In Good Hands
I pity all those who reject the doctrine of Divine Providence. There is great comfort in being part of something bigger(and better) than yourself.
"Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum." (Luke 23:46)
A Prayer in Darkness
Chesterton
This much, O heaven—if I should brood or rave,
Pity me not; but let the world be fed,
Yea, in my madness if I strike me dead,
Heed you the grass that grows upon my grave.
If I dare snarl between this sun and sod,
Whimper and clamour, give me grace to own,
In sun and rain and fruit in season shown,
The shining silence of the scorn of God.
Thank God the stars are set beyond my power,
If I must travail in a night of wrath,
Thank God my tears will never vex a moth,
Nor any curse of mine cut down a flower.
Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on—Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.
"Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum." (Luke 23:46)
A Prayer in Darkness
Chesterton
This much, O heaven—if I should brood or rave,
Pity me not; but let the world be fed,
Yea, in my madness if I strike me dead,
Heed you the grass that grows upon my grave.
If I dare snarl between this sun and sod,
Whimper and clamour, give me grace to own,
In sun and rain and fruit in season shown,
The shining silence of the scorn of God.
Thank God the stars are set beyond my power,
If I must travail in a night of wrath,
Thank God my tears will never vex a moth,
Nor any curse of mine cut down a flower.
Men say the sun was darkened: yet I had
Thought it beat brightly, even on—Calvary:
And He that hung upon the Torturing Tree
Heard all the crickets singing, and was glad.
Labels: Chesterton, Lent, poetry
posted by Raindear | 2:58 PM
7 Comments:
Hi. One point in your text payed my attention; what makes you pity everyone who doesn't find religious dictations how to live and all this suitable in their own views of life?
Hi Jan,
That is a great(and very complex) question.
All men desire happiness by their very nature, but it is difficult to attain happiness when one does not understand it. In order to understand what makes a man happy, one must understand why man exists(for what or for whom?). The Roman Catholic Church alone offers the truth in all its fullness. There you will find answers to all of the important questions about human fulfillment. I pity those ignorant or skeptical of the truths of the Catholic faith because they long for something without knowing where to find it.
In order to understand what makes a man happy, one must understand why man exists(for what or for whom?).
Good point, but by claiming that the Roman Catholic Church offers the truth you are very outrageous. What about Greek Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus or other religious people? Or atheists? They don't know anything about the meaning of life or the answers for the great questions of life?
Well of course they don't know the truth, but neither do Roman Catholics. Everyone of the abovesaid have their own views of life and explanations for the big questions of life. There is no truth, only different kind of views.
It's about either how do you believe or how do you think what kind of world we are living in. And why and what for. If person X finds his or her happiness from shamanism for example, how can man blame him or her.
Hi Jan,
I strongly disagree. Truth is objective, not relative to the understanding or preference of the individual. As Aristotle said hundreds of years ago, a thing cannot both BE and NOT BE at one and the same time(Principle of Non-Contradiction). You have just tried to make an objective claim yourself, perhaps without realizing it. You claimed that "There is no truth, only different kind of views." Is that statement just one view of many? Or do you believe that it is a statement which is true whether or not I believe it?
You also said: "If person X finds his or her happiness from shamanism for example, how can man blame him or her." In nature, we see gradations of "being" or "existence". A thing with a greater capacity for knowing invariably has more complex desires and a greater ability to pursue what it desires. In short, appetite follows upon apprehension. A rock has no power of sensing or knowing, thus it has no power of desiring either. You don't really consider the flourishing of a rock, because it has no desires. A plant is aware of water and light, so it can send out roots and bend toward them. One says that a plant flourishes if it grows and bears fruit. A dog can taste, smell, hear, feel and see - it runs toward what it desires and seizes it. A dog is said to flourish if it is healthy and has the physical comforts it craves,(which might include food, water, a safe home and the affection of a human). You see that the more complex a creature's powers of apprehending are, the more complex it desires will be? Man exceeds all of these creatures in his power of knowing and desiring. He can reason about immaterial concepts(justice, love, peace,etc.), thus his desires will include not only physical flourishing but spiritual fulfillment as well. Just as the desires of an animal have objective fulfillment the in physical world, so there is also an objective fulfillment for man's spiritual desires - Truth. The difference is that animals pursue what they desire by instinct, so they are less likely to make mistakes. For example, animals do not usually eat food which poisons them. Man has more freedom because of his greater intellect, but this makes him more vulnerable to mistaken judgment or weakness of will. How often do you do something which you know you will regret later on? So we need help to achieve what we desire. I believe that God is the source of all truth and the He has chosen to reveal Himself through the Catholic Church.
Btw, I really admire you for being able to discuss these things in English when it is not your first language.
Thank you, I appreciate what you said.
And you write very well, it was a pleasure to read it all.
I didn't bring out myself so well yesterday when I wrote that comment. I cited to Socrates when I said "There is no truth". As he said, human can't know anything completely certainly. And that makes very much sense to me. How can we be absolutely sure about something? Is there anything we can't mistrust? I doubt it. But of course we must also doubt the claim "human can't know anything completely certainly".
I'm not a sceptic. Of course we can find and obtain trustworthy knowledge by our senses and thought. We just have to assume that the information we have is true, even though we can't be absolutely sure of it.
You write very well about desires, senses and knowing. Almost the only thing where we differ is the question about God. I don't truly think we need some divine help to achieve what we desire and in my world there is no space to any divine objects. As you see we have vey different visions in this case. But I know how you think and I respect your vision very much. You're a very wise woman.
Oh dear. I am sorry I misunderstood you. Now, I see that you were not denying objective reality but, rather, whether we can be sure that we perceive it correctly.
In any case, I appreciate your compliments very much. If you are curious about Christianity, a writer named G. K. Chesterton wrote some interesting books defending it and they are available online:
Orthodoxy
The Everlasting Man
He is a clear thinker, but he is also quite witty and entertaining. (:
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