Below is the
address Pope Benedict XVI recently delivered to university professors
at the Basilica of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in
Madrid, taken from an email forward from Professor Joe Hahn:
"I have looked forward to this meeting with you, young professors in the universities of Spain. You provide a splendid service in the spread of truth,
in circumstances that are not always easy. I greet you warmly and I
thank you for your kind words of welcome and for the music which has
marvelously resounded in this magnificent monastery, for centuries an
eloquent witness to the life of prayer and study. In this highly
symbolic place, reason and faith have harmoniously blended in the
austere stone to shape one of Spain’s most renowned monuments.
Being
here with you, I am reminded of my own first steps as a professor at
the University of Bonn. At the time, the wounds of war were still deeply
felt and we had many material needs; these were compensated by our
passion for an exciting activity, our interaction with colleagues of
different disciplines and our desire to respond to the deepest and most
basic concerns of our students. This experience of a "Universitas"
of professors and students who together seek the truth in all fields of
knowledge, or as Alfonso X the Wise put it, this "counsel of masters
and students with the will and understanding needed to master the
various disciplines", helps us to see more clearly the importance, and
even the definition, of the University.
The
theme of the present World Youth Day – "Rooted and Built Up in Christ,
and Firm in the Faith" (cf. Col 2:7) can also shed light on your efforts
to understand more clearly your own identity and what you are called to
do. As I wrote in my Message to Young People in preparation for these
days, the terms "rooted, built up and firm" all point to solid
foundations on which we can construct our lives.
But
where will young people encounter those reference points in a society,
which is increasingly confused and unstable? At times one has the idea
that the mission of a university professor nowadays is exclusively that
of forming competent and efficient professionals capable of satisfying
the demand for labor at any given time. One also hears it said that the
only thing that matters at the present moment is pure technical ability.
This sort of utilitarian approach to education is in fact
becoming more widespread, even at the university level, promoted
especially by sectors outside the University. All the same, you who,
like myself, have had an experience of the University, and now are
members of the teaching staff, surely are looking for something more
lofty and capable of embracing the full measure of what it is to be
human. We know that when mere utility and pure pragmatism become the principal criteria,
much is lost and the results can be tragic: from the abuses associated
with a science which acknowledges no limits beyond itself, to the
political totalitarianism which easily arises when one eliminates any
higher reference than the mere calculus of power. The authentic idea of
the University, on the other hand, is precisely what saves us from this reductionist and curtailed vision of humanity.
In truth, the University has always been, and is always called to be, the "house" where one seeks the truth proper to the human person.
Consequently it was not by accident that the Church promoted the
universities, for Christian faith speaks to us of Christ as the Word
through whom all things were made (cf. Jn 1:3) and of men and women as
made in the image and likeness of God. The Gospel message perceives a
rationality inherent in creation and considers man as a creature
participating in, and capable of attaining to, an understanding of this
rationality. The University thus embodies an ideal which must not be
attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned
dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception which would view man solely as a consumer.
Here we see the vital importance of your own mission.
You yourselves have the honor and responsibility of transmitting the
ideal of the University: an ideal which you have received from your
predecessors, many of whom were humble followers of the Gospel and, as
such, became spiritual giants. We should feel ourselves their
successors, in a time quite different from their own, yet one in which
the essential human questions continue to challenge and stimulate us.
With them, we realize that we are a link in that chain of men and women
committed to teaching the faith and making it credible to human reason.
And we do this not simply by our teaching, but by the way we live our
faith and embody it, just as the Word took flesh and dwelt among us.
Young people need authentic teachers: persons open to the fullness of
truth in the various branches of knowledge, persons who listen to and
experience in own hearts that interdisciplinary dialogue; persons who,
above all, are convinced of our human capacity to advance along the path of truth. Youth is a privileged time for seeking and encountering truth. As Plato said: "Seek truth while you are young, for if you do not, it will later escape your grasp"
(Parmenides, 135d). This lofty aspiration is the most precious gift
which you can give to your students, personally and by example. It is
more important than mere technical know-how, or cold and purely
functional data.
I urge you, then, never to lose that sense of enthusiasm and concern for truth.
Always remember that teaching is not just about communicating content,
but about forming young people. You need to understand and love them, to
awaken their innate thirst for truth and their yearning for transcendence. Be for them a source of encouragement and strength.
For
this to happen, we need to realize in the first place that the path to
the fullness of truth calls for complete commitment: it is a path of
understanding and love, of reason and faith. We cannot come to know
something unless we are moved by love; or, for that matter, love
something which does not strike us as reasonable.
"Understanding and love are not in separate compartments: love is rich in understanding and understanding is full of love" (Caritas in Veritate, 30). If truth and goodness go together, so too do knowledge and love. This unity leads to consistency in life and thought, that ability to inspire demanded of every good educator.
In the second place, we need to recognize that truth itself will always lie beyond our grasp. We can seek it and draw near to it, but we cannot completely possess it; or put better, truth possesses us and inspires us. In intellectual and educational activity the virtue of humility is also indispensable, since it protects us from the pride, which bars the way to truth.
We must not draw students to ourselves, but set them on the path toward
the truth, which we seek together. The Lord will help you in this, for
he asks you to be plain and effective like salt, or like the lamp which
quietly lights the room (cf. Mt 5:13).
All
these things, finally, remind us to keep our gaze fixed on Christ,
whose face radiates the Truth which enlightens us. Christ is also the
Way, which leads to lasting fulfillment; he walks constantly at our side
and sustains us with his love. Rooted in him, you will prove good
guides to our young people. With this confidence I invoke upon you the
protection of the Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom. May she help you to
cooperate with her Son by living a life which is personally satisfying
and which brings forth rich fruits of knowledge and faith for your
students. Thank you very much."
