For Christmas of my fifteenth year of life, I asked for a sword. Surprisingly, this was not an uncommon request for boys my age. Yes, friends, I am here to admit that I was amongst the ranks of such notable sword owners as Elon Musk or Ben Shapiro. However, my desire to own a sword had a spiritual element to it. At the time, my family was attending a Pentecostal church and I was raised to believe that soon Jesus would return. Nearly every Sunday, we were filled with the fear that, at any moment, Jesus might return.
It's soooooooooo good to read your missives again. It has been a dry spell and the world is further than ever down the drain. Your saying that we are in the tribulation is the smartest thing I've heard in months, and we humans are the cause of all our problems - financially, militarily, ecologically, morally, and all the rest. Your reference to the Eucharist reminded me of those days when I loved the Sunday morning Liturgy, in the church where time and space were transformed to a holy time and space; I don't miss the hour drive in urban traffic to get there nor the crap chanter who started flashing his laser pen in people's eyes, among other things. Anyway, thank you for nudging me to thoughtfully reconsider things, although I still hope I die before the worst of everything happens, as I am a coward.
Father Monk ... I read this short book 20 years ago and had hope for my children. The way things are going now, I weep for my grandchildren.
"Each time history repeats itself, so it's said, the price goes up. The twentieth century was a time of runaway growth in human population, consumption, and technology, placing a colossal load on all natural systems, especially earth, air, and water -- the very elements of life.
The most urgent questions of the twenty-first century are: where will this growth lead? can it be consolidated or sustained? and what kind of world is our present bequeathing to our future?"
In his #1 bestseller A Short History of Progress Ronald Wright argues that our modern predicament is as old as civilization, a 10,000-year experiment we have participated in but seldom controlled.
Only by understanding the patterns of triumph and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we recognize the experiment's inherent dangers, and, with luck and wisdom, shape its outcome.
It's soooooooooo good to read your missives again. It has been a dry spell and the world is further than ever down the drain. Your saying that we are in the tribulation is the smartest thing I've heard in months, and we humans are the cause of all our problems - financially, militarily, ecologically, morally, and all the rest. Your reference to the Eucharist reminded me of those days when I loved the Sunday morning Liturgy, in the church where time and space were transformed to a holy time and space; I don't miss the hour drive in urban traffic to get there nor the crap chanter who started flashing his laser pen in people's eyes, among other things. Anyway, thank you for nudging me to thoughtfully reconsider things, although I still hope I die before the worst of everything happens, as I am a coward.
Father Monk ... I read this short book 20 years ago and had hope for my children. The way things are going now, I weep for my grandchildren.
"Each time history repeats itself, so it's said, the price goes up. The twentieth century was a time of runaway growth in human population, consumption, and technology, placing a colossal load on all natural systems, especially earth, air, and water -- the very elements of life.
The most urgent questions of the twenty-first century are: where will this growth lead? can it be consolidated or sustained? and what kind of world is our present bequeathing to our future?"
In his #1 bestseller A Short History of Progress Ronald Wright argues that our modern predicament is as old as civilization, a 10,000-year experiment we have participated in but seldom controlled.
Only by understanding the patterns of triumph and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we recognize the experiment's inherent dangers, and, with luck and wisdom, shape its outcome.
This is absolutely beautiful (and it's also the column that finally got me off my back end to subscribe). Thank you!
That was amazing! I felt my whole being relax when I read this. Peace to you, Father Nathan🙏🏻