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Dear Father Angelo,

My name is Francesco, I am 14 years old and I am a freshman in a high school with a scientific curriculum.

Let me start by saying that this will not be the last email I will send you, as I actually have a lot of doubts and I hope you won’t mind. (…).

I have some questions to ask you and I would be really happy if you could answer them:

1. Sometimes, however, I happen to have “arguments” with my teachers. How should I behave towards them? Let me start by saying that I have a hard head, so to speak, and that I easily get worked up and that many arguments with my teachers are about faith or ethics. (The alleged economic political conspiracy of the church, condoms, abortion, etc.)

2. Could you give me an explanation about the twelfth step of Saint Benedict? What is the meaning of the necessity to hide carefree joy and why one should not speak ahead of the proper time or be long winded.

3. Is studying for one’s sake, and therefore out of a thirst for knowledge, a sin?

And finally, why is curiosity a sin according to St. Thomas and St. Augustine?

Thank you in advance as I wait for your answer

F G

Answer from the priest

Dear Francesco,

1. About the arguments with your professors, I will just say this much: strive to be careful, because professors always have the upper hand. And I would not want them to be influenced by that when they decide on your evaluation.

Most of the time, it is better to let them have their say, unless what they say is utter nonsense.

Indeed, it is the first time in my life I have heard of an economic conspiracy by the Church.

2. For those people who do not live the Gospel and do not know what communion of life with the Lord Jesus is, it is natural to judge the Church as if it were a human organization, a society like many others.

Instead, it is the Kingdom of God, established by God himself within humankind.

Within this Kingdom, God enters into a communion with men, conveying his grace mainly through the sacraments.

In that way, he educates, purifies, and sanctifies those who approach Him, and already starts to bring them, albeit just at an initial stage, into the communion with heaven.

3. Furthermore, so that your professors do not give incongruous assessments, always point out that in order to understand what the Church says, one must keep in mind the purpose of its teaching: holiness.

In that way, it becomes easier for your professors, as well as for your classmates, to understand why certain acts do not sanctify people.

In short: remind them that the teaching of the church belongs on a theological level and not simply on a philosophical or human level.

4. About the degrees or steps of humility according to St. Benedict.

We must remember, first of all, that humility does not consist in not laughing or not speaking, but in acknowledging the majesty of God, that is, that everything comes from Him, and in recognizing how much of the divine nature is in our neighbor.

This is what St. Thomas teaches in the Summa Theologiae (II-II, 161, 3, ad 1).

5. However, humility is also made manifest in some external behaviours. Those include: “in restraining haughty looks, and in outwardly checking laughter and other signs of senseless mirth” (Ib., II-II, 161, 6).

Those three indications can be understood by keeping in mind what St. Benedict previously said, namely that humility is also manifested externally in doing “nothing but to what one is exhorted by the common rule”.

It should also be remembered that St. Benedict is speaking about humility to monks.

So, for a monk it is important to conform to the rule and not deviate from that with eccentric behaviours, which would only manifest one’s own ego.

6. When St. Benedict advises to check laughter, he is not saying that we should not laugh, because during recreation it is necessary to laugh and make people laugh. We must make our presence among others a merry one.

But if one of your classmates or even the professor himself blunders, instead of laughing in front of everyone (which would humiliate the person who made the mistake even more) strive to keep your laughter in check, thus doing a beautiful act of humility.

7. The same thing also applies to joy translated with the adjective “carefree”.

St. Benedict calls it: “inepta”, that is, foolish, empty.

According to St. Benedict, the first step to live in humility consists in staying in the presence of God, according to what God said to Abraham: “Walk in my presence and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).

So, healthy joy is a joy that does not waste the most valuable treasure one possesses, that is the presence of God.

Whoever translated it with carefree meant this: a joy that can be enjoyed without somehow missing the thought of God, while continuing to walk in his presence.

8. Now I get to the third question.

Studying because of a thirst for knowledge is a good thing, because this thirst is created by God.

Curiosity, according to St. Thomas, consists in the desire to know for unjustified or incorrect reasons. In that case, he speaks of “inordinate study”.

He says that this can happen “in four ways.

First, when a man is withdrawn by a less profitable study from a study that is an obligation incumbent on him; hence Jerome says [*Epist. xxi ad Damas]: ‘We see priests forsaking the gospels and the prophets, reading stage-plays, and singing the love songs of pastoral idylls.’

– Secondly, when a man studies to learn of one, by whom it is unlawful to be taught, as in the case of those who seek to know the future through the demons. This is superstitious curiosity, of which Augustine says (De Vera Relig. 4): ‘Maybe, the philosophers were debarred from the faith by their sinful curiosity in seeking knowledge from the demons.’

– Thirdly, when a man desires to know the truth about creatures, without referring his knowledge to its due end, namely, the knowledge of God. Hence Augustine says (De Vera Relig. 29) that ‘in studying creatures, we must not be moved by empty and perishable curiosity; but we should ever mount towards immortal and abiding things.’

– Fourthly, when a man studies to know the truth above the capacity of his own intelligence, since by so doing men easily fall into error: wherefore it is written (Ecclus. 3:22): ‘Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and search not into things above thy ability … and in many of His works be not curious,’ and further on (Ecclus. 3:26), ‘For … the suspicion of them hath deceived many, and hath detained their minds in vanity.’ ” (Summa theologiae, II-II, 167, 1).

I bless you, I gladly remember you in prayer and I wish you a peaceful and Holy Christmas.

Father Angelo