JUNE 9-10, 2018
5:00 PM (SAT), 8:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse – collectively known as the trivium – that is, grammar, logic, and (of course) rhetoric.
Rhetoric is the art of informing, persuading, or motivating an audience. It requires the speaker understand, discover, and develop words, ideas, and knowledge; and to appeal to reason, emotion, and beliefs; crafting words through invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
The orator Hermagoras of Temnos, from the second century B.C., took the septem circumstantiae of Aristotle – that is, the seven elements of circumstances – as a starting point for exploring any subject rhetorically.
Those seven elements are:
Quis, quid, quando, ubi, cur, quem ad modum, quibus adminiculis.And if your Latin is rusty, they are:
Who, what, when, where, why, in what way, by what means.
A mnemonic can be found at the end of The Elephant’s Child in Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, at the beginning of a poem, which reads:
I keep six honest serving-men:These are sometimes called, in English, The Five W’s – questions whose answers are useful in gathering information. They are used in journalism, writing, research, or investigations as a sort of checklist for quickly getting to the bottom of things. Answering each of these questions with a factual answer can provide a basic outline of what is going on.
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Where and When
And How and Why and Who.
Today is the Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, and our readings present us with questions and answers.
In the Old Testament Reading, our First Parents have just fallen from grace. God Himself enters the scene and asks them three questions:
Where are you?These three simple questions form a sort of examination of conscience – which can be helpful when dealing with a personal failure or shortcoming.
Who told you [this]?
Why did you do [it]?
In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, today’s reading has Paul providing answers to questions about Faith and Hope, suffering and eternity.
In the Gospel, Jesus’ relatives must have been asking questions, too; and they have come to the conclusion that Jesus is “out of his mind.” When in fact, the reality of the situation was: Jesus was certainly “out of their mind” – that is, thinking outside of the box. But there is no question that in doing His Father’s will, Jesus is always thinking with the mind of God.
Which raises the question: How are we to understand more fully the mind of God, or the plan of God, or the power of God … with only the use of a limited human intellect. God is infinite, we are finite. God is all-knowing, we need instruction. God is immortal, we only live for what seems a short time.
We need to rely on the the grace of God and the gifts of God … poured out on us through the Sacraments … and in particular through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit – so that we can aspire to lift our minds to Divine things.
The gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, and Counsel inform and direct our minds; in order to raise our thoughts to the heights of God. While the gifts of Fortitude, Piety, and Reverence direct our will toward God … and in the direction of God’s will and God’s plan.
In the Sacraments, we answer questions all the time – Baptism, Matrimony and Holy Orders all require the responses: “I do,” “I do,” “I do.”
And shortly, we will profess our Faith together, answering the question: “What do I believe?”
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus asks: "Who are my mother and my brothers?” And immediately gives the answer: “[W]hoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Which begs the question for us – are we doing God’s will? And if not, what is keeping us from putting into action those words we will all pray before Communion: “Thy will be done.”
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray that our answer to God’s call and God’s Will … will always be “Yes.” And in that “yes,” we can be assured that we are living through, with, and in Christ; attuned to and knowledgable in God’s Word; and doing all we can to follow Him – the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
