Saint Clare Of Assisi Rhetorical Analysis

Isabel Sgroi
Dr. Fodor
25 April 2016
Step 6: Value & Meaning
Step 6 is the second to last reading before the final step in the intectual journey course. This step essentially deals with the nature of values and accounts on how to be able to live the best possible human life. As one reads through steps 1-5 the franscian vision becomes apparent and only through applying the true value of virtuous behavior especially the love of eternal goodness do we as fellow human beings begin to be grounded in good. Each step is a symbolic representation of the seraph’s wings. The depiction of the seraphs face is the symbolic reference to humans desire to move towards God and understanding the end of human life. The ultimate goal being happiness.
On page

453 begins the Sermon on the Mount, known to some as a gospel reading from the author Matthew in the King James Bible. As each wing on the seraph represents a progressional point and journey the reading presents how one should aspire to be in faith, thoughts, words, and actions. The emphasis despite each chapters individual message is the ultimate happiness. In the life of Jesus his purpose was about calling people to a brand new life contrary to the mass belief of the legal system run by the Pharisees. In Chapter 5 the questions to the reader is “Would you sit through the sermon?”, “Do you live by Christ words?” One of the infamous lines Jesus talks about is taking up one’s cross and following him. This idea is the pathway that leads you into learning how to live differently in society. Eight beatitudes are the blueprints for the idea of blessed. This idea of blessed means happy, therefore once God is happy you are happy. Being merciful, pure in heart, mourning for sin, hungry and thirsty for righteousness are specific manners to grow one’s faith. The con to taking up one’s cross and walking along with Jesus is to accept the possibility of being persecuted for your faith, but also it becomes a blessing and finally we’ll receive a heavenly reward.
On page 379 “About Meditating on God’s Most Blessed Trinity by Using God’s Name ‘the Good’” one is asked to consider the value and meaning of the essential attributes of God. Being that the face of the seraph asks one to raise their intelligence to understand the blessed trinity, the principle root of this mission is the foundation to observe the highest good. This chapter in comparison to the Sermon on the Mount asks the question “Who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost?” It brings one back to the eight beatitudes and with the understanding of these eight beatitudes, one is able to behold with the eyes of the mind that there is purity, goodness and love in the holy trinity. This doesn’t necessarily mean that one can comprehend the incomprehensible. For one still has to be able to understand steps 1-5 plus 6 to have supreme communicability. The amazing thing that the author tries to reveal is the coexisting unity between the holy trinity and man coexisting. Yet, on the sixth day man was made to the image of God. With image comes an expressed likeness which when one’s mind contemplates Christ, the son of God who is by nature an invisible God, we exalt our humanity. Co-adoration and coexisting have differentiations because God is supreme and we are the vessels. Now the understanding of this gives further value and meaning to humanity’s capability to achieve ultimate good.
Despite this possible revelation’s ability to make waves and using the concept of radiation, the value and meaning to different individuals has to spread and grow. To illustrate this point, Jack Gladney uses his perception of reality to emphasize that people only see what they want to see. For example, when Jack and Murray are sent to “The Most Photographed Barn,” Murray states that there is no barn to see. This goes back to idea of supreme communicability, understanding the invisible God, and the role of beatitudes. Furthermore, Jack supports the concept of real is more than the reality itself when he sees a woman in a yellow slicker raincoat. Jack states “I pictured her in a soup commercial taking off her oilskin hat as she entered the cheerful kitchen where her husband stood over a pot of smoky lobster bisque," when in reality she was not at the crosswalk. His unrealistic image took the place of the actual experience validating Jack’s concept of seeing what he wants to see. Jack and his wife Babette are troubled by the thought of death. With Jack’s perception of reality, his ultimate truth is that people should stay in the dark. Essentially he is saying people should continue to look at reality for what it is without trying to change what they see. We find Jack’s comparison with himself and Hitler through the statement "Crowds came to form a shield against their own dying. To become a crowd is to keep out death." This proves why Jack sees images of himself reflected back to him; in the faces of his peers, society, and in things he purchases. The images Jack perceives substitute for reality and create a wedge between our perceptions of the real and our belief in the reality of the image. In White Noise, truth is rising along with the simulacrum rules. As Murray stated, “We are fragile creatures surrounded by a world of hostile facts. Facts threaten our happiness and security. The deeper we delve into the nature of things, the looser our structure may seem to become...Not to know is a weapon of survival.” When we closely examine or break down these facts we as human seem to experience chaos. In comparison to the Sermon on the Mount and “About Meditating on God’s Most Blessed Trinity by Using God’s Name ‘the Good’”, White Noise raises the question “How does one know whether something is reality or just an impulse reaction?” because most times a minor activity replaces the importance.
Beginning on page 309, Emily Dickinson explains the subject of death using various techniques in her three selected poems—Life and Death, Dying, and The Chariot. All three poems suggest the idea of Good and how one may be in relation with Good. The first image we get in this poem is of that pesky fly but we don’t see it yet, we just hear it "buzz.". After providing the reader with more detail on the fly, we soon learn that flies are associated with death, without it directly being their fault. They go hand-in-hand with decomposition and maggots, going back to the idea of a trilogy- the beginning, the middle, and the end of one’s life. The fly is symbolic for death and the evil action it takes is getting in the way of the light fixture. The fly interrupts the speaker’s path of reaching the light. In a literal sense, humans have distractions throughout life that result in decision-making, which is the main theme of step 6. The light would therefore represent “the chief good” and happiness- the ultimate goal for a human.
On page 427, Journey of the Magi begins with a quote describing a cold and difficult journey about Three Wise Men. The quote is from a 1622 Nativity sermon written by Lancelot Andrewes. But how does the Magus know a quote from 1622? The New Testament is referenced as a specific technique throughout the poem, as is Jesus’s death. This technique specifically is known as anachronism, or act of custom being placed into a period in which it doesn’t belong. The beginning lines along with the title allow the reader to know that it is a poem concerning Three Wise Men on a journey to Bethlehem. As the Three Wise Men went on their journey, they traveled all night for various reasons such as lack of places to sleep, fires going out, and grumpy camels. We are told that the camels are “galled,” which means they are annoyed. The narrator provides information on where they came from- “summer palaces.” Furthermore, the narrator states that the Magi had servant girls bringing them sherbet, but in reality, at the turn of the first millennium sherbet was not known. During their travels, it is known to the reader that there is an unfriendly little voice getting inside their heads suggesting that the trip will end up being for nothing. This results in regret or grief about something that’s lost- home. The voice at the end could be seen as the devil but this contradicts the Bible because the angel before told them to follow a star to a baby savior. The Magi ignore the voice that may be providing proper insight. Towards the end of the poem it focuses on the recollection of the journey. The question whether the birth was good or bad leaves the Magus doubtful, causing for a wish upon his own death. But in my opinion, this could have been foreshadowing baby Jesus’s death. Magus could be waiting for this death to occur because the Crucifixion and Resurrection bring the good in life.
In regards to Saint Clare of Assisi, this reading explains her story and message as a Franciscan woman.

Her message to the people was “Holy Poverty” and how we should obey it in or out of love. The quote “ I also beg that sister who will have the office [of caring for] the sisters to strive to exceed others more by her virtues and holy life than by her office so that, encouraged by her example, the Sisters may obey her not so much out of duty but rather out of love. Let her also be prudent and attentive to her sisters just as a good mother is to her daughters,” describes how she led by example to her people. She explained that humans can not find happiness through the riches in life because these get in the way of living. Saint Clare presents the idea of living within your means. For example, she ran away from the order to marry a wealthy man and donated all her money. She also lived her life in simplicity by not eating as self-punishment. Saint Clare was against the idea of ownership and was all for community property. As a lady that led by example, Saint Clare reminded people that they made vow to her and they must follow her. The three principles women should follow in order are holy simplicity, humility, and poverty. These principles relate to Saint Bonaventure because of the idea of loving God. Saint Clare lived the simple life by caring for people and searches for peace and God on this

Earth.
Nicomachean Ethics presents the idea of happiness and how good is equal to happiness. How does one achieve happiness and what is happiness itself, are two rising questions of this piece of work written by Aristotle. Happiness is a desire humans hope to acquire at some point in their lifetime. Happiness is seemed to be a positive mood or feeling, but Aristotle goes deeper into the psychological meaning. Overall, happiness for Aristotle is more than a way of life or a practice, but more of a way for a community to flourish with their surroundings. Similar to Saint Clare, Aristotle refuses the idea of this idea of a desire and pleasure. He explains that with happiness, many people associate the terms power, wealth, or fame with it. In reality, these are “instrumental” and are not “the chief good.” Furthermore, Aristotle states that being good and finding the good within yourself are what we aspire to achieve in life and that there are multiple options/roads to take in life, along with the endings that associate with them. Therefore Aristotle is saying we must choose. In life, it comes down to us and what we decide, even with external influences. These both relate to step six because the main theme of this step is to search for value and meaning. The chief good, is the highest level of good and is when happiness is complete. Happiness can also mean blessed. Also, in life we need the basics and not the materialistic things we believe we should have. Those materialistic things are essentially blocking are way to achieve the real happiness we should be reaching for. They are substitutes that provides humans with false blessings/happiness. If one makes a mistake, but stays focused it can fixed. Many virtues are learned and passed on to keep the good in life for the future.
On page 429, Achilles, a character in the Iliad, reflects on Zeus’s mortals of happiness and sadness. Achilles also mourns Patroclus and abuses the body of Hector. The Iliad recognizes that mortals have mortality within themselves. The poem emphasizes the nature of a human beings by a suggesting humans should live honorably because the result is that you will be remembered well. Homer’s poem notes that if a humans mortals or creations can’t survive, then their words said and contributions to the world will.
"The Good Life" captures the wisdom of philosophers from all different time periods. For Gomes, Aristotle is the inspiration for his definition of the good life. Gomes writes that a good human being "is one who is good at being a person, doing what is most good, most noble, and most pleasant." Gomes makes a clear distinction between our view on happiness and Aristotle's definition. Gomes said, “ I've tried to suggest that happiness is by no means all there is to goodness.” For how to live a good life, Professor Gomes looks to a source known as his faith and he states the easier response, "is Jesus' answer. It is love of God, love of your brothers and sisters. It's as simple as that."
At the end of the day, people will have mixed beliefs about death.

Most times, the thought of death brings a sense of fear or anxiety because what the afterlife holds is unknown. Throughout history, writers of different time periods use distinctive characters or techniques to represent death and the feelings associated with death and afterlife. Death can further result in a feeling of a countdown of one’s existence in society and humans may thin they have not achieved “the chief good” before they part. Among the readings in step six , only three have specifically provided examples of the fear of death while the others talk about the complete opposite –

happiness.