About the Name

JMJ

Christ the King, Thy Kingdom Come!

Yes, the name of my shop relates to Jesus. Now before you role your eyes, I know that there are a lot of weird and pushy religious people in the world, and I try really hard not to be like them. Preaching belongs at the pulpit of a church, not on a card shop website. However, charity, virtue, encouragement, peace, and other insights and fruits of the faith can and ought to be brought into all that I do as a Christian.

Let's be clear here. I am not going to proselytize you. You will not receive saint cards or miraculous medals in your orders. This is not a platform for sharing the Christian Gospel. However, I cannot and will not separate the faith from the things that I do. It imbues everything that I am and makes up for all that I am not. I hope you can accept this about me.

You will likely not see it much, but my faith does provide a framework out of which I operate. If you want to understand that framework, you will have to travel with me back in history.

In 410 AD, when Alaric and his Visigoth army sacked the seemingly unconquerable city of Rome, the empire was shaken and the lived reality of its inhabitants seemed to be crumbling. How could this happen? Why has this happened? What will be the fate of the Roman Empire as a whole in the coming years?  Pagans everywhere blamed the Christians and their strange religious observances. Christians wondered how God could ever let this happen to His holy city, the center of the Catholic Church.

Many nowadays prefer a simpler solution to such questions: religion is folly. There is no such thing as God. I am not satisfied with this solution. To people honestly seeking Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, this creates more problems than it solves. To be logically consistent, the denial of God is the denial of any sense of objective order: meaning, purpose, value, peace, justice, love, answers. But defending the existence of God is not the purpose of this page.

In explaining the Sacking of Rome, St. Augustine of Hippo gave a different explanation, one that has guided not just the Church but Western Civilization as a whole for centuries, and it is the explanation that guides the name of this store. In his book City of God, Augustine explains that we ought not be surprised that Rome has fallen into the hands of worldly powers. It is an earthly city that is bound to be corrupted, to crumble, or at least come to an end on the last day. Our trust is not in this world, but in an eternal city, the city of heaven, the City of God.

The theme of Augustine's whole life is summed up in his famous quote: "You have made us for Thyself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee." We are made to be citizens of the City of God, not the City of the World. As Jesus Himself teaches: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:19-21 (RSV)

This does NOT mean abandon the world! It does NOT mean that all things that are of this life are proclaimed evil. Rather, it means that all things in this life can and ought to be oriented toward an eternal destiny.

I am running a very simple card shop, something that in the grand scheme of things is insignificant and non-lasting. Our hobbies are unnecessary (which is precisely what makes them enjoyable! Check out what I mean by this in Hobby Like It Matters). But even this can be ordered toward an eternal destiny. That is precisely what I strive to do.

And so my prayer is this: Lord, bless this venture that I have undertaken. Allow it to bear fruit in my life and in the lives of others by providing access to meaningful rest and leisure. Stir up in me and all who use this site all virtues that lead to lasting fulfillment in this life and the building of the common good. May we glimpse, even now in our rest, relaxation, and friendships, that eternal peace of soul you desire to give to each of us. Christ the King, Thy Kingdom Come!