Had the pleasure of meeting four young catholic seminarians on Friday evening, and enjoyed theological and philosophical conversation. These young men are 19-23 years of age and only two years into their 8 year program, the first four being philosophy and the last four being theology.
Among other topics we discussed the doctrine of penance vs penitence, transubstantiation, and purgatory…
We also discussed early church fathers and doctors of the church such as Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and Aquinas… We discussed Augustine’s notion of evil as the privation of good… the one good and source of all that reflects goodness being God himself. We also discussed the literary styles of Aquinas vs Augustine, one of the gents preferring Aquinas for his plain language, and myself preferring Augustine for his vivid illustrations.
One highlight with these gentlemen was during the bonfire when folks we’re sharing the guitar… scattered among the many folk and popular songs, there were a few religious songs and also a praise song that I used to sing in college…
***
Lord I lift Your name on high
Lord I love to sing Your praises
I’m so glad You’re in my life
I’m so glad You came to save us
[Chorus:]
You came from heaven to earth
To show the way
From the earth to the cross
My debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord I lift Your name on high
***
On Saturday we received a private tour of the local temples by the town priest, and the gentleman sang in Gregorian chant… a beautiful experience.
I look forward to hopefully running into them again on the camino, and to meeting others like them, who at such a young age, are seeking to know and to please God, as best as they can.
I am hoping our conversations will be fruitful and will further shed the gospel’s light on their studies and their understanding of God’s will, via His Word, in the coming years.
