Place Matters
When I was a Ranger at Philmont Scout Ranch, I had to attend continued training sessions as part of ongoing professional development. One of the best sessions I ever attended was on “place-based experiential education.” The essential idea was: it makes a difference where you teach something. Don’t just sit around the campfire and talk to your crew about water purification; go to the stream and show them how to purify water. Find a trail sign and have them pull out their map. Walk to the bear cables and teach them how to hang their bear bags.
If I had to name one thing I learned in seminary last semester, it would be this: place matters. The spaces we inhabit shape our lives in ways we may not always recognize.
1. Place matters in Scripture.
“Jesus had to pass through Samaria.” (John 4:4)
Last semester, Br. Angelus and I took a class on the Gospel of John. Our professor consistently drew attention to the importance of geography in this Gospel. For example, if you look at a map of the Holy Land, Jesus could have found another way to go from Jerusalem to Galilee. While Samaria was the most direct route, Galilean pilgrims usually skirted around its borders, due to the long-standing tension between them and the Samaritans. When St. John tells us that Jesus “had to” go by way of Samaria, he isn’t just conveying a geographic fact; he is expressing the mission that Jesus receives from the Father—in this case, to encounter the woman at the well. Paying attention to the location in the Gospels can tell us a lot.
2. Place matters in Church History.
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth.” (Luke 1:26)
God seems to enjoy working with out-of-the way places. I suspect most Roman imperial officials had never even heard of Nazareth, yet that is where the eternal Son chose to become man. In our Mariology course, while the main focus was on Scripture, history, and dogma, the professor also noted several Marian apparitions. The towns of Banneux, La Vang, and Genazzano are not exactly household words, even among Catholics, yet they are among the places where Our Lady has appeared. God’s glory is revealed in seemingly obscure locations. He casts down the proud, but lifts up the lowly (Luke 1:52).
3. Place matters for the way it forms a person.
Isaac of Stella attended the cathedral school at Chartres before becoming a monk of the Abbey of Etoile. These two geographical facts (his education and his monastic vocation) say a lot about the sort of man Isaac was. By most accounts, in the 12th and 13th centuries, scholastic theology and monastic theology moved in very different directions. Universities and cathedral schools emphasized objective, scientific knowledge of theology; monastic theologians placed greater emphasis on the relationship between master and disciples and on the personal quest for God. What I find intriguing about Isaac is the way he unites these two worlds in his own person. For him, there was no contradiction between his vocation as a monk and his work as a theologian. His call to the monastery, his academic work, and his role in the community formed a real unity and integrity of life, such that he was the same man whether he was preaching, praying, or studying.
4. Place matters for the way it shapes priestly spirituality.
In formation, we often speak about the priest having—in a certain sense—a spousal relationship with the Church. Every priest always remains a son of Holy Mother Church, as well as a father to his spiritual children; yet there is also a way in which he participates in Christ’s relationship with His Bride. While this is true for the Church universally, it also applies for the particular church which is his own diocese. As Br. Angelus and I have lived with seminarians from around the Midwest, I have come to realize that, although the priesthood has a universal character, being a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha is a slightly different thing from being a priest of Springfield, or St. Louis, or Kansas City – Kansas. The specific culture of that place determines the shape of priestly life and ministry among the People of God.
As we celebrate the Sacred Heart this month, consider the places that have been significant in your own life. How has Jesus revealed His Heart to you in each of these places? Where have you encountered His presence, and what is your relationship with that place now? May we be able to say with Jacob, “Truly the Lord was in this place” (Genesis 28:16).