Learning for the sake of Learning

I'll admit very quickly that I am one of those people who love to learn new things. I taught myself to knit, I've taught myself to cook (my mom never cooked from scratch), I've taken many books out on subjects I "just wanted to know more about". This month I started a new learning endeavor, Latin. Not just Latin but Ecclesiastical Latin. I've been trying to take a class for years, and finally am able to do it. I like to think I know stuff about things (my husband uses this phrase to describe me!), but I did not grow up with Latin in church. Most of the Latin I learned was in music lessons in public school, so I can tell you all about the many loves described in Catuli Carmina by Orff, well, this is a clean crowd, so I probably shouldn't. In Church growing up, we never sang, let alone prayed, a single word in Latin, we pretty much relied on those wacky guys, the St. Louis Jesuits.

Do I need Latin now? Maybe, I really have no great desire to start attending Latin Mass, but I do sing in Latin weekly, and often our priest does Benediction in Latin. My favorite prayer book is in both English and Latin, so it will be nice to have the ability to read the original Latin. My nephew is on his way to becoming a Latin Scholar, I can try to impress him, but 16 year old geniuses are not easily impressed my their "old" aunts(I'm the 5th oldest for the record). My desire to learn Latin is simply because I can. I love to learn, I am excited by homework, and the thought that I can abandon dishes one morning a week to do it. My kids (and husband) think I'm a bit silly, I've taken all the Latin CD's we've amassed as Homeschoolers and put them on my husband's I-pod (mine is being fixed).

I used to be embarrassed my this love of learning, until I met Opus Dei. I am constantly being encouraged to learn new things, not just of the faith, but for my vocation, as a homemaker. Last year After a talk about learning new recipes, I tried making tarts, and my family loved them, I am so glad I tried, anything can be put into a tart. "An hour of study, for a modern apostle, is an hour of prayer." -The Way, Point 335. I love this quote by St. Josemaria, I remind myself of it very often, as I am about to let a question go unanswered, or as I do not do something due to lack of knowledge on the subject. My Latin skills may not help my primary vocation, but I'm sure somewhere along the way it will be useful. Until then, I will tuck that knowledge in my brain and maybe get $.10 off my coffee for the trivia question of the day. Odds seems to be against a question regrading which case you use sine with, but you never know.