CCLXXXI – Matthew 24

Please go read Matthew 24 before reading this article. I’ve mentioned it twice and it’s really stuck in my brain.

It is a very visual passage. I do not have a theology degree, and surely some of this chapter is a discussion of what Christ is immediately about to experience, but there is surely some description of the End here.

And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors.

Matthew 24:29-33

This makes me think that Christ will be seen approaching from the Heavens, and the stars will fall from the sky–I imagine a great swirling cloud in space and time shrouding the stars as the angels announce the coming of the Creator to take his seat here on Earth. So there will be a period of time between seeing these signs and his actual arrival–keep lots of oil handy for your lamps!

The part that really rocked my world is this:

But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark, And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.

Matthew 24:36-39

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the Flood. Part of the reason for this is the seeming violence of it: What if there were innocent babies? What if there were righteous people in some far flung reach of the world? The only way I could square it is in this way: The innocents would go to heaven regardless, the rest must have deserved it. It must truly have been a wicked generation.

Looking around it is easy to imagine that same situation. The really shocking thing to me was this bit: The wicked generation was eating, drinking, and getting married even up until the rain started. A flooding rain is not exactly a subtle thing–yet Christ’s return will be like this. The stars falling from the sky, or rolling up like a scroll–is that subtle? Yet for a wicked generation, perhaps it will be too subtle. Christ himself fulfilled all the prophesies and still some didn’t believe. Christ rose from the dead and some still didn’t believe.

But let’s not let the thought of the Last Day bring us down. It is important to end on a hopeful note! Christ gave us the sacraments so that we can work out our salvation all the time. We are never far from it. All this talk of the End is just a reminder that we should take care of our souls with urgency, with frequent recourse to Reconciliation and Eucharist. And if anything, Christ coming is a joyful event–the trials and tribulations of this world, all the nonsense, all the incoherence, everything that ever vexed us about the world and any suffering that was ever incomprehensible to us–it will pass away, and be glorified and resurrected.

And God willing, we will get to be there to see it all, and glorify God in his glorified and resurrected creation, his Kingdom.

AMDG

(j) – I Rebuke Thee

St. Benedict has a helpful “exorcism” prayer–not like the movies, but rather one which helps to cast aside the evil one during times of temptation, despair, or other spiritual battles. I have used it often and figured that it might be useful to the rest of you, in case you are unaware:

Get behind me, satan!

What you have offered is evil,

drink the poison yourself!

AMDG

CLXXX – Telling You What I Want To Hear (Pt 2)

We’re going to be OK.

As a society, as a country, as a Church, as a civilization, as a species: We’re going to be OK. Everyone wants you to be angry, everyone wants you to be sad. Everyone wants to be right, and they want you to be wrong. But first, and foremost, we’re going to be OK. Hear this and believe it.

Why should you believe it? COVID deaths are spiking! Politics are in chaos! The Church is beset on all sides by evil! We’ve been separated and distant from our friends and loved ones for nearly 9 months now!

That’s fine. Maybe some of those things are partially true, maybe even wholly true. What else can we observe about our station?

First, that God has chosen us for these times. It’s true! You, reading this, and the rest of you, who aren’t: God has chosen you for these times.

There’s something reassuring about that, right? Events would not be the same if you, you personally, were not alive today, reading this article, going about your life. You have a purpose in all this. Maybe that purpose is small, maybe that purpose is big. Know, know that God loves you and wants you to succeed whatever that purpose is.

And lest we forget, we won’t know on this side of eternity what, exactly, we are meant for. It’s imprecise language, but the bottom line is that we can do everything with purpose and God will support us in it. Everything we do can glorify God.

Second, whatever will happen will happen. Think of your worst possible scenario. Eschaton? Better go to confession, and soon! Terror? Torture? Tyranny? Lets suppose any or all of those things are coming down the pipeline for us. It will happen. And then it will be over. God sent a rainbow after the Flood. This too shall pass! How great must the coming blessings be if the penance is so severe as this! We are powerless to control it, except to pray for God’s mercy. That is our only means of influence. May we pray for it early and often.

Whatever is troubling you at this very moment, whatever is on your mind, it has an end. Sometimes we have to endure a crucifixion to get to a resurrection. But we can’t have Christ without the Cross, nor can we have the Cross without Christ. Both come hand in hand. But the coming blessings surely make anything you’re worrying about seem trivial. And if they don’t then there’s a blessing farther down the line that will. I guarantee it.

Third, do what brings you peace. Do as much as you can to stay healthy. Maybe turn the news off for a while, if it’s making you angry. Spend a little more time in the things that bring you peace. Are you acting prudently in everything you have control over? Are you letting things go which you can’t control? If yes, then there is nothing to worry about! You are doing the best you can possibly do, at the things that you can do.

The worst thing about all this is feeling like everyone is rending their garments, despairing, at the trauma that has taken grip of our nation and our world. But take a pause, and remember: After the flood, was the rainbow. We’re going to be OK.

Take care of yourselves. Go to confession. Be at peace.

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

-Scoot

CXXXV – On the Beach

And thou hast cast me forth into the deep in the heart of the sea, and a flood hath compassed me: all thy billows, and thy waves have passed over me. And I said: I am cast away out of the sight of thy eyes: but yet I shall see thy holy temple again.

Jonah 2:4-5

Neville Shute wrote a book that had a very powerful impact on me, called On the Beach. In it, a noxious radioactive cloud is trapped by the prevailing winds in the northern hemisphere, where a nuclear war had just ended civilization. The southern hemisphere was spared, if only temporarily. That cloud begins seeping south, however, and the characters of the book (set in Australia) live out their last days in keen awareness of the inevitability of their end.

That synopsis doesn’t do it justice. I regard it as one of the best books I’ve ever read. It presents the world, as the Nihilists see it, and the raw despair that flows from a life with no intrinsic meaning.

This book was on my mind recently because I made a fleeting connection between it and Coronavirus: An invisible doom, slowly creeping across the earth, noticeable only by the news from cities it reaches (in the book’s case, the cessation of news; in the virus’ case, the abundance) and how society copes with actions beyond their control.

This is unique among disasters as well. The only comparison in terms of national scale I can think of is 9/11. In 9/11, the entire country was affronted by a single shock, and were stirred to action and a showy display of unity. Everyone experienced it the same way, and even today everyone has a story to tell about it. The shock could be processed all at once, and the doom only came for a few. So all of America processed events at roughly the same time and in roughly the same way.

Coronavirus, in contrast, is a slow burn, like the noxious clouds in Neville Shute’s parable. Not everyone knows how to deal with it, and people have been scared into their homes. Everyone is dealing with it differently, and the longer it goes, I’m noticing the more confused everyone is getting.

It has highlighted a stark contrast in how people view the world. The transcendent obviously giving a measure of calm to people. Some people bend more to their work, some people turn more to God, some people feel like they are being swallowed up by the tide of things or suffocated by the inexorable cloud of doom.

In the book some people did the same, though with more emphasis on fleeting materialist pleasures. The inevitability of the two situations is very different, so in our case people are seeking normalcy and in the book the characters sought escape.

Neville Shute took his title On the Beach from the Royal Navy euphemism for being retired. It also is an oblique reference to TS Eliot’s The Hollow Men. Others have made the connection to Walt Whitman’s On the Beach at Night. All three, in some way or another, reference the end of things.

As I’ve discussed previously, bodies of water (particularly rivers) hold an interesting place in the Human psyche. The transition from land to water represents a distinctive change in nature. And this is where I made the connection to Jonah.

Jonah made the transition from land to water in trying to flee God’s command to preach to Nineveh, and in doing so he was swallowed by a whale. Jonah died. This is not how the parable is commonly told. Jonah died and his soul cried out from hell. He transitioned from living to dead.

When my soul was in distress within me, I remembered the Lord: that my prayer may come to thee, unto thy holy temple. They that are vain observe vanities, forsake their own mercy. But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice to thee: I will pay whatsoever I have vowed for my salvation to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish: and it vomited out Jonas upon the dry land.

Jonah 2:8-11

And he called out to the Lord, and only through the Lord did he transition from the sea to the land, and proceed to Nineveh. This is what we need to remember as a society. That even at the darkest hour, God can bring us peace. He does not give us anything we do not ask for. The Nihilists of Neville Shute’s parable would have had peace; those panicking due to the pandemic could have some measure of calm. Christ isn’t calling us to Nineveh, he’s simply telling us to pick up our Cross and follow Him. Sometimes, we have to transition out of the sea, out of a crisis to realize it.

When we do, we’ll be looking off to Calvary, standing with Jonah on the beach.

CXXX – Telling You What I Want To Hear

We’re going to be OK.

As a society, as a country, as a Church, as a civilization, as a species: We’re going to be OK. Everyone is bent to their megaphones trying to shriek as loudly as they can into the void. But first, and foremost, we’re going to be OK. Hear this and believe it.

Why should you believe it? Hospitals are closing! We’re on lockdown! Masses are cancelled! Stores are empty!

That’s fine. Maybe some of those things are partially true, maybe even wholly true. What else can we observe about our station?

First, that God has chosen us for these times. It’s true! You, reading this, and the rest of you, who aren’t: God has chosen you for these times.

“Well, who are you to speak for God? Why would God do this?”

I’m not one to speak for God. I can say that if God didn’t want you to be in these times you wouldn’t exist. That’s more an observation of the obvious than anything deep. Why has God chosen to do this? Who knows! As the prayer pinned to the top of my site right now says, it comes on by his wrath and leave by his mercy. May we remain ignorant of the cause of the wrath, may we pray heartily for his mercy.

Second, whatever will happen will happen. Think of your worst possible scenario. Eschaton? Better go to confession, and soon! Terror? Torture? Tyranny? Lets suppose any or all of those things are coming down the pipeline for us. It will happen. And then it will be over. God sent a rainbow after the Flood. This too shall pass! How great must the coming blessings be if the penance is so severe as this! We are powerless to control it, except to pray for God’s mercy. That is our only means of influence. May we pray for it early and often.

Third, do what brings you peace. Do as much as you can to stay healthy. Take sensible precautions. And live out your day responsibly. Are you doing everything you can? Are you practicing the virtue of prudence? Then there is nothing to worry about! You will be ok.

The worst thing about this is hearing everyone shouting from the rooftops how terrible it is, or how great were doing, or how superlative some other thing is. Now is not the time. We’re going to be ok.

Take care of yourselves. Go to confession. Be at peace.

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

-Scoot

XCIX – Ontology of Failure

What does it mean for a life to be a success or failure?

lets look at success. Success can be in two flavors. Objective success, this person lived life well. And relative success, this person lived life better than others. Failure, then, follows the same rubric. This person lived life poorly, or this person lived life worse than others.

We know success and failure by the relative term most frequently. A successful businessman is one who is making more money than his peers. An unsuccessful businessman has lost money, and perhaps declares bankruptcy as his speculative venture has ruined his finances. Relative success has the connotation of building up; while relative failure has the connotation of ruination.

Objective success I can only conceive of as Sainthood. An objectively successful life leads someone to heaven. The pathway for this can lead through relative success or failure in equal measure. Objective success involves practicing virtue.

Objective failure, conversely, would be living a life of unrepentant sin, thereby permanently denying themselves the grace of God.

Objective success is still attainable to me, even if my life is relatively a failure. relative success does not translate to objective success, nor does relative failure translate to objective failure. Despair or Pride are the points on which relative success or failure pivot to objective success or failure. Both Despair and Pride are the thoughts that God is not present; the former because he has abandoned us, the latter because we are better than him. Said another way, We abandon God in both Despair and Pride, but in one because we believe we don’t deserve Him, the other because He doesn’t deserve us.

Relative success requires humility, and relative failure requires patience. Humility because God has blessed us and we don’t deserve it; Patience because God’s blessings are coming and we must wait for it.

Relative success can be turned into objective success with humility, or lost with pride. Relative failure can be turned into objective failure with despair, or corrected with patience.

AMDG

LXVII – Resurrection

For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: And that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven. Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

^{1 Corinthians 15:3-7}

Paul here reminds the young church of Corinth of the gospel, and one of the key mysteries: The resurrection of Christ. Paul begins here, and not arbitrarily. Evangelism is akin to a negotiation: Before one establishes that a counterparts present position is untenable, one must first establish that a new position is greater. The resurrection is the cornerstone of a message of Hope.

A Study in Contrasts

Lets look at the word itself, first. Paul wrote Corinthians in greek, so the word he would have used for resurrection was a greek one: anastasi. This is derived from ana (back, restored) + stasis (to stand); anastasi meant “to stand back up”.

When it was translated into Latin, they used the Latin word: resurrexit, from resurrectionem, a derivation of re + surgere, meaning again + to rise, or “to rise again”. Resurrection in both Latin and Greek had the connotation of righting something that had been laid low.

This is in contrast to renaissance, or reincarnate. Both have the prefix re meaning “again”. Naissance comes from Latin nasci, to be born. Incarnate comes from en + caro meaning “in the flesh”. So the one means “To be born again” while the other means “to be made flesh again”. Both involve creating something new. A person, once born, cannot be born again except by metaphor. A person, once Incarnate with their own flesh and blood, can not be given new flesh and blood. But a person, having fallen, can be lifted up again.

This cuts to the heart of the Christian message. God made man, and man fell at the dawn of time. So God will lift us up, through Christ, who defeated death that we might be saved. O Happy Fault, that earned us a redeemer such as Christ!

A Hopeful Evangelism

The Resurrection is the core of evangelism for this purpose. We are not made some mysterious, new thing. At the end of all things, we are made perfectly ourselves in our Glorified, Resurrected Bodies. Physically! We are physically resurrected! We do not need to scorn our earthly form, because God will perfect it and give it back to us. Imagine being a Corinthian receiving Pauls letter. What news! First-century Jews also believed in the Resurrection at the end of time, but to hear that Christ did it, and that it he paved the way for us: Truly, that is what the Greeks called euangellos, or “good message”: the root of Evangelism.

But, this good news comes with a cost. The yoke is easy, the burden is light, but it must be accepted. We must give our lives to Christ. If we do not accept this, we lose everything. There will be no unity with God, no glorified resurrected form. We will suffer the complete denial of God. The negotiating table is set: To receive perfection, we must accept Christ, or lose everything. As said by Christ:

For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.

^{Luke 9:24}

For Daily Use

Remember this lesson of the Resurrection, and that Paul used it as the cornerstone of his Evangelism. Paul can be an example for us all: We are called to live out the Gospel, and bear witness to the good news through our lives. What do we reach for, when people ask us about our Faith? I propose that the first tool in the belt can be the story of Resurrection. Theology is a complicated thing, but everyone speaks the language of Hope, and everyone can understand the good news of having our bodies Perfected, Glorified, and Resurrected. We are all fallen creatures. Trusting God to lift us up removes a heavy burden from striving to do it ourselves.

AMDG

LXI – The Week In Doom

Optimism is never faith in progress, but hope for a miracle. (II, 135) Nicolás Gómez Dávila

There are a few writers I follow who perform a public service by documenting the collective poor examples set by our fellow man, and they include some horrifying things. I will not recount them here, if you want to find it, it isn’t hard.

This is an imporant service, and one I avoid. We must keep aware of the happenings of the world. But we must not let them hinder our sense of Hope. “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s“: Let the rabble do what they do, preserve your unity with God and His Church. So I dread to look at doom, and yet I find I can’t look away.

Nicolás Gómez Dávila was a writer of a collection of aphorisms about faith and this one struck me. I consider myself an optimist. What NGD is saying is Hope doesn’t lie in people getting more faithful, Hope lies in one big miracle! God can do more in one act than we humans can in a millenia of striving. Do not lose hope in Gods ability to draw triumph from seeming doom!

I was discussing these and other things with my friend Hambone, and he had this to say:

We aren’t entering at the moment the emperor disrobes, [but] at the climax where everyone realizes he [has no clothes]. This is the best part!

We have a lot to be hopeful for. The Doom news just means we’re one day closer to a Miracle.

AMDG

LVI – Letter from the Editor

I haven’t quite recovered from whatever derailed me some time ago. I flirt with consolation but find myself desolate again. The weight of the world, friends. There are maybe four blogs I follow that symbolize my activity here.

• Orthosphere, those wise men who understand the world and what its made of. These are the philosophers. I aspire to be as wise as they, but I find my contributions have been of diminishing insight.
• Barnhardt, the woman strong in faith and fighting viciously or valiantly (it is hard for me to tell which some days) for the preservation of the Faith. I aspire to understand my Faith so thoroughly, and defend it so definitely.
• Beauty Beyond Bones. She has a story to tell and is not ashamed to tell it, because she knows she is helping people. She has a reach that is unfathomable to me. I aspire to a like reach, and to tell a story as powerfully as she does.
• Conservative Tree House. He is a political commentator for the age of Trump, and has a thorough and practical knowledge and knows the consequences of the uncertain movements in the world.

These four blogs are the four pillars of my aspiration. Political, Religious, Philosophical, Story telling. If i had to condense that into one word, I might say “Informed Evangelism”. There has been no coherent theme for my writings up to now other than public musings on topics inspired from those four.

So, I think it’s time for a bit of a pivot. I am going to be taking on another personal endeavor, reading the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, with the intention of growing spiritually. I will try to bring that spiritual focus here. I still enjoy politics so I will not resist commentating, but bringing focus and intention to it. I am also going to try to hammer down a publishing schedule.

Luckily I don’t have but a sprinkling of followers, so hopefully this is not too disruptive. Suggestions welcome!

AMDG

(h) – Parable of the Ship

The captain of the ship was young once. Bright eyed, full of excitement, eager to explore the world. He had the means at his finger tips, he needed only to select the ends. He wanted to visit the great ports of the world, to cross the greatest seas. Boldly he would berth in the bustling Black. Swiftly he would sail the Suez. He would persevere across the Pacific; he would admire the Adriatic. The blustery Baltic would bear him to shore; the calm Caribbean would be his refuge. Berths in Manhattan, Singapore, Sydney, Buenos Aires, all had his name printed on them. The captain of the ship was young once, he dreamed all of these dreams. Now his ship is old and rusted, beached on a long sandy shore. His hair is grey, his skin wrinkled and stretched thin over his gaunt frame. The fuel tank in his ship is as full as the day he took the helm. His map is littered with erased paths, where his plans briefly took shape and were abandoned before they were begun. He tells himself, today is the day he will choose, today is the day he will get under way. He frowns at his map, and erases another line. Perhaps tomorrow.