For the Time Being
So, the National Conventions are over. Labor Day is only a week away, after which there will be no rest for the wicked until Election Day. (And beyond.) The final session – miserere, Domine – of the Synod on Synodality opens exactly one month after our celebration of labor, though ten “study groups” will grind on for months after, with (likely) predictable results. And here we all are, like old Noah, still dry in the post-dog-days of August, but expecting the deluge.
What, then, is someone who loves America and the Church – and is trying to live a Catholic life within the current toil and trouble of both – to do?
Many people feel the temptation to abandon ship. And it’s entirely understandable when, in several crucial respects, you don’t recognize your country – sometimes even your Church – anymore. But faithfulness and perseverance – two virtues that aren’t as urgent in “ordinary” times (i.e., when things are going tolerably well) – were made for intolerable times like these. Indeed, times like these help us to develop those extraordinary virtues. Which is what we should be doing just now.
