Continuing the journey of becoming a Saint, Genius, and Hero–just as Our Lord is Prophet, Priest, and King (CCC, no. 783)–the Elementary student at SMCVS begins to focus on the next aspect of the educational event.  When we think of the word genius, however, we may miss its true meaning, since we have been conditioned to consider merely intellectual achievement in this sense.  The call to excellence inherent in the Art of Living does entail academic advancement to the best of one’s abilities, of course.  Yet test scores are not the be-all and end-all of our educational mission here at SMCVS.

What is a genius?  A genius is someone who contributes to the kingdom of God, and to the common good, that which no one else is capable of contributing.  It is a person who recognizes and appropriates the beloved insight of John Henry Cardinal Newman:  

God has created me to do Him some definite service.  

He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.  

I have my mission. I may not know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.  

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.  

He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good; I shall do His work.  

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place,

if I do but keep His commandments.

Can everyone, then, become a genius in the fully Christian sense of the term?  Not only can, but must.  Here we find the priestly, or mediating, aspect of the educational event, in the sense that all believers, and not only ordained ones, are “priests” by virtue of Baptism (CCC, no. 897).  As C. S. Lewis puts it in The Great Divorce, the “Glory flows into everyone, and back from everyone, like light and mirrors . . .  They are all famous.  They are all known, remembered, recognized by the only Mind that can give a perfect judgment.”

In moving from one educational aspect to another, we must not misinterpret the journey in a compartmentalized way.  One does not try to become a Saint, and then a Genius, and then a Hero, as though these identities can somehow be separated.  Rather, the prophetic aspect of the educational event extends itself and suffuses the next stage of the journey, with the capacity for wonder animating the student’s interactions with the various subject areas encountered.  To recognize that each student is a genius is not to measure one against another, but to realize that education is a process of discovery, not manufacturing.  The goal is a person, not a product.