Bulletin column from October 11, 2020

Dear Friends at Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish and Saint Frances Cabrini Parish:

Praised be Jesus Christ! I recently had the opportunity to offer a short formation session at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary with the men who are in their 2nd Year of Theological studies about contemporary issues related to sexual ethics and Catholic teaching. It was a very large topic for such a short amount of time with these very bright young men who are preparing to be priests, but we did cover some important ground in our time together.

At one point in the discussion I offered the observation that as our modern world has grown more and more removed or insulated from regular contact with raw nature, it has altered our views on personhood, and on the reality of suffering. Not long ago, most of the people who lived in this country were either farmers, or, if they lived in cities they had probably grown up with direct exposure to the agrarian world. Much of this began to shift with the 1950’s/60’s moves to the suburbs, and the succeeding generation (which would be my own) being raised more and more in a zone of low-exposure to the cycle of life and death that defines so much of the natural world. As time has passed we have steadily built a reliable infrastructure, now including a whole virtual world which is fundamentally un-natural, that shelters most of us from the gritty reality of all that is hard about the created world. In short, we have grown very accustomed to what I would term a “sanitized” existence, where all is well-controlled.

In such a climate, we forget that things change, births are supposed to be un-planned, sickness is ultimately an unstoppable force, and that death is everywhere. We also forget that in the natural world where there is so much sickness, death, and a lack of control, it is compensated for by a tremendous abundance of life and fertility. Life is a truly tenacious force and in its own cycle it masters death, if it is not tampered with, or rendered infertile.

For the Christian, the suffering, dying, and rising of the natural world that used to shape humanity without exception (until our recent un-natural era) finds it’s fullest expression in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His entry into the natural cycle of dying and rising, and his gift to us of himself in the sacraments, allows us to move up to the next level of the cycle, so that our death leads to a rebirth in the life to come. Christ is what moves us through suffering, through death, and in to new life.

To a world that no longer lives close to nature, except these days through hyper-controlled and well-equipped camping and hunting (read “leisure”) activities that, if they don’t go well bring no harm, it is difficult to grasp the necessity of these points, of Christ’s death and life. It is also very difficult to confront suffering when we are so used to controlling all of it, even thinking we can escape it.

All of the above is part of why I love the changing of the seasons, especially the Fall. All around us now the world is dying back, as it must do at this time every year. It is delightful to see the plants and trees not resisting or arguing with this simple reality, except by doing what they have always done, which is getting ready for the seeds and growth of what will come next.

Persons can only push back the boundaries of nature so far before we usher in a type of Hell for ourselves on this earth. Maybe as we watch the leaves fall now, we would be wise to meditate upon this simple fact, and also on the gift of Christian revelation that shows us the true path of personhood, and opens up for us the only real pathway from death into new life.