Roman civilization was nearly 1,000 years old by the time the wall was built, and it must have seemed that Rome would last forever.
Soldiers manned the wall for another 200 years. But the empire did not last forever. It collapsed, and Hadrian’s wall became a quarry used by the local people scavenging for building materials.
Historians spill lots of ink debating why civilized Rome fell to roving bands of barbarians. But when you get right down to it, the answer is right in the Bible (Is 5:1-7; Mt 21:33-43). It fell for the same reason that the Kingdom of Israel fell in 722 BC and Judah was exiled to Bablyon in 587 BC. Divine Providence had blessed all three societies. But He had also called them all to account, and found them wanting. He had planted them as choice vines, but these civilizations had yielded sour grapes. Idolatry, adultery and social injustice were the fruits borne before their collapse. And how about the people of Jericho? Why did their walls come tumbling down? Could it have anything to do with the fact that they practiced child sacrifice and ritual prostitution?
That was then. How about now? America was founded in large part by those seeking to make it “a city on a hill.” Its motto was “In God we trust.” Now judges rule that we can safely retain this motto without infringing on anyone’s rights precisely because we really don’t mean it. America once exported democracy. Now it exports Desperate Housewives. When I travel around the world and tell people that I’m from Dallas, their faces light up. Even if they can’t speak English, they manage to smile and exclaim “J.R.!”
Many assume America will last forever. But there were soldiers manning Hadrian’s wall for more years than a US president has occupied the White House. We are not invulnerable, as September 11 and Katrina have reminded us. If we continue to yield sour grapes, our walls too will come tumbling down.
So what are we to do? Perhaps instead of killing the prophets, we ought to listen to them. Maybe we can begin honoring God rather than exiling Him, respecting marital fidelity rather than ridiculing it, protecting the unborn rather than protecting their “terminatators,” and caring for the poor rather than abandoning them.
And maybe we can follow the advice of St. Paul (Phil 4:6-9) and renounce the anxiety that makes us miserable and causes us to conclude that we must “take care of ourselves” rather than do things God’s way. Perhaps if we thank God for blessings and even trials, presenting our needs to Him in faith, we’ll see a change in our mood and even a change in our world.
Have you ever seen a more frantic society than ours? We eat, drink, and breathe tension. But maybe if we fill our minds with the beauty of truth rather than with the trash of Desperate Housewives we might notice more joy and serenity in our lives.
St. Paul speaks of a “peace that passes all understanding.” It’s a peace that does not go away even when planes strike towers and hurricanes strike cities. It starts in the inside but has impact on the outside. Without it, Mother Teresa could have never lasted in the chaos of Calcutta and John Paul the Great could have never made his way through Nazi tanks and Communist oppression to occupy the Chair of Peter.
This peace indeed defies comprehension. But it’s ours for the asking.
Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation.
(This article originally appeared in Our Sunday Visitor and is used by permission of the author.)