As this world feels more frenzied, divided, and distracted, I find myself tempted to idealize the seemingly simpler ways of ages past.
The Internet and social media have so revolutionized the world and changed our ways of thinking, relating, and acting, that life often feels more virtual than real.
Most people can work almost anywhere because our laptop is the only means of “production” we need. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat offer connection and communication, yet many people feel lonelier than ever.
Compared to previous generations who grew their own food, made things with their hands, and lived in communities where you knew your neighbors and sat on the front porch, our era feels very individualized, antiseptic, and disconnected.
Think back to the Western world before the Industrial Revolution, when most people lived on farms, families and neighbors worked side by side, and the liturgical seasons of the Church year reflected the cycles of nature — the cultivating, planting, laboring, and harvesting.
We may think of such an existence as a long, hard struggle to just survive, and so it was, but there existed a profound and nurturing relationship to God, the Church, the wider community, the family, and the land.
We must also affirm that the pre-industrial world suffered high rates of disease, poverty, injustice, and mortality, so I certainly do not idealize this agrarian life from ages past, but it certainly has some important lessons to teach us.
Created as social beings
God has created us as social beings who thrive in relationships of love, intimacy, immediacy, and purpose.
The pandemic has certainly shown us the terrible effects when people are cut off from Church, family, friends, and work.
Nothing can replace the beauty of participating in Mass in real-time — in communion with the people around us, hearing the Gospel proclaimed and familiar hymns sung, the smell of incense, the taste of the Eucharist!
In Her wisdom, the Church insists that the sacraments can never be virtual experiences. We need to really be there in order to receive the grace of the Lord.
Similarly, nothing can replace the sensations of gathering with family and friends for Thanksgiving dinner.
Embracing loved ones, catching up on the lives of others, laughing with friends, eating Grandma’s amazing stuffing, just being with the people we care about the most is a blessed foretaste of heaven’s nuptial banquet.
Eating a holiday meal out of a box and talking to relatives on Skype may have been the necessary choice during COVID, but it can never compare to the real thing.
We crave authenticity, presence, purpose, communion, and meaning. I probably disagree with most of what Sigmund Freud proposed, but one of his theories that rings true is that the human person needs to love and work in order to live a sane and balanced existence.
We need to love and be loved and to use our talents and time in purposeful labor to find our equilibrium in the world. Thankfully, the Church has much to say about both topics.
I find the deepest satisfaction in the simplest of things — cleaning my apartment, cooking a meal, changing the oil in my car (before that became complicated and impossible!), walking in the woods, watching the sunset against orange-hued clouds, praying on my knees before the Blessed Sacrament, spending time with friends; feeling heat, cold, joy, suffering, exhilaration, exhaustion, pain and knowing beauty, truth, friendship. and love.
I can’t do any of these things virtually or from a distance and I would never want to. I want to live my life in real-time, here and now.
Beloved children of God
Maybe, as the daily swirl of what falsely postures as national news, healthy nourishment, social discourse, and human connection goes its frenzied way, God is urgently calling us to a more authentic, connected, immediate, and peaceful life.
The perennial Truth of the Scriptures, the consolation of the sacraments, the ebb and flow of a parish’s life and traditions, the presence of family and friends, the embrace of simple tasks which satisfy the spirit, getting involved in works of charity and justice all contribute to a holy and sane life in which we learn how to love and work, thus finding our identity and purpose.
Who are we?
We are beloved children of God, created in the image of the Father, purchased with the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, and anointed in the Holy Spirit.
What is our purpose here on earth?
We are called to fall in love with God and to serve our brothers and sisters in heroic charity, to become saints.
What is our destiny?
We are destined to live with God forever in the glory of Heaven if we are faithful to Him in this life.
If we know and live these three fundamental truths, we will taste joy, peace, love, freedom, and ultimately, eternal life.