Stars (1926) - Maxfield ParrishMore than just another of Parrish's "girl on a rock" paintings, Stars represents for me both the true vulnerability of being human and our need for transcendence.
After the horrendous slaughter of Pentheus in Euripedes' THE BACCHAE, old Cadmus tells his daughter Agauë to "turn your eyes this way - look at the sky" to clear her mind of the madness of Dionysus.
Where do we go, to whom do we turn, to "look up," clear our minds of the madness of the tumult around and within us?
The first Vicar of Christ, Saint Peter, said it long ago: "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God" [Jn 6,68-69].
We do not have to re-invent the wheel, begin at square one in each new generation - a comforting thought since ours is a generation so at-odds with ontological Being that it seems to despise the thought of begetting another.
Christ began the Church moving through history these 2,000 years plus. Its patrimony, truth, goodness, beauty, and grace are there for all to imbibe and partake.
Who are you going to trust for true transcendence?
1 comment:
Your asked, "Who are you going to trust for true transcendence?"
Dear Ath,
For the last couple of generations, the question I think many would asked you, "Why even seek true transcendence because what is true?" From your post on Benedict XVI and proportionalism a potential culprit underlying the crisis: a moral theory known as "proportionalism."
Here I think we see the huge disconnect - the disconnect from a strong and vibrant Girard anthropology (that recognizes the connection between violence and (sacred) religion) and our watered down formation process of educating and raising our youth into maturity and adults. A formation process that hands-off or ushers in the next generation to become the pillars of faith for themselves, their families, their communities, their country and Our Trinitarian God and the next generation.
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