THURMAN’S CORNER – 9/21/20

In a world of tremendous upheaval such as ours, where almost all of the old moorings are uprooted and it is simply maddening to try to secure and maintain one’s bearing and sense of direction, the Church must be primarily a place of instruction, must include at least two important areas. In the first place, men must be taught the content of the Christian faith. Such questions as: Who was Jesus? What precisely did he teach? What are the historic Jewish-Christian insights with reference to God and the meaning of life and the interpretation of human experience? What is man and what is the nature of his responsibility? How must one interpret the new significance of the various political economic and social arrangements under which men live? These and similar questions must be dealt with, carefully, honestly and intelligently.

The second area has to do with the inner life. What is the significance of spiritual exercises? Precisely what is prayer and how does one pray? What techniques and methods are available for deepening one’s sense of the presence of God and how may one work in the world courageously and intelligently on behalf of a decent world, without despair and complete fatigue? What are the resources for personal rehabilitation and renewal? That men may be able to look out on life, with all of its cruel vicissitudes and transcendent joys, with quiet eyes and tranquil spirit, is one of the end results of the attention that the Church gives to this important responsibility to the individual.

From his book “Deep Is The Hunger”