Dear parents,
One
of the joys of the camp is being able to listen to the talks given by the
counselors. Not only does one learn new
things about life and the daily battles we all face but certain ideals, hidden
as it were in the depths of people’s souls, only come out thanks to the
extensive thought and the careful preparation that goes into TFP Summer Camp
meetings. Here one does not encounter
the fluffy, sentimental trivialities so common in popular Catholic or so called
Christian bible camps. Here we deal with
serious subjects, given in a manly way, without affectation.
We also learn about
what it means to practice virtue. The
Latin word virtus, which our English
word derives from, carries
connotations of valor, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth,
perceived as prime masculine strengths because the Latin word vir, means
man. Mr. Rex gave a talk today about the
fact that the highest ideal of manliness is the Crusader. The Crusaders practiced virtue in many forms
not hesitating to fight, and even sometimes lay down their lives, for their
holy cause Today, we are also called to
fight, always in a peaceful and legal way, for what we truly believe in. Thus all the discipline and mental gymnastics
that we put the boys through have one end in mind. The acquisition of heroic virtue.
* * * * Excerpts from the talk * * * * *
There are many incomplete role models presented for men to admire: the rebel, the rock star, the actor, the rich person, the funny guy, the good looking and the athletic. By far, the athletic role model is one of the most prevalent today and comes even in many forms of physical prowess whether in sport, military, cars and even video gamers. These role models fail because they do not lead to the highest finality of the human soul, its sanctification.
In the meantime, angels, saints and Our Lord are constantly portrayed lacking any manly characteristics the men today admire so much. We asked the boys who would want to walk around looking like the angel on this picture, dainty hands, flowing robes, rosy cheeks and whose main concern is the physical safety of children. Most boys did not want to be like her.
Even Our Lord is commonly portrayed with this softness of character and personality. Deep in the heart of a young boy, he thinks that if heaven is full of people like this then maybe it may not be a place he would really want to spend all of eternity in. A conclusion starts forming their heads, heaven is full of wusses, the earth is full of cool people, and hell, represented as being full of the pleasures of the world may not be a bad place after all.
The truth is the opposite. The angels are more virile than any athlete, thug, gangster or barbarian that ever existed. They are definitely stronger than the devils in hell. According to St. Dionysius, their first act of adoration was an act of warfare. They began, so to say, their existence in a state of warfare against lucifer and his angels. Hence their constant prayer to God, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts (meaning heavenly armies) as repeated at mass.
The Medieval Knight understood this and modeled themselves after this understanding. We sustain that it is the highest expression of Christian austerity because if Jesus said that the highest of the commandments is the love of God and the second is love of neighbor, then the highest form of fulfilling this commandment is when one lays down his life for God, above all, and secondarily, his neighbors. The concept of knighthood was built upon this very logic.
The heart of the knight was permeated by this concept of sacrifice at the service of Holy Mother Church and Christian civilization. They knew that Christ was not soft and effeminate. Instead, as can be seen clearly in this imprint of the Shroud of Turin, even after being beaten down, tortured and killed, he presented a figure of a real man: upright, strong, firm bearing, a full chest. He was not a weak, soft voiced, with dainty gestures. He represented a real man without the effeminacy the modern world presents him to be. He is the highest and most perfect role model a man can follow.
* * * * * Excerpt Ends, Email Resumes * * * * * *
The
tournaments continue as the boys compete in archery, fencing, chess and ping
pong. Each day some boys advance a round
after a hard won victory. Each day some
fail to advance and these failures are lessons too. Experience, as many of the younger boys are
learning, is a series of failures. Those
who win are rarely those who bragged loudly about their prowess before the
game. To the persistent and the well
trained go the prizes. Lessons like
these are invaluable at this crucial time in a young man’s life. And one game at least half of the boys are
really happy they gave their all and the other half will really wish they had
won is the treasure hunt.
There
are few things that delight the mind of a young man more than a hunt for
treasure. We can all remember our own
childhoods when pirates and the treasures they sought were part of our dreams
or sometimes nightmares. It is the
dream, however, that becomes a very palpable reality when one discovers, after
some long searching and not a few bruises, a treasure chest full of candy. All the hard work, and the dads made it a
point to make the boys work for their prize, pays off as the teams race toward
the final goal. Candy - glorious, sweet,
colorful and mouth watering has an appeal to every boy and every grown up too
judging by the surreptitious swiping of a few by the dads before they were put
into the chest. Was it worth all the
running and the brain work involved? The
boys certainly think so.
After
the candy was safely stowed in the refrigerator, everyone rushed to get into
their swimming trunks and head out the door.
This time we divided the pool into two parts and played water polo, or
rather some variant of the game, with the materials we had on hand. The better swimmers all took to the deep side
which is nine feet at the center and the less experienced stayed in the shallow
end. Some stragglers also learned basic
lessons in treading water or diving to the bottom under the mass of kicking and
yelling polo players, searching for little things earlier tossed into the deep
part of the pool. Thankfully the pool
here is big enough for everyone and has been a real relief after a long day in
the hot sun.
After dinner was
shown the story of Father John Gerrard and his miraculous escape from the Tower
of London. This English Jesuit is the
only prisoner to have ever escaped the Tower of London and was never recaptured
in spite of the tremendous manhunt that tried to find him for months
afterward. The story was shown using a
method called a Chinese Shadow, a technique by which an image is projected from
the rear of a white screen and the actors show up as shadows. It is a marvelous way to act out a simple
play without any elaborate costumes or even a stage.
As the night set in,
we began to prepare ourselves for a vigil in front of Our Lady’s Pilgrim Virgin
statue. The boys went out in solemn
procession to escort the holy relics into the main hall where the room was all
prepared for an all night vigil. It was
tradition that before he received the orders of knighthood, a young squire
would spend the night in vigil at a church in complete silence. Before him on a table in front of the altar
would be his sword, helmet, armor and spurs with which he would be invested the
next day.
(The participants begin the night's vigil receiving and adoring the relic of the True Cross. It's hard to force boys to be pious. When they see it it can be done like a knight reflecting the highest form of manliness then it becomes easier. As a side not, even though the splinter from the relic of the true cross is material, because it was so inherent to Our Lord Jesus Christ's mission on Earth and because so much of his flesh and blood was spilled on it, then the church mandates that the act of respect owed to it is not simply of veneration but of adoration, keeping in mind all the necessary theological limitations it brings.)
He stayed there
praying alone, knowing that from the moment he became a knight his life ceased
to belong to him. With the oath he would take in the morning, he would be
obliged to offer his life for the defense of Holy Mother Church and to assist
orphans, widows and all the weak and oppressed. He would be obliged before God
to defend these people. The reasons for
him to run those risks were also before him. They were reasons of a religious
character: he knew that Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted him to consecrate himself
to that mission. Then, for the love of Our Lady - of whom every knight was a
servant and a herald - he made the decision to assume that difficult life.
It
is true that the boys are not yet knights, therefore, as young squires and
pages we did not expect them to stay the entire night in silent vigil. Thus, it was decided that we would all meet
at 4:00 AM to do a one hour vigil and that anyone who wanted to spend more time
could start their vigil earlier. Some
boys heroically got up during the night to accompany the dads and TFP members
as they did shifts through the night in front of our Lady’s statue. Then all hands were called to attend in the
early hours of the morning.
Once assembled, we
prayed a rosary together in front of the statue and then solemnly venerated the
relic of the True Cross before sadly bidding the Pilgrim Virgin statue
goodby. As the van carrying her rolled
slowly out of the drive, the custodian left the protective case open so that we
could have one last look at her lovely face as she passed through two silent
rows of assembled camp participants. Our
only consolation was that she would be back with us again the following night. With that I will close.
In Jesu et Maria,
Michael C. Shibler
