Cosmas or the Love of God

Usually the best books come from writers writing from their own personal experience. Usually religious vocations manifest themselves; if they don’t, the presumption is there never was one.

But what about the layman—grandfather and businessman—who writes a flawless classic on the monastic life? If I hadn’t just spilled the beans and you’d read Pierre De Calan’s Cosmas or the Love of God without reading my review or the book’s introduction, I promise, you’d think it had been written by someone who’d devoted his life to the Cistercian tradition. That the author was neither a Trappist, nor a priest, nor even a member of any religious order will surprise most readers, when you think about it—which you won’t do often as you're reading the book, I suspect.

So incredible books can come from those writing about subjects which presumably they have not experienced. Cosmas or the Love of God is a retrospective story about a young man who feels called to the Trappist way of life, enters the abbey and immediately begins to encounter problems. However, unlike most cases where pride or some other obvious sin or character defect make it easy for his superiors to send Cosmas on his way with the assurances that he was wrong, he does not in fact have a vocation, this case defies simple disposition. There's something else going on here, but what?

If books can be written under unusual circumstances by those we don’t normally expect to write on certain subjects, can’t vocations manifest themselves in ways not seen before? With God as Author, isn’t the realm of possibility bigger than we may have suspected?

Here is how the wise Father Abbot, Dom Philippe puts it near the end of the book:

“The vocation of a Bach or a Mozart seems to be beyond all question because of the wonderful music they produced. But in the sight of God, have they any more value than that of any other musician, without their talent and grace, who has heard the inner call and tried to answer it until death? Those who suffer from this gap between their aspirations and their attainments—and whom we cruelly call failures—are perhaps less deceived about their talent than we imagine. But in their eyes the sense of inadequacy, of getting nowhere, and their failures, do not relieve them of the responsibility to keep on trying, unweariedly though in vain ... Has not this kind of fidelity, sustained neither by dispositions nor success, an altogether special value—provided it really is fidelity to an inner voice and is not merely the result of pride or obstinacy? . . . Once more God reminds us that he knows infinitely more than we do … that he knows better than we do the way by which each one of us can find peace.” (pp.224-227)

A thoughtful and thought-provoking read—Cosmas or the Love of God is a quiet afternoon’s meditation on life and how to live well. A good gift for a young person discerning vocation!

Atticus

Atticus is both the book’s title and the name of the main character. Given the name’s connection to a famous novel, we are supposed to associate the ideal father in To Kill a Mockingbird with this father of two grown sons. Atticus is the modern day retelling of one of Jesus’ most beloved parables, The Prodigal Son, or as it is known in some circles today, The Loving Father. The focus of the first title being on the sins of younger son, whereas by changing the title the locus of the story shifts to that of the mercy shown by the all-compassionate father.

Without giving too much of the story away, Atticus is a widower with two sons. The older son, Frank, has obligingly remained close to his father, married, and produced grandchildren. The younger son, Scott, is a rebel. He comes home for a brief – but happy – visit at Christmas and then returns to Mexico where he lives his dissolute life. The next thing Atticus learns, Scott has committed suicide. Atticus flies south of the border to attend to his son’s personal affects and arrange to have his body returned to the United States. What he finds is nothing like what he expected.

I first encountered the author, Ron Hansen, in Mariette in Ecstasy and I was amazed by his insight and story-telling ability. Once again, he has produced a fine work of modern Christian fiction. Unfortunately it will fail to make many Christian book-of-the-month club selections due to some of the more unsavory aspects of human life which Mr. Hansen has chosen to portray. This is a loss, but only for those who refuse to read books because they are easily offended. I can assure sensitive readers that Mr. Hansen never goes out of his way to shock through excess, which is what I take exception to in so much of what masquerades as literature these days.

Although it could just be the locale, Atticus occasionally reminded me of Graham Greene’s 1940 novel, The Power and the Glory. I think it was a bit more than the sun-baked Mexican landscape that had me thinking of Greene’s whiskey priest, however. No doubt the younger son, Scott and his unsavory lifestyle, especially his unwillingness to give up his mistress, was reminiscent of Greene's character. Hansen’s writing, although not yet on par with Greene’s, is exquisite. His book goes down like a cool drink on a hot day.

I’ve always loved the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but then I expect most people do. It’s easy to see oneself and God in it, which is the purpose of all of Scripture. We are called to locate our sinful selves in the place of every sinner in the Bible. This parable has the redeeming quality of a visible, tangible, all-forgiving God who rushes out to meet us—despite what we actually deserve. In Hansen’s book, the father persists in loving his son despite circumstances and actions which seem to render him all but impossible to love. Oh but for such a father when we are similarly unlovable!

Here is a passage from Atticus which says it all:

‘She told him, "When I was in college I read a folktale about a father pursuing a son who'd run far away, from one world to the next. The father called to him, 'Please come back!' But his son looked across the great gulf between them and shouted to him, 'I can't go that far!' So his father yelled to his son, 'Then just come back halfway!' But his boy replied, I can't go back halfway!' And finally his father shouted, 'Walk back as far as you can! I'll go the rest of the way!'"’

Yes Lord, I’m walking … and looking for You! Please come the rest of the way!

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Viper's Tangle

“. . . Consider, O God, that we are without understanding of ourselves; that we do not know what we would have and set ourselves at an infinite distance from our desires.” ~St. Teresa of Avila

It isn’t often anymore I finish a book in a couple of days but today I was sick and the sickbed does have one advantage: you can’t do very much but sleep and lay around. In between sleeping, I read François Mauriac’s masterpiece, Viper’s Tangle. This is the fourth novel I’ve read from the Loyola Classics series, each one excellent, but this The Best by far. It opens with the quote by St. Teresa above.

Written in 1932, Viper’s Tangle is timeless and as relevant today as ever. It begins with a bitter, but wealthy, old man’s recriminating letter to his wife of forty years. His family is waiting on him to die; he wants to let them know a few things first. M. Louis has been writing this last ‘confession’ in his mind for much of his married life, almost from the beginning when his young bride told him of an indiscretion. In many ways, Mauriac is painting an Everyman who takes a wrong turn and then continues to compound his error with more bad choices all the while lost and estranged in the drama and tragedies of family life and allowing hate and greed to motivate him. As misunderstood by himself as by everyone else, he withdraws further, increasingly cynical, exacerbated by the pious practices of his Catholic wife and children whose religiosity doesn’t transcend and transform their lives.

The title of the book refers to M. Louis’s heart which he admits was a knot of vipers. Whether or not you ‘get’ Viper’s Tangle will depend on whether or not you believe in salvation and the power of God’s Grace to transform souls. Fortunately for us readers, Louis’s diatribe gets interrupted. Things happen which bring the plot of the story from past accusations to present actions.

It wouldn’t be a believable story if everyone just “lived happily ever after” and if this novel is anything (in my heart) it’s believable. So, no things don’t just get happy-happy all of sudden. But there is an awakening, transformation and redemption, for those willing to accept it.

There was so much insight in this book, I’d love to quote you all the beautiful passages I highlighted—especially those which made me cry—but that would make this post far too long. Instead I’ll just close with this:

‘Most men ape greatness or nobility. Though they do not know it, they conform to certain fixed types, literary or other. This the saints know, and they hate and despise themselves because they see themselves with unclouded eyes.’

Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau

"This was but a prelude; where books are burnt human-beings will be burnt in the end." ~~the German poet Heinrich Heine in 1820

Although I visited Dachau years ago¹ and I've read many books--both fiction² and non-fiction³--dealing with life in concentration camps, I don't recall ever reading any individual accounts specifically about this particular camp, until I encountered this poignant diary by Father Jean Bernard from Luxembourg. Nor do I recall reading about the internment tortures reserved for priests and other Christian ministers.

As I was reading Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau it was hard not to recall the eerie silence of Dachau's vast empty spaces marking off where derelict huts had once housed skeletons. But for the Grace of God, Father Bernard, too, would have joined the many souls who died there. His memoir is unique in several respects and worth reading, no matter how many books you may have read about the Holocaust.

First, it is about what happened to Christian, both Catholic and Protestant, clergy at the hands of the Nazis. For those who may have thought the Jewish nation alone suffered during those terrible times, they need look no further. In fact, there were punishments vindictive guards delighted in reserving just for priests on special feasts and other holy days.

And yet the strength of the story comes from the author’s intelligence, compassion for his fellows, and lack of self-pity or belaboring the horrors. The suffering endured by these men is beyond imagining; that is sufficient.

However, for me, it was Father Bernard’s unwavering faith in Christ through it all which speaks louder than anything and is the most important reason to read this book.

Worth reading and rereading—a reminder of how blessed we all are...perhaps most especially in our priests!

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¹ 1985 to be precise, just after my husband and I were married. We went together; it was a trip we never forgot!

² The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I am Bonhoeffer, The Book Thief, The Valley of Light and Angel Girl being some of the fiction I've reviewed here on my blog and on Goodreads.

³ Night, Man's Search for Meaning and Concentration camp Dachau, 1933-1945 are a few of the many non-fiction books on the Third Reich which I've read and reviewed; most of rest I've not gotten around to reviewing yet.

A Severe Mercy

The true value of many things can only be seen in retrospect. Indeed, Sheldon Vanauken probably would not have called what he went through 'a severe mercy' at the time. As it was, he didn't write this book until many, many years after it occurred. The autobiographical story covers the years in Van's life from 1937 to 1955; A Severe Mercy wasn't published until 1977.

In fact, A Severe Mercy can almost be called a foreshadowing of A Grief Observed,* the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis's famous tribute to his own wife, Joy's death or how he discovered and dealt with the silence of God. But of course that is only from our perspective looking back on the four lives involved.

Sheldon Vanauken wrote A Severe Mercy about the love of his life, Jean "Davy" Palmer Davis. It's a beautiful love story, one of the most idyllic I've ever read, perhaps too idyllic, but poignant and breathtaking all the same. The book traces their relationship from courtship through the early pagan (the author's term) years of marriage to the meeting and eventual friendship with C. S. Lewis who was instrumental in their eventual conversion to Christianity. It is therefore no small irony that Vanauken and Lewis became friends, were both college dons, converted to Protestantism and lost their beloved spouses, first the former and then the latter, both eventually writing best-selling books on the subject.

While I enjoyed A Severe Mercy very much, as a woman and a mother, I did constantly wonder—as I read it—at their decision not to have children. The author announces this fact early on in their pagan years which the couple dubbed, "The Shining Barrier", presumably a barrier of love which they erected around themselves to protect themselves from the outside world. Later, however, when they converted to Christianity, there was no mention they ever revisited this decision. Davy was still young enough at the time to bear children. I couldn't help thinking and wondering if – as time went by – the desire to become a mother didn't occasionally tug at her heart. Vanauken never mentions it and at the end of the book he describes burning her diaries.

In an interesting aside however, Lewis does chastize his friend, and very severely too, for the couple's decision to exclude children from their marriage, but only some time after Davy's death.

Two of the many delights in this book are numerous beautiful poems the author wrote to his beloved bride and a large collection of letters from C.S. Lewis.

An excellent autobiography of Love. Beautifully written tribute to Davy as well; I only wish I heard more of her voice.

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* I regret not having a more current review of this book to offer, but I plan to reread it soon and update this.

An Unlikely Missionary

Fans of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice rejoice! You are in for treat. As we all know, there are sequels and there are sequels. And Pride and Prejudice just may be the most popular book for budding authors to attempt to reproduce in sequence. However, getting the follow-on to read true to the original isn't something just anyone can achieve. Skylar Hamilton Burris succeeds brilliantly!

In An Unlikely Missionary, Burris takes a road less traveled, in that she steers clear of the Darcys and Bennets and focuses her attention on the intriguing Charlotte Collins, who comes out of the shadows of being a minor character and into the limelight.*

As the heroine of An Unlikely Missionary, Charlotte, doesn't suffer comparison with other younger, prettier women. We get to know her better because the story unfolds from her perspective and - to this reader at least - I came to like her even more through the closer acquaintance.

An Unlikely Missionary picks up the story with Charlotte married to the insufferable Mr. Collins which our author uses to great advantage for our ironic amusement, revealing her talents in the true Austen-style.

The story moves at a fast pace. From the very first pages poor Charlotte's pragmatic reasons for marrying Collins are whisked out from under her and she find herself nursing him on a boatload of strangers bound for India. Immediately I was reminded of the observation made in the The Jane Austen Book Club that in Austen's novels we never learn what happens after the "...and they lived happily ever after!" because what if they didn't? But here, finally, we get to see - or read - the `rest of the story'.

And yet, there is nothing melancholy about An Unlikely Missionary. It evoked in me the full range of emotions--I smiled, cried, sighed, and laughed out loud, sometimes almost at once. The historical and religious research was impeccable so far as I am able to discern, but it only serves as the backdrop for the novel. It is a romantic comedy and belongs in the same class and genre with the rest of Miss Austen's novels; the romantic parts were . . . ah! sublime! Mostly, I enjoyed envisioning it made into a lavish BBC production.

And I don't care what anyone says, Charlotte is beautiful.

Thoroughly delightful book! Treat yourself!

*If you recall from P&P, Charlotte is described as `a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven'; given the time period, this description being tantamount to a kiss-of-death, as there is no mention of her beauty, yet she is still single at the advanced (gasp!) age of twenty-seven. Horrors!

*****

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The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (Part 3)

This is my third and final post about the book, The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est. In the two previous posts of February 21st and March 3rd, I reviewed the first eighteen articles. Here is a summary of the last nine articles. I cannot say enough about how this book enhanced my comprehension of, and appreciation for, the Holy Father's breathtakingly beautiful testimony to love. If you are going to read Deus Caritas Est, read, The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est along with it!

20. The Covenantal Character of Love: Reflections on Deus Caritas Est, David S. Crawford: discussion of covenant and its meaning beginning with the Old Testament stories. Covenant is seen as 'gift' in that the future cannot predicted. When a pledge/promise is given in 'covenant' one is sealed or given to another without knowing what is fully given, yet it is given in trust and love even so. God exemplifies this covenantal love for man by the gift of His only begotten Son, Jesus, to us for our sins. We do the same in a much smaller way when we give lifelong pledge of marriage.

21. The Harmony of Love "Idem velle atque idem nolle", Donna Lynn Orsuto: I confess to having a particular fondness for the particular essay for several reasons. For one thing, it deals with friendship, ever a favorite subject with me. But even more, it discusses our friendship with Jesus. With Jesus? Yes! Throughout history the saints have spoken and written about Jesus as Lord, Messiah, and even lover, and spouse, but few consider Him as friend and yet that is exactly how I need and see Him most. Of course He is my Lord and Messiah, no doubt! But in order for Him to remain in my mind and heart 24/7, He must be a friend, a confidant, someone I can talk to as I would a friend. Orsuto highlights those passages in DCE where PBXVI makes it clear Our Lord wants to be our friend, our very best friend, the friend who will always be there, always love us, always take us back, always understand, always forgive and never let us down. With Jesus, we can use words like 'always' and 'never'. With Him we can begin to trust in True Love and Eternal Joy. He is our Best Friend. Beautiful!

22. The Spark of Sentiment and the Fullness of Love, José Noriega: a surprising essay in the fact that it points out the redeeming qualities of sentiment. So often we find so-called serious students of "love" would dismiss all forms of sentiment as false love, but our author shows how the experience of love possesses a sentimental dimension and we are not to dispense with it altogether but rather to allow it to speak in all its grandeur. Due attention is also given to time, maturation of affect and discernment. Excellent article!

23. Love of God and Love of Neighbor, Juan-José Pérez-Soba: an extremely dense article. While no doubt an important topic, I had difficulty with this particular piece and I'm not exactly sure why. I read and reread it several times but it remained largely impenetrable. The reflection on the Good Samaritan was the only section from which I derived any benefit. According to the author, religious hatred is the most virulent type of hatred and in overcoming this we are affirming the principle of love that does not exclude any man, i.e., we are loving as God loves. We see that the neighbor is not the one in need but the one who shows mercy. Perhaps if ones sees this, then it is enough.

24. Charity and Philanthropy, Sergio Belardinelli: refutes those who would say faith and politics never meet; rather talks about their common grounds. Essential elements of Christian charity are trifold: 1.)simple response to immediate needs and specific situations; 2.) formation of the heart requires the interiorizing of Christ in a way that we become like Him so far as is possible; and, 3.) all charity must be free of parties and ideologies. Belardinelli points out (much as Nietzsche did but in a way contrary to him) that we had to experience the complete destruction of Christian values in order to develop a true appreciation of such values. Indeed, we have seen a spread of "Christian" values beyond Christian cultures. Such examples prove the truth of Man created in the image and likeness of God.

25. Charity and the Common Good, Lorenzo Gattamorta: deals with the intimacy and 'realness' of God's presence; His nature in us which is Love, which is why we are called to extend that same love to others. PBXVI has touched on this theme in many of his writings--according to Gattamorta, I cannot claim to having read so many of the Pope's writings myself sad to say. Utopian-ism is, and always will be, impossible, thus human love will be required for the just ordering and maintenance of society.

26. Justice and Charity in Deus Caritas Est, Carl A. Anderson: outlines the history between justice and charity leading up to DCE in important writings on the subject. As the Holy Father has always shown particular interest in the inseparable connection between these vital virtues, it is not surprising he should have forever linked them again here. What is perhaps surprising to some is that justice was given such a prominent place, i.e., it is almost the entire focus of the second half of an encyclical on love. Given his predecessor's focus on other (reproductive) aspects of love, it may have taken some by surprise. In any event, it does shift the vantage of the second part of the papal writing to a wider view.

27. Charity and the Formation of the Heart, Maria Luisa di Pietro: Benedict XVI includes among his priorities for those who do charitable works for the Church "formation of the heart", meaning 'heart which sees' rather than 'a heart which feels'. Life teaches us (or should) that our feelings come and go, real needs persist. Includes description of how this formation of the heart occurs, vertically between God and us and horizontally among us and our fellow human beings, also the development of the heart from affectivity to equilibrium and embracing one's obligations.

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The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (Part 2)

Continuing from a previous post of the 21st of February this year, here is a summary of the next nine articles of The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est:

10. The Revelation of Love in the Song of Songs, Joseph C. Atkinson: fits the love between man and woman as the center panel in a triptych about love. The first panel is "love created" depicted as Eden and the third panel is "love restored" with the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb. In the book, 'Song of Songs, . . . the most obscure of the books of the Bible, defying any single hermeneutical key to unlock its meaning in a totally integrative fashion' lies the mystery of human love against the backdrop of the Fall.

11. The Novelty of Christian Agápē: The New Testament Testimony, Luis Sánchez-Navarro: interesting book-by-book examination of the New Testament in search of agápē. Although not used as a verb very often, agápē is demonstrated through looks of love, actions, calls to follow, invitations, interactions, affirmations, stories about self-giving love and eventually through the Jesus's ultimate sacrifice.

12. Commandment and Love: From Friedrich Nietzsche to Benedict XVI, Olivier Bonnewijn: brief journey through Nietzsche's three metamorphoses of the spirit: the Camel, the Lion and the Child, which sanctified érōs and took morality beyond good and evil (for Nietzsche). The true relationship exists in communion between érōs and agápē in proper balance by the genuine reality of love; commandment being the benevolent expression of love and not some draconian will to power, animated by resentment.

13. Love and Forgiveness, Jean Laffitte: sees DCE (published in 2006) as a continuation of Pope Pius XII's Haurietis Aquas In Gaudio, May 15, 1956, fifty years earlier. Addresses references to the pierced Heart of Christ in both encyclicals, their evangelical aims and the supreme logic of love and forgiveness.

14. The God Who Loves Personally, Antonio López: DCE invites us to understand that God is a mystery of love. This paper stresses three main points: 1.) God loves with a personal love; 2.) He loves in this way because He is a "communion" of persons; and 3.) God does this because He wishes man to also become a person within a "communion" of love, the Church.

15. The Original Source of Love: The Pierced Heart, Juan de Dios Larrú: reveals the Augustinian basis or heart of Pope Benedict's encyclical, which is the opening quote by that great saint and Church Father, "If you see charity, you see the Trinity." St. Augustine held that love recorded in the human soul is the path that leads us to God; however, knowledge of God isn't sufficient unless when reflecting on love, we also discover the Trinity. To know God, it is more important to know how to love than just to know love.

16. Érōs and Agápē: The Unique Dynamics of Love, Antonio Prieto: this essay above all was the one which first cracked open the encyclical for me. I'm not sure now that I've read so many more that its necessarily better than the others but it just said things in the right way at the right time to open up my understanding and deepen my appreciation for DCE in ways too numerous to list. The historical background on érōs was extremely helpful, as well as the section on the significance of 'logos to the aid of érōs'. These explanations were especially illuminating; I'd recommend Professor Prieto's reflection be among the first read.

17. To Love as God Loves: Marriage, Gilfredo Marengo: compares false reality of love to despair as exemplified by Nora's final words in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Marriage is discussed in DCE as an example of the unity and inseparability of érōs and agápē, rather than as an explicit treatment of the sacrament itself.

18. Participating in His Gift: the Eucharist, Nicola Reali: one of my favorite essays in a book full of good writings. Reali uses the familiar Scriptural story of the disciples traveling to Emmaus to point out how something can be true, real and even right in front of our noses and yet we can still fail to "see" it. He uses this point to dispel the illusion that action is superior to faith and worship and to illustrate the good coming from the Eucharist, both of which are REAL and TRUE despite our unwillingness to trust to that which we cannot see with our physical eyes.

19. Johannine Foundations of the Church, Michael Waldstein: primarily a debate with the 18th-century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, who saw the paternal nature of the Church as suffocating, leading him to develop his own philosophical theology of 'personalism'. Personalism sees man as the highest value to which all other values are subordinated. Waldstein examines the Gospel of John in light of this challenge and discovers two words also especially prominent in DCE, love and gift. 'While for Kant the dignity and perfection of the person lies in the autonomy of self-caused moral willing, for the Gospel of John (as interpreted by St. Thomas) it lies in the unity of love between the Father and the Son, which is the unity of the Spirit.' (p.261)

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The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical 'Deus Caritas Est' (Part 1)

If you're going to read The Way of Love reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, plan on taking your time with it. It's not a book you want to rush through.

Benedict's Book Club has been reading the Pope's encyclical Deus Caritas Est, (DCE) for the past two months, during which time I've been reading one of the essays/reflections from TWoL approximately every two or three days. I was adding short reviews of those individual papers until the review got too long and cumbersome. Nevertheless, I'm glad I wrote them as I went along because it helped me record the evolution of my impressions both to the encyclical and to other authors' ideas contained therein. Initially I saw no connection among the various pieces, each seeming to look out from the original work as from a geographical center. However, a little over a third of the way into the work, the overlap became readily apparent, most notably in discussions concerning the interplay between érōs and agápē.

TWoL is a collection of twenty-seven reflections written on Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (DCE) by professors from Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. The writings comprise scholarly articles from a variety of perspectives but all seeking to address the theological and philosophical issues raised in the Pope's first encyclical, DCE.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm no scholar. Yes, I read a lot. But I haven't attended formal schooling in years. These writings are scholarly pieces and no lightweight reading. I found more than a few of them to be dense and very challenging. Fortunately they're mostly less ten pages in length, mostly. It was good for me to stretch myself with this book. I know I got so much more out of DCE as a result of reading TWol. I highly recommend it; I hope there will a book like this for all of Benedict's encyclicals.

Here are the reviews for the first nine articles.

1. Introduction: The Way of Love, Camillo Cardinal Ruini: provides an introduction to the book as well as giving an overview of the encyclical itself, its theological importance, overall significance to history and the sources of PBXVI's insights. Brief but extremely helpful.

2. Love: The Encounter With An Event, Livio Melina: somewhat mystical reflection on love as an event that happens to us, a gift that is given. Our existence and our faith are not acts of our will or thoughts, but come freely from a God Who is Love. Probably the least scholarly work I've encountered thusfar.

3. The Way of Love in the Church's Mission to the World, David L. Schindler: focuses on the second half of the encyclical, the Church's charitable mission to the world as understood in DCE. 'Union with God entails union with all those to whom He gives Himself.' (DCE 14) Basically an elaboration of some aspects of Part II of DCE.

4. "The Love that Moves the Sun and the Other Stars": Light and Love, Stanislaw Grygiel: one of my favorites! Not sure if it was because I got so many good quotes or because of the "Aha!" experience I had while I was reading this one night. Here is just one of my favorite quotes: 'Agápē descends from eternity, and érōs desires to move out of time: eternity is its future. For this reason, only those who with faith, hope and love, in some way already dwell in eternity understand time and know how to carry themselves in it.' Profound and beautiful article.

5. Has Christianity Poisoned Érōs?, Jaroslaw Merecki: philosophical essay discussing various approaches to handling sexual desires from Nietzsche through Freud to the Sexual Revolution. PBXVI says in DCE, '...(the) love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness. This would seem to be the very epitome of love; all other kinds of love immediately seem to fade in comparison.' It would seem the answer is a resounding "No!"

6. Love between Man and Woman: The Epitome of Love, William E. May: made me aware of even greater depths in the text by revealing the Latin translations of the word "love". By comparing the English text with the Latin, we see that PBXVI 'argues that amor integrates into one the different kinds of "love" identified by érōs and agápē.

7. Érōs: Ambiguity and the Drama of Love, Giovanni Salmeri: a historic journey through philosophical and theological understandings and wrestling with érōs. An undeniable reality, érōs has been viewed with distrust, as ambiguous folly. Ultimately, we're shown the saints throughout history who have known God as the ultimate Érōs.

8. The Unity of the Human Person under the Light of Love, José Granados: speaks to the positive and integrated aspects of humanity when Love is at the core. 'Give me someone who loves, and he will understand, by the light of his love, that man is one, in body and soul.' An important article in its insistence that science and religion remain married, both disciplines committed to seeing human beings as both body and soul.

9. Agápē, the Revelation of Love and Its Appeal to the Heart: A Comment of Deus Caritas Est in Light of John Paul II's Category of "Elementary Experience", Margaret Harper McCarthy: the event of Jesus crystallizes the the reward in the higher form of love, i.e., the beloved being the reward, 'the joy of being with that person whom the lover takes as goodin se and whose good the lover pursues so that, by it the beloved may be more perfect and flourish.' Love being twofold, involving wanting some good for someone and the elementary experiences from original solitude, through unity to innocence which led Adam to Jesus.

(to be continued . . . )

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The Place Within

I'm not a poet. I'm not even a great lover of poetry. But occasionally I think I should be. Or someone hands me a book of poetry and says, "You really need to read this!" A friend told me this was one book of poetry worth trying.

The Place Within is collection of poetry to be set next to your Bible or in your prayer corner. I'll be taking it with me to Adoration. The poetry reads more like reflections, wisps of prayerlike impressions.

Many of the selections are short and can be tied to specific Scripture stories/people such as: Jacob; The Samaritan Woman; The Samaritan Woman Meditates; Simon of Cyrene; Her Amazement at Her Only Child; John Beseeches Her; First Moment of the Glorified Body; Magdalene, etc. I recommend reading the Gospel passage and then the applicable poem.

Pope John Paul II has also written about places in the Holy Land and experiences of conversion. The are two longest pieces are entitled "Songs of the Hidden God". They completely lost me at times and yet I found them very beautiful even so. I couldn't help thinking the reader was supposed to feel a little lost or overwhelmed by the flood of images, all the while looking for the "You" with the capital "Y" because the search for God is reflected in the symbolic difficulty one has in figuring out the meaning of so many seemingly random sensory images. I think I may need to slow down a bit more the next time I try to read these particular selections. In fact the entire book invites the soul to step out of time and space and enter The Place Within where He dwells that He may speak and we may hear.

Here is a selection from the title poem, The Place Within. It is located in the grouping, "Journey to Holy Places" so we may presume the Holy Father is probably writing about a visit to the place of Our Lord's execution and burial but he combines that with the even more meaningful and beautiful journey within the human body/heart/soul through Communion, prayer and our fiat.

'My place is in You, your place is in me. Yet it is the place of all men. And I am not diminished by them in this place. I am more alone--more than if there were no one else--I am alone with myself. At the same time I am multiplied by them in the Cross which stood on this place. This multiplying with no diminishing remains a mystery: the Cross goes against the current. In it numbers retreat before Man.

In You--how did the Cross come to be?

Now let us walk down the narrow steps as if down a tunnel through a wall. Those who once walked down the slope stopped at the place where now there is a slab. They anointed your body and then laid it in a tomb. Through your body you had a place on earth, the outward place of the body you exchanged for a place within, saying, "Take, all of you, and eat of this."

The radiation of that place within relates to all the outward places on Earth to which I pilgrimage. You chose this place centuries ago--the place in which You give yourself and accept me.' 1965

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Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth is undoubtedly the most profound book I’ve read in 2008 and the best book on Jesus – outside of the Gospels – I’ve ever encountered. As such it seems an appropriate closing post for 2008. If you haven't read JoN yet, you owe it to yourself to make it a priority for 2009!

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI claims, “this book is . . . my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’” It can be yours too. It is alternately poetical, mystical, scholarly, exegetical and meditative. It is always erudite, challenging, thoughtful and catholic, i.e., universal. It is never preachy or pedantic.

Jesus of Nazareth is not for the faint-hearted, nor casual reader. I read every chapter except the last a minimum of three times, often more and mostly because it was necessary. On my first read throughs I found it impossible to take in the depth of his theology while keeping up with him. Paragraphs are packed with references. In order to do this book justice, you need to sit with a good bible translation beside you at all times. I only wish I’d had access to more of the books and authors the Pope quoted. He drew heavily from Holy Scripture, Scripture scholars (from different denominations), Church Fathers—east and west, saints and their writings and biographies, historical figures, philosophers, atheists, and numerous modern exegetes. In fact, it was the depth and breadth of the Holy Father’s sources which first surprised, then amazed and finally thrilled me; here was a true Shepherd for all of humanity. Any one human being who could command such a vast storehouse of the world’s knowledge is nothing short of a genius. And yet, it wasn’t his brilliance in the end that mattered, but his humility and simplicity.

Over and over again in Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI shows himself to be the world’s true Christian shepherd. He speaks of Jesus with such love, born of long years of relationship, which can never emerge from books, no matter how many, nor how well they are written. Joseph Ratzinger, the man, knows Jesus of Nazareth, Our Lord. It is He that this book is about. As an Evangelical Protestant pastor observes in this blog post, ‘whatever your image may be of Joseph Ratzinger, this book will change it. In it you see deeply into his own heart, and what is there is a humble and gentle spirit, and a deep godliness. He deals gently with those who object to the traditional view of Jesus, and his interaction with the arguments in Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner’s “A Rabbi Talks with Jesus” is worth the price of the book. It should be archetypal for how Christians should interact with their Jewish neighbors, and their Jewish critics.’ Read, Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI by Joel Gillespie, Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The book’s dust jacket claims that PBXVI is seeking to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels.’ As if Our Lord needs “salvaging” or “restoration”! If in fact that was his intention when he began the book, he surpassed that simple objective and left it far behind in what he ultimately created. However, since PBXVI does address recent ‘scholarship’ which seeks to quantify every aspect of faith, even this issue is dealt with in a straightforward and factual manner.

Each chapter in JoN is a scholarly, yet spiritual, treatment of one aspect of Jesus and/or His ministry. The book is ten chapters, begins with Our Lord’s Baptism and covers a number of significant events/issues relevant to the God-man Jesus Christ, concluding with the revelation of His identity. Tantalizingly – if you glean as much from the book as I did – the Holy Father promises a sequel, or rather, the second half of this book.

An important thing this book did for me was remind me how much there still is to learn about Jesus of Nazareth, and I don’t just mean facts, although there were plenty of those, but in terms of one’s personal relationship with Him—and how much spiritual ‘growing up’ I still have to do, or do I mean ‘growing down’? PBXVI gave me new perspectives on parables I thought I knew inside out. He connected symbols and figures from the Old and New Testaments – many of which I’d seen and heard before – but in ways stunningly innovative. He introduced me to numerous authors and scripture scholars completely unknown to me before. In the middle of a piece of text, there would be a sentence which would reach out and literally grab my attention like a hand jumping out at me from the page. My faith life has been re-energized by this book in ways I could never have dreamed possible. But mostly, I have come to see Him, Jesus, through the eyes of his servant, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. I am in awe.

Our Goodreads group, Benedict's Book Club, spent over four months with this book and we barely scratched the surface in my humble opinion. Since then A Study Guide - depicted above has been published which should facilite an even deeper and more meaningful journey with this incredible book. May it bless your new year as it has blessed my past one!

May Our LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth bless you and yours in 2009!

The Shack

The Shack is a book you will thank yourself for reading. While it can be didactic at times, it is not overtly so. It’s more a story of journey and relationship—discovering who you are through learning more about who God is to you. I’m no theologian, but I do like to imagine myself as the Theophilus Luke is writing to in the Book of Acts. So I read the book as a God-Lover and I write this review in the same way.

It begins with an unspeakably horrible tragedy happening to a loving father. (By way of explanation, I cannot write this review without at least giving that much away.) It’s the sort of nightmare every devoted parent dreads and secretly fears. In the aftermath of the disaster, the main character, Mack, attempts to put his life back together but finds he cannot. The devastation is too great; the chasm created by his loss is so unfathomable, his faith in a loving God is shattered.

Mack receives a strange and seemingly preposterous invitation to meet God at the very site – the shack – the scene where the unspeakable crime against his loved one occurred. The rest of the story is about Mack’s meeting with God which is unlike any other fictional description I've read of a Divine encounter. If you have ever longed to see God you will certainly appreciate this book. If you have experienced – or are going through – your own Agony in the Garden time in your life this book may be a very cathartic aid. It is my belief that is its real purpose. As such, God is presented most beautifully as 'relationship-in-love'. God is three distinct persons whose love for each other is one and yet extends to each and every one of us, His creatures. Mack heals as we may also heal, if we need any spiritual healing, through opening to God’s love.

As I mentioned early on, I am no expert in Theology and I have no doubt there are probably theological errors in The Shack. God as God, the Almighty, Our Creator, Savior, Redeemer, the Holy Spirit, etc. who has been worshipped, studied, prayed to, fought over and died for – for millennium – was not just suddenly figured out in 2007 by William P. Young and explained in 248 pages of fiction. This book is by no means definitive or the last word on God. It is, however, wonderful. It is a moving and a loving tribute to getting to know Him better. It is a helpful way to look at how God views the tragedies that happen in our lives. He does not inflict them on us. He suffers right along with us . . . just as He did 2000 years ago.

*****

This book was recommended to me by my dear friend and spiritual mentor Rosemary. Thank you dear one and God bless you! ~~booklady

In Cold Blood

It’s chilling.

The cover. The title. The story. And worst of all its true.

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s 1965 book about the murder of a Kansas family reads like a novel. Well, at least it does in some places. At other times, it seems more like an enigmatic theological puzzle: are there actually human beings completely devoid of conscience? Well there are human beings born without physical body parts, so I suppose it is possible we can be conceived without whole psyches.

When my daughter told me she was reading this for her high school English 3 class, I was surprised. In Cold Blood? It seemed a strange choice for a literature class; it’s not even a work of fiction. Even so it is a masterpiece.

Capote constructs the story deliberately to build and hold the reader’s attention from beginning to end. I remember first reading the book as a teenager myself—although I’m sure it wasn’t a school assignment. Back then, I couldn’t read the book after dark and didn’t like being alone for weeks after reading it.

This read was quite different, however. I was more detached from the crime this time—knowing what it was, how it was performed and who did it. Therefore, I could read the book from the perspective of an amateur sociologist/psychologist and armchair theologian. Oh, and I also read it from a literary vantage as well.

It’s from each of these hilltops, I’ll offer the view. I must state at this point though, my writing will contain spoilers from now on; so if you have NOT read the book, I highly recommend you stop and read the book instead!

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!

It does seem silly to put a spoiler alert in a work of non-fiction, but that is to Capote’s credit in the construction of this book. He begins with the time period leading up to the day of the crime—both for the victims and their assassins. Then he abruptly cuts to the aftermath and the discovery of the crime and the beginning of its investigation. By using this technique, our author manages to create and maintain a heightened sense of suspense and uncertainty. What happened? How exactly did it happen? Who did what? When? How do they know this? Questions were buzzing around my head like annoying flies as I struggled along with the frustrated investigators in the unsettled weeks after the murders. I knew they would eventually solve the riddles, so I had that much more admiration for Capote’s incredible outline of events.

From the socio-psychological perspective, I sat in amazement of the description’s of the killers, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith. I have a Bachelor of Science in Administration of Justice and a M.E. in Human Relations. Where do “people” like this fit in? Are they “people”? In fact, I found the personality descriptions of the killers almost more chilling than the crimes themselves. They rob, torture, kill and have no remorse. They don’t even see why they should feel sympathy for their victims. In some ways. And yet in another separate area, one of the killers, concerns himself with making the victims comfortable. Comfortable? Huh? It is as if the separate parts of their brains aren’t connected.

So that leads to the theological side of things.

What is the moral responsibility of such men? Are they even morally responsible? Can we hold them accountable for their actions? And if not, what do we do with them—which leads back into the social arena again. Maybe I shouldn’t even attempt to separate out all these sub-areas with arbitrary designations and classifications.

In this sad case, our society solved its problem on the gallows. In effect we said, “Look what a horrible thing they did—killing innocent people. But these men certainly aren’t innocent! They are going to pay for their crime and we’re going to show them by sending them back where they came from.” So we did.

Guess we showed them.

If you haven’t read In Cold Blood in awhile, you need to. No rating, but the highest recommendation.

The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8

For most of June I have been taking Holy Communion to a woman from our parish who is dying of cancer. She only has a few more hours in this world as I write. It’s been the privilege of a lifetime for me to share this experience with her and her family. I have watched, prayed and shared a sacred moment with all of them; they took me in as if I were family. Each time I left her bedside, was another chance for me to consider how to spend the rest of my life . . . hopefully just a little bit better for the reminder of its ultimate destiny.

The Remains of the Day is not a book about dying but it is a reflective book. The title is a conceptual metaphor referring to what’s left near the end of one’s lifetime.

Remains is a deeply moving story and one which will haunt you. It’s primarily about three people: Lord Darlington, his extraordinary butler, Stevens, and the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. The book begins in 1956 and is told through flashbacks and even though I usually don’t like that technique in stories, our author, Kazuo Ishiguro, uses it to perfection in the present instance.

From the vantage of the 1950s we look back to a pre-war 1930s England with our knowledge of the outcome of events. Given our Monday morning quarterback position, it is easy for us to sit in judgment of our characters’ choices. What is harder – but more necessary – is to let go of those judgments. That is what our author asks us to do. He asks us to let go of our smug, self-satisfied prejudices and re-enter that time period and the lives of his characters. As we watch them stumble and almost make what we would call the ‘right’ choices, we need to remember that we too will someday be left at 'the remains of our day'. Will we have made all the ‘right’ choices?

Or, like the characters in this story, will we have made a few ‘wrong’ choices, but for the ‘right’ reasons? Something to ponder at high noon as we approach what remains of the day . . .

****



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Stargirl

by Jerry Spinelli

She doesn’t wear make-up and takes her pet rat with her wherever she goes. She wears floor-length dresses or overall shorts. She carries a large canvas bag with a life-size sunflower on it. She plays her ukulele and sings in the middle of the high school lunch room! She calls herself ‘Stargirl’ and she distributes candy, cheers for anyone for any reason and reads newspapers looking for people she can help. She’s in 10th grade but she’s been homeschooled until now. As the kids say, “maybe that explains it.” But does it?

In Jerry Spinelli’s young adult story, Stargirl, this whirlwind of a Christlike-catalyst descends on Mica Area High School and Leo Borlock one year and neither will ever be the same again. Stargirl burns brightly but like all stars—and stories—she has a life-span. Leo has to make a very important decision before the end of the year. It’s a haunting story about group-think, and agape-love, growing-up, and porcupine ties. Treat yourself to a wonderful experience: read Stargirl!


****

Man's Search For Meaning

by Viktor E. Frankl

Started: 27 November 2007
Finished: 10 December 2007

Throughout history humanity has always been in search of purpose and meaning to our existence on this earth. One of the oldest jokes in the world is the young person asking the ancient one, “What is the meaning of life?” and receiving some sort of reply like, “If you find out, you let me know, okay?!”

Viktor Frankl’s classic work was originally written in 1945 and published in 1959. I own a 1984 paperback edition of the book which had already been through seventy-three editions in English alone, not to mention nineteen other languages. I mention this because all other facts I quote will come from my copy of the book, unless stated otherwise; for more recent information, the reader is encouraged to look up Dr. Frankl and this seminal work in psychiatry on-line and see all the further developments which have occurred in subsequent years. It is truly staggering the influence this book has had.

The first half of the book is devoted to the good doctor’s life-transforming experiences as a ‘guest’ in a Nazi concentration camp. Perhaps I should not jest—even lightly—about such a serious matter and yet I suspect our author would not mind. He was a man of incredible insight and wisdom. Humor was a resource he well-appreciated; encouraging his patients to use it as a part of therapy.

Prior to this I had never read past the first half of the book; I was only interested in the autobiographical portion of the book. As I have mentioned in previous posts, a surfeit of psychology books in college, both undergraduate and graduate level, left me with no taste for further reading on the subject. More is the pity because Dr. Frankl’s book is as much philosophy and religion as it is dry scientific studies and theories on human behavior patterns. His extraordinary experiences coupled with a brilliant mind would not allow his thinking to be pigeon-holed as many contemporary books on the subject seem to be.

Without further rhetoric on my part, here are some of my favorite parts and quotes from Man’s Search For Meaning:

‘I think it was Lessing who once said, “There are things which must cause you to lose your reason or you have none to lose.” An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.’ (p32)

‘Strangely enough, a blow which does not even find its mark can, under certain circumstances, hurt more than one that finds its mark.’ (p36)

‘Some men lost all hope, but it was the incorrigible optimists who were the most irritating companions.’ (p46)

‘In spite of all the enforced physical and mental primitiveness of the life in the concentration camp, it was possible for a rich spiritual life to deepen. Sensitive people who were used to a rich intellectual life may have suffered much pain (they were often of a delicate constitution), but the damage to their inner selves was less. They were able to retreat from their terrible surroundings to a life of inner riches and spiritual freedom. Only in this way can one explain the apparent paradox that some prisoners of a less hardy make-up often seemed to survive camp life better than did those of a more robust nature.’ (p47)

‘I understood how a man who has nothing left in the world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way—an honorable way—in such a position a man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.’ (p49)

(Dr. Frankl lost his entire family to the gas chambers. In the above quote, he is describing how he used the image of his wife—already dead, although he did not know it—to inspire, uplift and keep him alive through the long days of his captivity.)

‘To draw an analogy: a man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of a gas . . . Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the “size” of the human suffering is absolutely relative.’ (p55)

‘Does this not bring to mind the story of Death in Teheran? A rich and mighty Persian once walked in his garden with one of his servants. The servant cried that he had just encountered Death who threatened him. He begged his master to give him the fastest horse so he could make haste and flee to Teheran, which he could reach that same evening. The master consented and the servant galloped off on the horse. On returning to his house the master himself met Death, and questioned him, “Why did you terrify and threaten my servant?” “I did not threaten him; I only showed surprise in still finding him here when I planned to meet him tonight in Teheran,” said Death.’

‘Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.’ (p75)

‘If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death.’¹ (p76)

‘(What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.) Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind.’ (p90)

‘A man’s concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease. (His) suffering may well be a human achievement, especially if the suffering grows out of existential frustration. . . . Logotherapy regards its assignment as that of assisting the patient to find meaning in his life.’ (p108)

One of the most interesting treatment techniques which Dr. Frankl offers his patients is something he calls “paradoxical intention” based on, ‘the twofold fact that fear brings about that which one is afraid of, and that hyper-intention makes impossible what one wishes.’ (p126) He goes on to describe a man he cured of profuse sweating by instructing the man to imagine increasing his output of sweat under stressful situations.

While our author believes in responsibility for one’s actions (he advocates a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast) he also believes in every person’s free will to determine their own future at all times. He cites a case of a well-known Nazi mass-murderer who made a stunning turn-around later in life; he has no sympathy for pre-determinism. ‘How can we dare to predict the behavior of man?’ (p134)

Whether we are aware of it or not and regardless of our willingness to admit to it, we all have agendas in our reading. For myself, in the past I was often unaware and/or dishonest about my own reasons for selecting this or that book. However, what I find most enlightening now is when I begin a book for one purpose and finish it for quite another.

In the case of Man’s Search For Meaning I began the book in search of arguments to refute George Orwell’s conclusion of the novel 1984 and finished this present work in total fascination with Logotherapy and its associated theories and treatments.



¹This would seem to directly contradict what Ms. Byron Katie Reid contends in her body of literature. She asserts that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

A Separate Peace (RR)

by John Knowles

Started: 19 August 2007

Finished: 27 August 2007

This is at least my third time reading this juvenile classic. I even hesitate classifying this profound work of fiction as 'juvenile'. Much popular fiction which passes for 'adult' these days doesn't come close to being so thought-provoking and unforgettable as A Separate Peace manages to be in a scant 204 pages.

It's a story about friendship and war--and the wars of friendship and the effects of war on friendship. Sometimes the duel themes are so intricately interwoven as to be nearly impossible to detangle, much less identify one from the other. At the heart of the story is the magical and once-in-a-lifetime friendship between two young boys, Gene, the narrator of the story, and Phineas, a charismatic enigma, both on the threshold of manhood during the summer of 1942.

As in all relationships, but especially in close 'best friendships' such as this one between Gene and Phineas, feelings and motives are not always clear from one moment to the next. Sometimes love and hate are opposite sides of the same coin, as are admiration and envy. Without giving away the ending, there is an accident that summer of '42 involving both of the boys--one as the victim and the other as the perpetrator. It happens in a split second, without malice or premeditation, yet the repercussions are to echo down the years.

It's a beautiful, haunting story which deals with the timeless questions which plague all intimate relationships. I don't think it's possible to read A Separate Peace and not be deeply moved by it. As a young person I didn't begin to appreciate its rich complexity, penetrating wisdom, nor even its bittersweet simplicity though I remember how long the book stayed with me after I finished it. Returning to it for the second time as an adult, I find myself still touched, but also awed and even . . . strangely reassured. Read it!

*****