‘Education is trouble!’: Fr Nicolás in Crescent

Quoting Zorba, in the film ‘Zorba the Greek’,  Fr Adolfo  Nicolás told the staff, pupils, Jesuits and colleagues of Crescent College Comprehensive Limerick  that “Life is trouble!” He then added: “And the same is true of education – education is trouble, as you know!” Preaching at Mass in the college to mark its 150th anniversary, Fr Adolfo, in a sermon which was both moving and amusing, held the attention of a packed assembly hall as he spoke about the core Christian truth that there is no human growth without suffering, no resurrection without the cross.“In today’s world it can sometimes seem that everything can come easy. Modern communications and technology allows us to predict the weather, cook fast, do school work with a cut-and-paste job – the universal temptation for students! Everything seems to be easier except life. Living, becoming a person, relating to our families, friends, work, study, ourselves is hard. That’s because we’re human, not machines. There is no such thing as a painless education, no hope without doubts, no life without pain.”