As I am ending this series of columns on offering our deaths as a gift to others, I keep thinking of the word “chiaroscuro.” The word means a mixture of light and darkness. My experience is that when I reflect on a mystery, either a philosophical mystery or a religious mystery, my insight seems like a light penetrating the mystery that leads to some understanding of the mystery.
Morris West is one of my favorite Catholic novelists. I vividly recall when I first read one of his novels. I was a seminarian recovering from the flu. The title of the novel was “The Devil’s Advocate.”
My second reading of Father Ronald Rolheiser’s new book “Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years” has helped me not only to better understand Rolheiser’s insights but to appreciate just how important they are. This is really a book that could profoundly change a person’s life.
Ronald Rolheiser’s thoughts on vocations are beautiful, but are they true? All who read his book will have to answer for themselves.
Father Ronald Rolheiser’s book has helped me to see what a great blessing close friends are and also the gift to them that my death can be.
All those who participated in presenting the Festival of Lessons and Carols at the Immaculate Conception Center gave us a wonderful gift.
Recently, I had a fascinating experience in one of my classes at St. John’s University. The class may have been the outstanding class of the fall semester. I had read that a contemporary Catholic philosopher wondered if poetry might be a good way for people in our very secular society to experience the transcendent, to discover a sense of the mystery of being human, a mystery often overlooked or even denied in contemporary society.
I would describe Victor Frankl’s philosophy as a combination of existentialism and personalism.
Viktor E. Frankl’s excellent book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” challenges readers to make choices that matter.
In the philosophy courses that I teach at St. John’s University, in trying to convince the students of the importance of philosophy, I stress that to be a human person is to be involved in a number of relationships.
