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Choosing Our Supreme Value
BY FATHER QUENTIN QUESNELL, S.J
PAGE 5—February 15,1973
With a world so full of such wonderful things how shall we
choose among them? What will be most important to us? What
shall we live for? This is the question of values.
If there is one thing we would never give up willingly, no
matter how much they offered us for it, that something could
be called our supreme value. Most normal people would say that
their own life is a value like that to them. No gain they can
imagine would be worth trading their life for. Not a million
dollars, not a billion, not all the wealth in the world.
How could it be? The words “gain” and “profit” don’t make
such sense if you’re no longer there to collect the gain or pick
up the profit. “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole
world, but loses his own life?” (Mark 8,36).
Still, not everyone makes his own life his supreme value.
People do not give up their lives for a good enough reason.
Obviously it’s not a good enough reason to sell one’s life for
money. That’s just stupid.
But most of us don’t think it stupid if a man gives up his life
for a person he loves. We think it noble and beautiful. We praise
a man who lays down his life defending his home and family.
We admire a man who offers himself for execution in place of
another already condemned. “The greatest love a man can have
for his friends is to give his life for them” (John 15,13).
in the world God gave to all. The Christian often lends his whole
self to promoting them, and may be ready when necessary to
sacrifice his own material good for them, even his life. “Seek
first the kingdom of God and his justice . . .”
The general rule is that when a person chooses values greater
than himself, the choice lifts him up, makes him grow beyond
himself, become greater than he was. When he sets his choice on
lesser things, seeks only his own advantage, the choice debases
him, keeps him from growing, shrivels his soul. “Where your
treasure is, there your heart will be.”
The Christian takes the world as God’s gift to be enjoyed
with thanks. He tries to choose his values in a way that will keep
him growing to his full stature as the person God made him to
be. He does not use life to pursue the things of this world. He
uses the things of this world to add beauty and joy to life.
The one supreme value that gives meaning and force to all
these others is the One from whom they come and to whom
they lead. Everything good we find in other human persons and
in noble causes is a thin reflection of the One who made them.
Real values draw us out of ourselves and make us grow
toward him. When we try to find and choose true values, we are
really reaching toward him. In our fumbling, imperfect way, we
are choosing him as the greatest value of all. “Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy whole soul,
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”
“ANY HUMAN PERSON is worth more than all the
material things of the world put together.” A retarded
child, his head protected by a helmet, withdraws into a
corner. (NC Photo by Robert Nandell)
But also while life is going on, the well-being and happiness of
others is just as important as our own. To those who really
understand God’s creation, every human person is an absolute
value. Any human person is worth more than all the material
things of the world put together. People who realize the fact
will put more effort into helping others find happiness than
they will into piling up material advantages for themselves.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
So too we can choose to devote ourselves to a noble cause
which we hope will bring good and happiness to many other
persons. We can find our value in the struggle for peace,
freedom, human dignity, social justice. These are movements
aimed at making it possible for all human beings to live happily
V alues
BY SISTER JANAAN MANTERNACH, OSF
“Times goes so fast.” “I can’t believe it’s February already.”
“As I get older time becomes more and more precious.”
All of us have heard one or another of these exclamations.
“Time” is probably the most valuable thing each of us has. Yet
we rarely take time to evaluate what we’re doing with it unless
something dramatic calls our attention to what we might be
doing with time while we still have it on our side.
Recently I was reading through one of the daily newspapers
in Washington, D. C., and was captivated by “An Elegy to
Gwen.” Beneath the title was a prologue; “Gwen Ames 17, was
found dead early last Sunday near the family home in Reston.
Her father, Mr. Ardee Ames delivered this elegy at her funeral
on Tuesday. The next day, the police reported that she had died
not of a drug overdose, as some had first suspected, but at the
hands of a strangler.”
What was sad about the event was that Gwen had kicked a
serious drug habit and was getting a fresh start. What was
striking about the elegy was the number of times Gwen’s father
made a point of the value of time. One sentence in particular
stands out: “So if I could leave one thought with you parents
here today it would be to show more love to your kids and love
them while you’ve got them here.” Mr. Ames alluded to the
many times when he could have shown his love for Gwen but
didn’t take the time.
Time is a sheer gift given to us by a loving God so that we
might have an opportunity to enjoy the world and make it a
better place for others by creatively doing the loving thing. It
takes a measure of discipline to love and use time in a way that
makes the having of it worthwhile.
At the time Angela Davis was acquitted of the charges
brought against her, a cartoonist, Mike Peters, pictured an art
shop which featured only one item; posters with a variation on
the theme: “Free Angela.” In the cartoon the owner of the shop
is just receiving the news of the acquittal by phone and is
pictured with his many posters questioning the caller with the
exclamation, “She’s what . . .?”
I was both captivated and amused by the shopkeeper’s
question. For him, the acquisition of freedom for Angela was
hardly as important a priority as the money the posters brought
in. Price tags were quite visible and added to the cartoon’s
impact: $2.75 each, $5.00, $2.50, $1.00.
What we use our time for says a lot about where our values lie
and our priorities often give us away as far as our values are
concerned.
I frequently find inconsistencies in my own system of values
which give me cause to question my priorities. It is good to
question them by examining the relationships that exist among
ourselves and members of our families or our co-workers to
determine the value we place on friendship, on peace, and on
community. It is good to question them by reflecting on the
quality of work we do, no matter what our job is, to determine
the value we place upon employment, commitment, and
responsibility.
It is good to question them by listening to the things we,
ourselves, talk about most frequently as a measure of where our
interests lie and to discover the frame of reference out of which
our interpretations come. It is good to question them by
assessing our eating, resting and relaxing habits to determine
whether we are concerned about our health. And it is good to
question our priorities by asking ourselves if our belief in and
dependence upon God has deepened and what we do to give
evidence of how we value the gift of our faith.
Because values are substantively the structual framework of
our character, there is a uniqueness in the way each of us gives
expression of what we hold most dear and will not compromise.
It is a matter of making something of our life in the time we
have been given. A good, but perhaps earthy expression is given
to this idea by Gwen Ames’ father in another sentence from the
elegy that he delivered at his daughter’s funeral:
“I think her death should be a symbol of hope to all parents
who have kids experimenting with drugs, and to all the kids who
are doing drugs and want a way out, who want to stand up and
tell those around them: ‘I don’t give a damn what you think.
I’m going to make something of my life.’ ”
[KnowYourFaith]
Learning Christian Values
BY FATHER CARL J. PFEIFER, S.J.
“Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simpliest
facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again.
For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this
gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More
than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.”
Perhaps you have read Richard Bach’s charming story of this
unusual bird. JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL has been
on the best-seller lists for almost a year now. The story is so
captivating because it is about life, about freedom, about what
really matters.
At one point, after his exhilirating breakthrough in diving at
two hundred fourteen miles per hour, Jonathan Seagull grasps
the true meaning of a gull’s life. “How much more there is now
to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the
fishing boats, there’s a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out
“WE CAN LIFT OURSELVES out of ignorance, we
can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and skill.
We can be free! We can learn to fly!” A seagull’s flight
of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence
and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
As I read about Jonathan and realized that Bach was writing
about “the real Jonathan Seagull, who lives within us all,” I
could not help relating the story to the process of religious
education. In a sense the religious educators role is to enable
others to more deeply appreciate that “there’s a reason to life.”
The parent and teacher hope to enable others to open their
minds and hearts to recognize “how much more there is now to
living!”
An important aspect of guiding others to discover deeper
meaning in life is that of value clarification. Values are basically
what a person considers important, what really matters to him,
what he truly loves. If, like Jonathan’s flock of gulls, a person is
wholly preoccupied with what to eat and drink, there is little
chance of his perceiving the more profound, challenging realities
of life.
is romanticized in this high grain treatment. (NC Photo
by George R. Cassidy)
True knowledge about life, about life graced by God’s
creative presence, can be acquired only in conjunction with an
ongoing clarification of values. Jesus spoke of a “change of
heart” required by the perception of his saving truth. Religious
education, then, is not merely the learning of basic truths about
faith in an abstract manner. The truth to be learned touches
heart and feelings as well as intellect. More than accurate
definitions are required to absorb that truth that sets one free.
Saving truth demands clarification of values.
To take a hard look at what one considers important is rarely
easy. “Why is it,” Jonathan puzzled, “that” the hardest thing in
the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can
prove it for himself if he’d just spend a little time practicing?
Why should that be so hard?” It is difficult because to discover
the truth of oneself normally requires a change of one’s values.
That requires risk, effort, practice.
Helping another clarify his values as part of the process of
perceiving life’s richer reaches is not achieved in the same way as
teaching mathematics or chemistry. Very helpful techniques
have recently been developed for value clarification. They are
described in books like VALUES AND TEACHINGS by Raths,
Harmin and Simon (Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill
Publishing, Co., 1966) and VALUES CLARIFICATION by
Simon, Howe, and Kirschenbaum (N.Y. Hart Publishing Co.,
1972).
These strategies have been found very effective by religious
educators. Yet their efficacy rests on two fundamental
predispositions in the educator. He, like Jonathan, must be
struggling, practicing, to clarify his own values, to discover what
he is living for, what he considers important, what he loves, and
this in the light of the Christian life-style he professes.
As educators we need to authenticate our teaching by our
struggling to live out the values we encourage. Our children and
students remain free to accept or reject our values, but they
have a right to know what we stand for.
The second prerequisite for helping others clarify their values
and perceive something more to their lives, is that we try
genuinely to respect and love them. Even when our efforts seem
to be rewarded with ingratitude, apathy, boredom, even
hostility, the key to helping them discover “how much more
now there is to living” is summed up by Jonathan. “You have to
practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them,
and to help them see it in themselves. That’s what I mean by
love. It’s fun, when you get the knack of it.”
Children and the Liturgy
BY FATHER JOSEPH M. CHAMPLIN
“Young people, especially little children, get nothing out of
Sunday Mass. They become restless and bored, then squirm and
talk. We need special liturgies for them, something on their level
since the usual services are geared for adults.”
I would respond “yes” and “no” to those remarks. “Yes” to
the request for occasional Masses designed specifically for a
particular age group; “no” to a program of such liturgies which
would regularly replace the family Sunday service. “Yes” to the
comment that our eucharistic celebrations are fundamentally
oriented toward adults; “no” to the assertion that our little ones
get nothing out of the weekend Mass.
First, let’s look at this matter of children in the pre-teenage
bracket. Is Sunday Mass a waste of time, even harmful for
them? Do they fail to grasp what the liturgy is all about? I don’t
think so and offer these following illustrations to prove the
point.
- One of our Sundays during October zeroed in on the
elderly as part of the Respect Life! campaign. The preacher
offered, almost in passing, a few suggestions about the young
and healthy showing care for our senior citizens. A mother later
told me about her 7th grade daughter who without prompting
of any kind from the parents the very next day wrote a letter to
her grandfather. At the Mass itself, the girl looked distracted,
even resentful, but obviously she listened and accepted the
message.
- On Father’s Day, the homilist concluded his words by
reading the text of “Sunrise, Sunset” while our organist played
the music to that show tune in the background. Several months
later five-year-old Martha Pfeiffer, hearing this melody over the
airwaves, ran into the kitchen of their farmhouse and shouted,
“Mommy, Mommy, Father is on the radio.” The Pfeiffers sit in
the middle of our church and I am sure that little Martha can
hardly see the altar. At times, too, she probably does squirm
and talk and distract a few adults. But obviously Martha also
hears and comprehends more than we think.
- In an appeal for the missions last year, we urged
parishioners to make a sacrifice for the cause, to write their
offering down and enclose it with the money in the envelope for
the collection. One note read: “This represents a treat at
McDonald’s; the children wanted to give up for the missions.
They must have listened to the sermon because we said nothing
to them about it.”
Perhaps the key to this discussion lies in the word “values.”
In each of these incidents, the youngsters may very well not
have understood all the words said or the readings proclaimed.
But ideas and values were in fact communicated, so much so
that these moved them to appropriate actions.
In this connection I think we must also remember that the
liturgy in general and the Mass in particular is a ritual ceremony
of sign and symbol. Verbal signs and symbols clearly form part
of this celebration, but not necessarily the dominant part. The
mustc, the atmosphere, the people who surround us, the
attitude of the priest and the others in the sanctuary - these and
other elements blend together to form a whole presentation and
experience. The entire process is extremely mysterious, as it
should be, since beneath and beyond external words and signs is
an inner, spiritual reality.
We should not, therefore, too swiftly discount the impact of
adult liturgies upon children’s hearts. They may well in their
innocence pass more readily through the outer sign to the
interior truth than do sophisticated adults.
Now, let’s consider the recommendations of special liturgies
for the young which would regularly replace the family Sunday
service.
I have no problem with and would strongly encourage
occasional Masses (or other celebrations) designed uniquely for
a particular age group. The children in this arrangement can be
deeply involved in both the planning and execution of these
liturgies and draw rich benefits from them.
However, I feel that as a regular pattern on Sundays such
Masses would prove counterproductive. They in effect fracture
the family unit and greatly minimize opportunities parents have
for transmitting their faith values to the children. When
youngsters observe mom and dad listening attentively to the
homily, reciting the profession of faith, singing hymns, receiving
the Eucharist and praying with earnestness, they learn lessons
no one else can teach and see an example that far outweighs the
value of any special children’s liturgy.
Of course, this presumes the adult liturgies in a parish are well
done and hold the interest of parents. Unfortunately, that
presumes a great deal, but the principles here still remain the
same.