“ ‘I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.’

‘So do all who live in such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.’”

– Frodo and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings

Upon opening the paper in the morning and scanning the headlines I am often struck by feelings of anger, anxiety, frustration, and shock. It is easy to think “Why must I live in these times?” There is a natural human instinct to resent the time we live  in and harken back to simpler and better days. However, just because all people of all ages have done this does not exclude the possibility that we live in a difficult time.

A survey of the news of the day will report  a myriad of issues–increasing depression, isolation, and loneliness–the breakdown of the social fabric with families and communities hollowed out and destroyed. Wealth inequality and economic concentration are accelerating with prices spiraling out of control. Agribusiness and huge corporations are ruining our land and our health concurrently. The dignity of life is continually assaulted by so-called human rights activists. To quote Tolkien again “What can men do against such reckless hate?”

Undoubtedly we live in troubled times and as Catholic Christians, the question each of us is faced with is, what should we do about it? Considering this question among my peers and in popular Catholic culture, three main options seem to present themselves. The first, and least appealing option, is to live in the world pretty much as usual and make personal, moral, and religious decisions for yourself and, to a lesser extent, for your family.

This Catholic News Agency quote from President Joe Biden illustrates that approach.

“ ‘Life begins at conception, that’s the Church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life,’ he said. ‘But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others, unlike my friend here, the congressman.’”

Not everyone who takes this approach to their life will be the President of the United States and have the power and responsibility to take action on important issues, but the principle stands. The idea that we can be completely of the world but maintain our faith has been shattered by the collapse of that faith over the last 60 years or so.

The next option takes various forms but is basically a vigorous engagement in politics and civic life with the aim of steering society in the direction of conservative Christian positions. We can forcefully advocate for laws and policies that encourage and foster the Christian worldview through non-profits, conservative media, grassroots organizing, political action committees, groups like the Federalist Society, etc.

The valiant efforts and resources of numerous people are dedicated to these projects and they have produced some great results. The breaking of the liberal media monopoly and the overturning of Roe v. Wade are examples of these victories. The danger here, again, is to be pulled too much into the world. As Christians integrate themselves into a conservative party or movement, conflict points will arise and force them into the difficult position of choosing lesser evils. We may win on abortion but will lose on issues like corn subsidies and soil erosion.

Rod Dreher’s suggestion in The Benedict Option provides a third avenue for consideration. He advocates for a pulling back from secular society. Turning off our televisions and phones, moving closer together, and making our families and parishes the center of our life. The title of the book comes from St. Benedict and the monastic foundations that survived the fall of the Roman Empire by withdrawing into themselves and preserving Christian culture. 

The idea that we should draw closer to our local Christian communities and raise our kids in relatively sheltered environments seems to me to be necessary to some degree in today’s anti-Christian world. Without the safety of a strong community and being rooted in the faith of that community, the risk of losing the faith is simply too great. The struggle is finding or building these communities.

The old social fabric of villages and parishes that existed for a millenia is gone. Moving out onto the land with a few families to start an agricultural community from scratch is filled with challenges that most ordinary people are not ready for. Working to transform declining parishes into vibrant living communities has its own deep set of challenges. Most of us are so far removed from the realities of this type of life that most of the attempts, though laudable in their aims, are short lived and do not succeed. 

So where do we go from here? We can live in the world, keeping our faith private, and probably lose it. We can be culture warriors and advocate for our issues and work our way into the power structures of the government and force change. Or we can retreat into our enclaves and struggle to live apart from the world hoping our children or our grandchildren will again see a Christian society. This may be an oversimplification of the issue but if you ask most Catholics today how they see themselves and their mission in society you will get something like one of these answers.

The challenge with the two latter options is that they are expansive, difficult, and unclear. Some people undoubtedly know how to go about political organizing. Some others surely know how to find willing families and organize a Catholic farming cooperative. Most ordinary everyday people wouldn’t know where to begin a project like those. For us ordinary people who are just trying to do the best we can I would echo the words of Wendell Berry “Think Little.”

As a people we have lost much of our common life and common culture. Without these foundations we cannot begin to work towards the larger goals above. We must first reestablish ourselves in our real lives and with our real work at a personal level. Berry writes,

“What we are up against in this country, in any attempt to invoke private responsibility, is that we have nearly destroyed private life. Our people have given up their independence in return for the cheap seductions and the shoddy merchandise of so-called “affluence.” We have delegated all our vital functions and responsibilities to salesmen and agents and bureaus and experts of all sorts. We cannot feed or clothe ourselves, or entertain ourselves, or communicate with each other, or be charitable or neighborly or loving, or even respect ourselves, without recourse to a merchant or a corporation or a public-service organization or an agency of the government or a style-setter or an expert.” 

Small, simple human actions are what we need to first stabilize ourselves and then transform the society. An example from my own life started a few years ago when my Nanny (grandmother) asked me if I could find her some Kentucky Half-Runner beans down here in Cincinnati. She grew up with them in the coal fields of Clay County but moved to northern Ohio in the 1950s and hadn’t had them in years. So I dutifully began to ask farmers at the Findlay Market and a farmer named Jim delivered. He taught me how to string them and advised on their preparation. I had started reading Wendell Berry at this point and was inspired to try canning them so they could be easily transported to Nanny’s house. She was thrilled with them and continues to ask about them every time I talk to her.

Over the next few years I continued to put up about quarts of beans and expanded into tomatoes, peaches, jams, sauce, and soups which are shared among my family, friends, and neighbors. This sounds like a quaint story but I have come to believe that these small insignificant tasks are how we are meant to address larger issues in our world.This simple decision to put up food has resulted in new friendships with the farmers, shifted thousands of dollars from Kroger to a local farm, given my family and friends hundreds of quarts of healthy local food, brought joy to people who thought these homecrafts were dead and gone, and inspired multiple friends to begin canning themselves.

As Catholics and Christians we need to seek out these opportunities to think little. To have direct, meaningful, and immediate impacts on the people the Lord has placed around us. Be a good neighbor, do things for yourself, plant a garden, cook a meal, throw parties, give to charity, shop local, don’t buy things you don’t need, walk instead of drive, throw away your TV, be friendly to the person who annoys you, buy a round of drinks at the bar, call your grandparents, and pray that the Lord blesses those around you.

The hobbits are the true heroes of The Lord of the Rings, and the Shire’s strength came from the ordinary little practices of hospitality, care, and friendship. Use the time you are given as well as you can by thinking little and you will be amazed at the fruit that comes.