In the Pursuit of Tradition

A visit to Georgetown University:

“Know thyself” was the inscription at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi where oracles were answered and destiny revealed, it was a message about humility and the responsibility that comes with acquiring knowledge.

The towering University's Romanesque-Gothic revival architecture draws you in instantly and as you span the campus you are reminded that our knowledge is grafted from previous generations who understood study to be a Holy act. The Green Ash tree extends all its branches of science and the native trees have grown over the years in harmony with Georgetown's mission of "contemplation in action" Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

After several stops to take photos, I noticed in a quiet corner across the greens, veiled in sunlight, Our Lady of Fatima standing in prayer. As I made my own act in contemplation, it came to me that she is the embodiment of "know thyself" her act of humility and her destiny fullfilled in that she received all knowledge (Christ) and became Theotokus, God bearer. The angel spoke, Revelation confirmed her reason and she "knew":

'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant" Luke 1:46

That continuity of traditon in history of the pursuit of knowledge is what crowned the ancients with the virtue of friendship. The Romanesque details represent the foundations in Reason of the Renaissance and the Gothic points us to Revelation, the transcendent—the Teacher, the author of all wisdom.

May we revisit the true purposes of our education and culture.