The Fellowship of St. Columbanus

Genesis 3:9-15 Psalm 130 II Corinthians 4:13-5:1 St. Mark 3:20-35 This week's lections include some of my favorite texts of Scripture. Our first lesson deals with the Fall of Mankind, drawing special attention to the fact that after eating of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve's eyes were opened and they clothed themselves, having realized that they were naked. God then asks pointedly, "Who told you that you were naked?" The Fall of Man Jordaens, 17th century This text has proven confusing throughout the history of biblical interpretation. Everyone from Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon in Guide for the Perplexed to C.S. Lewis in Peralandra has wrestled with it. Why is a wisdom which seems so worthy forbidden, and why is our first reaction after gaining it to clothe ourselves? David Cotter, OSB, solves the first problem, pointing out that "good and evil" is a pair like "old and young," or "high and low," a pair of opposites that we us...

" Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage." J.R.R. Tolkien It has been a hectic couple of weeks for the Fellowship, and, unfortunately, we missed posting on Corpus Christi and the Visitation in the scramble. So I will try to make up for our omission here. First, we had a successful and encouraging meeting with a couple who are starting a community in eastern Kentucky. Bishop Stowe put us in contact with them for support and advice, and they were very encouraging and helpful. The Angelus Jean-Francois Millet, 1859. We have also reached out to Movimiento Apostolico Manequehue, a community of Benedictine oblates who focus on education, based in Santiago, Chile. They have been extremely welcoming and encouraging and we ar...

It is the fundamental error of the modern hedonist to believe that man can abandon moral effort and throw off every repression and spiritual discipline and yet preserve all the achievements of culture. It is the lesson of history that the higher the achievement of a culture the greater is the moral effort and the stricter is the social discipline that it demands . Christopher Dawson, “ Christianity and Sex ”. It is undeniable that we are going through times of cultural decline, times when the public enactment of our culture and civilisation is beset by confusion, contradiction and conflict. This is nothing new – all civilisations go through periods of confusion, crippling self-doubt and weakness. What we call our civilisation and our culture are, in fact, nothing but the secularised continuation of what was once, at all levels of society, the purposeful pursuit of a common vision.   Certainly, there was dissent, confusion and contradiction, but these were relegated to the m...