ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή

Our Lord Jesus Christ is "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). As Christians, that is disciples of Christ, we are called to learn from the Master and to conform ourselves to Him in every aspect of our lives. We come to know God by faith and reason, through God's revelation of Himself in His Church and in the beauty, order, and variety of his creatures. A school in the Catholic tradition provides an admirable analogy, a microcosm as it were, of the workings of God through His Church and her members by means of secondary causes. We can use Our Lord's threefold naming of himself to explore further the meaning of Christian learning, particularly in the context of an academic environment dedicated to the principles of faith and reason in the service of the Church.

Jesus is the Way. The Christian life is a journey with Christ as its path, its destination, and its provisions. A Catholic school should emphasize this fact: namely, that its purpose is not merely to put information into students' minds, but to lead them on an adventure towards the ultimate beauty, truth and goodness, that is, towards God. Moreover, each individual is not alone on this journey. An essential component of the Christian life is that it takes place in the context of a community, God's "pilgrim Church on earth" (Eucharistic Prayer III). The teacher is a guide, not a general, and thus forms an integral part of the community of learners, who journey together to greater wisdom and love through, with, and in Christ, by the light of the Holy Spirit, who will "guide [us] to all truth" (John 16:13).

Our Lord is that Truth. He is the Logos, the Word of God and the eternal Reason of the universe. Our journey leads to Him, and the Catholic school keeps this goal always in mind. Contemplation of the truth proceeds from learning and forms an important part of it, and to hand on what we have contemplated to others is a natural fruit of the Spirit of Truth Himself, who gives us the words to speak in our particular moments of witness to Christ (Luke 12:12). In the Sacred Heart of Jesus are hidden "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3; Litany of the Sacred Heart), Therefore, Catholic education is not only a conforming of our mind to the Lord's, so that we have "the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), but also a transformation of our hearts so that we may be one with Him in eternal life. For indeed to us, as to Saint Paul, "to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).

Christ, then, is Life. As the Word of God, he is "living and effective" (Hebrews 4:12), Our lives must be a reflection of His, and in a school community, teachers must lead the way not only in pursuing knowledge, but also in striving to conform themselves to Christ through growth in virtue, Thus they may also more truly serve as grace-filled models of faith, hope, and charity to their students. Nevertheless, no one, teacher or student, can grow individually. The school must be a living community, united and integrated in study, work, and prayer. In this context Catholic educators and students can learn a good deal from St. Benedict, who intended by means of his Rule to set up his monastery as "a school for the Lord's service" (Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue 45). Our service to the Lord is inspired by the joy and wonder of learning.

I want to teach at a school that knows this true meaning of joy as expressed through the Catholic Church. I want to be part of a community where each member shares in the same calling, and strives to fulfil that calling through striving for sanctity on our pilgrim way. I want to live, pray, work, and grow with people who are bound together by more than their location, indeed by ties of mutual charity and a shared love of truth and desire for God. Through my teaching I want to share with my students a foretaste of the Beatific Vision, which is the goal and final cause of the Christian life. These ideals can best be realized at a school whose Way and Truth and Life is the Word of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rural and Occidental Archetypes

I have written a country song based on a recent Facebook conversation. Anyone have a suggestion for a good title?

Chorus: I'm cold like a cup of left-over coffee
I'm flat like a glass of left-behind beer;
I'm empty like a Heath bar without any toffee,
I'm lost 'cause you're somewhere -- and somewhere's not here.

Verse 1: There's a cold travel mug in my left-hand cupholder
And it's filled with the juice of a life that's gone bad;
And my life, like the coffee, gets colder and colder
When I think of you, girl, and the love that we had.

Verse 2: There's a beer almost gone on the edge of the table
And I feel like a dog that is chasing a car
And he runs in its wake for as long as he's able:
Won't you please come back, girl, from wherever you are?

Bridge: And the only kick left in my life is the kick of my truck
As it kicks into gear, I believe that I am all out of luck.

Verse 3: I'm a cup of cold joe that's been decaffeinated
I'm a bottle of beer that's been left to go flat
Girl, how could you go? Well, it must have been fated
That my life should go dry when you left me like that.

Stonewells, Part 1

August 5, ----
The Old House, Forehaven


My dear Mr. Hale,


I take up my pen in this august month in response to the query with which you presented me in letter form some two weeks ago. I recognize that the matter concerning which you originally addressed me was one of moderately high importance and even greater interest to you as a student of the things that happen when no one is looking, but I confess that, as a student of the things that have been seen when someone was looking, I must draw your attention to an affair which, although implausible, happened to a cousin of mine last November while he was in residence at the house which was the subject of your letter of July 19. 


This cousin, Mr. Everlasting Jubilee Montgomery, known universally, or nearly so, as E. J., had realized in the months immediately preceding his stay at Stonewells, that he was in need of escape from the stressful world in which he had been for some time playing a leading part. He chose as his retreat our ancestral abbey, Stonewells, which is a late reconstruction of a Cistercian complex ravaged by Cromwell and his destroying angels in the aftermath of the English tumult which had as its motive, or at any rate its excuse, Henry VIII's marital situation, etc. 


Now you may be muttering to yourself that this already smacks of the monotonous motifs of some authors one could mention, who are concerned purely with the deeply grotesque and – dare one say it? – cannibalistic reaches of the human psyche, and to some extent I am afraid you are right to do so. Dare I go further in my story? Yes, indeed I do. Such unnerving details as I am about to present to you – albeit in letter form – must not lie hidden in the yawning abysses of one man's mind, tortured, perfectly at ease, or otherwise.


I fear, however, that I must reserve the actual narration of the chilling events for a later date. Furthermore, I am not permitted at this time tell you for what reason I cannot immediately disclose the facts of the case, but I am sure you understand their validity without comprehending their nature to any degree whatsoever. Do not doubt that I shall duly submit them for your consideration at my earliest possible opportunity.


I am and remain,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
R. O. Fox

The "Kindle Fire" Should Be Kept Away From Books.

A few comments on the Kindle, Fire or otherwise.

1. It seems odd, does it not, that a book-replacing piece of technology should have a name that would strike fear into the binding of the most stoutly-bound volume? You would think they would want to minimize, rather than maximize, the misobiblistic overtones of their nomenclature. I would like to suggest to anyone with aspirations of an e-book nature, that they should call their product the Tolle Lege. Latin evokes mystery, ritual, and antiquity, which are all things associated with books. The name I suggest also has the two following advantages:
a) It avoids any possible application to the destruction of books.
b) It is a quote from a book, namely Book VIII of St. Augustine's Confessions.
Even if Kindle Fire better indulges Amazon's prehistoric and Promethean fantasies, it also accords well with their rather violent name. One can imagine the Amazons coming upon a library and their chief ordering exactly what their product recommends: "Kindle Fire!"

2. A less antagonistic reflection on the Kindle Fire centers on the loose connection to grammar enjoyed by its name. "Kindle" is presumably a verb, since how an e-reader's name could be derived from a group of baby felines is above even the Amazon execs' pay grade, and "fire" is likely a noun. Other than that, we must leave it to the imagination to decide what possible synthetic and/or analytic signification attaches to these two words. There is, of course, the chief Amazon's destructive order (see above). This is unlikely, I deem. The "fire" part of the name is, in general, pretty redundant, because what else does one kindle (at least in a literal sense)? And is "kindle" an infinitive? An imperative? And is it acting transitively or intransitively? The glory of English is that no one ever has to know. Perhaps that is why technology is so rampant in American culture, because we can name things without being at all preoccupied by their grammatical inflections or syntax. Also, English has a lot of words that sound exactly like other words, such as the word "kindle." The use of Latin in product names would really be a great boon to those of us who like precision and clarity in nomenclature.

I hereby extend an invitation to my readers to submit names for the Kindle Fire in divers languages; Latin particularly comes to mind, but any tongue would be exceedingly welcome. Please include with your translation a defense thereof, which can be anywhere from long to short. Have fun!

Ready...Set...Kindle Fire!

 

Two Sonnets -- One of Each Kind

i
There is a chance that you will throw away
A chicken bone into the garbage can;
It's possible that you'll discard today
A pair of tongs all twisted by the fan.
I wouldn't rule it out that you'll discard
An ace of diamonds, bent and torn with age.
I daresay you might find it rather hard
To keep from throwing out a bookless page.
It's not far-flung that you will fling a flower
Whose petals droop into the compost pail,
I won't exclude, within the coming hour,
Your hands' recycling of the daily mail.
All these, love, cast aside; it's only just:
But don't throw me out, if throw out you must.

ii
The heat oppresses like a tyrant's power;
The fans blow forth hot air like demagogues.
We strive to move as if we're stuck in bogs
And wish in vain for a refreshing shower.
Each overheated, sudorific hour
Makes us exhausted, prone to pant like dogs,
Or lie like lifeless, carbon-breathing logs
Hoping that soon the thunderheads will lower.
To bring us rain, coolth, and a change of pace
As welcome as a glass of lemonade,
Or even more; this tempest we can face
With gratitude, like leaf and stalk and blade,
Who know its nourishment and see its grace
And praise their God for all that He has made.

A Few Comments Regarding Early Christianity

1.There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need (Acts 4:34-5).

These verses came up in the First Reading at Mass recently, and I was struck by a similarity between the way the Apostles organized the distribution of property and Notre Dame's financial aid policy, namely, that to every admitted student they provide aid sufficient to meet the student's demonstrated financial need. Perhaps partly because I benefited from this system, I am highly in favor of it, agreeing that admission should be the endpoint for judgments based on merit in the university admission/aid/housing process. Other universities, which base some of their aid on further post-admission considerations of merit, seem to be lacking in the commitment to the Gospel that Notre Dame exhibits in this regard, which is, I grant you, a slightly unusual situation. But I don't mind Notre Dame admitting meritorious students and then giving them all the aid they need to get the education that Notre Dame can give them. It certainly works out well for Notre Dame in the end, since they get their money back in many different ways, such as investments  as well as in the tuition paid by wealthier students, who can afford it without much aid. On investments, see the first verse of the Acts passage, although Fr. Jenkins and the other administrators at Notre Dame are not quite the apostles, although at least one of the Fellows is an Apostolic Successor.

2. Has anyone else noticed the trend recently of basing new churches somewhat loosely but pretty recognizably on Early Christian architecture? Fairly wide in comparison to their height with clerestories (sometimes as the main area of windows) and round apses. The two things that are often missing (to my sorrow) are Columns (what's a Basilica without Columns?) and Mosaics. I really think a Liturgical Consultant was sitting around one day with a Somewhat Traditional Architect and the conversation went something like this.

LC: I'd like to help design a church, and I can, thanks to my vague liturgical training.

STA: OK, what kind of church would you like it to be? We've got Early Christian, Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Neogothic, and, I guess, Modern.

LC: Which one of those is the most like a Great Big Welcoming Hug?

(The STA considers for a moment. He seems unsure.)
STA: Um, none of them really, but the Early Christian basilica was based on a Greco-Roman meeting place type of building called a Basilica.

LC: Aha, the church is basically a place to gather, not like a temple you know. It's more about celebrating community than doing some kind of adoration for a God who's in "some heaven light-years away." It's more Gather than Worship, I'd say.

STA: I guessed you might be hoping for something along those lines. Yeah, Early Christian's pretty cool. Just think...all those Columns and Mosaics.

LC: Those aren't accessible to the average Joe Gather. Columns block the view and what possible symbolic significance could they have? And mosaics...they're all little pieces...way too scholastic for me. They don't look like anything

STA: The same could be said for a lot of your art.

(The STA collapses in a fit of laughter; when he has recovered, he leaves the LC to design his own church, while he himself goes to his studio and draws the elevation of a Renaissance palazzo or something.)

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Based on an Historical Presumption...

Happy Shakespeare's Birthday!

We know from documentary evidence that William was baptized on April 26, 1564, so historians, being the speculative sorts they often are, presume that, three days being a usual or traditional period of time to intervene between a birth and a baptism, Shakespeare was born on April 23, which, by coincidence or providence, is both St. George's feast day and the date of Shakespeare's death in 1616.

The nimis speculative tendencies of historians deserve their own moderately scathing post. Keep an eye out for that. You don't want to read a book review I once composed on a book about monuments and the rhetorical use of urban spaces. It may have been a slight overreaction.

I will conclude with a grammatically and rhetorically notable quotation from Shakespeare; it's a fairly famous excerpt from Richard II, II.i., spoken by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster:

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's Son,
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out[...]

This sentence is grammatically notable because it contains what amounts to the longest subject in the history of English literature; if someone cares to show me a longer, I will not dispute it, but...wow!

It is rhetorically notable mainly due to its buildup, its final contrast, its pathos, and its overall masterful use of all the components of poetry: rhythm, sound, and vocabulary. It's just awesome.

I don't mind admitting I like poetry, and (not that it matters, but...) that I agree with the great overarching consensus that Shakespeare is among the best of poets.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

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