In the welter of today’s unsettled world those of us old enough to remember the Baltimore Catechism might in retrospect be struck by the astonishing simplicity of its pedagogy. To the question ‘why did God create us’ its brief answer was ‘to know, love and serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next’.
Succinct and spare as it is this response imparts a profound – and today altogether too ignored – reality. If God created us for these reasons, it must be that our lives are purposeful, that we share this purpose, and that we have in common an intended destiny or teleology. If God’s reasons for creating us are as stated, it follows that all his creation is integral and in a mysterious way in sync with this divine plan. This is the reality that today is too ignored: the unity of truth – that all creation leads to God.
The unity of truth invites us to the ‘embrace of purpose’. Happy are those who understand this. But many don’t. In place of the embrace of purpose, they find substitutes in transitory and superficial remedies – distractions that protect them from having to face the Baltimore Catechism’s question. Others who are open to it learn it through the triumphs and trials of life. It comes to them eventually and is called wisdom. Then, there are those who are given a headstart by receiving an appropriate education during their formative years.
Some years ago this column reported on the Martins Saints School Classical High School in East Norriton, Pennsylvania, a school supported by several NCCF’s donors. Martin Saints is one of scores of Catholic classical schools around the nation – and now around the world – operated under the model of the Chesterton Schools Network. Headquartered in Hopkins, Minnesota, and formally established in 2013, CSN’s mission is ‘to evangelize through education, inspiring people to live joyful, holy lives, with G.K. Chesterton as a model of lay spirituality’. Those familiar with the life of G. K. Chesterton recognize a man who, appreciative of the unity of truth, responded gloriously to the embrace of purpose.
As CST’s website states: Inspired by Saint Pope John Paul II, we take as our motto Cultura Vitae, the culture of life. We make it our mission to prepare our students to triumph over the materialism and despair that pervade our culture and to accept our Lord’s offer to have life and have it abundantly. Our classical curriculum combines a broad liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the cultivation of Christian virtues and an appreciation of beauty.
Chesterton Schools are a stellar example. There are of course other successful educational models in academia. One thing is clear. Whether through the lessons of school or the lessons of life, without some form of appropriate education the Kingdom cannot advance. Education – grounded in the unity of truth – stirs and clarifies within us an innate sense of purpose. Purpose illuminates direction. With this growing awareness of the existence of purpose we emerge from our wandering search for its embrace and begin our progress on its path. In doing so, we are struck by another astonishingly simple discovery.
God is not the remedy. He is the reality.
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