Faith Seeking Understanding

St. Anselm, whom we celebrate today, has always been somebody dear to my heart.  In the mid-seventies, I was sent to study liturgy at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, which was a part of the Benedictine University and Monastery of Sant' Anselmo in Rome, atop the Aventine Hill, overlooking the Tiber and the Vatican (as well as the very interesting "Monte Testaccio" in the other direction).

Anselm himself was an amazing man: monk, abbot, scholar, 

multi-national diplomat, archbishop--an amazing intellect combined with an overwhelming and rare charm.  He lived at a time (1033-1109) when Europe was just coming out of the so-called "Dark Ages," and had to navigate in the middle of bitter and divisive church-state controversies.  (Since Constantine in the fourth century, most rulers felt they needed to control the church to achieve national unity, but this too often meant weakening faith and fragmenting the church.  That's why the papacy had to become so authoritarian and monarchical. That's an oversimplified version of what was a very complex situation.)

In his own pursuit of learning, which was guided by his motto, "Faith Seeking Understanding," he is considered the father of the scholastic movement through which univiersities began to develop and flourish over the next several hundred years.  I think he holds a special relevance to us today as we seek to make sense of our heritage of faith in the midst of a fast-paced changing world or conflicting values.  Here's a wonderful quote from one of his writings:

" Come now, insignificant man, put aside your business for a while, take refuge for a little from your tumultuous thoughts, cast off your cares, and let your burdensome distractions wait.  Take some leisure ofr God; rest awhile in him . . . put out everything [from your mind] except God and whatever helps you to seek him. . . . Say now to God with all your heart, 'I seek your face, O Lord, your face do I seek.'" (Proslogion, 1)