[Message from our Executive Director, Daniel Wasserman-Soler]
Dear friends of the Lumen Christi Institute,
Happy Independence Day! Adopted 249 years ago on July 4, the Declaration of Independence sets forth essential principles of our great country: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The moment of creation looms large: all humans are created equal and have basic rights, given by the Creator.
More than a millennium earlier, St. Augustine of Hippo began his Confessions with a related principle:
Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Your power, and of Your wisdom there is no end. And man, being a part of Your creation, desires to praise You — man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin, even the witness that You resist the proud, — yet man, this part of Your creation, desires to praise You. You move us to delight in praising You; for You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.
Comparing the Declaration and the Confessions allows us to see that each offers different insights into the relationship between God and humanity. The Declaration emphasizes the beginning: the moment of creation and the gifts that all humans receive from the Creator. In the Confessions, we learn about the end or goal. While Augustine also refers to creation, he dwells on what human beings ultimately desire: to praise and to rest with God.
May God bless you all.
Daniel Wasserman-Soler
Executive Director
Lumen Christi Institute