Stem to Stern

Seeing how Catholic schools educate the whole person

04/21/2023

Jn 6:1-15 Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him. One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Early this week Mr. Rocha texted me to ask if we could move this Mass a little earlier to 8:15 instead of the regularly scheduled time of 8:45. He explained the reason was because you all would be going hiking for most of the day. And I thought that was a great idea. Why? Well, because Mr. Rocha knows a Catholic education is not just about what is between your ears – in your brain – but also about what is between your head to your toes, that is, in your body.

Or, as people sometimes say, “from stem to stern” using naval imagery, meaning the whole ship, or the whole student. In other words, a Catholic school is concerned with educating the whole person: body, mind, soul, and spirit. And that is why it is a very good thing to go hiking today because your classroom will be nature and your subject matter will be your body and its health.

By the way, this was something one of the greatest ancient philosophers understood very well, namely, Aristotle. His school was called “the Peripatetics” – the “very pathetics”! – but the Peripatetics. Literally that means in Greek those who walk around. So, the way Aristotle taught was he would walk with his studens, and talk as they walked. Why? Well, he believed that the body and mind worked in unison and in tandem.

As the body walked and advanced on the road physically, so the mind sort of walked and advanced on the road intellectually in rational inquiry. In other words, true education is psychosomatic. That comes from two Greek words, too, "psycho" meaning the soul and "soma" meaning the body. Mind and body advance together in the best form of education.

In the gospel today, Jesus shows a remarkable concern for the body as well as the soul in terms of evangelization, which is spiritual education. We read from the magnificent sixth chapter of John, and hear the remarkable “Bread of Life Discourse,” which is preceded by the multiplication of the five loaves and the two fish. But notice how before Jesus can teach them about spiritual food (the Eucharist), he gives them material food: bread and fish.

That is, Jesus knows just like Aristotle and like Mr. Rocha that the body and the mind work closely together. Physical walking helps with intellectual walking; material nourishment parallels spiritual nourishment. Education and evangelization are psychosomatic activities. Jesus, too, therefore, desires to educate the whole disciple (disciple means student), body, mind, soul, and spirit.

By the way, do you know what my favorite tennis shoe is? It is not Nike, or Adidas, or New Balance, or other brands. Rather, I love ASICS. Why? Well, because ASICS is actually an acronym in Latin. The five letters of ASICS are five Latin words: “anima sana in corpore sano.” Translated that means, “a sound mind in a sound body.”

In other words, the developers of this shoe company believe that there is an inseparable connection between mind and body. The fate of one is intrinsically tied to the fate of the other. Your body and your soul will end up together for eternity in either one place or another, either in heaven or in hell. They learn together, they live together, they languish together.

One final thought: isn’t this idea of the education and evangelization of the whole person what Easter is all about? Why did Jesus die on the Cross on Good Friday, and three days later rise from the dead on Easter Sunday? It was not just so that Jesus would have a glorified body (that’s certainly true).

But it was also so that we would one day have a glorified body. So that we would have a “anima sana in corpore sano” like the ASICS shoe company could never have imagined. Your soul alone will not be in heaven for eternity, your body will be there, too. And that is why it is a very good thing you are going hiking today.

Praised be Jesus Christ!