Webster Bull is asking the question too many of us are hearing... but too often are setting aside pondering an answer... to our detriment and the detriment of society:
When my daughter and I walked the Camino de Santiago this spring, we learned about the history of
this traditional pilgrimage route, which opened for business near the end of the first millennium AD. For many centuries before the advent of motorized transport, millions of Christians walked hundreds, even thousands of miles through hard terrain, assaulted by brigands, plagued by disease, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, in order to visit the final resting place of an apostle of Jesus, St. James the Greater, in Spanish Santiago. Then they walked home again.
While walking (one way) myself, I was struck by a fact and by a question. A very small percentage of our fellow pilgrims in 2012 were walking the Camino with an overtly religious goal in mind; most were walking for health, as a vacation, as cultural adventurers, and/or for vague if personal spiritual benefits. This fact led to this question:
Is there any cause today, religious or otherwise, for which you and I—the average Westerner—would face dangers like those faced by Catholic pilgrims of the Middle Ages? Is there any mission we hold so dear?
Naturally, I thought of our fathers’ generation, who waged what may have been the last just war, against Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo. Many made the ultimate sacrifice for a mission they held sacred. What about our generation? What was our mission when we were of military age? Or was our mission to avoid the mission? What is our mission today?
Assuming there were such a mission, what would we be willing to sacrifice for it?
He attempts an answer... and anyone interested in the truth... and its defense... might want to follow the link and read the rest.
It's good stuff.
Our Lady keeps calling believers to fast and pray for those lost in sin. Those who do not wish to know God. Our sacrifice can help another who does not wish to be helped. I keep seeing people preparing for the breakdown of society they expect soon. What good is that going to do you? Your supplies wont last forever and if society breaks down as you fear there is nothing having gold or a gun with finite ammunition is going to do for you, but you can stop the breakdown of society. You can deny yourself something in order to help another soul. Look on the other not as the enemy, but as someone who needs your help. Truly, sincerely fast and pray for the salvation of those like Pelosi and Obama and the rest of the countless fools who think man and government is the answer instead of God.
Posted by: Iris Celeste | Monday, September 24, 2012 at 12:39 PM