September is here. It’s back to school. In our lifetime, we spend lots of time in
classrooms. So, it’s worth reflecting on how to make the best of it.
The Canadian Tourism Commission once featured an ad showing a father and son on
a rock overlooking Lake Huron. The father’s finger pointed outward, guiding the
boy’s attention to the lake’s blue horizon. That’s a good icon of education. Learning
begins with wonder, guided by a trustworthy teacher. Wonder is the beginning of
life’s best lessons. In wonder, a youth cultivates affections that are propoer to
everything in creation and civilization and thereby experiences the world with a
gentle and perceptive sensibility. Thus begins education. Healthy sensibilities lead
to healthy thinking.
A schoolmaster once said, “Poetry begins in delight and ends in wonder. Philosophy
begins in wonder and ends in wisdom.” Wonder cultivates empathy, which begets
gratitude, a sense of justice, and a gentle heart. These are not just subjective feelings.
They are proper responses to the world outside of one’s self and in relation to one’s
self. As an old Latin saying goes, Nascantur in admiratione. “Let them be born in
wonder.”
The heart must be formed before the head. Free and leisurely experiences of
discovery – like paying in a park, hiking, fishing, taking apart an old machine,
exploring a tool shed, or playing in a creek – are good starts. Education begins with
delight, which leads to wonder, which ends in wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge formed
by love. In this light, Sunday may be the most important school day. When these
experiences precede the classroom, the youth is open to learning. A youth is also
ready to explore life’s most important questions: What makes a good life? What is
happiness? What is justice? How can I make a better world? What leads to a happy
life after death?
“Just as God rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done” (Genesis
2:2), human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps
everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social,
and religious lives.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2184)
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