“For right and wrong change places; everywhere
So many wars, so many shapes of crime
Confront us; no honor attends the plow,
The fields, bereft of tillers, are all unkempt…” Virgil, The Georgics
So many wars; so many different shapes of evil. Right and wrong themselves have changed places. What was once seen as unacceptable, even perverse, has become acceptable, even praised, while what was sacred has been trampled, and what should be most protected has been defiled.
Virgil yokes great social and moral evils with how we care for the land. Fields that are empty—or in any case empty of ’tillers’—are a sign of devastation. The honor we give the plow—the noble even if sometimes misused instrument of one who cares for and cultivates the earth—is taken as a gauge of our moral compass.
These are challenging, even confusing, connections. We are not used to thinking in these terms. Yet last week a letter from a religious leader in Rome made connections notably akin to Virgil’s. Are we able, are we willing to consider anew a line of thinking that is as ancient as it is urgent?
Virgil (70-19 B.C.) is the great Roman poet, author of The Aeneid and The Georgics. In the Divine Comedy Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory.
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Dr. Cuddeback, I hope you will write more of your thoughts on Laudato Si. Someone who has an actual life experience of respect for the environment would be most helpful to understanding the document. Catholic commentaries I’ve read all seem to have an axe to grind politically.
Patricia, Thank you very much. I will indeed be writing about Laudato Si after I study it for a little while. You will be able to find it here.
I am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the encyclical. Sounds like a good topic for the Institute of Catholic Culture!!
Wonderful piece! This is a bit more modern poem I wrote which touches on the subject, at least upon the fields:
Abandoned Fields
Fields lie fallow,
Far from intended purpose,
Pastures now an unfenced history,
A widowed elder with no safe passage
& asphalt town sprawl
Comes just across a once
Rural two lane highway; rolling into
An opportunistic heir’s nonprotective trust.
It speaks promised lines
In past tense; foretells futures
Sealed in crumbled harvests, flattened,
Into an unfertile concrete destiny.
Field of dreams,
But no more of birdsongs,
Nor of secret spring burrows rich with life,
Not for dragonfly who danced her last eggfall,
Precariously trusting a marshy edge.
Once fertile fields
Where rich rain pledges fell
Often too plenty or came too late,
A cracked season sown & lost,
Now an impudent army
Of small cedar & sapling pines
Advance in bold protest, all perimeter
Lines past forgotten like old survey posts.
Volunteer trees set up camp,
A rooted yet undisciplined company,
An ironic scattered witness; persistent
Squatters, temporary growth
Awaiting some inevitable victory
Soon to come, soil rolled under by some
Large yellow dozer, here to claim
Another fallen field’s wealth.
Elizabeth Perdomo
This is lovely, Elizabeth. .
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20 I so fear for our country and the direction we are headed.
God Bless
Rick
Hi Dr. Cuddeback, I wanted to let you know that your talk last night on the Rule of St. Benedict was very spiritually moving to me. It hasmotivated me to read the Rule. I have picked it up a few times but thought it would be too hard to follow. Your introduction andpointing out the main things for lay people to focus on and reflect on, was most helpful. In fact I’ve been thinking about what you taught all day today, even wore my St. Benedict medal and when asked about who that was, mentioned the Rule!I want to sincerely thank you for your teaching. Anne Marie McNew(Sophia symposium student)
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Thinking how relevant your first paragraph is to the most recent, terrible Court ruling.
I really enjoy your musings. Just wish they were longer!
Kirsty Cardinale