"To Be, or Not To Be...."

Shakespeare's gift to Western civilization was Hamlet's soliloquy by which Shakespeare raises the eternal question of "truth."

Cdl. Sarah raises the same question for the Church.

....The root problem in Western society – and the Church – comes down to this: degrees of unbelief in God and in his revelation. This unbelief ranges from atheism (theoretical and practical) to agnosticism (often the fruit of ignorance, laziness, or spiritual blindness) to pick-and-choose Catholicism. When we fail to adhere unreservedly to Christ and his teaching, we are left to our own devices – not a happy thought.

Sarah states: “If the tie between God and Christians is weakened, the Church becomes simply a human structure, one society among others. With that, the Church becomes trivial; she makes herself worldly and is corrupted to the point of losing her original nature. Indeed, without God we create a Church in our own image, for our little needs, likes, and dislikes. Fashion takes hold of the Church, and the illusion of sacredness become perishable, a sort of outdated medication.”...




This is Sarah's warning:  do not "to thine own self be true," for that is the wrong way--the way of 'human structure' and triviality.  The splendor of Truth is not in thine own self; it is in Christ.

(A good look at Hamlet can be found here, by the way.  It's not likely to correspond with what most of you heard in college, but it's likely to be the best analysis.)