In brilliant humorous prose, Rev. Martin gives a lesson on
independence. Rather than put you to sleep with a homily (he admits being put
to sleep by a few himself) he “keeps it real.” Every bit of advise is practical
and pragmatic-how to appreciate religion on your own terms, how to accept yourself
if you leave your church acrimoniously, and more.
St. Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder, is a man he cites
as having a letter fetish-6,813 of them in his lifetime, according to this
book-and since paper and ink were expensive, he must have composed his letters
with great care. Now if St. Ignatius was that keen on writing so much, we can
deduce that he must’ve been very keen on education. These were the guys who
travelled all over the world, establishing schools that taught foreign
languages as well as religion. A Jesuit priest named Matteo Ricci was the first
European to learn the Chinese language and enter the Mandarin’s court. It was
Ricci who discovered the Jews of Kaifeng, who thought HE was a Jew because he
worshipped only one god. It was the Jesuits who risked their lives in El
Salvador, took risks when they travelled deep into Africa, and established
schools that are still in business to this day.
Martin describes with glee how one woman assumed that the SJ
(which stands for Society of Jesus) stood for “stupid jerk.” Now what does that
tell you? You can’t insult someone unless you can really think!
No comments:
Post a Comment