Category Archives: My Inspirations

A Commencement Address

Commencement Address
Our Lady of Walsingham Academy
Mark Giszczak
May 24, 2025

It is a joy for me to be with all of you today for this celebration. I wish to thank your Headmaster, Andrew Rossi, for inviting me to come. And I want to thank all of you clergy, teachers, parents, guests and friends for supporting our esteemed and worthy graduates to whom I will address my brief remarks.

One day, the second President of the United States, John Adams, was walking down the street when all of a sudden he heard something unexpected—except he had heard the same sound before from the same house: a voice, singing. Intrigued by this unlikely sound, he went looking for the singer. And what did he find? A man, a shoemaker, busy at his work, happily singing as he pounded nails into soles, cut leather and went about his business. The man had a wife and many children, all living together in a single room. Adams asked him if it was difficult making a living and he said, “Sometimes.” But as soon as he had ordered a pair of shoes and left, Adams said “I had scarcely got out the door before he began to sing again like a nightingale.” But Adams reflected later: “Which was the greatest philosopher? Epictetus or this shoemaker?” The great Stoic was fond of saying, “He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much.” Another way he put it when asked “who is the rich man?” Epictetus offered: “He who is content.”

In other words, that poor singing shoemaker was the man that we should all aspire to be. He found a way to overcome adversity—yes, with hard work—but with more than that, by the outlook he adopted, the way he chose to be content and cheerful in spite of his circumstances. Just as St. Paul says, “there is great gain in godliness with contentment” (1 Tim 6:6 ESV).

Me and Mr. Rossi in the procession for the graduation ceremony

Now there’s a balance to strike here. We don’t want to become so content that we stand still and do nothing, that we never set goals, work hard to achieve them and wend our way forward. Be we should never become so dissatisfied with the circumstances of our journey that we lose sight of the fact that it is a journey, to become so discontent with the way things are that we become malcontents, holding the present circumstances in contempt because they don’t live up to our expectations. The reality is we make our circumstances. Yes, there are plenty of things outside our control—those are the things we shouldn’t worry about precisely because we cannot control them. But, there are also plenty of things within our control—things that we can change, and those are the things to focus on. What we want is to set our sights high, aim for the best, and not begrudge the uncomfortable parts of the trail to get where we want to go. They are part of the process. Success is not free. It is not easy. Life requires something of us.

But the trouble is, we don’t know what it will require when we set out. The only thing certain is uncertainty. The future is always foggy. We feel blind because we are. We are working and hoping and planning and looking, but rarely are we collecting lots of trophies and hauling in bags of money. No, the way is hard. It is not clear. We do not get a blueprint. Yes, the Lord has a calling on your life, but he doesn’t give you a script. You have to make up your part as it goes along. And besides, he is the Lord of uncertainty: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58 ESV). If you want to follow Jesus, you are following a homeless man who died by execution. It was precisely in his self-sacrifice, his self-abnegation, that he taught us the deepest lesson of love: my life is not about me, it’s about you. Your life is not about you, it’s about everyone else. The only way to find yourself is to give yourself. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 KJV). He was the omnipotent Lord of the Universe, but he adopted the humblest possible position in the whole universe: to die as a falsely accused criminal on a cross. He sacrificed everything for us. He taught us what love looks like. He emptied himself, poured himself out for the sake of love.

Mr. Rossi speaking (you can see me sitting in front of the podium)

And that’s thing – thinking will only get you so far. Reading, analyzing, studying, even arguing are all just warmups, precursors to when the rubber hits the road. Action is required. You have to actually do something—to speak those lines, to walk across the stage, to launch out on a career, to open a business, to start climbing at the first rung of the ladder. Hard work is required. It is a first step, a prerequisite, a sine qua non, a necessary condition of success. Yet hard work will not get you all the way. You must be driven by something deeper than desire, deeper than greed or ambition. You must be driven by what drove our Lord—love. Love of God, love of self, love of neighbor. You cannot lay down your life out of love for others if you do not love yourself. You cannot “love others as yourself” if you do not love yourself. We cultivate love of God in prayer. We cultivate love of others in selfless service. We cultivate a healthy and appropriate and necessary love of self by developing habits of virtue: of temperance, prudence, justice and fortitude. You can’t control others, but you can control yourself—only by means of virtue. Those who lack self-control will not climb this mountain. They will not succeed.

The Stoics had a saying for this as well: mens sana in corpore sano—a sound mind in a sound body. Sleep, exercise and healthy eating habits are the foundation of physical health. Physical health is foundation of mental health. Mental health is the foundation of spiritual health. If we do not treat our bodies with care and respect, giving them the nourishment and exercise they require, we will be plagued by dysregulated internal systems, distracted by doctor visits, unable to focus on developing our lives because we are stuck in a state of acedia—unable to cope with life, spiritually sick. Sadly, so many in our generation are stuck—depression, anxiety, substance-abuse, loneliness. But that’s no way to live. There is more to life than complaining about how tough it is. The path ahead is hard—of course it is! That’s not something to sit down and mope about, but it is a chance for us to summon our courage, to press on despite the difficulties, to embrace the challenge and allow it to shape us into the men and women we were meant to be.

Peroration – Quo Vadis?

So this day is a signpost, a landmark, a moment to pause and reflect on everything that has happened before setting out on the new journey ahead. As your time here fades into memory and new paths open before you, I hope that you will take courage that you have been well prepared for the road ahead.

The proud graduating class of Our Lady of Walsingham Academy (and I’m on the far left in the back row)

As we press on into that uncertain future, we should begin with the end in mind. That happy, singing shoemaker, gives us an image of the path. He has not arrived, but he is on the journey. The journey is joyful even when it is hard. It is beautiful because it is ours: the one life, the one brief story that we get to live, the gift that we receive by the very living of it.

Thinking about this journey of life brings me back to that legend about St. Peter fleeing Rome in the midst of a persecution. Along the way out of the city, the Lord appears to him and simply asks him, “Quo vadis? Where are you going?” Peter understood what was implied. He stuck his walking staff in the ground right there and went back into the city to die a glorious martyr’s death. But that question still lingers for us: where are you going? It is a question that can only be answered fully in hindsight, but now, we can get a glimpse, a hint of an answer in conversation with the Lord, seeking his call on our lives, trying to hear his voice inviting us down a certain path, and eventually responding with loving obedience. As we take one step, and then another, the path will become clear, the way will open up. And we can say yes to what the future holds. He has promised to be there with us, “…even to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20).

So, there you have it. I gave a commencement address! It was great to be there with these young people at such a milestone. Who knows where they will end up, but I hope they all find themselves on great paths through life!

Lessons from the Life of St. Catherine of Siena

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I just read the life of St. Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset (trans. Kate Austin-Lund; Sheed and Ward, 1954) and I want to consolidate a bit of the information that I learned here in no particular order:

The famous fact that Catherine miraculously fasted on the Eucharist alone for much of her life was no saccharine act of devotion nor a merely nice favor from the Lord. Rather, she was unable to eat other food without vomiting and considered the miracle a punishment for her sins of gluttony:

“Later Catherine complained sometimes that she wished with all her heart that she could eat like other people, so that she could avoid causing annoyance. When it gave her the most terrible pain to swallow anything, and her stomach could not retain anything that she forced into it , she said that she believed it must be a punishment for her sins, and especially for the sin of gluttony, for she had been so greedy for fruit when she was little.” (p. 96)
Jesus taught her how to read miraculously. Though she had taken a few lessons in Latin, one day she woke up knowing how to read so she could pray the Breviary. (p. 48)
As is well known, she had an invisible engagement ring from Jesus on her finger that only she could see (p. 50) and she had the stigmata that no one could see.
When Catherine would fall into ecstasy, she could feel nothing, so people would kick her to test her (p. 59)
She would take wine from a wine barrel in her parents’ basement to give to the poor with the meals she brought them and it miraculously lasted many times longer than it should have. (61-62)
Catherine cared for a leper named Cecca who would insult her violently every time she came to perform her nursing ministrations. Cecca was so covered in scabs and puss that she stank and no one else was willing to care for her. (pp. 70-71)
Catherine cared for a woman with breast cancer named Andrea. To overcome her revulsion at the patient, against Andrea’s protestations, Catherine touched her mouth to her cancerous sores and even drank a bowl of water that had been used for washing her sores (p. 79). The next day, Catherine had a profound spiritual revelation where she was invited to drink from the side of Christ.
She converted a man (Niccolo di Toldo) on death row, visited him in his cell, attended his execution and, after whispering reassurances of eternal life in his ear, literally caught his head as it fell from the chopping block. (p. 200)
Her Letter to Cardinal Gerard de Puy (Pope Gregory XI’s nephew) about the Pope:

“With regard to your first question about our love Christ on earth [the Vicar of Christ], I believe and consider that he would do good in the eyes of God if he hastened to right two things which corrupt the Bride of Christ. The first is his too great love and care for his relations. There must be an end of this abuse at once and everywhere. The other is his exaggerated gentleness, which is the result of his lenience. This is the cause of corruption among those members of the Church who are never admonished with severity. Our Lord hates above all things three abominable sins, covetousness, unchastity and pride. These prevail in the Bride of Christ, that is to say in the prelates who seek nothing but riches, pleasure and fame. They see demons from hell stealing the souls which have been put into their keeping, and are completely unmoved, for they are wolves who do business with divine grace. Strict justice is needed to punish them. In this case exaggerated mercy is in fact the worst cruelty. It is necessary for justice to go hand in hand with mercy to put a stop to such evil.” (p. 141)
Her face transformed into the face of Jesus (still with Catherine’s voice) in the sight of her spiritual director, Fr. Raimondo (pp. 154-55).
A quote from another letter to Gregory XI:

“Oh, sweet and true knowledge, which dost carry with thee the knife of hate, and dost stretch out the hand of holy desire, to draw forth and kill with this hate the worm of self-love–a worm that spoils and gnaws the root of our tree so that it cannot bear any fruit of life, but dries up, and its verdure lasts not! For if a man loves himself, perverse pride, head and source of every ill, lives in him, whatever his rank may be, prelate or subject. If he is lover of himself alone–that is, if he loves himself for his own sake and not for God–he cannot do other than ill, and all virtue is dead in him. Such a one is like a woman who brings forth her sons dead. And so it really is; for he has not had the life of charity in himself, and has cared only for praise and self-glory, and not for the name of God. I say, then: if he is a prelate, he does ill, because to avoid falling into disfavour with his fellow-creatures–that is, through self-love–in which he is bound by self-indulgence–holy justice dies in him. For he sees his subjects commit faults and sins, and pretends not to see them and fails to correct them; or if he does correct them, he does it with such coldness and lukewarmness that he does not accomplish anything, but plasters vice over; and he is always afraid of giving displeasure or of getting into a quarrel. All this is because he loves himself. Sometimes men like this want to get along with purely peaceful means. I say that this is the very worst cruelty which can be shown. If a wound when necessary is not cauterized or cut out with steel, but simply covered with ointment, not only does it fail to heal, but it infects everything, and many a time death follows from it.
Sigrid Undset summarizing Catherine’s views in her first letter to Pope Urban VI

“Justice without mercy would be dark, cruel, more like injustice than justice. But mercy without justice would be like salve on a sore which should be cleansed with the red-hot iron; if the salve is applied before the wound is cleansed it only makes it smart, and it does not heal it.” (p.216)
Pope Urban VI would insult the cardinals and bishops:

“It was against Urban’s nature to show consideration for anyone, and decisions which were in themselves both good and wise led to nothing because he was so harsh and lacking in tact and the ability to understand men. It was too much for weak men, of more or less good will, who knew in their hearts that the Pope was right and that they ought to cooperate with him, when the Pope demanded, with harsh and angry words, that they should immediately change their way of life and give up all the small comforts they had grown accustomed to, in order to live in a state of self-denial suitable for the strictest ascetic. They were agreed that it was time for a reform within the Church. But if this were the reform…And the language he used when he broke into a rage! “Shut up!” he said to the cardinals. He shouted “Pazzo!”—Idiot—to Cardinal Orsini, and “Ribaldo!”—Bandit—to the Cardinal of Geneva. His electors began to regret their choice bitterly.” (p. 224)
St. Bridget of Sweden (making a cameo appearance in St. Catherine’s biography) indirectly prayed for the death of her eldest son, Karl Ulfsson, since the Queen of Naples had fallen violently in love with him and both he and she were planning to abandon their spouses so they could marry each other. It would have been the Queen’s fifth marriage. St. Bridget wanted to prevent her son from falling into mortal sin. (pp. 242-43)
St. Catherine:

“Oh, we see in agony of soul how our sins against God rise and overpower us. I live in sorrow, and pray God in His mercy to take me from this dark life.” (p. 255)
St. Catherine:

“‘In Your nature, Eternal Divinity, I have learned to know my own nature,’ she whispered in one of the prayers which one of her disciples wrote down while she prayed in ecstasy. ‘My nature is fire.’” (p. 264)

The Dish-Washing Saint Bonaventure

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I love the Franciscans. Poverty, simplicity, humility and joy are a few things that we need a heck of a lot more of in our time. St. Bonaventure, one of my inspirations, was considered the “second founder” of the Franciscan order. He’s a doctor of the Church, referred to as the “Seraphic Doctor.” And interestingly, he and St. Thomas Aquinas got their degrees at the same ceremony.

Thanks to the MyHopeBox blog for putting this photo online

Late in life, St. Bonaventure was appointed to be a cardinal by the pope. In those days, the message didn’t come in a phone call. Rather the pope would send out a delegation of Vatican officials to bring the red hat to the appointee. (The red hat, the galero, which back then looked more like a sombrero, was the most important symbol of the cardinal’s office. Since 1965, the galero is no longer in use.)

Anyway, when the delegation showed up at St. Bonaventure’s friary, they found him washing the dishes. He actually sent them outside to wait for him to finish the dishes. Legend has it, he asked them to leave the red hat on a tree outside. So the saint finished washing the dishes and then came to greet the papal delegation.

Doing dishes often feels more like an annoying necessity than the substance of holiness. I think most of us would be tempted to put the dishes down gratefully for someone else to do if a papal messenger were knocking on the door. But St. Bonaventure’s commitment to his task in the life of his community, even in the face of honors from the pope, shows something very simple and yet very deep: The path to sainthood does not lie in showy ostentation, in external honors and achievements, but in the mundane, humdrum tasks of daily living. It’s the way we do these things, the level of commitment to our personal missions, that changes us. No amount of external recognition can bring about that kind of holiness. St. Bonaventure was not disrespecting the papal messengers, but deeply respecting the calling God had placed on his life at that moment: Wash the dishes!

Maybe you could think of the Seraphic Doctor next time you wash the dishes and realize that doing the dishes can be your path to holiness!

(Oh, by the way, today, July 15, is St. Bonaventure’s feast day.)

St. Thomas Aquinas Sixteen Precepts for Acquiring Knowledge

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About six years ago, I did a post on St. Thomas Aquinas’ “16 Precepts for Acquiring Knowledge.” The precepts are from a letter that Aquinas wrote to a certain “John.” Now, some scholars doubt the authenticity of the precepts and I’m no Medievalist to argue over such things, so I’ll leave that up to you. I first became interested in the precepts upon reading A. G. Sertillanges’ book, The Intellectual Life, which is loosely based on the precepts. Last year, I used the precepts in an introductory course that I co-taught and for lack of a standard translation out there, I did my own. I’ll provide the Latin alongside my translation here so you can judge whether it’s a good one or whether there are errors. I hope you all find it useful. And this is the only place you’ll find it on the whole internet.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Sixteen Precepts for Acquiring Knowledge (De modo studendi)

Because it was asked of me, John, my beloved in Christ, how you ought to study in the in acquiring of a treasury of knowledge, such counsel is delivered to you by me:

That by rivulets, and not immediately into the sea, we choose to enter, because by the easier we must come at the more difficult. This is my warning then and your instruction:
I bid you to be slow to speak
and slow in coming to the place of talking.
Embrace purity of conscience.
Do not cease to pray.
Love to keep to your cell on a regular basis if you wish to be admitted to the wine cellar.
Show yourself amiable to all.
Pay no heed to others’ affairs.
Do not be overly familiar with anyone, because excessive familiarity breeds contempt and yields subtraction from the ability to study.
In no way enter into the sayings and doings of secular persons.
Above all, flee conversation; do not omit to imitate the footsteps of the saints and the good.
Do not consider from whom you learn,
but commit to memory whatever good is said.
It is the same with what you read and hear, work so that you may understand; resolve each of your doubts.
And busy yourself to store whatever you are able in the closet of your mind, as desiring to fill a vessel.
do not seek what is too high for you.

Following these footsteps, you will put forth and bear branches and fruit in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts as long as you have life. If you pursue this, you will be able to obtain that which you desire.

Quia quaesisti a me, in Christo mihi carissime Ioannes, qualiter te studere oporteat in thesauro scientiae acquirendo, tale a me tibi traditur consilium:

ut per rivulos, non statim in mare, eligas introire, quia per faciliora ad difficiliora oportet devenire. Haec est ergo monitio mea et instructio tua.
Tardi loquum te esse iubeo
et tarde ad locutorium accedentem;
conscientiae puritatem amplectere.
Orationi vacare non desinas;
cellam frequenter diligas si vis in cellam vinariam introduci.
Omnibus te amabilem exhibe;
nihil quaere penitus de factis aliorum;
nemini te multum familiarem ostendas, quia nimia familiaritas parit contemptum et subtractionis a studio materiam subministrat;
de verbis et factis saecularium nullatenus te intromittas;
discursus super omnia fugias; sanctorum et bonorum imitari vestigia non omittas;
non respicias a quo audias,
sed quidquid boni dicatur, memoriae recommenda;
ea quae legis et audis, fac ut intelligas; de dubiis te certifica;
et quidquid poteris in armariolo mentis reponere satage, sicut cupiens vas implere;
altiora te ne quaesieris.

Illa sequens vestigia, frondes et fructus in vinea domini Sabaoth utiles, quandiu vitam habueris, proferes et produces. Haec si sectatus fueris, ad id attingere poteris, quod affectas.

Latin text: Thomas Aquinas, De modo studendi (Textum Taurini, 1954), Corpus Thomisticum, http://www.josephkenny.joyeurs.com/CDtexts/Latin/ModoStud%28false%29.htm (accessed June 29, 2011). Translation is mine. Copyright 2011 CatholicBibleStudent.com.

I should note that the “wine cellar” (cellam vinarium) in Precept #6 is a quotation from the Vulgate rendering of Song of Songs 2:4, “introduxit me in cellam vinariam ordinavit in me caritatem” (He brought me into the wine cellar, he ordered charity in me). This little idea, which in the Hebrew is closer to “house of wine” and dynamically, “banquet hall,” becomes important in Medieval spiritual reading of the Song.

The 33 Doctors of the Church

My Inspirations #2: St. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas’ “16 Precepts for Acquiring Knowledge”

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Since I am a student and a Catholic one at that, I try to learn how to be a better student constantly. Thomas Aquinas once wrote a letter to a certain Brother John about the principles of good study. Aquinas lays out his philosophy of how to study. A lot of it has to do with avoiding social contact, which I find more applicable to a more monastic approach to study. It should be noted that Aquinas was not a monk, but a mendicant. Yet he did live a religious life in community as a priest. Despite the hermit/monk flavor of some of the precepts, this list is extremely helpful in learning to think like a professional. Some of the shortest maxims are the most helpful. Let me know what you think of it.

“My Very Dear Brother,
Since you have asked me how you ought to study in order to amass the treasures of knowledge, listen to the advice which I am going to give you.
As a mere stripling,

1. Advance up the streams, and do not all at once plunge into the deep: such is my caution, and your lesson. I bid you to

2. Be chary of speech,

3. Slower still in frequenting places of talk:

4. Embrace purity of conscience,

5. Pray unceasingly,

6. Love to keep to your cell if you wish to be admitted into the mystic wine-cellar.

7. Show yourself genial to all:

8. Pay no heed to other folk’s affairs:

9. Be not over-familiar with any person, because over-much familiarity breeds contempt, and gives occasion to distraction from study.

10. On no account mix yourself up with the sayings and the doings of persons in the outside world.

11. Most of all, avoid all useless visits, but try rather to walk constantly in the footsteps of good and holy men.

12. Never mind from whom the lesson drops, but

13. Commit to memory whatever useful advice may be uttered.

14. Give an account to yourself of your every word and action:

15. See that you understand what you hear, and never leave a doubt unsolved:

16. Lay up all you can in the storehouse of memory, as he does who wants to fill a vase. ‘Seek not the things which are beyond thee’.

Following these ways, you will your whole life long put forth and bear both branches and fruit in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth. If you take these words to heart, you will attain your desire.”

-Sixteen Precepts for Acquiring the Treasure of Knowledge by St. Thomas Aquinas

Catholic Bible Student – A Blog About the Bible, Catholicism and the Habit of Study

A Blog About the Bible, Catholicism and the Habit of Study

Category Archives: My Inspirations

A Commencement Address

Commencement Address
Our Lady of Walsingham Academy
Mark Giszczak
May 24, 2025

Peroration – Quo Vadis?

Lessons from the Life of St. Catherine of Siena

The Dish-Washing Saint Bonaventure

St. Thomas Aquinas Sixteen Precepts for Acquiring Knowledge

The 33 Doctors of the Church

My Inspirations #2: St. Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas’ “16 Precepts for Acquiring Knowledge”

Commencement Address Our Lady of Walsingham Academy Mark Giszczak May 24, 2025

Peroration – Quo Vadis?

Commencement Address
Our Lady of Walsingham Academy
Mark Giszczak
May 24, 2025