WHO AM I? – A RIDDLE

September 17, 2006

Here is a “Who am I?” riddle for you.

I have the power to make you rich without losing any part of my wealth. My treasure is worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox and all the money in the Federal Reserve and all other banks of our nation.

I have been described as a great mausoleum where the dead may freely be removed from their crypts, brought back to life, and befriended. In fact, some of my inhabitants have been patiently waiting for hundreds or thousands of years to meet you and introduce themselves. I am also like a delivery room where the future is conceived and brought to life. I have many friends, but also mortal enemies. The worst dictators and totalitarian regimes in history have feared me and tried to destroy me, because I present a greater threat to them than the strongest armies or most powerful weapons of war. While many recognize my power, many, sadly, do not; they ignore me and never accept the riches I offer them. I hope you are not one of them, because without me, you would not know who you are. Those who do not receive my treasure are the poorest of the poor, and might as well be living their lives in a dark cave. Who am I? I am a library.

Why write about libraries? I am prompted by the fact that as Bishop I am at the moment undertaking to raise money to build a library for our Valley Church on the grounds of our St. Joseph and St. Peter Seminary, south of Mission. Toward that end I am hosting a benefit dinner next Friday, September 22, at the Marble Arch Banquet & Conference Center in Mercedes.

My dream is that, while the library will seek to acquire a balanced selection of quality books that will serve the well-rounded intellectual formation of our seminarians, it might also one day be accessible to anyone wishing to do scholarly research in either of the two areas in which the library will concentrate: philosophy and theology.

Think about the marvelous treasures of knowledge a library holds! The dead (and living) authors whose works are preserved in a library come back to life and meet anyone willing to take their books off the shelf and open them. The knowledge a library preserves makes it possible for us to have an awareness of past civilizations and of our own, without which we would have little sense of our identities or place in history. The explorations and discoveries of the sciences, and the advances and enrichments in the humanities recorded in library books make possible new advances in knowledge and new achievements in culture, all of which help to shape our future and add depth to our understanding of the meaning and purpose of life.

One way of appreciating the importance of libraries is to imagine our world without them. How could we know the shape of our world, practice law or medicine, advance science or culture? How could we explore the final meanings of our existence or make informed choices with regard to our endeavors without in some way acquainting ourselves with of the great thinkers, leaders, poets, artists, and lovers, whose life’s works are preserved in libraries?

Consider our situation as citizens or Christians. How could we function as a nation or maintain social cohesion without access to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, and other documents of crucial importance to our nation’s founding and development? How could we who are members of Christ’s Church carry out our life and mission without access to the Gospels and other books of Scripture, to the writings of the Doctors, theologians, and saints of the Church, and to the documents and decrees of the great councils and popes? All these are essential to our knowledge of how the faith has been received, lived, and handed on from generation to generation down to the present. Indeed, the preservation and handing on of knowledge is of greater value than any amount of silver or gold!

Jesus taught that it is the truth that sets us free (Jn 8: 32). In contrast, ignorance enslaves. That is why tyrants try to suppress free inquiry and speech, tightly control the information fed to the people, burn books and seal off access to the experiences of life and the exploration of the mind, which are committed to writing, preserved in books, and collected in libraries.

The pursuit of truth is one of the deepest and most insatiable of human passions. Without truth, the mind can’t rest. Without a robust exercise of faith and reason, we can never be true to our nature, realize our human potential, or fulfill our destinies. In so many ways, a good library opens doors to all these noble ends.

Allow me to extend a personal invitation to anyone who wishes to attend our benefit dinner next Friday, or to lend other support to the building of our library, to contact the event coordinator, Brenda Riojas, at the Upper Valley Pastoral Center in San Juan (787-5055). Please pray for the success of our effort, and may God bless you!


+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap