Anglo-Saxon, 8th century, trans. Richard Hammer (1970)The earliest Christian poem in English The Rood (cross of Christ) speaks: “It was long past – I still remember it –That I was cut down at the copse’s end,Moved from my root. Strong enemies there took me,Told me to hold aloft their criminals,Made me a spectacle. Men carried meUpon […]
One can always get all navel-gazey about this sort of thing, and sometimes motives are worth a look. After prayer for Hitchens went out, it was followed by lots of meta-analysis of motivation, with reverberations and recriminations. Of course there was some “How can you pray for him when he’s so nastily atheistic?” and so […]
One of the sillier jokes told about Catholics is the one about the guy who gets ushered inside the pearly gates by St. Peter. As Pete shows him around the Elysian fields, they pass by a little gothic structure and hear voices praying in Latin. “Shh!” says Peter and leads the new arrival tiptoe past […]
Of course, there are many kinds of affliction, and all the corporal works of mercy, from feeding the hungry to burying the dead, aim to relieve them. But this begs the question: Why a separate work of mercy that seems to recapitulate all these others? I think the secret lies in the fact that comforting […]
As I was writing this book, I got an earache. I don’t mean a little twingy pain, like a headache or a sore toe. I mean the Most Excruciating Pain I Have Felt in Three Decades. Up there with the Great Wisdom Tooth Agony of ’78; worse than the Line Drive to the Groin of […]
The command to forgive sins willingly must be seen in light of this incredible and crazy generosity. The operative word here is willingly. It’s a word with no upper limit. Of course, as we saw in our last chapter, we are in no immediate danger of bumping our heads on any ceiling. Merely acknowledging the […]
The forgiveness of sins, said the Fathers of the Church, is a greater miracle than the creation of the universe. That seems exaggerated, when considered from our perspective. A Catholic does something he feels ashamed of, goes in the little room to confession, and comes out a few minutes later. Sometimes he stops for a […]
That’s why bearing wrongs patiently is hard. The command to bear wrongs patiently is, quite simply, the command to die, to kill your old self and live to God. It’s contrary to every impulse of our fallen human nature, and it both frightens and angers us. It’s like being a sheep before his shearers or […]
For me to assume the task of writing about “bearing wrongs patiently” is like asking the Incredible Hulk for anger-management counseling. I don’t bear wrongs patiently. Why should I? Those people are wrong! They need to be set right! I’m only doing my Christian duty of admonishing the sinner when I inform that jerk that […]
