April 18 – The Royal Tutor

The parallels between Cor Unum and Buckingham Palace are tremendous. Nearly everywhere that Elizabeth has lived has had some abbatial quality, and we can learn much from what life taught her.

As a child, she was secluded more in relation to her parents’ desire for a simple life than because of her royal birth. When she was born, her grandfather, George V, was still on the throne, with two strong young sons in line for the crown before her. Her father was the younger son, and Prince Albert wanted nothing better than to live quietly with his beloved wife and two daughters. Their lives were structured but happy, and as quiet as a royal life could manage to be.

Still, Elizabeth’s grandmother, Queen Mary, always reckoned to be a woman with tremendous foresight, made sure her granddaughter received a broad, if not a deep, education, often speaking personally to her tutors to make sure plenty of memorization, history, reading and language were included in the program. Her prized tutor, Henry Marten, drilled her in constitutional law and history, and later in life, her prime ministers were always amazed at how very well she understood even the fine points of that document.

Here we pause to ask ourselves, do we in Cor Unum know the fine points of our faith? Do we study and revere them, as Elizabeth did the constitution of her realm? Can we easily explain the rudiments of sacrificial living, of the correlation between grace and faith, or do we truly understand what it is to DISCIPLINE a free and sanctified soul?

Our best course is to have what Elizabeth had . . . regular lessons with a capable tutor. For the first and not at all the last time, we see and we know that we have all she had and much more, for we have the Teacher Jesus sent to us, the Spirit of Wisdom and Truth. What royal regard our Lord has had for us, here in Cor Unum, the monastery of the heart.