LIMITATIONS OF THE GREATEST MINDS

Let us have a look at the limitations of our reason: how poor it is! Even those people, those great famous men with very good powers of reason have admitted in the end that they have captured just a little truth.

Let us look at Isaac Newton, the great scientist; he said that he felt as if he were standing on the seashore of infinite truth and the vast waters of knowledge stretched endlessly before him. But it was far away from him.

Socrates, one of the wisest of the Greeks philosophers, once said: “There is only one thing that I don’t know, and that is that I know nothing. Could you ever imagine such a declaration coming out of the mouth of one of the greatest brains, Socrates? Yet !!

Next we mention Thomas Aquinas, who was the greatest, mind you, not one of the greatest, but the greatest mind that ever lived. At the end of his life he wrote: “All that I have written seems to me as so much straw in comparison to that dim vision that I received from heaven.”

Finally we mention the greatest tenor the world has ever known, Enrico Caruso. On his death bed he declared that he had only one regret; that he was going to die without knowing how to sing. There is much we can learn from these famous people, renowned for their intelligence, attainments and contribution to humanity.

Humility is a rare virtue. “For whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.” Luke14:11 This is the lesson we get from today’s Gospel.