Why Our Lady's Shire?

If someone were to tell you that the answer to the great wars, social upheaval, and the myriad of other problems facing us today is to return to Our Lady's Shire - you might think that someone ought to be getting professional help or at least a job at Medeval Times.

Yet if you resist the temptation to dismiss and simply humor the man, you might discover that the idea is not all that wacky after all. You might ask some simple questions:

What is Our Lady's Shire?
Maybe the best place to start is by defining what a "shire" is in the first place.

Merriam-Webster defines shire as:

Pronunciation: 'shIr, in place-name compounds "shir, sh&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English scIr office, shire; akin to Old High German scIra care
1 : an administrative subdivision; especially : a county in England
2 : any of a breed of large heavy draft horses of British origin that have heavily feathered legs

Now, clearly we are not talking about the second definition here (although you might find one in Our Lady's Shire), but rather the first: an administrative subdivision having its etymological roots in the Old English word for office and the Old High German word for care. So, the Shire we are talking about here is a place, a subdivision, which has one unifying administrative "office of care."

However, there is more to it than that.

For Lord of the Rings fans, you will know that the whole point of this trilogy of books is the defense and flourishing of a little place for earthy people known as The Shire.

The films (from which this pic is taken) capture a concrete vision of a life that is ordered on the most basic and monumental of principles - a society ordered around family life.

This means a life of substantial self-sufficiency (not radical isolation nor individualism) and a communitarian ethic (not socialist nor communist). It is what society by and large looked like up until the Reformation and Industrial Revolution restructured our society.

Deep in the heart of this vision is a desire for True Liberty and a rejection of freedom - Amerikan Style (note: link is an example of one man's take of this). It is a recognition that small is beautiful, and it still is. But most of all, it is a response to intelligent reflection on the crisis of cultures and the principles of Catholicism taken seriously.

The Shire then is also a symbol, a visual and literary metaphor of what many young Catholic Families desire, but it also casts a contrast to the anti-cultural cluster of life choices we are offered as seemingly our only options.

Our Faith has given us new eyes to see and hearts filled with courage to propose another way to live.

Who is "Our Lady" and why is the Shire hers?

As you can tell from above, Our Lady is the Virgin Queen mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the heart of John Paul II's spirituality is the total consecration to Jesus through Mary. This spirituality is simple yet profound in its implications.

It is her "Yes" that ushers the incarnation of God in our world - Jesus. Her "Yes" crushes the head of the snake and gives birth to civilization.

She is the one who holds the "office of care" for the Shire. The meaning of this will be developed further on this blog as things develop, but at this point suffice to say that Our Lady's Shire is about Her Triumph and the vision of world unity and peace.