—if not more—fascinating?”

In the Capstone Seminar we've read Augustine.  And we're gonna read Aquinas... after we read Anselm, of course!

Read the rest of Mr. DeJak's post at the Wanderer Forum Foundation blog.

Ideology: the Tie the Blinds

Another excellent article from the Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, Jason Adkins.

Adherence to Ideology: the Tie that Blinds

"The 2011 legislative session is finally drawing to a close.
Many were surprised by the inability of legislative leaders and the governor to reach a compromise agreement be­fore a shutdown occurred. When the two parties did finally produce a budget framework, neither side was pleased with an outcome that few believe represents the beginning of a long-term solution to the state’s fiscal woes.
The inability to compromise, however, was not based so much on stubbornness or sheer partisanship as it was on adherence to ideological principle.
On one level it is refreshing to see politicians stake out principled positions and stick to them. But on another level, an almost slavish adherence to ideology in politics can and does inflict harm to the very people public officials claim to serve. And it was ideology that marked the 2011 legislative session.
‘The Catholic mind’
An ideology typically involves building an intellectual system around a particular idea or truth, but to the exclusion of other ideas or information.
It is a lot like a theological heresy.  In many cases, an ideology represents an “ideal” system whose adherents are often, you might say, religiously devoted to it.
By contrast, what the Jesuit philosopher James V. Schall calls “the Catholic mind” is a radical intellectual openness to “all that is.”  It recognizes that truth and reality are not so much ours to create but instead are gifts to be received. We flourish as human beings only when we conform our actions to the truths around us, which we must first have the humility to recognize and receive."

Read the rest of the article at The Catholic Spirit.

The content of this article fits in well with our discussions about St. Augustine's Confessions.  Recall the section in LIBER X (Book 10, chapter 23, pg. 217) which Augustine takes to task those who even "hate" the truth because it exposes themselves to others.  Those men suffer from ideology.  See what Augustine says; it cuts to the heart of every one of us:

This is how we read our texts - with notes and markings in the margins for in-class discussion.

Occupy Wall Street? Director of the MCC has a suggestion

The following article appeared in the Nov. 10 edition of The Catholic Spirit and was written by Jason Adkins, Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, who is also brother of Michael Adkins, Academic Dean at Saint Agnes School, and one of the teachers of the Senior Capstone Seminar.

This piece ties nicely to our reading of The Rule of St. Benedict.  At the very heart of the monks' "action" is the Liturgy.  Many of you have commented on how St. Benedict orders everything so specifically on time.  Keener readers have seen that this is intricately linked to the Church's liturgical cycle, feasts and seasons.  Ora et Labora, yet the Father of Monasticism and Western Culture clearly underlines prayer as the heart of monastic life.

Occupy Wall Street?

"The Occupy Wall Street movement has been the big story of the last few months.  What fictional “Wall Street” movie character Gordon Gekko called the NINJA generation (No Income, No Jobs, No Assets) is gathering to­gether in major urban centers to protest growing income inequality, a lousy economy in which there are few available jobs, and the feeling that our nation is ruled by a plutocracy of bankers and financial speculators.
How should Cath­olics respond?
Like its fraternal twin, 2010’s Tea Party movement, OWS has elements of a truly populist uprising. Although neither movement has a specific set of political goals, there is definitely a sentiment across the political spectrum that something is wrong.
Many people no longer believe that democracy works for them or for the common good.
But each movement correctly identifies only half the problem.
The Tea Party recognizes that Big Government too often imposes the arbitrary rule of tax-loving bureaucrats who stifle authentic liberty and strangle entrepreneurism in a mass of red tape. Big Government also tends to usurp responsibilities that should be performed by individuals, families, businesses, churches and other institutions of civil society.
On the other side of the coin, OWS recognizes that Big Business (particularly financiers and the military-industrial complex) have enriched themselves at public expense, often conspiring with politicians to do so through tax breaks, corporate bailouts and legal regimes that funnel capital into usurious loans and other forms of financial speculation that do little else than provide massive profits for a select few.
And when the financial house of cards collapses, the average Joe gets stuck with higher taxes and fewer jobs to make sure GM and the banks don’t “fail.”
Further, poverty is on the rise, a record number of people are receiving food stamps, and homelessness is now common in the suburbs, not just the inner city.
People are, understandably, upset."

Read the entire article at The Catholic Spirit, the paper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis.