The Liberal Arts: it's what all the cool dictators and Saints did

Some, if not many (and hopefully most) of you may have heard the term Cor Christi floating around the parish for the last year or so. In fact, I believe there is even an insert in this very bulletin promoting it as a classical liberal arts school for middle school age students.  The question that generally follows the reading of such a pamphlet is, “what are the liberal arts?”  When most people here the term “liberal arts” they instantly begin to think in social and political terms. If it is a Catholic liberal arts school then they are probably promoting married priests, ordination of women, homosexual marriage, etc. People here the word “liberal” and automatically assign it all our modern understanding of a liberal agenda, a liberal politician, or liberal values.  All this liberalism then has to be balanced out with a fair share of conservativism.  Luckily, this is not the case when we discuss the liberal arts. The liberal arts are subjects like philosophy, grammar, music, astronomy, history, etc.  The specific subjects are not precisely the focus or today's ranting, so I am going to leave them aside for now. The point is how this is different from a normal school, and why anyone would choose to send their child to a liberal arts academy, or choose to home school them in the liberal arts. The main difference is the primary focus. The primary focus of our modern schools is to train the youth to A) pass a test so our school looks good  B) graduate high school  C) get into a good college so you can get a good job and make lots of money.  To this end the school system crams the heads of its students with an enormous amount of information that they will never actually use. They then tell the students that this information is vital and they will use it in their everyday life as an adult. I can honestly say that I have never had a need for calculus in my life. The teacher who told me that I was ruining my life by not taking his calculus class in high school was gravely mistaken. Nor do I frequently make use of my sex ed. (under the guise of Health) classes that crammed their contraception and anti human life drivel down my throat.  For college I attended Ave Maria University, now in southern Florida which is a liberal arts school. When I was there I learned a few things that actually made a difference in the kind of person I was and who I wanted to be.  I learned that I was not the center of the universe, and that rather than just going out and doing whatever I wanted with my life, maybe I should ask my creator what he made me for. I learned about philosophy, logic and literature. I didn’t learn how to pass a test, I learned how to think. I learned of the existence of a true and objective goodness, and I dedicated my life to its pursuit.  I learned that no matter how well you can argue, sin is still wrong; no matter how good it might feel.  I learned what true love is really all about.  The liberal arts were not just there to form my mind, but to form my heart and my life as well.  To not only live a life of virtue, but to have desire to live it; to make Heaven my ultimate goal, not an amazing 401k. Now is this saying that those who choose to study the liberal arts are going to die poor or will have no career options?  Not at all, rather that the liberal arts teach you how to think, not necessarily what to think; and there are always plenty of great opportunities out there for those who are able to truly engage their minds. If nothing else, a classical liberal arts education before you go to college leaves you open to move ahead in any career field you might choose.  You might be a great philosopher, like Plato, Aristotle or Socrates. You might be the next doctor of the Church, like St. Augustine or St. Jerome.  You might conquer the world like Alexander the Great, or lead a revolution to throw off the chains or tyranny and write the greatest constitution the world has ever seen, like our founding fathers.  From tyrannical dictator to benevolent ruler to Saint of the Church, one thing they all had in common was the liberal arts. Think about it.

Good stuff from Bad Catholic

I really enjoy catching the thoughts of Marc over at his Bad Catholic blog. The other day he had a great quote from C.S. Lewis and some thoughts to go with it that I thought were especially worth sharing.

When is Jesus like a bicycle?

I have seen the new Alice in Wonderland movie and read the book, and one of my favorite nonsensical lines/riddles was when the hatter asks "when is a raven like a writing desk?" I don't really have an answer, but that riddle has always floated around in my head for some strange reason. But on to other things only slightly related. Have you ever noticed those “see bicycles” bumper stickers on people’s cars? I know I have, and as someone who rides their bike to work now that the weather is nice I really appreciate them. They help call attention to the fact that cars aren’t the only vehicles who are supposed to be using our nations road system. Bicycles can slip into a drivers blind spot, even when they are close attention. When a driver is not paying close attention they are almost impossible to see. We get into a hurry for a variety of reasons and before we know it we are slamming on our brakes and muttering things under our breath because we almost hit someone on a bicycle. Thus there are a growing number of cyclists (and others) who put bumper stickers on their vehicles to remind the world to “see bicycles.” As I sat in traffic behind just a person the other day, I couldn’t help but contemplate the similarities between Jesus and bicyclists/bicycles. The biggest similarity was pointed out to me by the bumper sticker. The sticker says “see bicycles,” I say “see Jesus.” I don’t say to be cheesy, but to be realistic. In the same way that many drivers overlook bicycles because they are in a hurry or the cyclist blends in with the background, we miss seeing Jesus, especially in other people. We get in a hurry or we are too focused on doing our own thing that we forget to see Jesus in our brothers and sisters that we see and meet every day on the street. Seeing Jesus doesn’t mean that we just take it for granted that Jesus is there in everyone we meet, it means that we also recognize him and treat him appropriately. What about recognizing him in the people we don’t meet, but that our actions have an effect on. When we see a piece of garbage sitting on the ground or a stack of clothes in the dressing room at a department store, do we ever stop to help pick it up? It is the small acts of kindness done with great love that can truly make the difference in the world around us. We don’t need to go on a mission trip to Africa or south America to help the poor. We can do it right here. We can start by helping the spiritually poor who feel like they have nothing to live for. We can start by showing that we are not afraid to engage the world not just with our words, but with our actions. With simply loving our neighbor. By seeing Christ in all his children. As the school year winds down over here on the western half of the country and we progress on into summer vacation, I would challenge us all to consider also how we choose to dress when we go up for a weekend on the lake or hang out down on the river. Modesty means not only recognizing Christ in others, but also in ourselves.

Why I don't want to "do" the God thing

As Memorial Day weekend (or almost any three day weekend) approached last month, I was inevitably asked by at least one person that I didn't really know whether or not I had any big plans for the weekend. Since I lack both the money and the desire to go spend the weekend up at lake Chelan half the residents of the State of Washington, I told them that outside of going to mass on Sunday and spending some time with my family that I was pretty much free. This is apparently the secret code phrase for "I am a socially inept religious nut job who must be responded to in some way and then avoided at all costs." The usual response from someone who doesn't really know what to say to the fact that you have planned ahead to go to church is a polite "oh, that sounds very relaxing" coupled with a fake and slightly panicked smile as they look around for the nearest emergency exit. Some of the slightly more serious disciples of atheistic relativism like to say things like "Oh, I don't really do the God thing" but these usually get a suddenly sheepish look about them, as if they know they really should but the terrible inconvenience it has on their weekend plans is just too much to be overcome. The kind of look that says, "I would never tell my mother, but just between you and me..." The last time I heard someone say "I don't really do the God thing" it got me thinking and I decided that I don’t do it either. When I think of someone doing the God thing it all sounds very external. It is kind of like saying “I don’t shop at Safeway” or “I only wear red shirts.” It has very little to do with who we are, only our periodic external actions. People who do the God thing put on their Christian hat on Sunday (or maybe it is more of a suit and tie vs. a hat) and then on Monday morning they put away the Christian hat and put on the work hat. There is a different hat for every occasion in their lives, and the God hat is only one of them. While this is not precisely an evil thing, it is not really a good thing either. The first commandment tells us that we shall have no other god’s before our God. When we just do the God thing and treat him like just one more option among many, like picking out which shirt to wear or what shoes best match our mood on any given morning. God doesn’t want to be just another option; in fact He isn’t really an option at all. He is something else entirely. Rather than thinking about it in terms of doing the God thing, we should look at it as all-encompassing lifelong commitment. We need to be like one of those sports fans who never stops thinking about their sport (I will pick on football). You know the kind I am talking about. The kind of fan who put the fan in the word fanatic. They eat, sleep and breathe football. You see them in stands of a Packers game in the midst of the snow and the sleet with their shirts off, shaking their overly large green and yellow painted bellies. They are constantly keeping an eye on their favorite team, no matter what. They never miss a game, and even in the off season they are talking about potential trades and match-ups. Football is not just something they do; it permeates the very fiber of their being. They “sweat green and blue.” They function day to day as normal individuals, but at the drop of a hat or a partially heard conversation they are ready to talk or argue football with just about anyone. This is how we need to live our lives for Christ. We can’t just do the God thing, we need to live the God life and we need to do so with all the terrifying enthusiasm of a rabid NFL fan.