Why It's Better to Stay Strong Rather Than To Stay Safe When It Comes to COVID-19 - Part 2
We'll conclude our review and discussion of my old acquaintance's recent email that encourages us to "Stay Strong" rather than "Stay Safe" as we pick our way through this C-virus mess. Let's end with a clarion call to action.
If the phrase "ravages of modernity" leaves you scratching your head, it's time to clear out the cobwebs that have clouded your mental space and spiritual vision. You need to know history, specifically from a Catholic point of view. If for some reason you find yourself thinking that a Catholic point of view would somehow present only a "slanted" view of history, think again. Any view of history contains some sort of interpretation or "slant." If you're not sure where to begin to acquire a Catholic understanding of history, try Christ the Kind, Lord of History. Our family used Anne Carroll's great text in our homeschooling program. I can tell you, as one who has studied and loves the study of history, I learned a thing or two as I helped teach our kids using this text as one of our key reference works. It's one of those rare works perfectly suitable for both adults and children. It'll give you a kick start.
If you found your head spinning as you read the scathing criticism of our current Catholic leadership, I don't know where you've been in recent decades. Our priests and bishops need shaking up, to say the least. And who will do this if not faithful, serious Catholics? Even our current Pope's immediate predecessors who are purported to have been more "traditional" and "conservative" could hardly move the modernist needle more than a couple of degrees back to normalcy. The "New Normal" of modernism proved too entrenched.
A perfect go-to saint to assist us in restoring an authentic Catholic view, never mind culture and society, would be St. Athanasius. His recent feast caused me to refresh my knowledge and understanding of what he faced (Arianism) and how he faced it. If you're not familiar with his story, you can easily look it up and learn. With that knowledge, you'll gain a standard you can apply to today's prelates. And, don't worry, they're not all lost causes. But a lot of them, frankly and sadly, have been. (But there's always hope. Remember St. Paul's conversion?)
As for making the time and putting in the effort to free yourself of any vestiges of the ravages of modernity, don't claim that work and family life simply won't allow it. The only group out there that could possibly stake that claim are parents with young children who don't shunt them off to daycare while they take up their time with work and worldly pleasures and diversions. Kids can exhaust you. I know. But maybe you can squeeze 15 minutes a day to get the restoration of your Catholic heritage rolling in the right direction. Consider it seriously.
It's a start, but only a start.
For those of us who do have some awareness of modernism's poison, my old acquaintance's words should have rung a few bells in our belfries. I know they did in mine (despite the cobwebs!).
But whatever our current state of knowledge and understanding, the desire to acquire wisdom should always claim pride of place in our daily activities, no matter our state of life or our pressing obligations. And while our old acquaintance may possess an intellect a few pegs higher than some of us, all of us can pursue wisdom by simply heeding these famous words from Proverbs 9:10
We can all pray that His Spirit will enlighten our minds as it enkindles in us the fire of His Love.
Finally, we'll give my old acquaintance the final word:
"Dear friends, the apparatchiks of the wretched “New Normal” have popularized a fresh farewell greeting that one encounters everywhere when venturing forth wearing the Mask of Oppression: “stay safe”. This is not a farewell greeting appropriate to sons of God seeking a spiritual transformation in Christ ending in the resurrection of the body and eternal life in heaven. This is not a greeting that the Roman Forum suggests that Catholics who are horrified by the flight of our shepherds and our abandonment to the fulfillment of the earthbound visions of dangerous medical evangelists and their preposterous, petty dictatorial political allies should utilize when they trudge back from the godless city streets to their individual prison cells to live out ever more isolated, sterile, “safe” lives.
We have a tremendous battle ahead of us: for our churches, our sacraments, our traditional liturgy, our country, what remains of the glorious cultural life of the West, and of our very means of survival. “Stay strong and Viva Cristo Rey!” should be on our lips as we retreat into our “castles”. But we should retreat into those castles only to steel ourselves spiritually and intellectually to muster the courage needed to contradict the arrogant but confident authorities mandating the “New Normal”. Then we can even more confidently lower our drawbridges to undertake ever more determined sorties into a world that must be re-conquered for the King of Kings. Deus lo vult!"
Stay Strong and Viva Cristo Rey!
John C. Rao (D.Phil., Oxford)
Chairman, Roman Forum
Associate Professor of History, St. John's University
If the phrase "ravages of modernity" leaves you scratching your head, it's time to clear out the cobwebs that have clouded your mental space and spiritual vision. You need to know history, specifically from a Catholic point of view. If for some reason you find yourself thinking that a Catholic point of view would somehow present only a "slanted" view of history, think again. Any view of history contains some sort of interpretation or "slant." If you're not sure where to begin to acquire a Catholic understanding of history, try Christ the Kind, Lord of History. Our family used Anne Carroll's great text in our homeschooling program. I can tell you, as one who has studied and loves the study of history, I learned a thing or two as I helped teach our kids using this text as one of our key reference works. It's one of those rare works perfectly suitable for both adults and children. It'll give you a kick start.
If you found your head spinning as you read the scathing criticism of our current Catholic leadership, I don't know where you've been in recent decades. Our priests and bishops need shaking up, to say the least. And who will do this if not faithful, serious Catholics? Even our current Pope's immediate predecessors who are purported to have been more "traditional" and "conservative" could hardly move the modernist needle more than a couple of degrees back to normalcy. The "New Normal" of modernism proved too entrenched.
A perfect go-to saint to assist us in restoring an authentic Catholic view, never mind culture and society, would be St. Athanasius. His recent feast caused me to refresh my knowledge and understanding of what he faced (Arianism) and how he faced it. If you're not familiar with his story, you can easily look it up and learn. With that knowledge, you'll gain a standard you can apply to today's prelates. And, don't worry, they're not all lost causes. But a lot of them, frankly and sadly, have been. (But there's always hope. Remember St. Paul's conversion?)
As for making the time and putting in the effort to free yourself of any vestiges of the ravages of modernity, don't claim that work and family life simply won't allow it. The only group out there that could possibly stake that claim are parents with young children who don't shunt them off to daycare while they take up their time with work and worldly pleasures and diversions. Kids can exhaust you. I know. But maybe you can squeeze 15 minutes a day to get the restoration of your Catholic heritage rolling in the right direction. Consider it seriously.
It's a start, but only a start.
For those of us who do have some awareness of modernism's poison, my old acquaintance's words should have rung a few bells in our belfries. I know they did in mine (despite the cobwebs!).
But whatever our current state of knowledge and understanding, the desire to acquire wisdom should always claim pride of place in our daily activities, no matter our state of life or our pressing obligations. And while our old acquaintance may possess an intellect a few pegs higher than some of us, all of us can pursue wisdom by simply heeding these famous words from Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
We can all pray that His Spirit will enlighten our minds as it enkindles in us the fire of His Love.
Finally, we'll give my old acquaintance the final word:
"Dear friends, the apparatchiks of the wretched “New Normal” have popularized a fresh farewell greeting that one encounters everywhere when venturing forth wearing the Mask of Oppression: “stay safe”. This is not a farewell greeting appropriate to sons of God seeking a spiritual transformation in Christ ending in the resurrection of the body and eternal life in heaven. This is not a greeting that the Roman Forum suggests that Catholics who are horrified by the flight of our shepherds and our abandonment to the fulfillment of the earthbound visions of dangerous medical evangelists and their preposterous, petty dictatorial political allies should utilize when they trudge back from the godless city streets to their individual prison cells to live out ever more isolated, sterile, “safe” lives.
We have a tremendous battle ahead of us: for our churches, our sacraments, our traditional liturgy, our country, what remains of the glorious cultural life of the West, and of our very means of survival. “Stay strong and Viva Cristo Rey!” should be on our lips as we retreat into our “castles”. But we should retreat into those castles only to steel ourselves spiritually and intellectually to muster the courage needed to contradict the arrogant but confident authorities mandating the “New Normal”. Then we can even more confidently lower our drawbridges to undertake ever more determined sorties into a world that must be re-conquered for the King of Kings. Deus lo vult!"
Stay Strong and Viva Cristo Rey!
John C. Rao (D.Phil., Oxford)
Chairman, Roman Forum
Associate Professor of History, St. John's University
Comments