Omnibus XI - St. Gregory`s University

S
U
M
O
B
I
N
X
I
St. Gregory’s University
Shawnee, Oklahoma
Copyright 2016 © St. Gregory’s University
1
Sponsors
Department of Humanities
Department of Visual Arts
Honors Program
Academic Success Center
Marketing Department
St. Gregory’s University
1900 W. MacArthur St.
Shawnee, OK 74804
stgregorys.edu
Editors
Dr. Eric Gray, Faculty Advisor
Annamarie Duty, Volume Editor
Lauren Mach, Art & Layout Editor
Ashley Haan, Contributing Editor
Smaida Mara, Contributing Editor
Quinton McKeel, Contributing Editor
Jerrit Moore, Contributing Editor
Austin Stone, Contributing Editor
Ruby Arani, Marketing Liaison
Contributors
Barrientos, Valeria
Bell, Shari
Bragg, Theresa
Castro, Maria
Criddle, Domonique
Duncan, Anita
Duty, Annamarie
Farris, Tyler
James, Angela
Jane Austin Society
Kappes, Marcianne
Kietzman, MG
Mach, Lauren
Mara, Smaida
McKeel, Quinton
Melton, Olivia
Nall, Maria
Phan, An
Stone, Austin
Vacha, Anna
Ybarra, Catherine
2
12
31
11
28
13
18
5, 7, 12
9, 14, 21, 33
16-21
7
9
15-16
8, 22, 24
6, 7
25-27
6,
10-11
12
23-24, 28-32
17, 27
6
Table of Contents
Art Credits
“From the Editor” by Annamarie Duty
4
5
Poems
“Night” by Olivia Melton
“Blame the Moon” by Smaida Mara
“Culpe a Lua” by Smaida Mara
“On Love and Freindship” by the Jane Austen Society
“Talk to You” by Annamarie Duty
“Plato” by Lauren Mach
“Under the Crescent Moon” by Sr. Marcianne Kappes
“The Fight” by Maria Nall
“What is life?” by Valeria Barrientos
“Toaster” by Annamarie Duty
“Not Enough” by Domonique Criddle
6
6
7
7
7
8
9
10
12
12
13
Short Stories
“Solitary Thoughts” by MG Kietzman
“Have You Seen Fluffy?” by Angela James
15
16
Academic Papers
“God’s Mercy” by Austin Stone
“Eucatastrophe in the Works of Tolkein” by Quinton McKeel
“The Dehellenization of Theology” by Austin Stone
3
23
25
28
Art Credits
Bell, Shari
“Humphrey Bogart” (31)
Bragg, Theresa
“Garden Door” (11)
Castro, Maria
“Earth’s Treasures” (28)
Duncan, Anita
“Shawnee Twin Lakes” (18)
Farris, Tyler
“One Way Out” (cover image)
“Free Spirit” (9)
“From the Shadows” (14)
“Electra” (21)
“Gertrude’s Spectrum” (33)
Mach, Lauren
“Ashley Haan” (22)
“Fonda” (24)
Phan, An
“Une Fois Dans Cette Vie” (12)
Vacha, Anna
“Cecelia” (17)
“Risen” (27)
Ybarra, Catherine
“Watching” (6)
4
From the Editor
“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and
coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip
takes us.”- John Steinbeck
It is through the ashes of strife that the odyssey of the mind, body, and spirit is born. This
odyssey seeks the truth in being. The long journeys that we all undergo throughout our
lives are compiled in such a way to make us wonder and search for beauty. The zeitgeist
of our age has urged many of us to be lost in the frustration and mixed perceptions of
beauty that so permeate our society. Joseph Pieper believes that the only way to live a
truly beautiful life is to become forthright in fighting back against this misunderstanding. First, one needs to fast from the “visual noise of daily inanities” and second, “to be
active oneself in artistic creation, producing shapes and forms for the eye to see.”1 The
expression of humanity’s odyssey of mind, body, and spirit revolves around the search for
wisdom. Humanity flourishes when wonder is embraced as the fount of wisdom, guiding
individuals toward the truth. The wonder expressed through artistic expression is the
search for this very wisdom.
Whilst viewing our odyssey over the past year bear in mind the advice of Joseph Pieper,
first, fast from visual noise then embody the artistic creation of our journey. The abstinence of the visual noise and the production of beauty formed by artistic creation, truly
reveal man’s odyssey of mind, body, and spirit. Personifying this very principle was our
goal for Omnibus XI: The Odyssey of Mind, Body, and Spirit.
The editing process for this endeavor included the editors casting votes on every literary
and art submission. Editors who submitted work were not allowed to vote on their own
work to bypass any sense of bias. The editors decided that Omnibus XI: The Odyssey of
Mind, Body, and Spirit would be filled with high-quality work over the push for quantity.
We have chosen for publication 1/6 of the submissions for this year’s anthology. The
limited amount of accepted work was intentional on every level.
I would like to thank Dr. Gray, Dr. Brown, and Dr. Smith for working hard to ensure that
Omnibus XI: The Odyssey of Mind, Body, and Spirit was produced, printed, and published to the highest caliber. I would also like to extend my utmost thanks to Michael
Kietzman, Lauren Mach, and Ruby Arani who endured my endless bombardment of
questions and ideas for this anthology. Lastly, I would like to thank my team of editors:
Ashley Haan, Smaida Mara, Austin Stone, Jerrit Moore, and Quinton McKeel for all of
their hard work.
-Annamarie Duty, Volume Editor
1
Josef Pieper, Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), 35.
5
Blame the Moon
(English)
By Smaida Māra
It was the Moon who told me,
Confirming, from the highest sky
When I, from here, asked it tonight
About your affection for me.
Night
By Olivia Melton
When did we become
Afraid of our memories?
Only when night fell.
6
It was the Moon who told me,
The trustful companion of the lovers;
So dear to the maddened Ismália, ;
So beloved by the five sailors.
It was the Moon who told me,
In a smile, round, and half forms,
In a growing mixture of all shapes,
Gave me in its half the full response.
Poems
y
” b rra
g
in ba
ch e Y
t
a n
“W heri
t
Ca
On Love and Freindship,
A Sonnet Written about a Short Story.
By The Jane Austen Society
Young Austen at her writing desk one night.
Ironic tales of love and passion’s woes,
Of love and friendship’s storms her pen did write,
Of incivilities she did disclose.
In this section...
Melton, 6
To heed your sire, there’s no greater shame,
Mara, 6, 7
And paying bills, gentility’s demise,
J.A.S., 7
And open hearted always is a dame,
Duty, 7, 12
Emotions spill o’er bosomed friend in cries.
Mach, 8
A crime is found in ugliness and sense;
Kappes, 9
And
traveling to friends brings joy and cheer.
Nall, 10
Then
Grandpa
treats grandkids as great expense
Barrientos, 12
And turns them out to lose their husbands dear.
Criddle, 13
Culpe a Lua
Remember,
even
if
you find this quaint,
(Portuguese)
Run mad when e’er you choose, but never faint!
By Smaida Māra
Talk to You
Quem me contou foi a Lua
Que do alto dos céus me afirmou teu sim
Quando eu daqui lhe perguntei
De teus pensamentos por mim.
By Annamarie Duty
I can talk to you about anything,
You’ll always answer my call.
I can talk to you about anything,
You’ll stay with me through it all.
I can talk to you about anything,
You pick me up when I fall.
Quem me contou foi a Lua
Fiel companheira de todos os amantes
Tão querida por Ismália enlouquecida
Tão amada pelos cinco navegantes.
Quem me contou foi a Lua
Estando sorrindo, redonda, e meia
Numa crescente mistura de todas as formas
Me deu minguante a resposta cheia.
7
Lord, hear my call,
Through the static of it all.
Hold my hand today,
Guide me in every way.
Carry me through the sand,
Into the Promised Land.
Jesus don’t let go,
When I feel alone.
Plato
By Lauren Mach
In the fifth century B.C. there lived a Greek,
Since called “modest” and “brilliant” but never “meek.”
He was well-educated, since his father was rich.
Plato’s known for philosophy, which he made his bitch.
Plato was “corrupted” by Socrates, along with his bros;
Unlike Adeimantus and Glaucon, his rank later rose
From pupil to secretary, then onward until
None could tell his writings from the man who’d been killed.
From arguments with Thrasymachus to quotes considered wise,
None can quite tell where the distinction lies.
The one who knew which dialogues belonged to Plato
Passed on dramatically from hemlock in the Phaedo.
Homer, Aesop, Pythagoras, and the rest
Are who we think influenced Plato the best.
He discussed Parmenides and Heraclitus
And said lots of pinteresting things just to spite us.
The “world of forms” was Plato’s signature thought;
That from thingness in Heaven all material was wrought.
These inferior particulars serve only to be
Reminders of the mind’s descent from reality.
Plato’s other great work is known as his Republic;
It divided humankind into three types of subject.
Guardians, auxiliaries, and artisans so ideal
That it’s completely impossible to apply it for real.
From tyranny, he said, men would reach aristocracy;
Oligarchy and democracy would follow from timocracy.
Plebeians and nobles could not rule anything,
Plato preferred to appoint a philosopher-king.
The most tired allegory of all time Plato gave;
Everybody at this school is sick of his cave.
However, his contributions outweigh his sin.
As Whitehead once noted, philosophy’s a footnote to him.
8
“Free Spirit” by Tyler Farris
Under the Crescent Moon
By Sister Marcianne Kappes C.S.T.
Would that I could
Take you away from
This alien world
To a place under
The crescent moon—
There you could flourish
My love,
There you could come to know
security,
peace,
and joy—
even though you are holding
onto the back of a wild ride
through a mad time
in human history!
9
The Fight
By Maria Nall
These thoughts surround me
Making me stumble and fall
I can’t grasp what is real
And what is not anymore
I’m losing everything—
My hopes and dreams
My anchor and my freedom
I’m losing you
Pain threatens to overcome the terror
I know I can’t
I know the blade won’t be enough
That the blood that could come
Won’t help me through
It won’t make the thoughts stop.
They push me, the thoughts of pain
Until I’m ready to fall off the edge.
But then I see your face.
Those lovely blue eyes
And that blonde hair,
My face and your fathers,
Blended together.
Shame, sharp and fierce tears through me
Who am I? What am I?
That I would leave you,
This perfection?
I gather you into my arms
And make a promise,
I’ll never leave you.
But the thoughts come back, darling
And you aren’t here
You aren’t here to make
Them go away
To keep them at bay.
What do I do sweetie?
That voice,
The one I hate, the one that’s me
It’s says that you’d be better,
You want this,
I’m a worthless example,
A horrible shame to you
The scars my legs bare tell the story.
These thoughts have consequences,
10
I’m drowning in them
The world that surrounds me
Mocks me with its beauty,
Beauty that I can never be a part of.
They want this, everyone, everywhere
I’m terrible, the worst of the worst
What did I do to deserve this?
How do I fix the mistakes I’ve made?
Help me, please
He’s yelling again,
At me, in my face
“Just love me!” my worthless reply
A sea of red and I’m the cause
I’m stupid and worthless
A shell without thought or care
Can anyone help me?
I know something that can,
A way to end it all
And this time the knife will lie
As useless as it has always been
This time I will use a rope.
I run, I run, I run
“Garden Door” By Theresa Bragg
The old truck starts up,
Just like I knew it would
I go somewhere safe, somewhere private
I know I’ll have the time I need
No one can stop me now,
The rope is hung, the knot tied
All that’s waiting is my neck to join.
One last thought, of you, rips through
And my knees give out under the weight
Of the blame I feel
But it’s better this way.
The thoughts leave, for just a moment
Then they start again, the refrain familiar
Useless, disappointment, stupid, ugly
I beg. I don’t want to. Please help me, someone
Her body was found,
Early the next morning
Police circling, the girl in shock,
The man crying, knowing.
11
What is life?
By Valeria Barrientos
Toaster
By Annamarie Duty
Life is so beautiful that it’s so unbelievable
I never thought we could feel this way.
The Creator made it conceivable
It was hard enough hearing you say,
Just for us
That things together will always be better,
From the day of creation
Everyone else no longer matters.
God began life’s manifestation
Humanity was passed down
This one’s for us.
From generation to generation
I’m scared so don’t rush.
Thus we grew from century to century
I’m nervous so please stay.
Time flew
Now there’s modern reality
I’ve known you for so long,
And how does society see life?
Our friendship has grown from weak to strong.
A meaning seen valuable in the eyes of God
My life is like a roller coaster;
An aspect once genuine and indestructible
You make it pop like bread in a toaster.
Now casual to be thrown away
Life should be lived beautifully
When you tell me I am cute,
And with great positivity
My heart beats like dubstep;
For what is life if we live with such negativity
My head spins like a carousel.
Yet there’s modern reality
And how does society see life?
I’m scared so don’t rush.
I’m nervous so please stay.
Day by day
Night by night
“Une Fois Dans Cette Vie” By An Phan
All goes by so fast
Yet we don’t realize the importance of life
Why?
In actuality we don’t take time to prioritize
Because we idealize
Everything else
Don’t you see?
Life suffers if we don’t breathe
Let the love of life manifest into our soul
Let us become whole into our own self-being
Feel peace into the air you breathe
Flee away from the norm
Do not conform
For time cannot rewind
Harder it is to change one nation’s mind
Rather than one heart at a time
But once done, all storms shall seize to quiver
Rivers of life shall prosper
Thou shalt fight for freedom of right
For freedom of true meanings of life
For life that sprouts becomes anew
But yet few live from womb to tomb
Therefor I say…
Fight for life
Act!
Live!
Inspire!
Because this is the truth of life
12
Not Enough
By Domonique Criddle
Sometimes my imperfections
make me question the thought of my reflection.
Damn I hate rejections.
What I thought to be a pure connection
was a self-confidence lesson.
No matter how right your completion
there is always somebody new up for election.
No matter how much you give of love;
no matter how much you fight to be tough;
no matter how much you try to hope for an up;
to that girl, it will never be enough.
She wants the next best thing.
You can try to persuade the way she leans,
but to her eye she stays keen,
pushes you away so mean.
Her love you try to conquer, or redeem
she not only wants to be the queen
but the right hand to an ideal king.
No matter how much you give of love;
no matter how much you fight to be tough;
no matter how much you try to hope for an up;
to that girl, it will never be enough.
To let her go, is hard to push it behind,
when you see, hear, and think she is on your mind.
You know she doesn’t love you, but you stay blind.
She even says, “Leave, I’m not right” but you ignore the signs.
She is like the left over stomach chyme,
each appearance hoping it would be different this time.
No matter how much you give of love;
no matter how much you fight to be tough;
no matter how much you try to hope for an up;
to that girl, it will never be enough.
13
In this section...
“Solitary
Thoughts”
Kietzman, 15
“Have You
Seen Fluffy?”
James, 16
14
Short
Stories
Solitary
Thoughts
By MG Kietzman
The ice cubes did not take
long
to thaw trapped in his glass of
s
i
rr
Jack. There was a chill that had quietly
a
F
settled between his shoulders, deep in the
er
l
y
cavity of his torso, as he sat still as a cesspool
T
while an old movie played on low volume. It was
By
s”
six minutes past four in the morning. She was asleep
w
o
now. The bedroom door was closed. Her snores bore
ad
h
S
through
the thin door, louder in sleep than in the act of love,
e
th
he grumbled to himself. The television screen shimmered in the
m
dark room. Audrey Hepburn sat on a window sill lightly strumming
ro
F
“
a guitar. George Peppard sat coyly watching her from above, spellbound.
He was assured that there was never any risk of waking his neighbors until
now with her intrusively loud snoring. He turned up the volume on the remote. He
had reluctantly consented for her to collapse in a giggling stupor on his bed after
seeing how drunk she was, which left him to the broken recliner in the front room.
The snoring lapsed.
He tried to pinpoint precisely when the pleasure had waned: the drinks, the
dulled senses, the laughter, the fumbling at buttons, and the uncomfortable
awareness of her teeth. Perhaps pleasure was a temporary loss of the weight of
memory. For a few moments he had felt extraordinarily light; now he felt ordinary
and heavy again. Perhaps all pleasure was a temporary loss of memory, a release
from the gravity of awareness. Perhaps all fun was merely a distraction. From
what? It distracted him from things, from certain facts of life—like that he would
never love the woman asleep in his bed, nor any woman for that matter. He knew
he would never be able to enjoy her attempts at conversation. He had overlooked
her personality for a few fun moments. She was dim-witted and shallow, yes. It was
unfortunate there was no one to speak to about important things. He sighed. Perhaps
all the drinking and the laughter that night had only induced an amnesia of facts such
as these. The fact of the matter was that he would never love. His memory began to
return: the slow chill which had grown each year—the aches, the pains, the shortness
of breath, the nagging weight on his heart, and an uncomfortable feeling of selfconsciousness as if he was sitting in a room with walls and ceiling coated with
mirrors. He took another drink.
His regard for her was mutual. He was unaware that she too would never
love again. How long would it be until he related the vulgar details of his
adventurous night to his buddies? The not-so-subtle attempts to push her out the
door did not go unnoticed. She was not that drunk. While he sat in the front room,
15
continued from page 13
she had awoken (much to her annoyance) to a haunting tune emanating from beyond
the door and begun to ponder too—the enigma of pleasure. Her thoughts were also
overcast by death and she wondered if pleasure were a mortal amnesia. They say
ignorance is bliss. What then was laughter? She lay there on her side, staring into the
woodwork of the shut door: to laugh was to forget death. The notion was so
chillingly comical she had to laugh herself. Her laugh momentarily stirred the man
in the other room from the solitude of his thoughts and the deep cushion of oblivion
he had drawn around himself. The irritation at the interruption was all at once stifled
by the sudden light flutter in his heart—an inexplicable and frantic need to speak
with her, like a teenager with momentous news. He scoffed, chuckling, as he recalled
when he was in high school — how idiotic he once was—while he returned to the
jingling of his glass and the disembodied voices of the television which drowned out
the waning and uneven beat of bitter wind at the window of his heart as he pondered
Have You Seen Fluffy?
By Angela James
“Mom, did you get them?” Chris asked excitedly. “I need to plant them
today. The Farmer’s Almanac says this is the best day of the year to plant giant
pumpkins.”
“Yes, Chris, I bought the seeds,” Julie said with exasperation. “I swear you
wear me out with the constant nagging. Where do you get this love of planting and
growing things?”
“I suppose it is from Dad’s side of the family. Grandma Gruber said her
family were great farmers. I suppose it is in my blood.” Chris replied.
“Yes, your blood, I suppose so,” Julie said. “I wish your father were here to see your
pumpkins.”
“Whoops, look out Mom, here comes Mrs. Jones,” Chris said as he helped his mom
unload the car.
“Well, hello Mrs. Jones. How are you today?” Julie greeted Mrs. Jones with
a smile.
“Hello, hello Julie, I am terrible today, absolutely terrible. Have you seen
my cat Fluffy?” Mrs. Jones asked.
“No, Mrs. Jones, I have not seen Fluffy,” Julie replied. “Chris, have you
seen Mrs. Jones’ cat Fluffy?”
“I saw her munching on a bird in the corner of our backyard. You know
under the sycamore tree where the birds hang out,” Chris said.
“Yes, well when you go back there to plant the pumpkin seeds, check for
Fluffy and take her home if you see her,” Julie requested.
“Will do, Mom,” Chris replied, taking the last of the groceries from the back
of his mother’s SUV.
“Okay, Mrs. Jones, we will keep an eye out for Fluffy,” Julie reassured Mrs.
Jones.
“Very well, thank you Julie, and you too Chris,” Mrs. Jones said as she
turned to go back to her house across the street.
16
“Cecelia” by Anna Vacha
“You’re welcome Mrs. Jones.” Julie waved to Mrs. Jones.
“Chris, let me take the rest of the bags. You can go plant your pumpkin
seeds,” Mom said.
“Thanks, Mom,” Chris said. “Oh, look there’s Fluffy. I will take her over to
Mrs. Jones.”
“Whew, that mystery is solved,” Julie said. “Thanks for taking Fluffy
home.”
*****
Chris rang the doorbell at the Jones’ home. “Mrs. Jones, I found Fluffy,”
Chris said when Mrs. Jones opened the door.
“Oh, Fluffy you are home, and a bit dirty, you nasty cat,” Mrs. Jones said.
“Thank you, Chris.”
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Jones,” Chris said. “I think she was rolling around
in the fresh plowed ground in our backyard.”
“Plowed ground?” Mrs. Jones asked.
17
continued from page 15
“Yes, for my giant pumpkins,” Chris said with enthusiasm.
“Oh, yes, the giant pumpkins. Do you think you will have a record breaker
this year?” Mrs. Jones asked.
“I am hoping for a record,” Chris said. “I have enriched the soil and was
able to get special seeds. Mom picked them up today. I am going to plant them
now.”
“Good luck. Goodbye. Thank you again for bringing Fluffy home,” Mrs.
Jones said, as she waved good-bye to Chris.
*****
“Huh, these seeds are black,” Chris said to himself. “I hope there is nothing
wrong with them. Mom ordered them special over a month ago.”
“Chris, how is the planting going?” Julie asked when she joined Chris in the
backyard.
“Okay…I think. Look at the seeds. Are they supposed to be black?” Chris
asked.
“Yes, I asked Mr. Books at the feed store about that. He said these are
special giant pumpkin seeds. I suppose they are black because they are so special!”
Julie explained.
“Well, okay, I will plant them. These black seeds are all I have,” Chris
relented, “so I guess I have to use them.”
“I can order different seeds if you wish, but the article I read and Mr. Books
claim these are the best giant pumpkin seeds in the world,” Julie said.
“The world?” Chris asked. “What does that mean?”
“The seeds are from China,” Julie said.
“Shawnee Twin Lakes” by Anita Duncan
18
“Wow, China? Maybe that is why they are black,” Chris said, satisfied.
*****
A few weeks later Chris ran into the house excited, “Mom, have you seen
the pumpkins? I just pruned another round of blooms. I think there will be two good
ones this year,” Chris said.
“That is great, son. Have you seen your sister’s cat Turtle?” Mom asked.
“No, I have not seen Turtle, but I did see Mrs. Jones’ Fluffy rolling around
near one of the giant pumpkins,” Chris replied.
“Oh, great, Mrs. Jones will be over asking about her now,” Julia sighed.
“Anyway, I do want to see your prize pumpkins.”
“Right this way. See there are two giant ones, each one from a different
plant,” Chris said beaming. “I think there is at least one state winner, maybe a record
breaker. This one here is already three feet around.”
“Yes, they are fine. Damn, there is Fluffy. Chris take her back home,” Julie
said.
“Okay, Mom,” Chris said.
Chris picked up Fluffy and started out the side gate. Julie went back inside.
Then the doorbell rang.
“Hello, Mrs. Jones,” Julie greeted a flustered Mrs. Jones.
“Hello, hello, Julie. Have you seen Fluffy?” Mrs. Jones asked.
“Yes, I just saw Fluffy in the backyard. She loves Chris’ pumpkins. Chris is
taking Fluffy home right now,” Julie said.
“Oh, good,” Mrs. Jones said with joy. “By the way Mr. Smith came by my
house looking for his cat Mr. Whiskers. Have you seen Mr. Whiskers? He is that
huge yellow Tabby that makes the rounds, mooching for food.”
“No, I have not seen Mr. Whiskers. That is funny; my daughter’s cat, Turtle, is missing,” Julie replied. “Have you seen Turtle, Mrs. Jones?”
“No, but I will keep an eye out for her,” Mrs. Jones said. “Well, I need to
get back to get Fluffy when Chris gets her home. She will be filthy, no doubt.”
*****
Later in the afternoon Julie went for a walk. Down the block she noticed
several signs posted on a light pole in the neighborhood park. Three fliers were
notices for missing cats. Jupiter the Arbuckle’s Maine Coon, Remus the Logan’s
Russian Blue, and Calie the MacDowell’s Calico were all missing.
“How strange, there seems to be a rash of missing cats in the neighborhood,” Julie thought to herself. “What are the odds that at least five cats in a two
block radius are missing?”
As Julie rounded the corner down from her house she saw the Barrett’s cat
Stonewall crawl under the fence into her backyard near the giant pumpkins. She took
note of the cat and walked around to the front door.
“Hey, Mom!” Chris said excitedly when Julie entered the house. “You’ve
got to see the pumpkins. They are bigger than the one last year and the year before.”
“Okay, Chris, let us go look at the pumpkins,” Julie said. “Let’s make it
quick. I need to shower before I start supper.”
“Look! Look, how big this one is. Six and a half feet around,” Chris said. “I
bet you it is at least 1500 pounds.”
“Maybe so. It is huge,” Julie said, looking around. “Have you see Stonewall, the Barrett’s cat?”
19
continued from page 17
“No.” Chris replied. “I have not seen him all week.”
“I just saw him slip under the fence about ten minutes ago,” Julie said, confused.
“Hello. Hello,” Mrs. Jones’ voice rang out from the other side of the side
yard fence.
“Good Lord, give me the patience to deal with Mrs. Jones,” Julie mumbled
under her breath.
Chris chuckled, looking at his mother as he welcomed the neighbor into the backyard. “Mrs. Jones come on in. Just lift the latch and push.”
“Hello, Julie. Thank you, Chris,” Mrs. Jones said as she entered the backyard. “Oh! My God, that is, I believe, the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen in my
life.”
“It is impressive, isn’t it?” Julie asked. “How can we help you, Mrs. Jones?”
“That is a huge pumpkin,” Mrs. Jones said.
“Mrs. Jones, how can we help you?” Julie asked again.
“Oh, yes. Have you seen Fluffy?” Mrs. Jones asked, still staring at the giant
pumpkin.
“I have not seen Fluffy for several days,” Chris replied. “Fluffy was rolling
around in the dirt as usual, about two days ago.”
“I have not seen Fluffy for at least a week,” Julie stated. “You know, there
are quite a few missing cats around the neighborhood. There are posters all around
for several blocks.”
“Do you think there might be a rogue dog in the area, eating the cats?” Mrs.
Jones shrieked. “Oh, my Fluffy. I don’t know what I would do without my Fluffy.”
“No, dogs chase cats, they really do not eat them,” Julie replied, trying to
comfort Mrs. Jones. “I am sure there is another reason the cats are missing.”
“It could be coyotes,” Chris said. “I hear them whining in the pasture to the
west at night.”
“Well, I suppose if the cats wondered over to the pasture to hunt field mice
they might encounter a coyote,” Julie thought out loud. “But if that were the case we
would have missing cats all the time. No, this is something different.”
“You, are right, Mom; these disappearances have been just in the past few
weeks. Only this summer have so many cats gone missing,” Chris said.
“Well, I hope Fluffy comes home soon,” Mrs. Jones said, then left Julie and
Chris’ backyard.
*****
“Julie, Julie, have you seen Fluffy?” Mrs. Jones asked Julie in her front yard
a few day later. “She still has not returned.”
“No, Mrs. Jones, I have not seen Fluffy. Chris, have you seen Fluffy?” Julie
asked her son.
“No, Mom. It has been at least a week since I have seen Fluffy, and even
longer since I have seen Turtle,” Chris replied. “Come to think of it, I have not seen
any cats in several days.”
“Mrs. Jones, if we see Fluffy we will bring her home. Right now we are in a
hurry; we are loading the pumpkin to take to the fair,” Julie said as Chris backed the
trailer into the backyard.”
20
“Lucky I was able to borrow the wrench from the neighbors,” Chris said as
he stepped out of the truck cab.
“Indeed, I don’t think we would be able to lift this monster onto the trailer
ourselves,” Julie said.
“Good, Lord, that pumpkin is even bigger than it was last week.” Mrs.
Jones exclaimed.
“How is the pumpkin hoisting coming along?” Mr. Barrett asked as he
entered the backyard.
“Okay, so far; thanks for loaning the wrench,” Chris replied.
“Not a problem,” Mr. Barrett said.
“Help me position the straps and we can load the pumpkin onto the trailer,”
Chris requested to Mr. Barrett as Julie and Mrs. Jones watched.
“Okay, and lift,” Mr. Barrett called out.
“Lifting,” Chris said cranking the wench.
When the pumpkin cleared the top of the trailer bed, Mr. Barrett and Julie started to
push the pumpkin over to the trailer center. The pumpkin was half way to the destination when everyone in the backyard heard a crack.
“What was that?” Julie asked.
“What is the smell?” Mr. Barrett asked.
“Oh! No!” Chris wailed. “The pumpkin is breaking in two!”
“Eww! What is that mess and smell?” Mrs. Jones exclaimed as a revolting
mixture of orange, greenish black ooze emerged from the giant pumpkin.
“Good Lord!” Mr. Barrett exclaimed. “Is that stench coming from the
pumpkin?”
“Oh, no! It’s the pumpkin! What is wrong?” Chris asked as the ooze poured
out at his feet.
Looking down at the river of ooze Julia exclaimed, “Mrs. Jones, I see
Fluffy.”
“Electra” by Tyler Farris
21
In this section...
22
“God’s Mercy”
Stone, 23
“Eucatastrophe in
the World
of Tolkien”
McKeel, 23
“The
Dehellenization
of Theology”
Stone, 13
Academic
Papers
God’s
Mercy
By Austin Stone
In order to understand God’s
mercy, one must understand God’s
M
justice. In the words of St. Thomas
n
e
r
Aquinas,
“God acts mercifully, not indeed
au
by going against His justice, but by doing someL
by
thing more than justice.” According to St. Thomas
”
n
a
there
are two types of justice, viz., commutative justice,
Ha
which entails direct exchanges such as buying and selling,
y
e
and distributive justice, which gives what is appropriate in achl
s
“A
cordance with rank. St. Thomas argues that God’s justice is distributive, because if it were commutative then we would owe something to
God in exchange and thus go against his mercy. In support of this claim St.
Thomas quotes Dionysius, who writes, “We must needs see that God is truly
just, in seeing how He gives to all existing things what is proper to the condition
of each; and preserves the nature of each one in the order and with the powers that
properly belong to it.” Therefore, the justice of God is to give, and not to receive.
Having articulated Aquinas’ position on justice we can now turn to his
understanding of mercy. St. Thomas refers to mercy as the desire to end the misery
of another. He writes, “Hence it follows that he endeavors to dispel the misery of
this other, as if it were his; and this is the effect of mercy.” This is both a desire of
man and God; however, sorrow is often the reason for man’s mercy, but not God’s.
St. Thomas explains, “To sorrow, therefore, over the misery of others belongs not
to God; but it does most properly belong to Him to dispel that misery, whatever be
the defect we call by that name.” To remove a defect requires a perfection of some
goodness, and the highest goodness is God. God’s justice communicates perfection
in proportion, yet not for His own sake—but for man’s. This giving of perfection to
expel defects is the act of God’s mercy.
Referencing the justice of God, as examined by ‘aboveness,’ his justice
is above the distributive justice that man would show. God goes above justice by
giving mercy when it is not proportioned to the rank of the receiver. This does not
go against his justice, but does something more than justice. The unconditional love
of God is why he acts in this manner. God often gives mercy to those that do not deserve it, because his love is the highest authority. We see in the Old Testament God
acting mercifully toward Israel. Importantly this act is not contrary to his justice, but
above it. For example, in Exodus 32 when the nation of Israel created the Golden
Calf to worship, only forty days after God commanded them not to create any images of worship, thus going against the command of God. God says, “Now therefore
let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in
h
ac
23
continued from page 21
order that I may make a great nation of you.” Because of Israel’s betrayal, God had
planned to consume them; however, Moses intercedes for Israel and begs God to forgive them. Due to God’s unconditional love for his chosen nation, he decides to have
mercy on Israel. Although this is not justice for their offense, God goes above what
is just. Therefore St. Thomas claims, “Hence it is clear that mercy does not destroy
justice, but in a sense is the fullness thereof.” This claim is supported by Scripture,
as referenced in the Summa, “Mercy exalteth itself above judgment.”
God’s mercy, which is the perfection of distributive justice, is the means
that allows man to acquire salvation. Through this mercy alone, man can receive
higher goods than he deserves. No man can justly receive salvation due to the stain
of original sin because man’s fallen nature does not justly deserve the beatific vision.
Throughout salvation history, man has chosen to uphold the lesser goods; however,
God continues to show his divine mercy and thus provides man with eternal salvation.
Bibliography
Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English
Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1947.
“Fonda” by Lauren Mach
24
Eucatastrophe in the Works of Tolkien
By Quinton McKeel
The term Eucatastrophe was first coined by J.R.R. Tolkien in his 1939 essay
“On Fairy-Stories” In Tolkien’s own words, he describes Eucatastrophe as: “At least
I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairystory. Since we do not appear to possess a word that expresses
this opposite—I will call it Eucatastrophe.” In practice, this means that Eucatastrophe is the very antithesis of tragedy. Eucatastrophe can also be used to describe a
sudden and drastic change of events that allow a protagonist to be safe from harm.
One great example of Eucatastrophe that is not found in the works of Tolkien is the
ending of The Odyssey. Just as the people of Ithaca start their march on Odysseus’
palace and things are starting to look grim, Athena arrives and wipes the memory of
every marching citizen. This act saves the lives of Odysseus and his family. Tolkien
uses Eucatastrophe fairly often in his works, with the most famous example being in
The Lord of the Rings with the eagles saving Frodo and Sam after the destruction of
the ring of power. This example heavily mirrors the usage in The Odyssey, with there
being a major conflict involving the main characters, followed by a situation that
seems hopeless. This hopeless situation is then dramatically made right by a factor
that the reader did not expect to step in and help. Tolkien uses Eucatastrophe in the
traditional sense and in different ways than most authors. Instead of a way to simply
wrap up a story, he uses it as a solid absolute that no matter how the situation may
seem, good will always triumph over evil in the end. In addition to this usage, he
also uses it to give new meaning to decisions made in the past and as a form of irony.
Like authors before him, Tolkien used Eucatastrophe in order to safeguard his main characters. One of the earliest and most notable examples of this
safeguarding is when Bilbo unwillingly gives the ring to Gandalf for safekeeping:
“Bilbo took out the envelope, but just as he was about to set it by the clock, his hand
jerked back, and the packet fell on the floor. Before he could pick it up, the wizard
stooped and seized it and set it in its place.” This moment stands out in particular
because it works as Eucatastrophe, but it is the ring itself that does not want to leave
with Bilbo. It is interesting that an evil relic ends up saving a good character from
further harm. This in itself harkens back to the beginning of The Silmarillion, where
Illuvatar states “And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath
not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that
attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.”
This means that no matter what evil may be devised by the enemy, there
will always be a reworking of it into some good form. The next example of safeguarding is when Merry and Pippin are saved by Tom Bombadil. This moment
works on multiple levels, it not only introduces the character of Tom Bombadil, but
it also demonstrates his abilities with nature. It is definitely a sudden change in tone,
from death being certain to being rescued by an ancient anomaly with a hidden safe
haven. One other notable example is when Gandalf and Erkenbrand appear seemingly out of nowhere just in time to turn the tide of the battle of Helm’s Deep. Any later
and the adventure would have ended there, Aragorn and Theoden were riding to their
25
continued from page 23
certain death only to be saved by Gandalf and Erkenbrand. By far, the most classic
example of Eucatastrophe in the works of Tolkien occurs at the end of The Silmarillion. At this point in the story Melkor and Sauron have been proven victorious. After
realizing that the situation in Beleriand is not getting any better, the Valar decide to
step in and end Melkor and his evil. In one fell swoop they kill Melkor and Ancalagon the Black, which in turn demolishes Angband. This in its own way is almost a
carbon copy of the end of The Odyssey, because everything is hopeless and then
everything is made right by beings that are essentially gods. In both stories the only
thing that could fix the current situation is the interference of a god.
The second category of Eucatastrophe gives meaning to past decisions.
For this category the situation starts with some decision that does not seem notable
at the time, but then becomes a sort of saving grace when there is a turn of events.
One example for this category is the mithril shirt deflecting a blow that would have
ultimately killed Frodo otherwise. This is significant at the time, because the reader
thinks that it might come in handy, but they do not expect it to deflect a death blow.
The next example would have to be when Grima kills Saruman. Saruman forced
Grima to kill the chief of the Shire when Saruman wanted to take over. Saruman
then ridicules Grima for the murder and in outrage, Grima slits Saruman’s throat. If
Grima had not killed the chief, then he would not have ultimately had a reason to kill
Saruman. The largest example of this category is Elrond allowing Merry and Pippin
to go on the adventure with the fellowship. There is a large multitude of outcomes
that come from this one decision, and it is incredible that Elrond even agreed to it.
From this one decision, Gondor is ultimately warned about the coming invasion,
and the Witch King is rendered vulnerable just in time for Eowyn to kill him. Pippin
travels to Minas Tirith because he looks into the Palantir. Merry stabs the Witch
King in order to save Eowyn: “But suddenly he too stumbled forward with a cry of
bitter pain, and his stroke went wide, driving into the ground. Merry’s sword had
stabbed him from behind, shearing through the black mantle, and passing up beneath
the hauberk had pierced the sinew behind his mighty knee.” This is neat because
Merry is the only person with the right stature in order to hit the Witch King where it
would make him stumble forward. When he stumbles, it is when Eowyn stabs him in
the face, which ends up killing the Witch King.
The next section is a look at how Tolkien also uses Eucatastrophe as a form
of irony. Usually the characters are saved by the one person you would least expect.
For instance, when the fellowship arrives at the door that leads into Moria, it is
actually Merry that gives Gandalf the inspiration of how to open the door. This feeds
back into he second case of Eucatastrophe, where this would not have happened if
it was not for Elrond allowing Merry to come with the group. The next example is
the prospect that kingsfoil is the one herb needed in order to heal the morgul fever
in Minas Tirith. To the people of Gondor, kingsfoil is a nearly usesless herb, but is
favorable because of its nice aroma. They have no idea that it cures the fever until
Aragorn comes to the houses of healing and tells them of its significance. Next in
this category is when Aragorn and the wraiths appear in Pelennor Fields. To everyone except for the reader, this is the straw that breaks the back of Gondor. Eomer in
particular thinks that the ships are actually the Corsairs of Umbar. The second that
26
Eomer sees this, he knows that
death is near, but he vows to keep
fighting until his dying breath.
The last and most notable in this
category is Gollum being the sole
reason that the ring is destroyed.
When this occurs, Frodo has chosen to keep the ring for himself,
then Gollum appears to take the
ring back. Gollum successfully
takes the ring back then trips
and falls to his death. There are
many times throughout both The
Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
where Gollum is inexplicably
spared. This is significant because
if Gollum had died any earlier
than at Mt Doom, Bilbo might be
dead, Frodo and Sam probably
would have never gotten to Mount
Doom, and if they had made it to
Mount Doom, Frodo would still
have betrayed Sam. Although it
seemed meaningless at the time,
this sparing of Gollum ended up
“Risen” by Anna Vacha
being the key to a happy ending
for the story.
Tolkien is a master of using Eucatastrophe, and he should be considering
he coined the term. His usage encompasses the classical use of Eucatastrophe, new
worth to old decisions, a form of irony, and many others. His usage goes beyond just
easily wrapping up a story in a happy way.
Bibliography
Homer. Translated by Robert Fagles. The Odyssey. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1996.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. London: HarperCollins, 2012.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2004.
Tolkien, J. R. R. “On Fairy-Stories.” In The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays, edited by Christopher Tolkien, Hammersmith. Boston, London: Harper Collins, 1983.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Silmarillion. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1999.
27
The Dehellenization of Theology
By Austin Stone
John’s Gospel begins by articulating how God is being, referred to as ὁ
Λόγος, the logos. Through John’s Gospel, one sees that God is referred to as reason.
In the beginning of Genesis, man is created in the image and likeness of God: “So
God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them.” According to St. John, this image and likeness is reason.
Therefore, God created man with reason, or as Aristotle would say: man was created
as a rational animal. Aristotle begins his Metaphysics by observing that, “All men
by nature desire understanding.” One could say all men desire to know God. God
created man with reason, so that through reason He would be known and loved. The
ancient Greeks attempted to know their gods, but only were capable of grasping them
as first causes of natural occurrences, for example, rain, wind, the harvest. After the
incarnation man was granted the fullness of revelation so man could know God in an
“Earth’s Treasures” by Maria Castro
28
intimate way. In these two periods, man had two primary faculties: knowing and
loving. Moderns, on the other hand, focus on “doing” not knowing and loving; thus,
resulting in an avoidance of the life of contemplation—the life in accord with reason. However, love, as St. Paul says, “transcends” knowledge, therefore is capable
of perceiving more than thought alone; nonetheless, it furthers the love of the God
who is Logos. Benedict XVI states, “Faith is born of the soul, not the body,” this
parallels the Greek philosophy: man as an embodied soul. God created man as a rational, soul embodied, animal so that through man’s fides et ratio God’s nature will
be known and loved. In John Paul II’s encyclical, Veritatis Splendor, he argues that:
…man’s free obedience to God’s law effectively implies that human reason and human will participate in God’s wisdom and providence. By forbidding
man to “eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” God makes it clear
that man does not originally possess such “knowledge” as something properly
his own, but only participates in it by the light of natural reason and of Divine
Revelation, which manifest to him the requirements and the promptings of
eternal wisdom.
There is an inherent relationship between providence and nature; one observes that
this mystery has been removed from modern thought due to the eclipsing of metaphysics by the dehellenization of theology.
Pope Benedict XVI in his lecture at Regensburg, argues that there are three
observable stages of the “programme of dehellenization” which are connected even
though they are distinct in their motivations and objectives.
Benedict XVI argues that dehellenization first emerges in connection with the
Protestant Reformation. The Reformers believed that the current faith system was
conditioned by an alien system of thought—Greek philosophy. In result to this
realization, the Reformers thought, “…faith no longer appeared as a living historical
Word but as one element of an overarching philosophical system.” In procession to
this, the Reformers sought sola scriptura to pursue faith in its pure, primordial form;
this was to take the biblical Word out of the Greek influence. Benedict XVI argues,
“Metaphysics appeared as a premise derived from another source, from which faith
had to be liberated in order to become once more fully itself.” Reformers Martin
Luther and Immanuel Kant, went back to the Hebrew text in order to simplify the
faith by bypassing the Greek influence. Kant removes reason to worship by sola
fide. According to his philosophy, Kant argues that one cannot speculate Scripture
and therefore, one should only do what he/she “ought” to do; thus leading to his
Categorical Imperative. The critique of this ideology is that one should not practice
sola fide, because to act without reason is contrary to God’s nature, as well as the
nature that man was created.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the second phase of dehellenization emerges, led by Adolf von Harnack. This wave of dehellenization emerged
from Pascal’s distinction between the God of the philosophers and the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Benedict XVI believed, “Harnack’s central idea was to
return simply to the man Jesus and to his simple message, underneath the accretions of theology and indeed of Hellenization: this simple message was seen as the
culmination of the religious development of humanity.” This movement by Harnack
sought to liberate modern theology by returning Christianity to harmony with modern reason, and to turn away from classical philosophical and theological elements.
29
continued from page 27
Harnack wanted to restore theology in the university by a historical-critical exegesis
of the New Testament: “Theology, for Harnack, is something essentially historical
and therefore strictly scientific.” This thinking expresses the modern self-limitation of reason, thus increaings the impact of the natural sciences. Limiting classic
Christian theology to a mere modern reason deprives it of its goods, making it just
another science in the university. This is practiced by the modern concept of synthesizing Platonism and empiricism, which is confirmed by the success of technology.
Due to technology, nature’s capacity can be exploited for our purposes, which have
the possibility for verification or falsification through experimentation and provide
decisive certainty. This line of thought, by its very nature, excludes the question of
God, making it appear unscientific to the modern mindset. Benedict XVI says in his
lecture, “…we are faced with a reduction of the radius of science and reason, one
which needs to be questioned.” He goes on to claim:
If science as a whole is this and this alone, then it is man himself who ends
up being reduced, for the specifically human questions about our origin and
destiny, the questions raised by religion and ethics, then have no place within
the purview of collective reason and defined by “science”, so understood, and
must thus be relegated to the realm of the subjective.
Science, by this definition, subjects the truth of ethics and religion on the conscious
of the individual; therefore, religion losses its power to create a community and is
reduced to a “personal matter.”
The third stage of the dehellenization movement is cultural pluralism,
which is on the rise in the present age. The ideology behind this stage is as follows:
In the time of the New Testament, Greek thought was common in the culture, but today it is not; therefore, we as post-moderns should have our own culture of faith and
not the Greek culture. Benedict XVI boldly states, “This thesis is not simply false,
but it is coarse and lacking in precision. The New Testament was written in Greek
and bears the imprint of the Greek spirit, which had already come to maturity as the
Old Testament developed.” God’s revelation to man occurred during time of Greek
influence for a reason. It is not coincidental.
In 1917, St. Thomas was deemed by Benedict XV, as the “Angelic Doctor”
of the Church; Benedict XV also confides in cannon law the thought of and philosophy of St. Thomas, and all philosophy and theology in schools must adhere to his
method, doctrine, and principles. In 1923, Pope Pias XI writes in Studiorum Ducem,
“St. Thomas Aquinas should be the universal doctor of the Catholic Church, because
the Church has adopted his philosophy as her own.” Knowledge, or episteme, is
where the word epistemology derives. St. Thomas Aquinas says that all knowledge
originates in the senses. In order for one to know anything, one must first experience it in matter. The metaphysics and epistemology of St. Thomas is derived from
Hellenistic thought, because his epistemology, of episteme beginning in the material
world, is based on Aristotle.
The metaphysician practices the highest possible speculative science because its object of study exceeds the realm of matter. The job of the metaphysician,
to identify and to speculate upon things as they are as beings, is only possible by the
faculty of reason. By understanding the form, principle, existence, and essences of
30
“Humphrey Bogart” by Shari Bell
the world around the metaphysician, he/she can come to understand how humanity
exists within the cosmos. This is to be understood as the same cosmos the astronomer
would study, the cosmos of all creation as it is ordered in time and space. However,
the cosmos of the metaphysician also entails the things existing outside of matter that
can only be obtained by the intellect. Through studying the essentia of all things, one
would begin to see how all ens intrinsically comes together as one ens. As the metaphysician contemplates and speculates all things, he/she begins to slowly identify the
Prime Mover as Aristotle says, or the First Cause according to St. Thomas; the ens
in which all ens resides in, or participates in, and this ens is God. It is through the
study of metaphysics only that man can identify with sola ratio the nature of God—
to know the being that all participates in. The only other faculty that man can use to
know God is by faith, and with faith man knows God, but insofar as man loves God.
31
continued from page 29
This is because there are only two faculties of the soul: knowing and willing. Therefore, it is only by faith and reason that man can come to know and love the nature
of the creator, which is why God created man with reason, and so too became flesh
as the Incarnate Son to show humanity not only how to love, but to show how much
He loves us. As John Paul II says in his encyclical, Fides et Ratio: “Faith and reason
are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and
God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know
himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to
the fullness of truth about themselves.”
Proper theology and knowledge of God can only be obtained therefore
through proper metaphysics. In biblical times, the presence of Greek thought was to
not only unite the cultures, but to guide man on the path to the proper knowledge of
God. In the time of the Reformation, the Reformers were wrong to remove the Hellenistic thought from the faith in an attempt to believe by sola scriptura. It was also
wrong to remove Hellenistic influence from theology, resulting in a mere history and
calculable data at the university. Hellenistic thought was not accidentally mixed into
the early Church, but was divinely orchestrated eternally. Therefore, all men should
be metaphysicians, so that humanity can, in hope, return to the life of contemplation
and live in accordance with God’s will, because there, as the great Greek Aristotle
says, is happiness.
Bibliography
Aristotle. The Metaphysics of Aristotle. Edited by J. H. Macmahon. London: H.G. Bohn, 1857.
Aristotle. Physics. Edited by Richard Hope. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961.
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Edited by Terence Irwin. Indianapolis, Ind: Hackett Pub. Co, 1999.
Benedict XVI. “Lecture at La Sapienza University.” Regensburg, Rome. January 17, 2008.
John Paul. Encyclical Letter, Fides Et Ratio, of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II: To the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Relationship between Faith and Reason. Boston: Pauline Books and media, 1998.
John Paul. The Splendor of Truth = Veritatis Splendor: Encyclical Letter,
August 6, 1993. Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 1993.
Milan. Immortality. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.
Pias XI. Studiorum Ducem. Papal Encyclicals Online. Accessed February 21, 2016. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11STUDI.HTM.
Thomas Aquinas. An Introduction to the Metaphysics of St. Thomas Aquinas. Edited by James F. Anderson. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Pub, 1997.
Thomas Aquinas. Summa Contra Gentiles. edited by James F. Anderson, Vernon J. Bourke, C. J. O’Neil, and Anton C. Pegis. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975.
32
“Gertrude’s Spectrum” By Tyler Farris
33