My Spiritual Trifecta

In another one of my "Miscellaneous Musings", I want to share a little bit about what I've been reading lately. Looking back over the past few years, my reading "tastes" have settled on three main categories: History, Spirituality and Prophecy. I'll try to give a little discussion on each.

The first "type" of book I've been reading is the historical. I've been particularly drawn to the historical works of Warren Carroll. He is a Catholic author who writes, in his own words, from an "Incarnational Perspective". One of his central points as an author is that history becomes a caricature unless the spiritual underpinnings of the players are considered. His discussion of the of the rise and fall of Israel, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, Islam, Communism and others is, to me, riveting. And his sober historical treatment of the historical timing of the prophets in Scripture is, to me, fascinating and sheds tremendous light onto parts of the bible that are otherwise inaccessible to me. In reading Carroll, I get a better perspective of what it has meant down through the ages to live on this earth. I have come to the realization that not everyone has grown up in this "holiday from history" known as the U.S.A. I am learning that the history of this planet is riddled with evil acts too heinous to be shown in a Hollywood movie (which is saying something). In relating these real world historical tragedies, he does an effective job of creating, through good story-telling, a qualitative sense of the deep-seated, (literally) anguished yearning of the ancient peoples for Truth, for some understanding of why their lives were so hard. And he also relates how, in the midst of wars, persecutions, famines, disease, earthquakes, men and women have risen up, under the inspiration of God, to do incredible things. As I read these stories, I am inspired by the heroism of our ancestors. The truth is, Carroll's books are like candy to me, I can't put them down, but they aren't an end unto themselves and his effective story-telling skill also has a tendency to disconnect me from the reality of my life.

The second type of book I read is the spiritual. These are a little less "sweet" - more like really good organic broccoli - something I do enjoy, I know I should be eating more of, but still have to make a small "act of the will" to choose when I see a "Hershey's bar" (of history for instance...) sitting on the counter. The spiritual titles each come at conformity to Christ from a different angle and I have actually found benefit to "jump around" from title to title. I think the reason for this is that many of these books were written for people living in monasteries as monks and nuns whose life was pretty structured and far more concerned with strong commitment to a particular spiritual path. My life, as a husband and father, on the contrary, is about responding to whatever the commitments of love that I have bring to me on a given day. Thus, I find benefit in drawing from many spiritual perspectives - it's almost like I have to find the one that resonates to whatever situation I have that day. Up at night worried about the kids? Read the Psalms. Feeling like my work is pointless? (I'm not likely to be a key player in any big battle that will change the course of history...)? Read "Abandonment to Divine Providence". A lot of success coming my way with potential for great prosperity? Read "Preparation for Death". And read The Spiritual Combat every single day. (My intent of writing this here is to share some grassroots spiritual knowledge with anyone who is interested).

The third type of book is the one that raises eyebrows: namely, Prophecy. Prophecy is a concept that seems to me to be so foreign I don't even known how to bring it up. I'd rather not write about it here. But, the truth is, fully 1/3rd of my reading time is on prophecy (so my little secret is up...). What do I mean by prophecy? Well, as a Catholic, I mean, in particular, reading messages from Jesus and from the Blessed Virgin Mary given through modern day "seers" from all over the world. Yes, prophetic stuff is going on "all over the place" in our present time. In fact, of the three different types of books I am interested in, I expect that prophecy is the one that I will never exhaust. We live in a time with so much "authentic" (meaning "examined by appropriate authorities and found to be free from error") prophetic literature that it seems to me there is no one on the face of the earth who can keep up with all of it. My own behavior when I read prophetic books is so odd. If I am in public, I behave like someone who is reading a dirty magazine. Do I want to anyone to see that I am reading "Our Lady's Beloved Son's, Messages to the Marian Movement of Priests"? Heavens No! The scandal! The modern prophetic "current" is primarily (but not exclusively...) oriented around Marian apparitions began in the 1800's. There were prophecies of the first and second world wars (Leo XIII), the rise of Communism (Fatima), the papacy of John Paul II (Faustina Kowalska) and numerous other historical events. And they have continued to the present day, in places like Kibeho (check out the correlation to the Rwandan massacre in 1994), Akita (Japan), Medjugorje (who hasn't heard of it?), Betania, even right here in Minnesota! When I juxtapose my interest in history, in particular the historical correlation between the ancient prophets and ancient historical events with this modern onslaught of prophetic literature, the reason for my interest becomes clear. OK, having "teased" with this prophetic dimension, I can't give a full overview of what all the messages are saying, but the key point is that humanity in this present time is suffering in a manner unlike any other time in history. We are confused and disconnected from God. There is a spiritual vacuum and tremendous ignorance. And there is the active power of the devil. In our materialistic ignorance in regards to the spiritual, people are involving themselves in spiritual practices that can have real, devastating consequences. A great modern analogy I have heard is that our spiritual "environment" right now is the equivalent of what our natural environment would be if the Exxon Valdez crashed every single day. God is calling us to pray for everyone, and to make personal sacrifices to help so many people who don't even receive the most basic human element of life - love. We are literally in danger of losing the knowledge of what it means to love. And it also says to be prepared for the consequences of all our man-made problems to take effect "shortly" (unfortunately a thoroughly ambiguous term in regards to the prophetic). When I read this stuff, my personal focus is re-directed from retiring at age 55 and owning a fancy cabin up north somewhere to simplifying my life, disconnecting from the "noise" of our modern culture, learning to rely more on God and storing up treasure for myself in heaven by loving my neighbor. Unorthodox and strange as it may be, the prophetic is an indispensable component of my spiritual life.

As I finish writing this, the thought suddenly comes into my mind that the common element among these three types of books is again the presence of God - His presence in history, his presence in my life today and his presence in regards to the future. May all three lead me to Him.