|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
We are surrounded by beauty, but how often do we stop long enough to let it speak to us? A beautiful church, a painting, even the created world itself can do more than please the eye. Beauty can lift our minds beyond the thing we see toward the One who made beauty possible.
The Church has long understood this. Truth, goodness, and beauty are not competing paths; ultimately, they lead toward the same God. Perhaps this week we could spend a little more time looking – not simply seeing – and allow something beautiful to turn our hearts toward its Creator.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Treasury
|
| |
|
The Calling of Saint Matthew
|
|
Caravaggio, 1599 – 1600
|
| |
|
| |
|
The Church has never treated beauty as mere decoration. Sacred art can arrest our attention, teach us, and turn our minds toward God.
Few paintings make that clearer than Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew, painted in 1599 – 1600 for the Contarelli Chapel in Rome.
Christ enters a dark, ordinary room and points toward the men gathered around a table of money. Light cuts across the scene in the same direction as His call. The figure traditionally identified as Matthew points toward himself in surprise: Me?
Nothing about the setting looks especially holy. That may be the point. Christ enters an ordinary life and calls a man away from the life he knows.
St. Matthew’s feast was celebrated two days ago, on September 21. His painting offers a useful reminder: sacred art is not simply something beautiful to see. Sometimes it asks us to look again – and respond.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Seeking a Higher Good |
| |
|
| Barrett and his wife on their wedding day |
| |
|
Barrett Moore is a 2021 Hillsdale College graduate, former Marine officer, husband, and father. Now an Operations Assistant in Hillsdale’s Office of the President, he works at the intersection of duty, leadership, and institutional mission. Faith Matters asked him how his Catholic formation shapes the way he approaches work and family.
|
| |
| Q: |
Were there particular people, experiences, or habits in childhood that laid the foundation for your Catholic faith? |
|
|
For the first ten years of my life, my parents sent me to East Lake Academy, where weekly school Mass and regular opportunities for confession habituated me to a sacramental life. At home, witnessing family members structure their lives around daily Mass drove home in me the reality of the Eucharist.
My mother catechized my brothers and me very well. She always seemed to be reading something written by a smart Catholic, so Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, and others danced in the background of family conversations.
|
| |
| Q: |
Why the Marines, and what stayed with you from military life? |
|
|
The better question is: why on earth would anyone want to be a sailor – or an airman, for that matter? And we all know that “Army” stands for “ain’t real Marines yet.”
Predawn alarms have carried over. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish while everyone else is still sleeping.
|
| |
| Q: |
What have you learned about leadership through service and from observing Hillsdale President Larry Arnn? |
|
|
Leadership flows from doing the right thing and loving one’s colleagues, which means willing their good. It is easy to talk about, but hard to do. It is the stuff saints are made of.
Dr. Arnn constantly returns to the College’s founding mission, which is higher than anyone working there. Because he is first obedient to that mission, he can lead his colleagues in serving it.
|
|
|
|
“The takeaway is, then, that while leadership is exemplified in service, it flows first from obedience to a higher good.”
|
|
|
| |
| Q: |
How has your Catholic faith influenced the way you approach your work? |
|
|
The Faith is a way of life founded on the concrete realities of God’s revelation. It should influence every part of one’s life, including work. Knowing that my job is what He has given me to do, I try to work with gratitude and diligence – for His glory, my good, and the good of those around me.
I am very far from perfect, and very grateful He’s given us confession.
|
| |
|
| Barrett with his wife and daughter |
| |
| Q: |
How have marriage and fatherhood changed your perspective, and what practices keep your family grounded? |
|
|
The Marine Corps taught me that if an officer expects excellence from his men, he must first embody what he expects. So, as paterfamilias, I cannot expect pursuit of virtue, devotion, or responsibility from my wife and children if I am not prepared to do it myself first.
The greatest challenge is keeping laser-focused on Our Lord and Heaven amidst life’s distractions. We love daily Mass, pray the family Rosary after dinner, and my wife and I each try to start the day with mental prayer, as prescribed by St. Francis de Sales in Introduction to the Devout Life.
|
|
|
|
“So, as paterfamilias, I cannot expect anything – pursuit of virtue, devotion, responsibility – from my wife and children that I am not prepared to do myself first.”
|
|
|
| |
| Q: |
What are you reading right now? |
|
|
On my own, Hilaire Belloc’s Essays of a Catholic. With my wife, Kristin Lavransdatter. With my daughter, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.
|
| |
| Q: |
What are some of the greatest challenges facing the next generation of young Catholics and Christians? |
|
|
We face the same dangers Catholics of every age have faced: compromise, worldliness, and lukewarmness. We ought to take special care not to let our charity grow cold. As young people learn again to love God above all things, we must also follow Christ’s command to love our neighbor.
|
|
|
|
BARRETT MOORE resides with his wife and daughter in Hillsdale, Michigan, where he works as an Operations Assistant in the Office of the President at Hillsdale College. He graduated from Hillsdale in 2021 and was commissioned as a Marine officer that same year.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
Did you find this issue meaningful? |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
Was this issue forwarded to you? |
| |
|
If you’re not already subscribed, sign up to receive future issues of Faith Matters. |
| |
| SUBSCRIBE
|
| |
|
To unsubscribe from Faith Matters emails, use the unsubscribe link included in the email you received. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
Schwartz Investment Counsel, Inc., a registered investment adviser established in 1980,
serves as investment adviser for Ave Maria Mutual Funds. The Adviser invests in securities only if they meet
the Funds’ investment and religious requirements, and as such, the returns may be lower or higher than
if the Adviser made decisions based solely on investment considerations. The Funds’ method of security
selection may or may not be successful and the Funds may underperform or outperform the stock market as a
whole. All mutual funds are subject to market risk, including possible loss of principal.
Request a prospectus, which includes investment
objectives, risks, fees, expenses and other information that you should read and consider carefully before
investing. The prospectus can be obtained by calling 1-866-283-6274 or it can be viewed and downloaded here. Distributed by Ultimus Fund
Distributors, LLC. Schwartz Investment Counsel, Inc. is not affiliated with Ultimus Fund Distributors, LLC.
|
| |
|
20260917-5937395
|
| |
|
|
|
