Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 279

Freedom to Bind Oneself: Benedict XVI on Engagement and Marital Love

Freedom to Bind Oneself: Benedict XVI on Engagement and Marital Love | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.

"If freedom is understood to be an uppermost kind of active indifference and mastery, whoever finds 'free love' and 'free union' good enough for him is but one who has chosen not to exercise mastery over the lower impulses of his nature? That love is most truly an act of freedom which is strong enough to stay alive and remain in control when sensuous desires have become inert or have changed their way." — Yves Simon, A General Theory of Authority

"Precipitating matters ends by 'missing out' on love, which instead needs to respect timing and to be gradual in its expression; it needs to make room for Christ, who can make human love faithful, happy and indissoluble." — Pope Benedict XVI, "The Fullness of Human Love," September 11, 2011.

"They have invented a phrase, a phrase that is a black and white contradiction in two words—'free love'—as if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free. It is the nature of love to bind itself, and the institution of marriage merely   paid the average man the compliment of taking him at his word. Modern sages offer to the lover, with an ill-flavoured grin, the largest liberties and the fullest irresponsibility; but they do not respect him as the old Church respected him; they do not write his oath upon the heavens, as the record of his highest moment. They give him every liberty except the liberty to sell his liberty, which is the only one that he wants." — G. K. Chesterton, "In Defence of Rash Vows," The Defendant, 1905.

On September 11, 2011, Benedict XVI was at the Piazza del Pletiscito in Ancona in Italy. There, as part of the Italian National Eucharistic Congress, the Pope gave a talk, "just a few guidelines," to engaged couples. Benedict noted the unfortunate effect unemployment could have in getting married. He then referred to the marriage feast at Cana. The last recorded words of Mary in the Gospels were spoken there: "Do whatever he tells you."

The pope added: "A culture that tends to ignore clear moral criteria also lacks the festive wine: in the confusion everyone is urged to act in an individual, autonomous manner, often solely on the perimeter of the present." To "celebrate" anything, especially a marriage, we need order in our souls.

The time of engagement is a particularly important period in a couple's lives. "It opens you to the wonder of the encounter and enables you to discover the beauty of existence and of being precious to someone, of being able to say to each other, you are important to me." Benedict is not afraid to urge the couples to follow "a high ideal of love." This requires understanding, discipline, and grace. "Love requires a process of maturation: from the initial attraction and from that 'feeling good' with the other, learn to 'love' the other and 'to want the best' for the other. Love lives by giving freely, by self-sacrifice, by forgiveness and by respect or the other." These are welcome words. No doubt many of these young couples know these things, but they also like to hear them spoken by someone as wise as the Holy Father. They seldom hear them elsewhere.

If we are created ultimately for eternal life, as we are, we can have little doubt that the most natural analogue to this destiny is the love that binds. "All human love is a sign of the eternal Love that created us and whose grace sanctifies the decision made by a man and a woman to give each other reciprocal life in marriage." That is a striking phrase—"giving reciprocal life," as if to say that the giving and receiving of life is what it means fully to live.

In the three citations found at the beginning of these comments—from Simon, Benedict, and Chesterton—the same point is made in different ways. Freedom and fidelity are necessary to each other. Love cannot exist without both. If we do not do things right, we will "miss out" on what is most important. In this area, the only freedom we want is the freedom to bind ourselves. Anything less, the "freedom" to bind ourselves again and again and again simply evaporates the whole meaning of fidelity and hence of that permanence to which love leads.

Marriage, of course, has to do with children—anticipating them, welcoming them, caring for them. "The fidelity and continuity of your love for each other will also enable you to be open to life, to be parents: the permanence of your union in the sacrament of Matrimony will allow the children God bestows upon you to grow up trusting in the goodness of life. Fidelity, indissolubility and the transmission of life are the pillars of every family, the true common good, a precious patrimony of society as a whole."  Marriage cannot be defined away; it is between a man and a woman. Any other relationship, no matter what it is called, is not and cannot be a marriage. To pretend that it can be only leads to disorder both of society and soul.

Benedict concludes by going "back over an essential point": "The experience of love contains the quest for God. True love promises the Infinite." Of its very nature, marital love is ordained through its dynamism to something beyond yet also to something within. The notion that it is "made in Heaven" is not mere talk. A marriage that seeks to avoid children contradicts itself. It can only end in isolation and death. This was really the teaching of the famous opera Tristan und Isolda. And it is the experience of all imitation marriage, all "marriage" that is not intended to be one, to be permanent.

And finally Benedict ends with some simple advice: "Do not underestimate the vital importance of this meeting; may the Sunday liturgical assembly find you fully participating: the Christian meaning of existence and a new way of life flows from the Eucharist." If engaged couples make that initial promise to each other, to attend Sunday Mass together, faithfully, they will have taken a basic step. They will realize that the "until death do you part" is indeed what it is they want, the freedom to bind themselves. The weekly witness of Christ's love even to the Cross reminds them that all marital love is also sacrificial, that we are to love one another as Christ has first loved us." Nothing less.

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., is Professor of Political Philosophy at Georgetown University. He is the author of numerous books on social issues, spirituality, culture, and literature including Another Sort of Learning, Idylls and Rambles, A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning, The Life of the Mind (ISI, 2006), The Sum Total of Human Happiness (St. Augustine's Press, 2007), The Regensburg Lecture (St. Augustine's Press, 2007), and The Mind That Is Catholic: Philosophical and Political Essays (CUA, 2008). His most recent book from Ignatius Press is The Order of Things (Ignatius Press, 2007). His new book, The Modern Age, is available from St. Augustine's Press. Read more of his essays on his website.

Related on Ignatius Insight:

• The Mystery of Marriage | Jorge Cardinal Medina Estévez
• Marital and Family Commitment: A Personalist View | Monsignor Cormac Burke
• The Challenge of Marriage Preparation | Dr. Janet E. Smith
• Focus Groups and Marriage: A Match Made for Heartache | Mary Beth Bonacci
• Entering Marriage with Eyes Wide Open | Edward Peters
• Human Sexuality and the Catholic Church | Donald P. Asci
• Who Is Married? | Edward Peters
• Marriage and the Family in Casti Connubii and Humanae Vitae | Reverend Michael Hull, S.T.D.
• Male and Female He Created Them | Cardinal Estevez
• Practicing Chastity in an Unchaste Age | Bishop Joseph F. Martino
• The Truth About Conscience | John F. Kippley | An excerpt from Sex and the Marriage Covenant

New: "Man, The Image of God", by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Man, The Image of God: The Creation of Man as Good News

by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn

• Also available as an Electronic Book Download

God created man in his own image, and the profound implications of this assertion are the subject of this book. Drawing on philosophy, theology, science, Scripture and art, Cardinal Schönborn reflects on man as the greatest of God's creatures and on the Christian understanding of his incomparable dignity that flows from this truth.
     
According to the Christian faith, all the works of God converge toward man, and find their goal in him. The world was made for man, and man was made for God.  This "anthropocentrism" resounds like good news at a time when many find it hard to believe in God's special and personal providence for man. It is good news, indeed, that man has worth and his life has meaning because God bears an infinite love for him - a love which is the very origin of creation and is the reason for the work of redemption.

Among the topics Cardinal Schonborn addresses are: Christ-the Loveliest of Men, The Exaltation of Man, The Basis of Man's Dignity, Faith in Art, God with a Human Face.
 
"Man is created by God and for God; he has an incomparable dignity because God, in creating him, has for him an infinite love, the very origin of creation and the reason for the work of redemption."
- Cardinal Christoph Schonborn

Christoph Cardinal Schönborn [Ignatius Insight Author Page] is the Archbishop of Vienna. The renowned theologian was the primary editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Dominican priest was a student of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. He has written numerous books and articles on faith, including Happiness, God & Man, Jesus, The Divine Physician, and Chance or Purpose?, a study of the theory of evolution and the relationship between faith and science.

Having all-male altar servers will "drag the church back into the pre-Vatican II world"?

It seems the editors of America are willing to go the rack. Alas, it is apparently not for Church doctrine regarding the priesthood, but for their belief that having only boys as altar servers is damning the Church to return to a "pre-Vatican II world":

This is not a local story, but one that represents larger trends in the church—in the priesthood, the liturgy and in the role of the people of God. Recently Sts. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix, Ariz., changed its policy on altar servers. From now on only boys may serve; girls may apply for jobs as sacristans. Why? The rector of the cathedral told The Catholic Sun that the cathedral is not alone in making this regulation. A parish in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., he argues, have found that replacing girls with boys as servers leads to more vocations to the priesthood.

These moves to limit laywomen's access to the altar threaten to drag the church back into the pre-Vatican II world. One wonders if next the altar rail will return, another barrier between the priests and the people.

According to the rector, people who are upset about this decision concerning Mass servers make a mistake in considering it "a question of rights," as if someone's rights were being denied. But, he says, no one has a "right" to be a server or even more a priest. One must be "called" to any church office. When the secular world comments on who should be an altar server, he says, it has only an emotional view, unguided by the light of reason.

The key issue is the status of the baptized: that the laity may be called by the Spirit to offer their talents in various roles. The rejection of altar girls disregards the counsel of the Second Vatican Council that the charisms of the baptized "are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation." By virtue of baptism, the council reminds us, "there is neither male nor female. For you are all 'one' in Christ Jesus." There is "a true equality between all with regard to the dignity and activity which is common to all the faithful in building up the Body of Christ" ("Dogmatic Constitution on the Church," Nos. 12, 32).

The editorial continues on this whining road until arriving at the editors' (apparently) real goal and concern: "Inevitably the issue of women's roles in the church raises the question of women's ordination to the priesthood." Yawn. Yes, inevitably—that is, if you are intent on ignoring the ancient, consistent, often reiterated, clear-as-day teaching of the Church, as reaffirmed and summarized by Blessed John Paul II not so many years ago:

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

No explicit or even suggested exception was made by John Paul II, I see, for the editors of America. They, perhaps mindful that this battle is long over and they need to cut their losses, moan in anguish in their recent editorial that "Pope Benedict XVI, despite continued agitation, has reaffirmed the policy of John Paul II to allow no discussion of the topic, [so] the matter of altar servers must be considered a separate and independent issue." Well, no, it doesn't really have to be considered completely separate or independent, because people with commonsense can tell that having altar girls does send a confused and confusing message about the nature of the priesthood, as if (although the analogy limps quite a bit) a pro football team allowed women (or, for that matter, 60-year-old men) to practice, but refused to let them play in actual games.

The fact is, true doctrine and good theology are logical, and the lived out expressions of such doctrine and theology should reflect that logic. And the Instruction, Redemptionis Sacramentum (which allows female servers at the descretion of the diocesan Bishop), touches on this when it states, "It is altogether laudable to maintain the noble custom by which boys or youths, customarily termed servers, provide service of the altar after the manner of acolytes, and receive catechesis regarding their function in accordance with their power of comprehension. Nor should it be forgotten that a great number of sacred ministers over the course of the centuries have come from among boys such as these" (par. 47).

Anyhow, in light of the Magisterium's clear teaching, the editors, in quoting from Lumen Gentium 12, should have included the following from the same passage:

The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples' supernatural discernment in matters of faith when "from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful" they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth. It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience to which the people of God accepts that which is not just the word of men but truly the word of God. Through it, the people of God adheres unwaveringly to the faith given once and for all to the saints, penetrates it more deeply with right thinking, and applies it more fully in its life.

And from paragraph 32:

And if by the will of Christ some are made teachers, pastors and dispensers of mysteries on behalf of others, yet all share a true equality with regard to the dignity and to the activity common to all the faithful for the building up of the Body of Christ. For the distinction which the Lord made between sacred ministers and the rest of the People of God bears within it a certain union, since pastors and the other faithful are bound to each other by a mutual need. Pastors of the Church, following the example of the Lord, should minister to one another and to the other faithful. These in their turn should enthusiastically lend their joint assistance to their pastors and teachers. Thus in their diversity all bear witness to the wonderful unity in the Body of Christ. This very diversity of graces, ministries and works gathers the children of God into one, because "all these things are the work of one and the same Spirit".

Therefore, from divine choice the laity have Christ for their brothers who though He is the Lord of all, came not to be served but to serve. They also have for their brothers those in the sacred ministry who by teaching, by sanctifying and by ruling with the authority of Christ feed the family of God so that the new commandment of charity may be fulfilled by all. St. Augustine puts this very beautifully when he says: "What I am for you terrifies me; what I am with you consoles me. For you I am a bishop; but with you I am a Christian. The former is a duty; the latter a grace. The former is a danger; the latter, salvation"

A few days ago I received an offer to receive a few free issues of America as part of a trial description. Alas, it appears that I don't subscribe to America's take on this issue (and likely a few others as well), so I won't take up the invite. But I do hope that editors of America eventally take up John Paul II's authoritative directive regarding the nature of the priesthood and recognize that it is not his "policy" (a revolting but revealing word), but is a doctrine entrusted by Christ to his Apostles and the Church, and that is upheld by "the constant and universal Tradition of the Church" that is "firmly taught by the Magisterium..."

On Ignatius Insight:

• The Blessed Virgin Mary's Role in the Celibate Priest's Spousal and Paternal Love | Fr. John Cihak
• The Priest as Man, Husband, and Father | Fr. John Cihak
• Who Is A Priest? | Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P.
• Women and the Priesthood: A Theological Reflection | Jean Galot, S.J. | From Theology of the Priesthood
• The Real Reason for the Vocation Crisis | Rev. Michael P. Orsi
• Priest as Pastor, Servant and Shepherd | Fr. James McCarthy • The Religion of Jesus | Blessed Columba Marmion | From Christ, The Ideal of the Priest

Timeless spiritual classic "Abandonment to Divine Providence" released ...

... along with the author's practical letters of advice

SAN FRANCISCO, October 3, 2011 – God is to be found in the simplest of our daily activities and especially through total surrender to whatever is His will for each of us. That is the message of this 18th-century inspirational classic by Jean-Pierre de Caussade. Its encouragement to "live in the present moment," accepting everyday obstacles with humility and love, has guided generations of seekers to spiritual peace and holiness.

In this timeless spiritual classic, Father de Caussade presents the simple, profound gospel message that Jesus lived and taught: "My meat is to do the will of my Father in heaven." Father de Caussade explains in his book, "The will of God gives to all things a supernatural and divine value for the soul submitting to it. The duties it imposes and those it contains become holy and perfect because everything it touches shares its divine character."

This special volume of the famous spiritual treatise also includes the many insightful letters of Father de Caussade on the practice of self-abandonment. These numerous letters provide a great additional source of wisdom and much practical guidance for how to grow in abandonment and to deepen our union with God in our daily lives.

De Caussade shows that this practice of self-abandonment to God's will is the key to attaining true peace and virtue, and that it is readily available to all people - from beginners to those well advanced in the spiritual life. He also shows how to determine what God's will is for us. He reveals that it is not extraordinary feats that God expects for our growth in holiness, but rather heroic attention to every detail in our lives and humble acceptance of our daily lot in life as coming from His hand.

The rich spiritual lessons in this book have stood the test of time, offering real and practical assistance to all people because its message is simple and clear, one that the reader will find to be a rare treasure of inspiration and direction to be referred to again and again.

Father Kenneth Baker, S.J., author of Inside the Bible, says, "Father de Caussade makes one point, and illustrates it in many different ways, in his famous classic. That point is: do the will of God in this life to the best of your ability and you will attain peace of soul here and life everlasting hereafter. Extra value of the new Ignatius Press version is found it the inclusion of de Caussade's letters of spiritual advice.  The advantage of the letters is that they offer many concrete examples of how to find God's will in your life and how to put it into practice. This classic belongs in every spiritual library."

• Abandonment to Divine Providence: With Letters of Father de Caussade on the Practice of Self-Abandonment (paperback), by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J.
• Audio book on CD
• Electronic Book format

About the Author
Father Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) was a French Jesuit priest and author, most well-known for his famous treatise on Abandonment to Divine Providence, and also his letters to the Visitation nuns, where he served as confessor and spiritual director. He also served as the rector of two colleges, and as spiritual director for a Jesuit house. He was deeply influenced by the writings of both St. Francis de Sales and St. John of the Cross.

Ignatius Press Marketing Director Anthony Ryan is available for interviews about this book. To request a review copy or an interview with Anthony Ryan, please contact: Rose Trabbic, Publicist, Ignatius Press, (239)867-4180 or rose@ignatius.com

Truth from the Borders

No, this isn't about immigration or building big fences. It is about a series of pointed bullet-pointed points supposedly made by a Borders employee or group of employees during (or after?) the recent closing of the bookstore chain:

• We hate when a book becomes popular simply because it was turned into a movie.

• It confused us when we were asked where the non-fiction section is.

• Nicholas Sparks is not a good writer ... if you like him, fine, but facts are facts.

• Oprah was not the "final say" on what is awesome. We really didn't care what was on her show or what her latest book club book was. Really.

See the photo and full listing here.

Benedict XVI reflects on Psalm 23 and Jesus, the Good Shepherd

From Vatican Information Service:

VATICAN CITY, 5 OCT 2011 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis during this morning's general audience to Psalm 23 which begins with the words: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". "Addressing the Lord in prayer implies a radical act of confidence, the awareness of entrusting oneself to God Who is good", he said.

Psalm 23 is an example of such confidence. "The Psalmist expresses his tranquil certainty that he will be guided and protected, sheltered from all danger because the Lord is his shepherd. ... The image evokes an atmosphere of trust, intimacy, tenderness. The shepherd knows his sheep individually, he calls them by name and they follow him because they recognise and trust him. He takes care of them, protects them like a treasure, and is ready to defend them in order to guarantee their wellbeing, to ensure they live in peace. They shall want nothing if the shepherd is with them".

The Psalm describes the oasis of peace to which the shepherd leads his flock. The setting is a desert landscape, "yet the shepherd knows where to find pasture and water, which are essential for life, he knows the way to the oasis in which the soul can be 'restored' with new energies to start the journey afresh. As the Psalmist says, God guides him to 'green pastures' and 'still waters' where all things are in abundance. ... If the Lord is the shepherd, even in the desert, a place of scarcity and death, we do not lose our certainty in the radical presence of life".

The shepherd adapts his rhythms and his needs to those of his flock. "If we walk behind the 'Good Shepherd'", the Pope said, " however difficult, tortuous and long the paths of our life may seem, we too can be certain that they are right for us, that the Lord guides us and that He is always close".

Hence the Psalmist adds: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me". Benedict XVI explained how, although the Psalmist here uses a Hebrew expression which evokes the shadows of death, he nonetheless proceeds without fear because he knows the Lord is with him. "This is a proclamation of unshakeable trust and encapsulates a radical experience of faith: the closeness of God transforms reality, the darkest valley loses all its perils".

This image concludes the first part of the Psalm and opens the way to a change of scene. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows". The Lord is now presented "as the One Who welcomes the Psalmist with generous hospitality. ... Food, oil, wine are the gifts that enable us to live, they bring joy because they lie beyond what is strictly necessary, an expression of the gratitude and abundance of love". In the meantime the enemies look on powerlessly because "when God opens His tent to welcome us, nothing can harm us".

The Psalmist goes on "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long". The Psalmist's journey "acquires fresh meaning and becomes a pilgrimage towards the Temple of the Lord, the holy place in which he wishes 'to dwell' forever". Likewise, living near God and His goodness is what all believers long for, the Holy Father said.

This Psalm has accompanied the entire history and religious experience of the People of Israel, but only in Jesus Christ is its evocative strength "fulfilled and fully expressed: Jesus is the 'Good Shepherd' Who goes in search of the lost sheep, Who knows His sheep and gives His life for them. He is the way, the way that leads to life, the light that illuminates the dark valley and overcomes all our fears. He is the generous host Who welcomes us and saves us from our enemies, preparing the banquet of His Body and His Blood for us, and the definitive banquet ... in heaven. He is the regal Shepherd, King in meekness and mercy, enthroned on the glorious seat of the cross".

Psalm 23 invites us to renew our trust in God, the Pope concluded, "to abandon ourselves completely in His hands. Let us, then, trustingly ask the Lord to allow us always to walk on His paths, even along the difficult paths of our own times, as a docile and obedient flock; let us ask Him to welcome us into His house, at His table, and to lead us to 'still waters' so that, in welcoming the gift of His Spirit, we may drink from His spring, source of that living water which 'gushes up to eternal life'".

On Ignatius Insight:

• A Shepherd Like No Other | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn

New: "A Retreat for Lay People: Spiritual Guidance for Christian Living"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

A Retreat for Lay People: Spiritual Guidance for Christian Living

by Fr. Ronald Knox

• A Retreat for Lay People  - Electronic Book Download

 C. S. Lewis called him "the wittiest man in Europe," and Ronald Knox was a deft apologist, an astute translator of the Bible, and the preacher for occasions great and small throughout the first half of the twentieth century in England. But he was first and last a priest, and it is in his sermons and retreat conferences that we meet Ronald Knox the spiritual guide.

A Retreat for Lay People brings together a collection of his conferences preached over a period of fifteen years. His opening topic is "Discouragement in Retreat," and he concludes with a reflection on "Our Lady's Serenity." In between, Knox addresses the big questions - the fear of death, the problem of suffering, the world to come - but he also explores the little questions that loom large in our daily lives, like minor trials, liberty of spirit in prayer, and the use of God's creatures. 

Msgr. Knox shapes his collection around the classic Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The first eight conferences address the foundations of our spiritual life; the next eight offer reflections on the life of Our Lord; the final eight take up practical questions of living our faith in daily life. These "pieces of eight" are punctuated by two meditations suitable for a Holy Hour. The Eucharist was at the heart of Knox's life and his profound love for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament shines through in these talks.

As in all his writing, in these conferences Ronald Knox combines love for Scripture, commitment to the Catholic faith, and sympathy for the struggles and joys of Christian discipleship.  A Retreat for Lay People is solid spiritual food, served up with refreshing simplicity and a dash of wit.

"In two dozen meditations Msgr. Ronald Knox brings your mind back to where it should be - focused on God - and he does it with that verve and wit that has made him my favorite Catholic writer."
- Karl Keating, Author, Catholicism & Fundamentalism

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, both as an Anglican and as a Roman Catholic, Ronald Knox (Ignatius Insight Author Page) was a well-known part of the English literary landscape. He was a favored preacher for occasions great and small; his articles on a host of topics found a place in the newspapers and monthly literary magazines; his voice was heard often on the BBC. He wrote numerous popular spiritual and literary works including The Belief of Catholics, Captive Flames, The Hidden Stream and Pastoral and Occasional Sermons.

Teresa Tomeo is interviewed on "Issues and Faith" ...

... (Archdiocese of New Orleans) about her book, Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture, available from Ignatius Press this Friday; the interview begins at the 14:32 mark:

Related:

• "Extreme Makeover" is "filled with spiritual direction for women..." (Oct. 3, 2011)

"The Father's Tale" admired as an "unusual combination of Ludlum and Dostoevsky"

Over at "The Corner", Michael Potemra shares some thoughts about reading Michael D. O'Brien's "new epic", The Father's Tale: A Novel:

The first half of this massive, 1,076-page volume is a gripping suspense story, with pronounced spiritual aspects, about an introverted Canadian bookseller who believes that his son has fallen under the control of a New Age cult, and travels literally half a world away — to Siberia — in order to rescue him. In the second half, the spiritual aspects become much more pronounced and even come to dominate the story, before the plot constructed so well in the first half is finally resolved. In short, what we have in the book is an unusual combination of Ludlum and Dostoevsky. (I thought the combination of international suspense and theological speculation was achieved much more seamlessly in the author's 1998 novel Father Elijah; but of course it's easier to do that in a work that's explicitly in the apocalyptic genre.)

Read his entire post. And, on Ignatius Insight, read the opening pages of the novel:

"Chesterton enjoyed a lifelong friendship with Saint Francis of Assisi. ..."

... As a small boy, long before he had an inkling of the nature of Catholicism, Chesterton was read a story by his parents about a man who gave up all his possessions, even the clothes he was wearing on his back, to follow Christ in holy poverty.

From the moment the wide-eyed Gilbert first heard the story of Saint Francis, he knew he had found a friend. As such, long before he had submitted to the reason of Rome, Chesterton had succumbed to the romance of Assisi. Perhaps inevitably, childlike wonder was followed by adolescent doubt. As Chesterton groped toward manhood during the early 1890s, he succumbed temporarily to the beguiling power of the Decadents. Under the charismatic and iconoclastic seduction of Oscar Wilde, the world of Chesterton's youth seemed under the mad and maddening influence of those who preferred the shadows of sin and cynicism to the light of virtue and verity. Romance itself had donned the mask of darkness.

It was in this gloom-laden atmosphere that the young Chesterton wrote a poem on Saint Francis of Assisi, published in November 1892. The questions it asks were a quest for answers in a world of doubt.

Is there not a question rises from his word of "brother, sister",
Cometh from that lonely dreamer that today we shrink to find?
Shall the lives that moved our brethren leave us at the gates of darkness,
What were heaven if ought we cherished shall be wholly left behind?
Is it God's bright house we dwell in, or a vault of dark confusion ... ?

This poem, dedicated to the "lonely dreamer" of Assisi, illuminates the darkness of Chesterton's adolescence. The young poet, seeking to make sense of the conflicting visions of reality vying for his allegiance, was beginning to perceive that the Decadents had cast out Brother Sun so that they could worship Sister Moon. Within three years of the publication of this poem, Wildean Decadence had decayed in the squalor of the police courts. Wilde himself would repent and would be received into the Catholic Church on his deathbed. In his conversion, he was merely following many of the other Decadents, both in England and France, who, having dipped their toes in the antechambers of hell, had decided, prudently, that it wasn't somewhere they wished to spend eternity. Baudelaire, Verlaine, Huysmans, Beardsley, Johnson and Dowson had all followed the "Decadent path to Christ", repenting of their sin and embracing the loving forgiveness to be found in Mother Church. Paradoxically, the path to Christ was always to be found in the implicit Christian morality of much of the art of the Decadents, particularly, and most memorably, in Wilde's masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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