Søren Kierkegaard compared Socrates and Christ; while Socrates claimed to be a “midwife” of truth, so that his students give birth to the truth inside themselves, Christ is “the Truth.” He has “authority” because He is the Author of all Creation. I merely talk about God; He is God.
But if He is the Author of all Creation, all creation is “sacramental”; it is a symbol and an instrument of God’s love.
So, when a student says, “I hate math,” the teacher should say: “But one of the languages of the universe is mathematics. It is the language God uses to help us understand the order of things.”
Thus, it is time for us Christians to shout from the rooftops that work, in this material world, is a gift from God. For work is a participation in the creative work of God. And, moreover, since Christ took it into his hands, work has become for us a redeemed and redemptive reality. It is something to be sanctified and something which sanctifies.
Man ought not to limit himself to material production. Work is born of love; it is a manifestation of love, and is directed toward love. We see the hand of God, not only in the wonders of nature, but also in our experience of work and effort. Work thus becomes prayer and thanksgiving, because we know we are placed on earth by God, that we are loved by him and made heirs to his promises.
The visible things of Creation are like handwritten letters from God. Who among us who has known the love of a beloved would simply toss out a handwritten letter from our beloved? We read it, save it, and read it again and again as if to put the beloved in our presence, if merely in this small, indirect way. We should realize that what looks like the indistinguishable white envelopes of Creation are really letters from our Beloved. And so, we should open them carefully and lovingly so we shall find the communications of love they contain.
And yet, although letters can be wonderful, love is best delivered in person. If letters from your beloved are wonderful, who wouldn’t want to visit the beloved in person? The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
In classes, we talk about God. Or we talk about God’s handiwork in Creation. But in the Eucharist, God comes to us in person, in the person of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. So, we should take Math students to Mass, not to have a little “religion” before they go back to the “real world” stuff. Rather, we should take students to Mass to encounter their Creator, and His love “incarnate,” in Person. And in that encounter, remind themselves that they are loved, and in all their scientific studies, they are reading love letters from the One who loved them so much He was willing to die for them.
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