
Although tomes could be written on the subject, Dr. John Senior says it best:
“What is Christian culture? It is essentially the Mass. That is not my or anyone’s opinion or theory or wish but the central fact of 2,000 years of history. Christendom, what secularists call Western Civilization, is the Mass and the paraphernalia which protect and facilitate it. All architecture, art, political and social forms, economics, the way people live and feel and think, music, literature ―all these things when they are right are ways of fostering and protecting the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. To enact a sacrifice, there must be an altar, an altar has to have a roof over it in case it rains; to reserve the Blessed Sacrament, we build a little House of Gold and over it a Tower of Ivory with a bell and a garden round it with the roses and lilies of purity, emblems of the Virgin Mary ―Rosa Mystica, Turris Davidica, Turris Eburnea, Domus Aurea, who carried His Body and His Blood in her womb, Body of her body, Blood of her blood. And around the church and garden, where we bury the faithful dead, the caretakers live, the priests and religious whose work is prayer, who keep the Mystery of Faith in its tabernacle of music and words in the Office of the Church; and around them, the faithful who gather to worship and divide the other work that must be done in order to make the perpetuation of the Sacrifice possible–to raise the food and make the clothes and build and keep the peace so that generations to come may live for Him, so that the Sacrifice goes on even until the consummation of the world.”

That’s just….beautiful. And when you think about European history, it’s very true, and not just implicitly. People actually stated this as their reason for doing a great many things (both good and bad).
By: Danby on May 29, 2007
at 3:39 pm
Jeff,
This was the most startling portion of the whole book to me. I’d never considered this perspective, but I can see what he means.
Other portions of the book were good, but I can go elsewhere (Wendell Berry, Jerry Mander, etc.) to find advice to smash my television.
peace,
By: Zach Frey on May 30, 2007
at 1:06 pm
What’s the picture of?
By: Julian on May 30, 2007
at 6:53 pm
The photo is of a churchyard Mary garden. I don’t remember the name, but I thought it fit the passage.
By: Jeff Culbreath on May 30, 2007
at 6:58 pm
Zach: If you really read this book, all I can say that your Episcopalian days are numbered!
By: Jeff Culbreath on May 30, 2007
at 7:00 pm
Thanks. Lovely peaceful photo.
By: Julian on May 30, 2007
at 7:27 pm
Jeff,
Yes, I made it through, although the details are fuzzy — all I remember clearly is the very paragraph you quote, the advice to smash the television and to walk instead of drive, and an odd desire to learn Latin.
Oh, and an enhancement of that sense I get that I’m living in the ruins of a once-great civilization:
The numbering of my days as an Episcopalian is done, and I’m not going back. We’ll see what the number of my days yet as an Anglican is, but it’s no great secret that I’ve been wobbly about that for quite some time now.
peace,
By: Zach Frey on May 31, 2007
at 7:29 am