Learning from history

It’s always a temptation when you go to a place like Rome to get lost in its history.
Better when you take from it also a perspective on the present and the future.

I liked the coverage of the recent US election on PBS’s The News Hour so much better than the shouters on the cable networks. Especially I liked the input from presidential historians. History has something to say.

It’s important to look back for you to go ahead.

Human nature doesn’t radically change; it will always have its saints and its sinners.
Factors like climate change, earthquakes, natural disasters– “signs in the heavens” as the scriptures say– will always be with us in one form or another.

The church we see in those old monuments in Rome still lives today and by God’s grace will live tomorrow.

I was thinking of this because of the recent meeting at the Vatican between Christian and Moslem leaders to discuss vital issues like immigration, religious rights, violence, and so forth. Recently too there was a meeting of leading scientists there to discuss the relationship between science and religion–another hot topic.

There was also a recent synod on Holy Scripture in Rome, which will have consequences throughout the world on how we see our faith. Orthodox leaders met a year or so ago with Roman Catholic representatives to discuss the future role of the papacy–they’re calling it “the petrine ministry” now.

You can’t look at these issues without looking at the past. It actually frees you from being frozen in the present and enables you to think about change.