Our connection to everything
By Giada Amendolara and Caterina Santangelo, Grade 8
St. Bernadette Catholic Academy

Giada Amendolara
The Gift of Knowledge, can be defined as “The gift of knowing and enlightening.” Knowledge allows us to know God and learn about God through human intelligence. Knowledge represents our connection and our relationship with all life. Knowledge has a specific mission for us in our lives, a mission in which we are encouraged to discover, accept, incorporate, and fulfill. In other words, knowledge is our connection to everything.
Real knowledge isn’t just memorizing facts, it is what God wants us to know and believe to the level that it guides our lives. It is knowing who you are and why you are here. Knowledge is not something that just happens, it is something you have to work for and combine with faith in God.
“Self-knowledge puts us on our knees, and it is very necessary for love,” shared St. Teresa of Calcutta. “For knowledge of God gives love, and knowledge of self gives humility.” “Self-knowledge puts us on our knees.” As the first words of this quote, from our point of view, we feel that self-knowledge is understanding ourselves, our motives, and our character. Self-knowledge can be a hard thing to face because we see our flaws, but then we realize our need for God and we cannot do this on our own. That leads to humility. Humility allows us to put our gifts and strengths to God and allow him to direct our use of these gifts for Him.

Caterina Santangelo