Francis Berger continues his hitting streak today, with a superb post about how - from his own observations - family life has apparently been strengthened by the lock-down-social-distancing response to the birdemic.
He suggests that this was contrary to the (evil) intentions of those behind the crisis and its response; but nonetheless it has happened.
Edited excerpts - but please read the whole thing:
The lockdown and everything associated with it did not originate from Good, but this does not entail that Good cannot arise from it. If any Good has arisen from the birdemic crisis and stay at home measures, I hope it will be in the form of renewed and fortified love within families.
The war against family has been vicious and prolonged, yet the lockdown and stay at home measures appear to have offered some moments of reprieve - a chance for individuals to strip away temporal stupidities and evils plaguing them and deepen their connection to a crucial and fundamental metaphysical and spiritual reality...
The family situation is veritably a very special gift, and it is my deepest hope that many have used the events of the past month of 'staying at home' to rediscover this profound truth.
Everyone seems to understand the temporal and material justifications for family - procreation, protection, economic benefit, etc. - but it seems an increasing number of us are forgetting the spiritual aspects of family...
The family situation is the foundation of spiritual learning for it contains all the mysteries of the universe that matter to you as an individual...
Put simply - the family is the bedrock of Truth, Beauty, and Virtue. It has been and remains the foundation of Goodness.
I am reminded of this everyday when I see the young mothers and children or families outside my window or when I spend a sunny afternoon with my wife and son.
Evil is working feverishly to foment chaos in the world, but its efforts have generated a most unexpected and, likely, unintended side effect - the potential strengthening of families.
I take this as a sign of grace, and I hope people are taking full advantage of it because I have a feeling family will play an even more vital role going forward.
In fact, I would go as far as to say family (and some trusted close friendships) may be all that matters in the months and years ahead. The seed of any future worth having is nested inside these close, concrete interpersonal relationships based on love.
My comment: As so often God, uses sin to work for good. More exactly, God uses our sins to provide clarification of experience - new opportunities for us to exercise our agency
and make good choices in situation with which, otherwise, we would not have been
confronted.
This being so, it is likely that soon the powers of evil will (via the state and the mass media and their linked bureaucratic systems) actively try to undo these spiritual benefits of the lockdown world; will resume and redouble its attack on The Family, trying to subvert, destroy and (ideally) invert this strengthened family love - presumably using the new powers of surveillance and control that have been grabbed in the recent coup.
And that will be our next challenge.
2 comments:
Thanks very much for the share, Bruce. Seeing the families in my village reminded me of Letter from a Father by William Arkle and the brilliant insights it contains.
I feel your last point about coming challenges is important. Families are likely going to face a considerable amount of turbulence in the near future - if they aren't already. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I foresee a great deal of hardship in the coming months via unemployment, business failures, personal debt burdens, and the like, to say nothing about the other factors such as increased micro surveillance, etc.
Nevertheless, I have hope that strong, loving families (and close, trusted friendships) have and can overcome these challenges.
What I was struck with on these excerpts and this comment, and the response by Bruce, was that we can look at the likely and best and worst response by both groups. It's like in playing chess, you anticipate a good move by the opponent to make your best moves.
Also, I really liked the belief expressed in family and friendship and its power.
Post a Comment