Day 41. Rebuilding and Purifying

Part 3: A Temple

Aug 31

*They set your sanctuary on fire;*
*the abode of your name they razed and profaned.*
Psalm 74:3, 7

Recall the scene from yesterday’s reflection: Jeremiah returned to the ruins of Jerusalem sacked and razed by the Babylonians. Only with great difficulty did he find the site of the temple of Solomon. All was leveled. All that the people of Jerusalem once believed to be unshakable had been destroyed. Nothing, it appeared, was left.

It was a painful time in the history of God’s people. The temple, the pride of Israel, the house of the Lord, laid waste by invaders. The children of Judah carried away as captives.

Why begin our second semester with such a somber scene? It recalls a time when God permitted the destruction of something that was his own in order to rebuild it. It was a time when God purified his people through intense suffering, through foreign invasion, exile and captivity. Harsh medicine.

It didn’t have to be that way. Had the people heeded the warnings of Jeremiah, such bitter measures could have been avoided. Up to the very day that the invaders breached the walls, God was showing the leaders of Jerusalem a way out. The prophet Jeremiah continually appealed to them, but they refused to listen.

This moment in the history of God’s people is important for us to remember, and understand. The circumstances that led to such drastic measures on God’s part – such harsh medicine – were to be played out again at a later date…and then again, and again. It is a pattern that repeats itself throughout history. Whenever God’s people collectively lose touch with what makes them unique – what sets them apart from other nations – God permits them to be conquered, captured and enslaved in order to purify them. In order to clarify their distinct identity, in order to rebuild.

What does this have to do with us? And what does this have to do with discerning God’s will for your life? More than meets the eye.

It doesn’t take a prophet to see the similarities between Jeremiah’s time and our own. We in western civilization – in modern Christian and what many call post-Christian society – have not yet undergone physical destruction at the hands of foreign invaders, neither have we experienced the intense suffering that God permitted in Jerusalem of old. Yet there has certainly been a different kind of destruction, which has led to exile and captivity. And your generation has borne the brunt of it. Your generation has, for the most part, been enslaved. Worst of all, you probably don’t even realize it.

What is in ruins? Culture. Our culture – your culture – has been almost completely dismantled. What do I mean by culture? I mean the historical “language” of our people. “Language” here refers to more than what comes out of our mouths. It refers to all the shared symbols, signs, customs and experiences that make us unique as a people. Culture is our way, as a society, of remembering and handing on our collective experience of reality. It’s the blueprint for happiness passed along from one generation to the next that saves you and me the trouble of having to figure it all out for ourselves, of having to “reinvent the wheel.” “Here’s what we find important,” says one generation to the next, “here’s how to live life well.”

I’m on thin ice here, I know. “Culture” is a bad word in many circles. It implies something stuffy, suffocating and imposed from outside. It isn’t “my thing.” It’s somebody else’s “thing.” It’s old people’s “thing.” So we reject it and call ourselves free individuals. “Thanks but no thanks, I’ll do my own thing,” most would say when offered the structure and guidelines that culture provides.

But let’s follow this line of thinking to its logical conclusions. We’re all doing our own thing, right? I’m happy and you’re happy. That’s great, isn’t it? An enlightened way of approaching things, it seems. Then why do we have so much difficulty in building strong and lasting relationships? Why are we all so lonely and disconnected? We’re great at hanging out, great at hooking up; but let’s be honest, we’re lousy at staying together, sticking it out in the hard times and going the distance. Haven’t we been blinded by our enlightenment?

Isn’t it true that we, as a society of individuals, move from relationship to relationship with the restless aimlessness of a late-night channel surfer? I’m not just talking about dating or marriage. All relationships. It seems we start out each time with such promise, but the “happily ever after” stays out of reach. What’s wrong? Why can’t we stay together?

It has to do with an important dimension of culture. Culture sets out the shared expectations among a group of people for how to build relationships. Has it ever struck you that we no longer have common, accepted ground rules for relationships? They’re almost all gone. Try to agree with another person on even the basics of friendship, dating, marriage and child raising. Try to find an agreed approach to social responsibilities, community involvement, and duty to our nation and government. Try to find shared convictions on church affiliation and acceptable styles of worship. In all of these you will see the dizzying confusion of a playing field with no boundaries and no accepted rules. Our only rules now for relationships are: “be nice” and “don’t judge.” Not much to go on.

What is to be done? Do we try to return to the “good ol’ days”? I, for one, am not endorsing that. In fact, I’ll tell you up front that I don’t have a solution. But neither will I casually dismiss the wisdom of the past as quaint, dated and “out of touch.” Anybody who so carelessly rejects tradition is either lazy or hiding an agenda.

Culture, then, is the historical record of what matters, what lasts, what’s real. Culture is also the pre-existing guide to good relationships. You can accept it for your own life or reject it, but increasingly the problem is that it – culture – isn’t even offered. Institutions that once preserved and passed on culture – universities, churches, civic organizations, have become lost in a chaotic jumble of competing ideologies and manipulated by a host of special interest groups. “Since we can’t agree on what’s true,” they have demurred, “let’s throw out the rule book and allow everyone to start with a blank slate.” Very empowering for the individual? Perhaps. Very confusing for the society? Definitely!

Where there are no boundaries and no shared expectations, there are no stable relationships. Confusion takes over; things break down, society unravels. If you want to see what a society based on individualism looks like, try building a tower by stacking Teflon-coated marbles.

Your generation, like Jeremiah’s, is facing a time of rebuilding. The situation is sobering. Surrounded by the ruins of a dismantled culture, you must try to discover the outlines of what was lost and rebuild it – with both old materials and new. The basic blueprint is the same but the building blocks must be fashioned anew. It will be a lot of work; a long process, but don’t lose heart. Not only is it very possible, but by God’s grace, the construction of a new culture is within your grasp.

**Novena Prayer**

**Jesus says:** “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
**Pier Giorgio responds:** What wealth it is to be in good health, as we are! But we have the duty of putting our health at the service of those who do not have it. To act otherwise would be to betray that gift of God.
**Let us pray:** Blessed Pier Giorgio, help me to seek God’s righteousness, His plan for my life and for the salvation of the world. Show me the way to self-surrender, so that I may desire nothing more than to be of service to the Lord and His Kingdom. Lead me to the table of love, where I will be satisfied.
Blessed Pier Giorgio, I ask for your intercession in obtaining from God, Who is righteous and just, all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I confidently turn to you for help in my present need: (in your own words, ask for the Lord to give you greater charity in all of your relationships and to purify them from all self-interest).
*A Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, by Rev. Timothy E. Deeter*

Make it My Own

Daily Discernment Workbook

1. Times are a’changin’

Cultural norms are accepted principles for a society. Often they are assumed rather than openly stated. My generation (and my parents’) has seen more changes to these norms than any in modern history. When I consider the following statements, I get an idea of how much has changed. Below I rate the change in society as a whole (to the best of my knowledge) over the course of four generations. From my great-grandparent’s generation to my grandparent’s generation; from my grandparent’s generation to my parent’s, and then from my parent’s generation to my own.

Norm 1: “Marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.”

3 generations back. From my perspective, this norm from my great-grandparent’s generation to my grandparent’s generation has…