The Keystone

In my room, I have a poster of a famous fresco known nowadays as the ‘School of Athens.’ Commissioned by the Vatican during the Renaissance, it depicts a large gathering of people, in this case some of the greatest non-Christian minds of the Western Tradition. Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and others are all depicted there, discussing issues with one another. They are all gathered in a large and open building around a grand staircase. Near the bottom of the fresco there is a large stone block interrupting the flow of the stairs. Placed there later on in the history of the fresco, its meaning has been suggested by some to be a reference to Jesus Christ as the stone abandoned and made into a cornerstone.

Therefore, its [the stone's] value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ and ‘A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall.’ They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. (1 Peter 2: 7-8)

Jesus Christ as represented by this stone is something to be tripped over, something out of place, that seems unnecessary and unwelcome. Yet neither they nor anyone can get rid of this stone.

The Purpose of Life Poll…

After talking with people many people, and reading a few books, this question came up. How would you answer it?

Remember to leave a comment if you have something more to add, as I would love to hear it.

Prayer to Saint Thomas Aquinas

O great student of knowledge and wisdom,

Whose great efforts attempted to synthesize the greatest works of faith and reason;

But knew with the greatest humility that compared to the Divine itself such works were ‘like straw.’

Pray that the Lord may grant us, the students of knowledge, a great love of Truth, limited only by a love of God.

That we may have the faith to search for her in the storms of materialism and uncertainty,

And that we may become the great protectors and preachers of Truth’s beauty when we hold her in our midst.

For this we pray,

Amen

Our Church, a Hospital for the Soul

There was a story I once heard when I was younger. My first impression of it was that it was utterly foolish, but then I began to wonder if there was a deeper meaning behind it. There was something that always struck me as wrong about this story, and I began to hate it more and more, till today I would go so far as to say that it is an immoral story hidden behind a mistaken view of righteousness.

On one Sunday there was a Christian church full of people. Some were listening to the priest, some were not, barely paying attention at all. Suddenly, a masked gunman walked through the doors and into the church with a gun almost half his own height. Pointing the gun up in the air, he shouted out, “Whoever is willing to die for God remain where you are!” At that point,

Prayer for Truth

Please o lord, set my mind at ease, and my heart at rest.

Let me behold the one I yearn for, the one I seek, the One True Faith.

Send her to me, in both my moments of great joy, and in the pits of utter despair.

Help me to see the beauty within her; that my heart will be set ablaze in my love for her.

 

May I be a worthy defender of her, in a world that finds her unattractive, or worse immaterial.

Make me a poet worthy of her great beauty and charm, that the world may know her name, and love her virtues.

But most important of all, make me worthy of her love, as I long for the day that she never lets me go.

 

For this I pray

Amen