What's the difference between then and now? Most think technological differences, but I contend it's cultural differences. And there lies the devil.
I am reading or rereading (I can't believe I haven't read this before.) Willa Cather's Death Comes for The Archbishop. I find the life of our early Catholic missionaries fascinating, heroic and inspiring.e
The Archbishop asks her friend, his classmate, his best priest, to be his vicar. He wanted Father Vaillant to help him administer to the diocese. Father Vaillant argued against this proposal, vehemently. He wanted to "hunt for lost Catholics."
...I want to go from house to house...They are full of devotion and faith and it has nothing to feed upon but the most mistaken superstitions. They remember their prayers wrong...They are like seeds, full of germination but with no moisture...
I am not writing a book review, now, because I'm only halfway through the book. But how the character, Father Vaillant describes his people reminded me of people today. They don't remember right. They have nothing to feed upon BUT it's by choice, not circumstances. Today's Catholics don't want devotions; they choice to distance itself from religion. What's the difference?
Both people are starved for faith, but today's people choose not to partake of the feast set before them.
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