[I realize that the Christmas season just ended; but one of our Sisters gathered these quotes, and I don't wish to wait another year to share them with you. Sr. M. Ph.]

Dominus dixit ad me, Filius meus es tu; ego hodie genui te.  The Lord said to my Lord, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee. That was taken from Psalm II. For one thousand years all the holy men and women repeated it. The royal, poetic prophet David, who was inspired to give us the 150 Psalms, was privileged to hear this sentence uttered in eternity. This is overhearing talk among the eternal Persons of the Trinity.

God the Father said to the Eternal Son, You are my Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Some people, like Saint Louis Marie de Montfort and our very beautiful eastern saint (who was long before him but had the same genius), Saint Ephrem, see Our Lady in everything.  Now this sounds like a sentence heard thundering in eternity. And you say, Where is Mary? Well I will show you where Mary is.

There is only one other person that could make that same sentence, and that was the Blessed Virgin Mary.  That same sentence, exactly as it was uttered by God the Father, thundering in eternity before the world was created, could be said by the Blessed Virgin Mary on the first Christmas. Thou art my Son; this day I have begotten Thee.

And don’t think that the Holy Ghost Who inspired that sentence to be there, to be chanted, to be repeated, to be meditated on for a thousand years before the first Christmas occurred, did not notice that that sentence was a common statement that could only be said by two Persons, God the Father in eternity, and the Blessed Virgin Mary in time.

Dominus dixit ad me, Filius meus es tu; ego hodie genui te. The Lord said to me, Thou art my Son; this day… This day (that’s the now of eternity; that’s the day of eternity) God the Father is saying it at this instant, because eternity over-arches all of time.

But the Blessed Virgin Mary is saying it on the first Christmas, on the first day in which Jesus was a baby in our world.  And somehow, because when time and eternity unite, eternity takes over, Our Lady can be saying it right now, as if it is the first Christmas.  (12/24/1978 Brother Francis Talks I # 11 unedited)

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Viderunt omnes fines terrae salutare Dei nostri. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. All the ends of the earth. That, in a way, is a wonderful phrase in defense of our position. They pretend today that there are millions and millions and millions of people that don’t even know that a Savior was given to us.  And therefore, because they don’t know, you can’t blame them. And because you can’t blame them, they will all be canonized saints in Heaven. And we say that is not at all realistic. All the ends of the earth…

That is probably the greatest miracle that this world knows. Can you tell me, if you were  watching that little crib on the night of the first Christmas, with oxes and asses, little cats running around, very poor father and Mother, little Baby, can you say that they would be able to have a campaign of publicity, of advertisement, to announce what was happening there to all the ends of the earth? You say, “Where would they get the finances? Where would they find the billboard company that will spread the news” and so on?

How did the Faith of what is happening on Christmas come to you and me? How did it
survive? In one way, it’s terrible that there isn’t more realization that Jesus is God, that there are still hundreds of millions of people that have followed some other leader, as if they could find as much from him as they could find from our little Baby of Bethlehem. It’s terrible that that should be so!

But just imagine, to look at it now a little bit from an encouraging angle. Imagine with the frailty of every one of us, all the human problems, everyone of us could be discouraged, give up. Saint Francis every time he saw the worst criminal would say, There, but for the grace of God, go I. Any one of us looking to see the privilege by which we do have the Faith could see how we could easily have missed out on it…

With all that frailty, still on the face of this earth now, from Still River in Massachusetts (whoever would think that that’s the way to start?) to the remotest island, there is hardly a human being   old enough to know what time of the day it is, or what day of the week, that doesn’t know that tomorrow is Christmas, and doesn’t somehow know that Christmas is the Birthday of God.   (12/24/1978  Brother Francis Talks I # 11)

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Just imagine the eternal God in swaddling clothes, the garments of helplessness!

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Puer natus est nobis.  A Child is born to us.  Filius datus est nobis.   And a Son is given to us.  Cuius imperium super humerum eius.  Whose empire is on His shoulders. What does that mean?  It means that we don’t vote Him into office.  He comes with royalty vested right on His own Person.  We can ignore that authority, that royalty, only at the risk of our eternal salvation.  He is a KING, and He is NOT a king by any human institution.

Et vocabitur nomen eius, and His Name shall be called magni consilii Angelus, the Angel of great
counsel. Now what tremendous power is found in these few words!

First let me go to the two words, Child and Son. Our Lord is a Child. Our Lord is a Son. Child immediately makes us think of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A child is born, is mothered. A Son emphasizes more the Father.  When the Father’s voice spoke from Heaven to tell us Who Jesus Christ was, one of only three times that the voice of the Eternal Father was heard on this earth, He didn’t say, This is my Child. He said, This is my Son.

So Our Lady would say, This is my Child. God the Father would say, This is my Son. He is both at the same time.

Now it doesn’t mean that God the Father cannot, in some sense say, He is my Child. It does not mean that the Blessed Virgin Mary cannot say, in some sense, This is my Son. It just means that, this is where again we say, our motto at the Center, as Father used to say, We distinguish; we do not divide.

When you call Him Child you think first of Mary and, via Mary, of the Eternal Father.  When you think of Son you think first of the Eternal Father and, via the Eternal Father, of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  That’s where the greatest Supreme Being Who is God, and the greatest creature ever made, the masterpiece of creation, the source and fountain of the life of grace, the exemplar of all sanctity, that’s where They speak the same language.  That’s where They have something definitely and uniquely in common.  No other person in the world can enter in on it.

When God the Father sees His Son, and Mary sees Her Child in the crib of Bethlehem, that is the
salvation of the world.  All the issues of the world boil down to one question.  Every Catholic will have to answer it!  Every Protestant will have to answer it, all the different billions of varieties they have!  Every Jew will have to answer it!  Every Moslem will have to answer it!  Every Buddhist will have to answer it!  Who – is -  that – Child – in the crib of Bethlehem?

Don’t tell me that they haven’t heard about it.  Don’t tell me that there are millions of people that don’t know that at least some people say that this is the Birthday of God.  What’s that question?  Who – is – that – Baby – in – the – Crib? The Child of Mary, we all know, the Son of God, the same, one Person, two clear, different natures.  Every nature presupposes a birth. Born in eternity, born in time.

A Child was born to us.  Notice; a Son was given, the Child was born.  A Child was born, and a Son was given.  Born from the Virgin Mary, given by the Eternal Father.

His Kingdom, His Empire is on His shoulders.  We don’t vote Him into power.  He is there, our King.  Take Him or leave Him.  We leave Him only by going to hell, that’s it, by choosing to go to hell.  God intended, and we go along with it, every man is free to decide to go to hell; there is nothing you can do to stop them.  You are free to do it.  I am free to do it.  Every living man is free to do it.

If they want to go to Heaven, there is only one way to do it.  They have to come to this Savior and to the things He instituted for salvation.  That is the truth that Father taught us.  That is the truth that we promised Father that until they cut us in pieces we are not going to betray!

…We know very well that there is not going to be any revival of the strong Church, the great Church, the sacred Church, until they come back to this doctrine.

Puer natus est nobis et filius datus est nobis, cuius imperium super humerum eius, et vocabitur.  His Name shall be called the Angel of the great Counsel? What is the great counsel in this world?  Simply the counsel that lets us know that eternity is greater than time, that there is no success in this world unless it leads to salvation.  That is the great counsel.  That’s wisdom.  Everything else is nothing but folly.

A man could be the most learned man, the most educated man, the most sophisticated man, he could use big long words from the dictionary – he is a big fool if he thinks there is any other success on this earth short of
saving his own soul.  What good does it do him to be a professor at Harvard and spend his eternity in hell?  (12/31/1978  Brother Francis Talks I # 12 unedited)

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Let me see anybody invent a competition for Christmas.  Let me see them try it.  That is a great miracle.  We watch it every year happening.  The whole world is full with a joy, with a spirit, even the purity of the air, no other time of the year is capable of repeating it.  So, if Jesus is not God, try to explain how this came to be.

Now the Gloria IS a Christmas song.  And the Gloria is not a song that men started; it is a song that the angels started.  Some of the books I was reading the last couple of days, it says that while the angels knew, in some abstract, angelic way, that God loved men, and was going to go to live their life and be with them in order to bring them
salvation, while they knew that, they still couldn’t believe it when they saw it realized.

And that the song wasn’t something that some super angelic intellectual sat down and wrote, it was the way they exploded in sheer amazement to see God on the straw between an ox and an ass.  And they shouted-the whole choir of angels.  They say not one angel was left out of it.  Every angel in Heaven spontaneously shouted, Gloria to the Highest!

So that is Christmas, and if we have Gloria in the Mass, every time it is said it is Christmas put in the Mass again.  So Gloria is that great Christmas hymn.  (Brother Francis Talks I # 11   12/24/78)

Our Philoso-Fur!

The Sisters are taking evening classes in Philosophy, going through Brother Francis’ Philosophia Perrenis lectures on tape with the assistance of a tutor-at-a-distance (using a speaker phone). We are almost to the end of the course on Cosmology, and there is never a lecture that doesn’t touch on something we can use in the classroom. This last week one of my students asked me about the resurrection of the bodies at the general judgment, when everyone who ever lived gets their bodies back. The question was: If someone is cremated (the morality of which was also discussed) or completely decomposed and the exact matter is no longer “free” — how do we get our bodies back? The very day that I answered that question (does anyone know the answer?), I heard Brother’s answer in our evening class. I was very glad to see that I’d answered it correctly! Rhipsime is a regular guest at our class, a regular little philoso-fur (as you can see from her choice of books!).

Table of contents for Education - Necessary for Life

1. Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Powers of Life
2. As They Transcend the Material
3. The Acquisition of Wisdom and the Transmission of Culture

St. Ignatius (kneeling, center) and his first Jesuits

Our third level of education is the human or liberal — the training of man as man (how to think, how to act, and how to express oneself eloquently with both tongue and pen). A liberal education presupposes the earlier levels. If you can’t stay alive, you won’t be able to train your intellect. If people aren’t working together in society and providing for its needs with servile education, liberal education isn’t an option. But, once a society is established, now we can build even higher. And, to paraphrase Brother Francis, having a liberal education will make everything else you do more meaningful. Remember, the more you know, the more you can love, and the more you love, the more you serve.

In honor of Father Leonard Feeney, one of my examples is Saint Ignatius and his Company of Jesus.

Like that of Saint John Bosco, the story of Saint Ignatius’ personal education is fascinating. He was of a noble family and followed a military career. When he was laid up after the cannon ball broke his leg, he was disappointed that his sister-in-law had nothing else for him to read than the lives of Christ and the saints —so he was literate — but this reading educated him in a way that opened his soul to grace and God’s call (he had not been living the faith very well until now). In order to become a priest, he had to get a more formal scholastic education and so he went back to school. You are probably familiar with his humility, a grown man in a class of little boys, and how he worked his way up through school until he received his degree. It was while he was at the university that he met Saint Francis Xavier and gathered the rest of his first followers.

To talk about the founding of the Company, I’m going to use excerpts from The Jesuits and Education — by Father McGucken:

“His original concept [for the Company of Jesus was] of a very select body of men, limited in number . . .not to exceed sixty . . .He had not visualized a vast organization, but rather a small group of men, gifted, trained, university men, of whom St. Francis Xavier was a perfect example; men of executive ability, bound by no petty parochial cares, much less by the daily routine of the classroom, ready to fly at a moment’s notice to any part of the world at the Pope’s command, there to sit in on the councils of kings, to argue with heresiarchs, or to captivate the university centers of Europe by their learning and eloquence” (pg 6) — making sure that the Faith was integrated at highest levels of society . . . something they could only do if they were learned, holy men.

The Society developed differently, however, even during Saint Ignatius’ lifetime.

Soon he had “great numbers clamber[ing] for admission to the new Company . . . [and t]he admission of these younger men, the “scholastics,” their university training not yet complete, presented a new problem to St. Ignatius, the problem of educating them. At first they were “sent in small groups to the universities (the first one to Paris 1540), where “they lived under a superior and followed the ordinary exercises of community life, daily Mass, meditation, and the like. . . .Naturally, these young men with their fixed hours for study and their regular manner of life were a striking contrast to the university youth of the sixteenth century. Young seculars desirous of profiting by the favorable surroundings of the Jesuits asked to be taken into the Jesuit [residence hall] “college”. Occasionally courses were given by Jesuit professors to counteract the none-too-orthodox university teaching, or to supplement a regular course.” (pg 7) (*re-cap*) From here, it was only a short step to founding a separate school, in fact, only seven years after the first scholastics were sent to university of Paris, the first Jesuit college, as a school for externs (seculars) only — with Jesuits acting as professors — was established at Messina.

Eventually, the scope of Jesuit education was broadened to include what we call “secondary” education.

“[A]lmost against [St. Ignatius'] will, he and his followers came to see the power of education. This would be not [just] a cure for heresy, but a preventive of it. To save southern Germany for the Church, there was needed a genius like Peter Canisius; and even his heroic efforts were powerless to remedy all the ravages wrought by heresy and worldly prelates. But once get control of the youth, train them in right principles, impart to them at the same time an education the equal or superior of any in Europe, and the whole world is saved for the Church.” (pg 9)

And if you can’t get control of ALL youth, you start with those you have. The effectiveness of the Jesuits in the Catholic Counter Reformation for two and a half centuries can perhaps best be measured by the hatred which they inspired in the enemies of the Church — hatred that led to their suppression. If you think of the familiar English Jesuits, like Saint Edmund Campion, or if you look at the family of Saint Thomas More, I think you will immediately get a picture of the kind of full Catholic life and culture that is the result of a liberal education.

We are in the home stretch, but to show that an appreciation for liberal education is not limited to modern times . . . I would like to go back to the Middle Ages, what your average American knows as “the Dark Ages.” We move to England, where the King is Alfred the Great. It is the late 800′s, and with his wars of defense over, he is turning his attention to the welfare of his people’s souls. With the aid of the monks (mostly Benedictines), he duplicates in England — much more gently — what Charlemagne did in France during the previous century — what’s called the Carolingian Renaissance. This covers all aspects of life and learning: religion, education, law (trial by jury of 12), language, exploration and expanded trade and travel, agriculture, the useful and mechanical arts. The result of Alfred’s reign was such peace and tranquility that he could (and apparent did) hang gold bracelets some major sign posts and no man would touch them — and that if a traveler dropped a purse in the highway — he would find it untouched the next day! This is particularly impressive when you realize that prior to this, plundering and robbery by the English of their own countryside had become common place. King Alfred’s reign was one of the golden ages of England history.

Let’s just take a quick look at St. Alfred’s educational policies.

First of all, not only did he restore the destroyed monasteries, but at the advice of St. Neot founded a palace school. To run this school, the king invited scholars (monks) from Europe and Wales. King Alfred himself hadn’t learned to read until the age of 12 because of the invasions of the Danes and he always regretted this late start. So, (to paraphrase Father Butler in his Lives of the Saints for October 28, feast of St. Neot)

“Not only did the King see to his own education, spending all his free time conversing with the scholarly monks of the palace school, he also made the series of translations* for the instruction of his clergy and people, most of which survive.” (en.wikipedia.com) He himself set the example for his people of putting religion first: eight hours of the day he devoted to prayer and reading, eight hours to the administration of his kingdom, and the final eight to the needs of his body. King “Alfred stirred up all the gentlemen to bring up their sons to the study of literature, or, if they had no sons, some servants or vassals whom they should make free. He obliged every free man … [with a certain amount of land] to keep their sons at school till they were fifteen years of age. … In order to be qualified [for their rank and responsibilities], their tender hearts must be deeply impressed with the strongest and most generous sentiments of sincere piety and religion, and of true honors; . . . they must acquire the habit of reasoning well and readily, and of forming right judgments and conclusions. Their faculties must be raised and improved by study, … [and then after a foundation in the sciences, directed according to their talents]. King Alfred also exhorted the noblemen to choose among their country vassals … some youths who should appear by their parts [talents] and ardent inclinations to piety, particularly promising to be trained up to the liberal arts. … [T]his prince was solicitous that care should be taken for the education and civilizing of all [his people] by religious instructions and principles. …” [Butler’s Lives of the Saints, John Murphy & Co., 1866 – Volumes 4, October 28, page 227]

*St. Bede’s Church History, St. Gregory’s Pastoral, Orosius’ Roman History, Boetius’ De Consolatione Philosphia, St. Austin’s Soliloquies, Dialogues of St. Gregory, as well as a prose version of the fifty Psalms. A book of the poverbs of St. Alfred has come down to us, as well as the King’s crowning literary work: The Lays of Boethius. He was probably also the inspiration for the Saxon Chronicle and the Saxon Martyrology.

I already mentioned the peace and tranquility that reigned under this amazing, saintly king — and the education of himself and his people played no small role.

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In our time, with a majority of high school students going on to college — although most of these colleges are providing, not liberal education but more advanced vocational training — higher education certainly is valued.

Brother Francis was asked by Father Feeney: what is the matter with education today? Unbeknownst to Father, Brother had been thinking about this question and so surprised him with a ready answer: An absence of Wisdom. Brother told this story many times, but I remember one time in particular. I can still remember the joy on Brother’s face — the smile with which he told me how he surprised Father!

And absence of Wisdom. Education today needs the Faith. It was this conversation, I believe, that led to Brother Francis’ Tuesday Night Philosophy class at the early Center. Philosophy is the study of wisdom, natural wisdom as a preparation for supernatural wisdom, and so it ties right back into our definition of education: what was it? (repeat definition)

It was to address the problems of modern education that the Center was founded in the first place; and it was at the Center that Father Feeney put his finger on the root of the current Crisis: yet another attempt to deny the necessity of the Faith in our time, by denying the necessity of the Church for salvation – by denying the dogma: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus — Outside the Church there is no salvation.

Just look at that pile of books!

Among Brother Francis’ notes, I found a couple of lists, enumerating the results of denying this dogma. One list has nine points, the other has fourteen — but both lists include this point: one of the results of denying the dogma is the destruction of Catholic Education. If we take that and word it positively, we get: If we are defending the dogma, we should be building Catholic Education.

How can we build Catholic education, the acquiring of Wisdom and the transmitting of culture, into our own lives now that, for most of us, the years of our formal education are past? An excellent means of continuing our education is to be part of the Saint Augustine Institute of Catholic Studies. [There is more information on the table over there.]

The history of man follows a predictable pattern of hills or waves. There is a period of growth, of effort and enthusiasm, of building, until a certain order is reached. This is maintained — or even built upon — for a time, and then people start getting lax. This begins a downhill trend until things get so bad that “somebody does something” and we begin the upward processes again.

We see this in nations, in societies, in families, in individuals. And we see it in the history of education.

Education is necessary for life; Catholic education is necessary for a Catholic life.

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Before I close, I would like to give you two short exercises in imagination.

First, imagine yourself without any of your senses, except the sense of touch. You cannot see, you cannot hear, you cannot smell, you cannot taste. All you can do is feel. Now I, who have my senses, wish to share with you a gorgeous rose. But you cannot see it and you can not hear me describe it . . . So I take the rose and put it near your hand. What happens? You would probably prick yourself on a thorn and refuse to touch it any more, being content with a smooth pebble or a simple clover blossom that doesn’t hurt. You will not be able to appreciate much about the rose with only the sense of touch.

But suddenly you have your sense of taste! Well, taste doesn’t help much with roses, although you could taste honey made from its nectar, but you probably wouldn’t make any connection between honey and the thing that pricked you since you can’t hear.

Add your sense of smell. You can smell the marvelous scent of the rose … which might make you explore further with your sense of touch to find the velvety petals. But you are still very limited.

The appreciation of roses . . .

Now you can hear. I can tell you about the rose, give you its name, you can hear poetry about it . . . but you still can’t fully appreciate the gorgeous queen of flowers — you don’t have enough knowledge.

So: You now have sight — But only shades of gray — because you are colorblind. You can now see the petals, the beautiful intricacy of God’s creation, but when I tell you that it is red, you have no idea what I’m talking about.

At last, you can see color. The fascinating shades of gradating color in the petals . . .Now you can truly know what I mean when I say: “Look at the beautiful rose!”

What the senses do for the body in acquiring knowledge, education does for the intellect and will: it makes one able to appreciate all of God’s creation, physical and spiritual, as well as God Himself.

***

I have one more exercise for you. I have here on the podium a little white rock. Suppose I give it to you. What is your reaction?

What a nice white rock — just like hundreds of others out in the driveway. Thank you! And you toss it outside.

It is possible that because I gave it to you, you might not toss it away, but slip it into your

Education leads to appreciation.

pocket. If you were Brother Francis, you would make a meditation on it — probably several meditations on it! — all about the stability of its nature, what its nature means for plants, animals, and men — in fact to the whole universe — what part rocks played in the life of Our Lord or the Saints . . . but most of us would just throw it away.

But now I tell you that it comes from the Holy Land — and you know what the Holy Land is. Wow, now this rock takes on some significance. From being ready to toss the rock outside, you might keep it as an almost-relic — or at least an interesting artifact.

And this respect will deepen into reverence when I explain that it came from a spot near Calvary, a spot where we know Our Lord and Our Lady had been.

You are really starting to appreciate this rock now that you are being educated about it.

But, when I tell you that this rock, this exact piece in my hand, is a piece of the Holy Sepulcher, where Our Lord Himself was laid after He was taken off the cross, your reverence turns to . . . veneration.

This rock really is from the Holy Sepulcher. Helene Armeno and her twin sister brought it back with them from their pilgrimage.

Until I educated you about this rock, this relic, you might have been ready to throw it away.

Can you see how education, leading to appreciation, can affect our outlook and decisions?

Remember, the saints became saints because they appreciated the things we have — the things that we don’t appreciate.

***

Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!

Another quote from Brother Francis (which I’ve included on the handout):

“When the condition of the world is as bad as it is, it calls for great sanctity to meet the challenge. Mediocrity is not for our time.”

Sanctity is union with God, union with God is measured by charity, charity is fed by knowledge . . . and knowledge is gained by education.

I have shown you different scenes from the past that demonstrate how Catholic education played a vital role in teaching, living, and spreading the Faith.

How will future historians describe our time — so troubled and muddied?

What difference will Catholic education make for us now?

Our Crusade was founded by educated men and women — with such courage — what will the future have to say about OUR response in this critical time?

Thank you.

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Bibliography (partial):

Pioneer Priests of North America, 1642-1710, by the Rev. T. J. Campbell, S.J., Fordham University Press, 1908.

The Jesuits and Education, The Society’s Teaching Principles and Practice, Especially in Secondary Education in the United States, by William, J. McGucken, S.J., Ph.D., The Bruce Publishing Company, 1932. (pp. 6-9)

The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco, by Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, S.D.B., An American Edition Translated from the Original Italian, Diego Borgatello, S.D.B., Editor-in-chief, Volume IV, 1850-1853, Salesiana Publishers, Inc., 1967. (pp. 204-207)

The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints; by the Rev. Alban Butler, John Murphy & Co., 1866. Volume IV, pp. 222-229.

Saint Angela of the Ursulines, Mother Francis d’Assisi, O.S.U., The Bruce Publishing Company, 1952.

Table of contents for Education - Necessary for Life

1. Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Powers of Life
2. As They Transcend the Material
3. The Acquisition of Wisdom and the Transmission of Culture

Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M.

Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Powers of Life as They Transcend the Material: The Acquisition of Wisdom and the Transmission of Culture

by Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M.

[This talk was given at the 2009 SBC Conference, October 31, 2009. It was very well received (with a standing ovation). What is posted here are my notes from the talk. I have written out the quotes, for which I used books during the talk; but, otherwise, very little editing has been done. It was written to be spoken, not as an academic paper. To really get the presentation (inflections and all), it is recommended that you get a copy of the CD or DVD (see video clip here), or download the MP3 file, from the bookstore. This posting would helpful for those who wish to re-read certain quotes, etc.]

Good Morning! After fifteen years of attending conferences, it is rather overwhelming to be included in the list of speakers.

This is a good day to be talking about education.

Today’s saint, Saint Wolfgang, was an excellent educator. It was his reputation as an educator that led to his appointment as Bishop of Ratisbon. He thoroughly reformed the clergy and religious of his diocese (this was in the 900′s), and he inspired so much confidence in Henry, the duke of Bavaria, that the duke entrusted him with the education of his four children: one of whom is known to us as St. Henry the Emperor. St. Wolfgang did such a good job training the four princes and princesses that they were known — in the words of Father Butler — for their virtue and eminent qualifications . . . leading to a sort of proverb of the time: Find saints for masters (teachers), and you will have holy emperors.

HAIL MARY

June 2008 - Brother Francis with Sister Maria Philomena's Juniors & Senior

The Powers of life: Anyone who has taken at least part of Brother Francis’ philosophy course knows that man has twenty six powers or faculties. The highest two he shares with the angels: intellect and will. Then there are twenty-one powers that man shares with sentient (or animal) life: these include the inner and outer senses, the passions, and locomotion. The last three powers are found in all material living things (whether plants, animals or men): nutrition or assimilation, growth, and reproduction. Nutrition is the assimilation of matter outside of ourselves so that it becomes part of us. Growth is the process of reaching maturity; Reproduction or Generation is the ability of a living being to reproduce its kind. These three, nutrition, growth, and reproduction, are the powers referred to in the title of the talk. (board) We’ll keep coming back to them, so it is important that you have them memorized. Would you please say them with me? NUTRITION ** GROWTH ** REPRODUCTION

The following was not given in the talk but might be helpful to the reader:

The soul is “the principle of life in a material being.” In plants, this principle has three powers: Growth, Reproduction, and Nutrition (or Assimilation). In animals, sixteen powers are added to these first three: Locomotion, the five outer senses (Taste, Touch, Hearing, Sight, Smell), the four inner senses (Memory, Imagination, Instinct, Common Sense–a central communication system for all the senses), the Concupisible Passions (Love, Hate, Desire, Aversion, Pleasure, Pain,), and the Irascible Passions (Hope, Despair, Fear, Daring, Anger). Man has twenty one powers: the three we share with plants and animals, the sixteen we share with just animals, and two more: Intellect and Will (which we share with the angels . . .”made in the image and likeness of God”).

A native New Hampshire mushroom

Let’s move on to culture.

Culture: This term can be used in many ways (references to uses by other speakers), but I am going to use it as a noun with the following definitions. First, a culture is an environment that sustains life. If you want to grow mushrooms, you must have the right environment: the right soil, the correct temperature, the right amount of light.

A little current events note: Right now NASA is blowing up rockets in the craters on the dark side of the moon, trying to find pockets of frozen water on the moon, left by crashing meteors. They say that they need the water for future colonization. The whole project is ludicrous, in my opinion, for it’s complete lack of proportion [besides costing tax payers millions of dollars]. But it does illustrate the fact that water is an essential element of any culture; any environment that sustains life needs water in some amount.

So, culture is an environment that sustains life. However, the term culture can also be used to mean: an expression of life.

If you are approaching an individual that you have never met before, what is the first thing that you notice? Probably the things that you can see: how does he look, what is he wearing, how does he do his hair, how does he walk, etc. If someone approached you all in black, with chains hanging everywhere, with black nail polish, and spiky hair: you immediately know something about him. His culture, his environment, is an expression of his life. You could probably guess at his manners, his lifestyle, his music, and, if he is an integrated person and not a person in costume, even his philosophy (or lack of it).

So culture is either the environment that sustains life or an expression of that life.

Now that we’ve discussed culture, let’s go back to man.

Man is a creature composed of body and soul and made in the image and likeness of God.

The highest power in man is his intellect. What is the highest power in animals? Instinct. Now, instinct is one of the inner senses I mentioned a minute ago, and man does have this power, but it does not have to do for us what is does for animals. Man has to be educated. Let me explain.

Please don't leave me without education!

How much training does a bee need to build a hive? I remember Brother Francis pointing out that you don’t notice any variations of style among bee hives or birds nests! How many of you have seen a Tudor Gothic bee hive? Or an Romanesque robin’s nest? A baby turtle, just hatched, doesn’t need any help to know in which direction to find water (indeed, how does he know that he needs water at all?), doesn’t need help to swim, or to find food. But try taking a baby or even a three year old and expect it to survive without outside help: just with instinct. It won’t happen. A child needs to be taught just to stay alive. Let’s call this first level: survival education.

This is the level at which the missionaries found many of the Indians in America – or Africans in Africa – or any of the primitive peoples of the world. These people were intent upon surviving – and it was these skills that they made sure to pass on to their children: how to hunt, what foods were poisonous and what could be eaten, how to prepare hides for clothes . . . the list goes on and on. We’ll come back to this.

The next level of education comes in when someone wants, for himself or his children, to “get ahead.” To have a better place in society (whether that means becoming a lawyer, an engineer, or perhaps – among the Indians – a chief, or medicine man), to get a bigger pay check, to make life a little easier for his family, to be respected by the neighbors . . . whatever the reason (good or bad) – this person needs to be taught more things than he needs just to survive. Let’s call this vocational training — material or servile education (because it is train man to provide some service to society). What these things are depends upon the society in which he lives. For Sister Lucia’s mother in Fatima, Portugal, the fact that she could (and did) read put her head and shoulders above the other ladies in her village. They came to her for help with correspondence and wise counsel in all kinds of situations. For someone in our society, a degree in his field may mean the difference between a promotion or none.

The third level of education is when an individual is taught, not just to stay alive in this world, not just to advance in society, but when he is taught to be a complete human being, when all his powers of mind and body are developed to their fullest potential. This kind of education can be called human or liberal (meaning freeing), because it is the training of man as man, not man as an animal or man as a servant.

So we have three levels of education: survival, material (or servile), and human (or liberal).

I have not yet brought the Faith into the picture, because I want us to see clearly that as far as man goes, education (that is being taught an amount of knowledge) is necessary for life, and that there are different levels of this knowledge.

There is one more aspect of man’s knowledge that we have not yet discussed.

Man has an immortal soul, Man desires to know, Man can think about thought. These are things that animals do not have and cannot do. By his unaided reason (that is, the exercising of his intellect), man can get only so far before he needs Revelation to achieve his goal. And revelation must be made visible, taught to us, revealed.

Sister Marie Therese gave a talk on the Catholic Origin of Cultural Integration

The Faith comes by hearing (Rom 10:17) . . . If we want our souls to be alive, in a state of grace, we must be taught the Faith and then receive the Sacraments. Here we have life, education, and culture. If we want to live the life of grace, we must be taught the faith, and then we must live it. (Reference to Sister Marie Therese’s talk.) So, not only is education necessary for the natural (survival, servile and liberal educations) life of man, but if we want a Catholic life, we must have Catholic education. To some, this may seem a bit of a jump, but please keep an open mind until you hear the rest of my examples.

Until now we have been using education as synonymous with being taught a certain amount of knowledge, but I think that we are ready for a more formal definition. Some years ago, Sister Marie Therese had me do the research to come up with “our” definition of education. As with culture, there are probably hundreds of definition for education, certainly dozens. Talk about variations on a theme! After much discussion, we combined a couple of definitions to come up with one that would include all the levels of education that I’ve already mentioned. Education is the acquisition of Wisdom and the transmission of culture. (board)

Let’s break this definition down a bit. Wisdom is defined by Brother Francis in two ways. I wanted to use his long definition, but there is so much depth in it, that it really deserves a talk of its own. I have included it with other quotes that I wasn’t able to fit into my time today, so if you are interested, you can take a copy and study the long definition of Wisdom at your leisure.

For now, I will use Brother’s short definition. Wisdom is the science of salvation (repeat) — that is, the knowledge that makes saints. Why did God make us? God made us to know Him, to Love Him, and to serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next. This entails the training of the intellect (to know) and the training of the will (to love) and their manifestation, which is service. To do this with God as the object (the goal) is Wisdom.

So, education is first the acquisition of Wisdom, that is the student learns truth and how to live by it. To acquire something is to make it one’s own. (board)

The Conference Round Table Discussion - a forum for acquiring wisdom

The other half of the definition of education is the transmission — or passing on — of culture (remember? the environment necessary to sustain life and the expression of that life). (board) So, in educating for Wisdom, the student is placed in the environment most conducive to sustaining the acquisition of Wisdom, and then the student is also given the tools to express that Wisdom in his own life and convey it to others.

We should all be “acquiring wisdom and transmitting culture” our entire lives. Education is for everyone and we should never stop learning (I’ll explain why in a minute) . . . however, there is a time in our life when learning comes easier. In fact, during this time, human beings are sponges — soaking up knowledge — everything is new and wonderful — learning is almost as easy as breathing. You know what time I am speaking of: childhood — youth.

Vladimir Lenin once said: “Give me a child until he is nine and you will have a Bolshivik for life.” God’s enemies know the value of education.

Holy Scripture says (Proverbs 22:6): “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is why parents are the primary educators of their children. And, if parents are raising children of God, what kind of environment, culture, should their homes be? But this is matter for another talk.

As a child grows older, his world expands as does his knowledge. Man is a social being. There are radiating levels of society. On the personal level, culture is going to be the environment that helps (that allows and sustains) him to live according to wisdom. Then that environment is enlarged to incorporate others in the broadening levels of society. And within these levels of society, the process of acquiring wisdom should continue until death. Here’s why:

St. Therese in our Convent Chapel

Do you remember the story of how little St. Therese asked her big sister, Pauline, why God doesn’t give an equal amount of glory to all the saints in heaven? She was afraid that some of them wouldn’t be entirely happy. Her sister explained the answer to her by taking Therese’s tiny sewing thimble and their father’s large drinking glass and filling them each to the brim with water. Neither vessel could hold another drop, but one obviously had a greater capacity. In a similar manner, there are “big” saints and “little” saints. All of them are perfectly happy — completely united to God (can’t hold another drop), but some of them have more capacity — more room — for happiness (union with God) than others.

What determines the capacity of a saint? The theological answer is: the degree of charity he has exercised. We are given this life in which to serve God — and what matters in not how MUCH we do, but with how much LOVE we do it. The more love, charity, with which we act, the more our vessel grows. The level of charity we have reached by the time we die determines our capacity for all eternity. Whether we are a thimble, a drinking glass, a bucket, a barrel, depends on our cooperation with grace. Our capacity for happiness in heaven is based on our love . . . and you cannot love what you do not know. And that knowing, loving, and serving God is the purpose of education.

So what have we learned so far? The powers of life, the highest powers of man, the definition of culture, the definition of wisdom, the definition of education, and the (three) levels of education. Now, hopefully, we have a foundation — a clear picture of certain terms — upon which to build. Let’s take the levels of education and see how the Church has engrafted to each Catholic education.

Brother Francis, M.I.C.M.

Our superior and beloved teacher, Brother Francis, went to his reward yesterday morning. It was the feast of Saint Lawrence Justinian and a First Saturday (dedicated to making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary). You can Brother Andre Marie’s brief comments, get information on the wake and funeral, and read Brother’s biography here.

Brother Francis left us a tremendous legacy of fortitude, patience, and charity (to name just a few of the virtues we all saw him practice), but possibly his greatest contribution was his ability to “wonder” — his love of wisdom. As a true philosopher (“lover of wisdom”), he defined wisdom as: “The most perfect knowledge of the most important truths, in the right order of emphasis, accompanied by a total, permanent disposition to live accordingly.” Think about that for just a moment . . . If that doesn’t define a saint, I don’t know what does!

The Sisters compared notes when we gathered for our last couple of meals and some interesting quotes were presented. On First Saturdays the Sisters have a Day of Recollection and make a Preparation for Death (in fact, we were reading about “the death of the just” when Brother Francis died). One of the Sisters had opened Saint Alphonsus’ The True Spouse of Jesus Christ to the meditation on the Advantages of the Religious State (a commentary on a quote from Saint Bernard of Clairvoux) – to the section “A religious dies more confidently” – and found the following statement:

Saint Bernard says that “it is very easy to pass from the cell to heaven; because a person who dies in the cell scarcely ever descends to hell, since it seldom happens that a religious perseveres in her [the book is written for Sisters] cell till death, unless she be predestined to happiness.” Hence St. Laurence Justinian says that religion is the gate of paradise; because living in religion, and partaking of its advantages is a great mark of election to glory. [. . .]

Brother Andre arranges Brother Francis' hands in death.

Brother Francis made many sacrifices to enter the religious state . . . and his death was very peaceful (his face was very beautiful in death).

Another Sister looked up Saint Lawrence Justinian in Dom Gueranger’s The Liturgical Year and found that St. Laurence and Brother Francis shared a love of wisdom. Here are some quotes from the saint:

Come, all ye who are drawn by the desire of unchangeable good, and who seek it in vain in this passing world; I will tell you what heaven has done for me. Like you, I once sought with feverish eagerness; and this exterior world could not satisfy my burning desire. But, by the divine grace, which fed my anguish, at length she, whose name I then knew not, appeared to me, more beautiful than the sun, sweeter than balm. As she approached, how gentle was her countenance, how peace-inspiring her voice, saying to me: “O thou, whose youth is all full of the love wherewith I inspire thee, why dost thou thus pour out thy heart? The peace thou seekest by so many different ways, is with me; thy desire shall be amply fulfulled, I promise thee, if only thou wilt take me for thy bride.” I acknowledge that at these words my heart failed, my soul was all pierced with the dart of her love. As I wished to know her name, her dignity, her origin, she told me she was called the Wisdom of God; and that, at first invisible in the bosom of the Father, she had taken of a mother a visible nature, in order to be more easily loved. Then, with great delight, I gave my consent; and she, kissing me, departed full of joy. Ever since then, the flame of her love has been growing within me, absorbing all my thoughts. Her delights endure forever; she is my well-beloved bride, my inseparable companion. Through her, the peace I once sought is now the cause of my joy*. Hear me then, all of you: go to her in like manner; for she makes it her happiness to reject no one. Fasciculus amoris, cap. xvi

Brother Francis at one of the night lectures (the Summa, I think) - c. 2001

And several shorter quotes:

O Wisdom, who sittest on Thy lofty throne; O Word, by whom all things were made, be propitious to me, in this manifestation of the secrets of Thy holy love. De casto connubio Verbi et animae.

All things here below are reflections of God’s eternal beauty; they teach us to love Him, and help us to sing our love. Ibid.

All things are profitable to her [the soul admitted to ineffable intimacy with the Wisdom of the Father]; which way soever she turns, she perceives but the gleams of love. Sights and sounds, sweetnesses and perfumes, delicate viands, concerts of earth, brightness of the skies: all that she hears, all that she sees in the whole of nature, is a nuptial harmony, the beauty of the banquet wherein the Word has espoused her. Ibid.

Those of you who know Brother Francis or who have heard his tapes will see many Providential notes in these quotes.

Brother Francis was Father Leonard Feeney’s first disciple. Many of us now fighting in Our Lady’s Crusade (to defend the dogmas of the Church, especially Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus) owe our participation to the fidelity of Brother Francis. I personally knew and studied with Brother for fifteen years, and was actively influenced by him for ten years before that.

June 2004 - High School Students & Faculty

Our little school owes its foundation and preservation to Brother Francis. He has been an important part of it since the foundation in Cambridge in the 1940′s. He saw the school as an integral part of the Crusade of Saint Benedict Center, set the policy that no one would be turned away for financial reasons, and made tremendous sacrifices to keep the school going. With his intercession and God’s grace, we plan to carry on his many-sided work — and in the school facet, make it what he wanted it to be: “a consolation prize to Our Lady.”

Brother Francis - high school chemistry

Thank you, Brother Francis, for your love, your simplicity, your sacrifices, and your wisdom. Help us to be true Slaves of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart!

*That title “the cause of my joy” is one of Our Lady’s titles (very fitting — Our Lady is the Seat of Wisdom, Our Lord is the Incarnate Wisdom, Holy Scripture refers to Wisdom in the feminine — and readings about Wisdom are used indiscriminately for Our Lord and Our Lady). Brother Francis wrote a poem that was set to a Lebanese melody:

Cause of Our Joy

O Cause of all our joys!

Queen, merciful and kind,

What makes our girls and boys

So precious in your mind?

From heaven you still have yearned

For this our lonely place.

With all that you have earned

In glory and in grace,

What keeps you so concerned

About our race?

O Mary, Chosen One,

Eternal Father’s boast,

Mother of God the Son,

Spouse of the Holy Ghost.

Queen raised above the stars,

Exalted, set apart,

What do our wounds and scars

And all our hurts impart?

What thoughts and what memoirs

To your dear heart?