Mass of the Holy Spirit, 11 Sept 2006

The community gathered in a large university church to begin the year asking for God's guidance as we toil through more reading, writing, and examinations. The experience, prayerful and moving, reminded me why we do need ritual and ceremony to mark the year accordingly. I had just finished a discussion with students on E.M. Forster's "What I Believe" (1939) in which he criticizes heavily the notion of belief and its attendant religious elements of ritual. Understandably, Forster's commitment to secular humanism made him wary of religious practice in which people would fail to ask the tough questions, believing only in what they have been told and not thinking for themselves.

However, I am delighted to watch the spirited discussion among my students. They were most passionate when discussing the elements of Lopate's essay, "Modern Friendship", in which he admits with a brand of candor that can only exist in this age, that he slept with his best friend's girlfriend as a means of testing the limits of friendship. Students howled at his arrogance and immaturity and were not particularly sympathetic to his exploration but found his betrayal offensive. One student remarked that the paper on which the essay had been copied had been wasted since his words meant so little. Finally, one of my other students came to Lopate's defense and suggested that learning through experience makes for better friendship. In making the error, an egregious one at that, he learns that he cannot do that kind of thing and expect a friendship to survive. Others countered by explaining that one does not need to do so because a decent person would know that it is unwise to play with one's friendship by committing such an act. Another student, attempted to minimize Lopate's open confession by suggesting that he did not really know what he was doing. We looked at the text again and saw how he admitted what he did. She continued to argue her point. Finally, when I asked her pointedly: "Why are you diminishing the weight of his act?" She replied: "Perhaps it is because I am trying to excuse the things I have done in the past." It was then that I remarked that the purpose of reading Lopate's essay is to face the honest truth even if it makes one appear less than virtuous. Since we have moved past feeling any real shame anymore, particularly in society, then the admissions we make in public only seem to underscore some strength of person as some might feasibly argue. "At least I could be honest," one might say. Even though one is a potential thief, murderer, or killer.