First Day of Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2011 by marklangley

One mark of the classically educated mind (well- really just the human mind!) is the desire to know. And for those of us who are idling about on this first day of Christmas, having already tucked into the morning eggs, bacon and pancakes, what better matter to ponder than those seemingly random gifts bestowed on the 12 days of Christmas?

The mind ponders and says to itself

“Mind… Now just what on earth are all those gifts in the song? Just can’t be random, or can they? No-there must be a profound meaning to each one! How could a completely random set of gifts come down to us as mere gibberish surviving from the early 18th century? No their meaning must be profound- and even if they are mere gibberish- then, by George, its time to ‘back fill’ some real meaning into them!”

Well perhaps they do mean something and perhaps not. Could it be that Hugh D. McKellar, the Canadian teacher of English, was close to the mark when he speculated – with great imagination I might add- that the hymn was really a way to teach the Catholic faith to children during the time when Catholicism was criminalized in England?

Well- as for me I am a little skeptical about these meanings- but here is a list (lifted straight from that infallible source wikipedia. )

A partridge in a pear tree Jesus
Two turtle doves The Old and New Testaments
Three French hens The three kings bearing gifts
Four calling [sic] birds The four Gospels
Five gold rings The Pentateuch,
Six geese a-laying The six days of Creation
Seven swans a-swimming Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
Eight maids a-milking The eight Beatitudes
Nine ladies dancing Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
Ten lords a-leaping The Ten Commandments
Eleven pipers piping The eleven faithful Apostles
Twelve drummers drumming The twelve points of the Apostles’ Creed

hmmmmmmmmm….

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Urbi et Orbi

Posted on December 25, 2011 by marklangley

God bless Our Holy Father Benedict XVI who delivered his Urbi et Orbi address today with striking eloquence and poignant clarity! Allow me to share three paragraphs. (the whole text is available at Catholic Culture)

“This is how Christ is invoked in an ancient liturgical antiphon: “O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, hope and salvation of the peoples: come to save us, O Lord our God”. Veni ad salvandum nos! Come to save us! This is the cry raised by men and women in every age, who sense that by themselves they cannot prevail over difficulties and dangers. They need to put their hands in a greater and stronger hand, a hand which reaches out to them from on high. Dear brothers and sisters, this hand is Christ, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. He is the hand that God extends to humanity, to draw us out of the mire of sin and to set us firmly on rock, the secure rock of his Truth and his Love (cf. Ps 40:2).”

and then he continues to repeat the phrase “Veni ad salvandum nos!”

This is the meaning of the Child’s name, the name which, by God’s will, Mary and Joseph gave him: he is named Jesus, which means “Saviour” (cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31). He was sent by God the Father to save us above all from the evil deeply rooted in man and in history: the evil of separation from God, the prideful presumption of being self-sufficient, of trying to compete with God and to take his place, to decide what is good and evil, to be the master of life and death (cf. Gen 3:1-7). This is the great evil, the great sin, from which we human beings cannot save ourselves unless we rely on God’s help, unless we cry out to him: “Veni ad salvandum nos! – Come to save us!”

After developing the thesis that Jesus Christ is the answer to our cry and that this is the meaning of the His incarnation and the baby in Bethlehem, He ends with this last paragraph.

“Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation! He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace. Let us open our hearts to him; let us receive him into our lives. Once more let us say to him, with joy and confidence: “Veni ad salvandum nos!”

The fact that he keeps repeating this phrase in Latin while speaking of the timeless and universal meaning of our Lord’s mission to save us- all in the context of his “Urbi et Orbi” speech is powerful. Rhetoric could not serve a better purpose than to proclaim Christ to the world, and our Holy Father is a master of this art. Not only does he speak the message that the world needs to hear, but he develops his thesis brilliantly and briefly.

It is a universal and timeless message. How fitting that he employed the universal language to deliver such a critical message in so memorable a manner.

Merry Christmas!

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Slavery

Posted on December 24, 2011 by marklangley

It is downright dishonest to publish ideas that one has received from another without any sort of attribution! Therefore in the matter of slavery and its various species and definitions and relevance to liberal education, I must profess that I am indebted to Dr. Duane Berquist, who is a true philosopher. On the other hand if there be any confusions or errors in my own presentation I do not attribute these to Dr Berquist.

Given the fact that the word liberal in the phrase Liberal education comes from a Latin word signifying a free man (or the son of a free man), we might guess that the phrase liberal education has something to do with freedom. And we would be right. Liberal education is the education that frees the human person. But from what? And for what?

Liberal education is only understood when it is understood in reference to the various sorts of slavery from which it frees us. And ultimately it can only be understood when we consider that for which liberal education frees us. But for the time being let us only consider the slavery from which it frees us- or rather slaveries!

There are exactly four horrible kinds of slavery from which liberal education frees students and they are – to wit

  1. the slavery to passion
  2. The slavery to fashion
  3. the slavery to custom
  4. the slavery to error

Now that these forms of slavery are horrible is something that we should consider. That all of us and our children suffer from all four to a greater or lesser extent is also something that we should ponder. The only thing worse than being enslaved to another is to not know that one is enslaved to another. The great Heraclitus once said (in his fragmentary way) “Most men live as if asleep.” Surely he was describing all of those who think they are directing their own actions and thoughts, when  in fact they are acting and speaking according to a master of whom they are not even aware.

Perhaps those who let their passions dictate their words and actions are aware of their slavery, but how much more difficult it is to recognize the subtle influence of intellectual custom on our words and actions. Teachers witness first hand the force of custom on the minds of students who will say and assert things boldly (as if their assertions were obvious truths impossible to be doubted), but don’t seem to realize that they are speaking not so  much with consciousness of truth or falsity, but rather according to the custom of the time or place in which they happen to live. Custom wields a powerful and subtle sway over our thoughts about nearly everything.

We should spend more time identifying these four forms of slavery- and consider what kind of school and what course of study could possibly claim to free its students from such powerful masters.

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“To Form Liberally Educated Catholic Ladies and Gentlemen”

Posted on December 23, 2011 by marklangley

As a mission statement I can think of none better for The Lyceum than “to form Liberally educated Catholic ladies and gentlemen” – that is, as far as truth is concerned. But I do wonder whether it might be the very worst mission statement in its effect on the modern ear!

First of all it contains the “L” word which in the present day appears to signify not the freedom from the various sorts of slavery in which our students find themselves- nor the freedom to which they are called by their very nature as human beings- but the word “liberal” for many first conjures the unpleasant connotations that might be associated with the late Ted Kennedy and his politics or even religious views.

Secondly – even if the phrase “liberally educated” does not imply being educated like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the term appears to signify, for many, the kind of education that people receive who don’t know what they want to do. Liberal education might mean just anything these days. Perhaps at best it means a ‘general education.’

Newman replies to the contrary that “Liberal Education, viewed in itself, is simply the cultivation of the intellect, as such, and its object is nothing more or less than intellectual excellence.”

There are at least two other terms in the mission statement that might be offensive to the modern ear: “Ladies” and “Gentlemen.”

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman famously said “Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman.” Apparently for Newman being a gentleman was something to which it is obvious that boys and men would aspire. Now in his Idea of a University it is clear that Newman is speaking of a college for men, but clearly just as liberal education makes boys into ‘gentlemen,’ so too it makes girls into ‘ladies.’

And what the full definitions of a lady and a gentleman are, and how liberal education produces these, we look forward to discussing!

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