Ordo Praedicatorum

On the Feast of St. Bartholomew, Fr. Steven Boguslawski, O.P., President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated Mass for the opening of the 2009-2010 academic year at the Dominican House of Studies.  This year will be the first full year in the new academic center and will be full of exciting lectures and events, such as Dr. Alasdair MacIntyre’s honorary lecture opening the Thomistic Circles series.  Please watch for updates throughout the year for events happening at the Dominican House of Studies.

Here is the text of Fr. Boguslawski’s homily:

Cynics are “optimists with experience”—or so they like to think of themselves. One of the brethren said to me not long ago: “Steven, I always have low expectations—that way, I won’t be disappointed, and maybe, just maybe, I will be surprised and happy when results exceed my expectations.” Many people live by such a code because the events or outcomes of life have caused disappointment so often. Well beyond the desire to be humorous, in the extreme, a cynical attitude is contrary to the virtue of Christian hope. Indeed, a cynical attitude abets an abiding negativity which gives the individual ongoing permission to critique and to pronounce judgment that something or someone is ultimately lacking.

Hidden within the remark “Can anything good come out of Nazareth(?)” you can sense the disappointments of life; the long frustrated hope that the Savior of Israel would come to people like Nathanael (who, by the way, is identified by various Traditions as the apostle Bartholomew.) You can hear in those words—“can anything good come out of Nazareth?”– the collection of false claimants to the messianic throne. You can hear in those words that judgment has already been pronounced and that his brother Philip is mistaken…again. The one of whom Moses and the prophets spoke can’t possibly come from Nazareth. You can hear in those words the plaintive tone, “here we go again.” Yet Philip persists, “come and see.” Those words are not a reproof nor do they simply invite Nathanael to meet Jesus, but “come and see” are the only effective response to disappointment, frustrated expectations, and even cynicism and negativity. Why? Because they re-introduce hope that, perhaps, “just maybe”, this Jesus really is THE ONE foretold by Moses and the prophets. And when Jesus proclaims Nathanael to be a real Israelite, without guile, whom Jesus saw under the fig tree—the cynicism of Nathanael withers. Then, immediately in this first encounter, Nathanael calls Jesus “Teacher”, “Son of God” and “King.” (And we shall witness what each of those titles ultimately mean in the Gospel according to John, especially at the moment of Jesus’ glorification on the cross—when the sky is rent and the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of Man.) For the moment, however, Jesus reveals to Nathanael that he, Jesus, already knows him…even before Philip called him, because Nathanael needs encouragement and hope, along with the promise that greater visions yet await him. The question posed: “can anything good come out of Nazareth” is answered by Nathanael himself; from Nazareth comes the Teacher, the Son of God, the King of Israel…indeed, the Son of Man who will set Nathanael (and us) free by his own blood carried to the Throne of grace.

Theological education is formation in the Truth who is God. And, when properly transmitted, it calls us to “come and see.” It summons us to surrender the frustrations that life’s events have imposed upon us by others’ actions—as well as those caused by ourselves through weakness, bad choices and sin. “Come and see” beckons us to an encounter with the living Lord who still speaks to us in manifold ways. This invitation will require that we surrender our immature opinions about who the Triune God is and how the Triune God acts. This invitation, “Come and see” is the only adequate response to disappointments, frustrated expectations, cynicism and negativity—because the Lord knows well the contours of the human heart and the struggles contained therein. He knows that reproof is ill-advised for those whose faith is weak. Theological education is formation in the Truth that transforms US and promises us knowledge of things far beyond present understanding. Like Nathanael, the Lord knew us before someone else called us to “come and see.” And like Nathanael, God-speaking to us means freely being changed by that encounter with God. The titles of Teacher, Son of God and King of Israel are useful summaries; but it is from participating in the paschal mystery itself that tells us what they mean; we begin to understand the summons to a radical conformity with the crucified Son of Man, upon whom the angels of God ascended and descended. “Come and see” means penetrating these events with the gifts of knowledge, understanding, and the wisdom supplied by God. Thomas Aquinas teaches us: “to know what one ought to believe, belongs to the gift of knowledge, but to know in themselves the very things we do believe by a kind of union with them, this belongs to the gift of Wisdom, and Wisdom corresponds more to Love….” [ST ii.iiae.9.ad1] The Lord Jesus did not call Nathanael to discipleship to further frustrate him, but to fulfill his deepest yearnings. And so it is with us; the Lord does not summon us to frustrate us—even when the doctrines we submit to are difficult or seemingly far beyond our reach. He supplies gifts in abundance. And, here we must trust the reliable guides who are your teachers; in whom the radical conformity to the paschal mystery has already begun; a configuration which you will witness in their actions and hear in their words.

Dominican theological education is not a trade school; it is rather the address of grace, “Come and See”; “Come and Understand”; “Come and Follow.” Although the name Nathanael means “the gift of God”; it is the Lord who fulfills his promise and gives Nathanael ever greater gifts: “After this Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together…. None of the disciples dared ask him “who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them…. It was the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.” [See JN 21:1-14] The Lord now beckons us: “Come now and see the greater things that await you”–for the food He gives us at this Eucharist is nothing less than Himself and the pledge of future glory. “Come and see.”

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