In a book introduction on his predecessor’s work, Pope Francis wrote these words “Benedict XVI did theology on his knees.” This was the highest compliment Francis used for theologians, praising theologians who were able to keep prayer and love for the people of God at the center of their intellectual work. At the CSTM, I was formed in the art of doing theology on one’s knees– in the pews, from the path of the ritual procession, and allowing for pregnant silence when speaking of an ineffable God. In PhD studies at Notre Dame, even taking on an inherently solitary activity like writing a dissertation, I have been able to maintain prayer and love of the people of God as a central tenant of doing theology because of the formation I received at the CSTM.
I am currently writing a dissertation on the work of Ignacio Ellacuría, one of the eight martyrs murdered in 1989 by the far-right government in El Salvador. At the CSTM, I took Dr. Ernesto Valiente’s class called Oscar Romero, Ignacio Ellacuría, and Jon Sobrino. This was the first time I encountered Ellacuría’s work and, although I could not conceptualize this then, it was important that it was presented to me in the context of a deep wellspring of spiritual thought in El Salvador. Anyone who has attempted to read Ellacuría knows that understanding what he is saying is half the battle, but the other half of the battle is understanding why. Sandwiched between Romero’s pastoral thought that insisted on mentioning the atrocities of the time and Sobrino’s deeply theological work that made Christ the center of our understanding of reality, Ellacuría’s “why” was presented to me as a spiritual “why.” He wrote from the depths of his being, which was permeated by the profound hope he placed in the God of life.
There is a deep and persistent sense at the CSTM that theology is connected to who we are as a community of believers and how we pray. Theology is never a disconnected thought experiment. Any and every theologian worthy of praise ought to be understood as doing this. In Dr. Valiente’s course, I came to understand Ellacuría in this way. Seeing him this way makes it so that, even now, his sometimes impenetrable prose is almost poetic to my ears as I read, re-read, and write on him. Ellacuría did theology on his knees.
I have an icon of the Jesuit martyrs that sits on my desk as I write. I contemplate it often as I write. I do this not because I hope to receive divine inspiration and break through writer’s block (although I would not mind if that happened, admittedly,) but because I was taught early in my theological formation that writing theology and contemplation are two moments of one single exercise. Both are moments in which we choose to stand in awe before the great mystery of God.
At the CSTM, doing theology on one’s knees is modeled in so many ways– faculty who speak openly about their spiritual lives, the breaking of bread, the daily liturgies, and even in the teaching of theological content. For me, that formation has meant that even the writing of a dissertation, a tedious and solitary task, always remains connected to my love of the people of God and my own prayer life. Ellacuría is not only a thinker whose work inspires me as an intellectual, but also as a disciple of Christ. A dissertation written in this way is, at least I hope, a striving of the Ignatian principle of union of mind and heart.