Thursday evenings, I host a men’s group where we spend the first sixty to ninety minutes in random discussion and have a dinner that I prepare.  I miss most of the conversation as I hurry about attending to the fire for the pizza and serve soup that I have been stewing for several hours. Afterwards, we sit down in my library and I recite as my usual custom a Prayer that Thomas Aquinas wrote he recited before study, preaching, or writing:

Ineffable Creator,
Who, from the treasures of Your wisdom,
have established three hierarchies of angels,
have arrayed them in marvelous order
above the fiery heavens,
and have marshaled the regions
of the universe with such artful skill,

You are proclaimed
the true font of light and wisdom,
and the primal origin
raised high beyond all things.

Pour forth a ray of Your brightness
into the darkened places of our minds;
disperse from our souls
the twofold darkness
into which we were born:
sin and ignorance.

You make eloquent the tongues of infants.
refine our speech
and pour forth upon my lips
The goodness of Your blessing.

Grant to us
keenness of mind,
capacity to remember,
skill in learning,
subtlety to interpret,
and eloquence in speech.

May You
guide the beginning of our work,
direct its progress,
and bring it to completion.

You Who are true God and true Man,
who live and reign, world without end.

Amen.

*Note that I alter the prayer from the nominative singular to the nominative plural.

We then commence our bible study, having one of the attendees read a series of passages from whatever chapter we happen to be studying. We reflect and discuss the passage and often times  go off on tangents and have lively discussion.

I took the opportunity between dinner and Bible Study to do a “demonstration” of this site since I had a captive audience.  I shared with the group some ideas I have had over the past few days about how I could expand the scope of the site.

Here are some of my ideas:

1. Provide encouragement and advice on studying Latin in general and Ecclesial Latin, specifically – providing resources and tools to aid those interested in a learning of the language of the Church at a functional working level.
2. Back in 2007, I wrote a manual for a youth group I ran at a local parish using the model of the Dead Theologian’s Society.  I thought that I could publish this manual for others to use in their parishes.
3. Expand upon the Theological Resources as I have started to provide from the drop-down menu of this site.

Should you have any suggestions, please make those known in the comments section.