Ideas Aren’t Enough
“Measure twice, cut once, but don’t measure at all if you can avoid it!”
Counter-intuitive words to say the least, but when master Carpenter Norm Abram gives this counsel, he’s both offering sound building advice and pointing us to a profound philosophical, theological truth.
I’ll begin with the carpentry tip. Let’s face it, tape measures vary, the metal clip on the end gets loose, the metal stretches, and the markings fade. If you’re measuring a length for siding and then call out the measurement to your buddy who’s cutting, especially if he uses a different measuring tape, you might come away with a piece that’s 1/8” off the mark—even if both of you measured correctly. The number is an idea representing the actual length of siding you need. If you could put the siding in situ and mark it for a cut, you might get a better fit because the process remained directly connected to the actual situation rather than being abstracted to the realm of numbers. This process isn’t always advisable or even possible, however, and 1/8” may not matter in certain situations, but the point remains we are building with real, physical materials with concrete limitations and potencies. We must attend to the realities of the materials and situations in which we build. As Norm tells us later, perhaps the better advice is “Measure well, and know that you have measured accurately.” Sometimes that means not using a tape measure with numbers at all. For example, if you’re making multiple copies of something, you might use the first as a model for the others rather than retaking all the measurements.
And now the philosophical, theological insight. Among the first major heresies the Church struggled against were Docetism and, more generally, Gnosticism. Docetists taught that Jesus merely appeared to have a body. The Word, the Second Person of the Trinity, remained a divine truth separated from the limitations of material existence. Taking this mistake a step further is Gnosticism, a broad umbrella containing many theologies, all of which believe that the measure for constructing everlasting life is receiving the secret, entirely intellectual, spiritual knowledge about God and fleeing from the evil of the physical world. Both of these heresies make the mistake of thinking the number on the tape measure is more important than the incarnate, actual size of the siding needed.
The truth, however, reveals itself in the above photo of San Damiano College’s Corpus Christi procession, paused here at an altar in the convent cemetery for worship and benediction. One small detail from this picture embodies everything I hope to say better than my own words could do. Looking carefully, you will notice a whisp of smoke swirling up from the thurible, first swerving reverently around the monstrance to the right and then sweeping back to the left across the face of the Beloved disciple and up toward the cross where it joins Christ’s pierced feet. This solemnity of Corpus Christi reminds us every June that rebuilding human nature is a matter of both intellectual truth and bodily reality. All of our worship, our striving to cooperate with God as we are rebuilt in His image takes us directly back to the visceral, physical reality of Christ’s pierced feet on the cross.
Yes, Christ revealed the intellectual measure of a man in the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings and moral and liturgical rules of the Church, but perhaps more importantly, he lived, breathed, ate, sweated, cried, healed, walked, hammered, planed, was crucified, and resurrected. In other words, he gave us not only a tape measure but a model to which we can directly and concretely “measure up” if only we cooperate with Christ the master carpenter.
So, my friends, remember, “measure twice and cut once, but don’t measure at all if you can avoid it.” Let the Incarnate Lord mark you for the cut according to his own true shape rather than simply your own sketchy measurement.
Now some news!
We’re officially Pod Casters!
Build What Lasts reflects on the connection between skilled labor and the intellectual life. Our first episode covered Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, specifically the consequences of AI for education and skilled labor.
Verso l’alto! To the heights!
CJ Altmanshofer stands high in a lift as he works for Klein’s Chimney Service. I will avoid Mary Poppins references!
Yes, a student did that.
Speaking of Build What Lasts, one of our students recently travelled to install a stain glass window he restored for a Catholic Church while working for Jacksonville Stained Glass.
Carpentry 2.0
Second year students begin their second round of learning carpentry skills with instructor Jeremy Gebhardt. Weather-wrapping, installing windows and doors, and setting tile fill up the first few weeks.
There’s still time to apply for next year’s class! Move-in day is August 14.