I tend not to write about current events, even though I suspect I would find a more interested audience to this blog if I were to do so. I write little about what is going on geo-politically because today’s news seldom lasts beyond a few days or weeks and then vanishes in significance.
(Now, mind you, I do keep up with the daily news. I have five US news websites I surf daily, plus two Italian newspapers.)
Some people think my memory is going as I don’t try to hang on to the details of current events anymore. I go for the big, over-arching significance of things, or at least I make a bold attempt.
Our pastor this morning at Mass spoke on the passing of the things of this world in light of the eternal importance of the things of God and of the Spirit. Made me think once again of the “poverty of provisionality” that I wrote about several days ago. So much of what bombards us with such urgency at the moment, fades so quickly into oblivion. Patient expectation and waiting is a nearly lost virtue these days.
The Gospel reading for today spoke of the old woman Anna, who spent her entire day in the Temple praying and waiting. Nowadays, we tend to look at the older women of our churches who spend all their time praying as “strange old ladies”. Perhaps they are the ones who have really grasped the significance of the eternal and the insignificance of the distractions of daily life.
Some would say I am strange. I guess I have never claimed to be “normal” in the sense of thinking and living like the majority of society. I am just trying to keep myself oriented properly.
