Anyway, one thing that I found particularly interesting in the docuмentary was the hospitality. I was told by a convert from Turkey that we could convert so many Arab and Middle Eastern gas station attendants and so forth if we invited them into our homes for a meal on a feast day, since they would understand and appreciate the hospitality. She said that that is how she first met the Christ, was through the hospitality of an English Catholic family that invited the Mohammedan students at one of the universities in England out to their country homes for Mass, meals, and fellowship on the weekends.
In the Middle Ages and Late Antiquity, Christians were renowned for this hospitality to strangers, believing that they might, as the saying goes, be welcoming angels in disguise. When did this change, and why ? What about the social attitudes of Catholics caused so many in Western countries to no longer be so generous or trusting ? Nowadays, people say there are threats, that people might be criminals or perverts. Given the state of society today, I don't blame people for saying this, and I am certainly wary for the same reasons. The again, wasn't this always a risk ? If only welcoming people you already know and trust fully counts as hospitality, where's the virtue in it ?
There does seem to be a difference, however, between older times and today. In former times, there were often many travelers, pilgrims, or people going along their way for whatever reason, especially in mountainous areas and grasslands. This doesn't seem to be the case as much, now; most of the regular travelers would sleep in their cars or at motels. The poor often spend time socialising with the denizens of the immoral districts of larger cities. I would, of course, bitterly regret bringing somebody into my home if he would hurt or scandalise my family. Many people would think I were crazy; but is this really the virtuous mentality ? It's a tough problem to sort out.
Ultimately, however, my mission on Vladimir's thread here is to determine what exactly the nature of our crisis and corruption is. If we do not know the heights from which we have fallen and where we have been, how do we know where we are going ? What, precisely, would the restoration of the Kingship of Christ look like ? What is the Church capable of making her own ? What are the problems the Church faces today, not only the obvious infiltration by liberalism and the Robber Council, but the political and social problems that were the root of this liberal sickness of the heart ? The investigation could easily get too big for this forum, much less this thread, since we would be covering issues related to the histories, present state, and possible futures of China, Russia, Japan, India, the Middle East, the EU, the US, the British Commonwealth, Africa, Central Asia, and the South American sub-continent in the context of international relations and two hundred years of social turmoil. This thread is more modest, focussing on the Far East and its natural goods, how they could be embraced by the Church and possibly have their lessons applied elsewhere.
I imagine that the Reign of Mary would include a vigorous practice of hospitality by Catholics again. Does the Christian hospitality of the Middle Ages and the Mongolian hospitality of the steppe necessitate smaller cities and more culturally homogenous societies, or is that an excuse ? The answer is probably somewhere in between, but I think it's something to think about.
I would be interested to see what Graham thinks about all of this.
Topic: The Far East (Read 10832 times)