While reflecting on God’s wonderful gift of freedom to us in my last series of columns, I was reading with the students in my class on personalism at St. John’s University the book by Seymour Cain, “Gabriel Marcel.” Except for Thomas Aquinas, my favorite philosopher is Marcel. When as a young priest I first came upon Marcel’s philosophy, I was stunned by its depth and beauty.
I HAVE BEEN reflecting lately on two great mysteries, each from a different perspective: one philosophical and the other theological. The philosophical perspective I use in philosophy classes at St. John’s University; the theological perspective I use in my personal life and in my preaching. I suspect there is something of an overlap in the sense that each type of reflection – to some extent – influences the other even though, for the most part, I may not be aware it.
