St. Augustine's great work "The City of God" is still quite pertinent for our own day. As in the great Doctor's time, so now also, we see the city of man set up against the City of God. The City of man today is raging against Christ's Holy Bride. The bride's defenders have largely been lulled into a slumber for over half a century, and the Devil in his pride has prodded man's ego to seek to destroy that which cannot be destroyed. "For behold I am with you even to the end of the age." The HHS mandate is no different than a thousand other attempts by Satan over two millenia to destroy Christ's bride. I believe that Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" parallels our current situation astonishingly well also. I suppose Satan is astonished that the Church's shepherds have awoken and responded so strongly against his scheme. Much as Sauron was astonished when man defeats his initial attack on Middle Earth. As Gandalf points out, there is more strength in man than Sauron had realized. So it is today that we may be on the cusp of the great battle of our times. In a sense this mandate is the battle for Helm's Deep, but the battle for the world, the church, the culture has only just begun. For half a century the forces of man have grown strong and have lulled the Church to sleep. Those things formerly condemned as evil have become legends, fantasies, and make believe. The truth is ridiculed and we are now awakening to a world that begs the same question that the hobbits ask: "How can things go back to the way they were when everything was so bad in the world."
Yet, hope remains because we remember that God makes the weak strong. Is this not the way of the Lord. We who are weak and insignificant, the lovers of the earth and of tradition will in the end be the ones who must fight this battle, and to rebuild when Mordor is again defeated in its modern guise. Maybe Tolkien was given special insight along with St. Augustine about the circular nature of the battles that take place in our world. The City of God and the City of man, the world of men and the world of Sauron, these are realities that we must face in our own day. The structures of Christendom have crumbled. The world is going and has gone back to the way it was "before." We have forgotten about the reality and consequences of sin, and we explain it away as choice and even "freedom." Yet, such freedom is slavery. Now is the time to fight, but we must be wise in our battles. The enemy's tongue would betray us at every turn. I have chosen to fight in the shire. I have chosen to fight in a simple way by keeping the traditions of my ancestors, and working out my salvation with fear and trembling. I hope I can prepare my children to assist in the restoration that will come when the modern towers come crashing down. I pray they will become a St. Benedict, St. Theresa of Avila, St Francis of Assissi for our own times. I hope and pray that the Shire God has chosen for me to raise my family will not be sacked, but even if it is I know that God is at work and in the end the Church will be triumphant.
Pax,
Kevin
Yet, hope remains because we remember that God makes the weak strong. Is this not the way of the Lord. We who are weak and insignificant, the lovers of the earth and of tradition will in the end be the ones who must fight this battle, and to rebuild when Mordor is again defeated in its modern guise. Maybe Tolkien was given special insight along with St. Augustine about the circular nature of the battles that take place in our world. The City of God and the City of man, the world of men and the world of Sauron, these are realities that we must face in our own day. The structures of Christendom have crumbled. The world is going and has gone back to the way it was "before." We have forgotten about the reality and consequences of sin, and we explain it away as choice and even "freedom." Yet, such freedom is slavery. Now is the time to fight, but we must be wise in our battles. The enemy's tongue would betray us at every turn. I have chosen to fight in the shire. I have chosen to fight in a simple way by keeping the traditions of my ancestors, and working out my salvation with fear and trembling. I hope I can prepare my children to assist in the restoration that will come when the modern towers come crashing down. I pray they will become a St. Benedict, St. Theresa of Avila, St Francis of Assissi for our own times. I hope and pray that the Shire God has chosen for me to raise my family will not be sacked, but even if it is I know that God is at work and in the end the Church will be triumphant.
Pax,
Kevin
2 comments:
Dear Kevin,
This is a great post, and I definitely appreciate your thoughts. I like the image of defending the Shire, but the problem is that there is not much of a Shire left. It seems to me that, since the Industrial Revolution, thriving and devout peasant populations have nearly disappeared from the countryside, both that of Europe and the US. Wendell Berry does a great job in his book, "The Unsettling of America", of highlighting this rape of rural culture.
I find this fact worrisome because, throughout history and the upheavals of wars and economic crises, the peasant population has served as a bolstering force to the nation and a haven from the maelstrom of city life. The peasants have always been the ones to hold on longest to orthodoxy in the face of heresy; in fact, the word "pagan" comes from the Latin "pagi", which means village dweller. The "pagans" were those who held on to Greco-Roman deity worship the longest in the face of the new Christianity.
Like you, Devin and I feel called to an agrarian life. But, it seems to us that we are being called to the country in order to rebuild the Shire, so that we might then defend it. Our family and your family and so many other young families are being led by the Holy Spirit to build a life rich in joy and splinters and piety in the ruins of the West, so that we can serve as an arc of culture and haven of the good life in the coming days of darkness.
I also find that the way to defeat evil is many times by being hobbits, by "living in the shire". Just a hobbit could be the carrier of the ring, as the heart was not so corruptible among them. So it is that one part of us could be the hobbit, while the other parts of us entertain the remaining characters. The spiritual battle occurs continuously, yet there are spaces of peace and rest.
The previous post was helpful to me too, as a reminder that working with the land is not for the sake of comfort, but that the closeness to God brings about another kind of comfort.
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