Agape and Hesed-Ahava

With Levinas-Derrida and Matthew at Mt. Angel and St. Thomas (A Doxology of Reconciliation)

Goicoechea

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781630878870
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Goicoechea presents his third volume in a series on agape. In this book he shows in four ways how the agape of Jesus fulfills the ahava and hesed of the Hebrew Bible. First, he shows existentially how he learned and lived this for six years in a Benedictine Minor Seminary and then for three years in a Sulpician Major Seminary. Second, he demonstrates how ahava or our love for God and neighbor and hesed or God's love for us develop through the Hebrew Bible. Goicoechea argues that St. Matthew's Gospel explains the fulfilment of ahava and hesed with Jesus' agape. He concludes by drawing attention to how Levinas and Derrida, two Jewish postmodern philosophers, treat Jewish and Christian love.

Part One

Experiencing Problems

At Mt. Angel

I,1 Mt. Angel’s Spiritual, Intellectual, Vital, Physical Values

I,1.1 Our alma mater’s Spiritual Nourishing

On that Labor Day Weekend of 1952, at the time of mother’s birthday

on September 6, Father Heeren came to our house for dinner.

After dinner he would begin the 500-mile drive to take me

to Mt. Angel, near Portland Oregon, where I would enter

the Minor Seminary with the Benedictine Monks where for

the next six years I would begin my studies to be a priest.

As we sat there for dinner in our humble little kitchen

daddy knew that mother and Father Heeren greatly loved each other

in an agape that sublimated affection, friendship, and eros.

And he knew that mother could think of nothing better for me

than that I become a priest like the priests she had come to know.

He could see how I had identified with my mother’s values

and how I had received a vocation to become a priest and

to serve God and others by greatly admiring Father Heeren.

So we drove a third of the way, stayed at a motel, and

arrived at Mt. Angel in the middle of the day on Monday.

Fr. Heeren who had grown up in Ireland had gone to

the Minor Seminary there and then he came to Mt. Angel

when he decided to be a priest for the Diocese of Boise, Idaho.

He knew Mt. Angel and the monks very well and he and

Father Bernard, who was rector of the seminary, had been classmates.

As we drove, Father Heeren told me about the Benedictine Monks.

He said that their motto was “Ora et Labora” and with them

I would learn “to work and to pray” and most of all I noticed

the spiritual atmosphere of the monastery and the seminary,

which at one time had been sacred to the Indians as Topalamaho.

I was familiar with the world of the spirit since my father

lost his father to that world when he was five and my mother’s

mother and father both learned of it when they lost a parent when young.

I,1.2 Our alma mater’s Intellectual Nourishing

As we drove up the hill a flood of feelings came over Father Heeren.

He pointed out to me the Stations of the Cross there among the trees.

Father Heeren was coming home to his nourishing mother whom

he loved so much and he was happy and proud to be bringing me.

We parked in front of the seminary, went in and found Father Bernard

who was so glad to see Father Heeren and so welcoming to me.

We were taken to the first- and second-year dormitory with my bags.

Father Heeren said goodbye to me, went with Father Bernard, and I

would not see him again until I went home for Christmas vacation.

From day one we got into the routine of seminary life arising

as 5:30 a.m. each morni...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Detailed Line of the Argument
• Introduction
• Part One: Experiencing Problems
• Part Two: Seeking Their Causes
• Part Three: Receiving Solutions
• Bibliography