St. Thomas's 16 Principles for Acquiring Knowledge

The Blessed Thomas, in a letter to a brother named John, set down sixteen precepts for the acquisition of knowledge. Sertillanges treats them extensively in his book, The Intellectual Life, though one source I've checked online says the letter is apocryphal.

It seems difficult to find a good translation, and there are inconsistencies in numbering among the translations I've found, but this one was the most clear, in my opinion (I added numbers to make it clearer):

Because you have asked me, my brother John, most dear to me in Christ, how to set about acquiring the treasure of knowledge, this is the advice I pass on to you:

(1) that you should choose to enter by the small rivers, and not go right away into the sea, because you should move from easy things to difficult things. 

Such is therefore my advice on your way of life: 

(2) I suggest you be slow to speak, 

(3) and slow to go to the room where people chat. 

(4) Embrace purity of conscience; 

(5) do not stop making time for prayer. 

(6) Love to be in your room frequently, if you wish to be led to the wine cellar 

(7) Show yourself to be likable to all, or at least try; 

(8/9) but do not show yourself as too familiar with anyone; because too much familiarity breeds contempt and will slow you in your studies; 

(10) and don't get involved in any way in the deeds and words of worldly people. 

(11) Above all, avoid idle conversation; do not forget to follow the steps of holy and approved men. 

(12) Never mind who says what,

(13) but commit to memory what is said that is true:

(14) work to understand what you read, and make yourself sure of doubtful points. 

(15) Put whatever you can into the cupboard of your mind as if you were trying to fill a cup. 

(16) Seek not the things that are higher than you. 

Follow the steps of blessed Dominic, who produced useful and marvelous shoots, flowers and fruits in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts for as long as life was his companion.
If you follow these things, you will attain to whatever you desire.
Farewell.

Are Costly Vestments Opposed to Modesty?

The Blessed Thomas (as one priest I know calls him) weighs in:

"Those who are placed in a position of dignity, or again the ministers of the altar, are attired in more costly apparel than others, not for the sake of their own glory, but to indicate the excellence of their office or of the Divine worship: wherefore this is not sinful in them."

Mistakes

I've made a lot of mistakes this year. I've done a lot of trying to rationalize them. We tend to love to see "instant karma" applied to wicked people. But "instant karma" for oneself is also a pretty sweet gift from God, if you're willing to look at it that way. (Better justice this life that leads to self-knowledge and repentance than justice in the next which only manifests in despair.) One of the greatest gifts Jesus has given me in the year of mercy is a two-sided mirror: one side with which to see myself at my most merciless, the other with which to see myself deeply dependent on His mercy. Both sides teach me a lot about being a more merciful man. 

Do only what brings joy.

There is a quote I should have written down and can't find now - perhaps a reader can point me in the right direction - I believe it is from a Catholic source, possibly from A.G. Sertillanges or Peter Kreeft.

The gist of the quote is like this: "You may do what you want, as long as you really want it."

At first this seems selfish or hedonistic. But, upon further reflection, I believe it coincides with some ideas I wrote about earlier in this blog. I wrote that the desire for happiness is a kind of appetite that causes us to unceasingly seek what truly perfects us. Another way to word this might be, "Do only what brings you joy."

What brings joy? I find that joy comes not from the easy or comfortable way out. It doesn't come from the acquisition or possession of people or things. It doesn't come from the quenching of human or bodily desires and passions. Wise words from Fulton Sheen:

The modern tendency is toward the affirmation of the ego, the exaltation of selfishness, riding roughshod over others in order to satisfy our own self-centeredness. It certainly has not produced much happiness, for the more the ego asserts itself the more miserable it becomes. (Way to Inner Peace)

True joy comes from the emptying of self and opening oneself in a detached way to receive God's gift. True joy is recognized after-the-fact, as Scripture says "But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).

What about sin? Does sin bring joy? Sin may be doing what we want, but in the aftermath of sin, we eventually recognize that we did not really want it. We recognize that sins are choices we made in desolation, as all self-seeking and small-minded choices are. St. Ignatius' principle forbids us to make life decisions while in desolation. In desolation, we choose what we did not really want. Desolation is the time for patience and endurance.

In consolation, we make noble, generous, self-emptying choices, and even though these choices may bring a degree of suffering and hardship, in patience they bring a joy that could never be extracted from a quick-fix.

So, yes, I think it is true, and I wish I could find the quote again: "You may do what you want, as long as you really want it."

Didascalia Apostolorum

Via Msgr. Pope at the National Catholic Register, an excerpt from the Didascalia Apostolorum, written about AD 230, probably by a bishop:

Pretty damning evidence against those who still hold on to the thoroughly-debunked scholarship from the 60s and 70s about how in the early Church the liturgy consisted of Mass facing the people:

Now, in your gatherings, in the holy Church, convene yourselves modestly in places of the brethren, as you will, in a manner pleasing and ordered with care. Let the place of the priests be separated in a part of the house that faces east. In the midst of them is placed the bishop’s chair, and with him let the priests be seated. Likewise, and in another section let the laymen be seated facing east. For thus it is proper: that the priests sit with the bishop in a part of the house to the east and after them the lay men and the lay women…Now, you ought to face east to pray, for, as you know, scripture has it, Give praise to God who ascends above the highest heavens to the east… And if there is one to be found who is not sitting in his place let the deacon who is within, rebuke him, and make him to rise and sit in his fitting place… Likewise, the deacon ought to see that there are none who whisper or sleep or laugh or nod off. For in the Church it is necessary to have discipline, sober vigilance, and attentive ear to the Word of the Lord.

Purity and the Heroic Moment

To grow in purity a priest told me I need to get out of bed and pray the morning offering as soon as I wake in the morning, read the Bible every day, and fast one day a week. It has been eye-opening to observe how hard it is for me to do these things, especially the morning offering. I had almost rather pray a holy hour later in the day than get out of bed at once and pray a quick prayer. I suppose that's why it's called the heroic moment. 

Edit: It seems St. Josemaria Escriva calls it rather the heroic minute.

The Childlike

From today's Gospel:

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike."

I don't know what the Gospel reading is on his feast, but when I heard these words I first thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Prepare to Meet Thy Maker

Last night, I was listening Bach's enigmatic suite in c minor (BWV 997) in Gergely Sárközy's equally enigmatic and genius interpretation for lute-harpsichord, as I had listened a dozen or so times this week, and I fell asleep apparently.

I woke up sometime later, music still playing, and the same piece, but YouTube had auto-played a performance arranged for flute and organ. When I woke up to this, I was mesmerized, and the first thing that came to my head was: "Prepare to Meet Thy Maker."

Treating Fine Linen with Respect

Linen is the queen of plant fibers. There's nothing like putting on a crisp linen shirt on a muggy summer day, and no way to describe the weightless warmth of a linen shirt on a chilly morning. You have to experience it yourself. I first discovered linen in 2008, when I bought my first linen shirt. It still feels fine today, but unfortunately I didn't treat it right for many of the intervening years. There is a learning curve for linen, but once treated with respect becomes an easy fabric that will last for decades. I will not repeat mistakes with my newer linen garments.

I have linen shirts, shorts, pants, socks, a towel, boxers, and a sweater. This is what I've learned about linen.

Wash linen in cool water on the gentle cycle. Unbutton all buttons and turn the garment inside out. Use a quality gentle detergent, and sparingly. Add a little borax to boost the detergent. Instead of fabric softener, add white vinegar to the rinse cycle.

Remove the linen garment from the washer as soon as the cycle ends to limit wrinkling. The garment should have a faint vinegar odor. Never put linen in a dryer. Flax fiber is extremely strong when wet, but dry heat makes it brittle and the fibers will literally snap in half on a microscopic level if tumbling in a dryer on high heat, not to mention the extreme wrinkling (tumbling on dry heat is how I messed up a few of my shirts in the past). 

Line-dry linen for best results. In my apartment, I hang shirts on a shirt hanger, button the top button, smooth out any wrinkles, and hang on my shower curtain rod and blow a fan in the room. The shirts dry in 30 minutes, and there is no vinegar odor left. Since they're already on a hanger, I just move them to the closet from there. 

For a crisper look, iron linen on the iron's highest setting while the garment is still damp. For an even crisper crisper look, use starch. I don't bother with ironing, though. The steps above eliminate enough wrinkles for a casual look. 

For knitted linen garments, I use the same principles above, except I hand wash and dry flat. 

That's all there is to it. Crisp, clean linen ready to throw on, and no loud hot dryers wasting electricity. Enjoy your fine linen. 

Authentic Development of Doctrine

Authentic development means this: an acorn becomes an oak tree. This is because an acorn is an oak tree, and by growing into a mature oak tree, it develops into more of what it was from the beginning. The purpose of pruning and training is to make the oak tree more authentically an oak tree. Incorrect pruning or training is an attempt to make the oak tree into something it is not. When I see an oak seedling, I already know what it will look like 100 years from now, if it succeeds. It will look like a beautiful, mature oak tree. It will not look like a beautiful, mature pine tree. Some people like the new leaves on the tree, and the roots below, but they don't like the trunk and the branches from which the new leaves bud. They want to cut out the trunk and the branches. There is one word for such a tree: dead.

Applying this to doctrine: If we cannot be sure what members of a church will believe in 100 or 500 years from now, then we can be assured that such a church is not the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ.  In the same way, authentic development of doctrine means that we are sure what Catholics will believe 100 or 500 years from now. It will be a mature version of the Faith that was passed on to us also. Any development of doctrine that tries to cut out portions of the trunk, or change the shape and nature of the Faith altogether, is not authentic development, but mutilation.