How The Irish Saved Civilization, The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe, Thomas Cahill

   A perfect example of why truth is better than fiction. "How The Irish Saved Civilization" was simply a fun read. It was also a message of hope, considering our times.

   "From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne - the "dark ages" - learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of Western civilization - from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works - would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of the unconquered Ireland. ... Thomas Cahill takes us to the "land of saints and scholars," the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells..."

   Okay so, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day which compelled me to share this book with you. I know, that's corny; but it would do us well to relearn the Christ Patrick preached. The civilization that grew after the fall of Rome and Constantinople grew largely out of the ashes and ignorance that remained when all that was noble and stable had collapsed.

    As we ponder what a post-modern world will look like, as we more and more gaze into the fierce face of the philosophies of power, we will be served well to remember that true greatness is to be found in simple humility. Neither Patrick nor the monks that followed him were empire builders. Their labors were not for power or greatness but for Jesus Christ and the quest for truth in Him.

  Cahill's closing words should grip the heart of every Westerner, "The twenty-first century, prophesied Malraux, will be spiritual or it will not be. If our civilization is to be saved - forget about our civilization, which, as Patrick would say, may pass 'in a moment like a cloud or smoke that is scattered by the wind' - if we are to be saved, it will not be by Romans but by saints."

Post tenebras lux, Scott