Is this the tipping point?

In Rumer Godden’s exquisite little gem of a book, In This House of Brede, a Benedictine Abbot and Abbess are conversing about the changing times. The abbot complains that some of his monks want to shorten the hours of the Divine Office (the liturgical prayer that is the “work” of the monastic) in order to work on their farm or their printery. The abbess confesses that some of her nuns want the same. The abbot, in frustration, says, “contemplatives want to do the work of active orders, active orders want to do the work of lay people.”

“Perhaps,” said the abbess, “lay people will turn to contemplation.”

I like the exchange. It’s a nifty summation of the way the wheels turn, or of the tipping point, how one movement gains and gains until it is full to overflow, and things shift.

The Wall Street Journal, looking at the judicial filibuster, re-examines how we got here and it’s a really good read. Interestingly, it ends on a hopeful – some might call it fantastically hopeful – note:

This is at its core a political fight, and elections ought to mean something. Republicans have gained Senate seats in two consecutive elections in which judicial nominations were among the most important issues, including against the Senate Minority Leader. The one Democrat from a red state who won last year, Ken Salazar of Colorado, did so by promising to oppose judicial filibusters; he now seems to have changed his mind after sipping the Beltway’s partisan punch.

Perhaps the coming showdown will lead to more political bitterness, but we doubt Democrats will be able to follow through on their pledge to shut down the Senate; the public wants other things done. And who knows? If Democrats can’t succeed any longer in legislating through the courts, maybe they’ll even return to trying to win power the old-fashioned way, through elections.

As Grandma used to say, “from your mouth to God’s ears.” We can only hope that the overripe excesses of Democrat scheming are reaching their overfill, or tipping point.

Let us pray.

Which reminds me of another line from Godden’s excellent book, “prayer has power. It is the only thing that holds when everything falls apart.”

Keep that in mind! :-)