C.S. Lewis on suffering
TO MARY VAN DEUSEN: On how one responds to the diagnosis of serious illness and on four strategies for coping.
10 April 1959
I have just had Sister Hildegarde’s letter. My heart goes out to you. You are now just where I was a little over two years ago—they wrongly diagnosed Joy’s condition as uremia before they discovered cancer of the bone.
I know all the different ways in which it gets one: wild hopes, bitter nostalgia for lost happiness, mere physical terror turning one sick, agonised pity and self-pity. In fact, Gethsemane. I had one (paradoxical) support which you lack—that of being in severe pain myself. Apart from that what helped Joy and me through it was:
1. That she was always told the whole truth about her own state.
There was no miserable pretence. That means that both can face it side-by-side, instead of becoming something like adversaries in a battle-of-wits.
2. Take it day by day and hour by hour (as we took the front line).
It is quite astonishing how many happy—even gay—moments we had together when there was no hope.
3. Don’t think of it as something sent by God.
Death and disease are the work of the Devil. It is permitted by God: i.e., our General has put you in a fort exposed to enemy fire.
4. Remember other sufferers.
It’s fatal to start thinking ‘Why should this happen to us when everyone else is so happy.’ You are (I was and may be again) one of a huge company. Of course we shall pray for you all we know how.
God bless you both.
Wise Words on Wednesday: Not Darker Days
“Do not let us speak of darker days; let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days: these are great days– the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.”
Winston Churchill
PWJ: S2E23 – TGD R – “Retrospective”
Sorry for the delay! This is the episode where Matt and I sit back and reflect on this past season going through The Great Divorce chapter by chapter.
S2E23: The Great Divorce Retrospective (Download)
If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn and Overcast).
Time Stamps
In case your podcast application has the ability to jump to certain time codes, here are the timestamps for the different parts of the episode.
01:53 – The Quote-of-the-week
03:17 – The Kilmer Letters
05:03 – My appearance of Reason and Theology
07:10 – Book discussion begins…
07:16 – What did you think of this Season?
11:53 – How has this Season changed you?
16:34 – What are the main themes you’ve seen?
30:28 – What kind of ghost would you be?
44:40 – The “Last Call” Bell
Music Monday: Were you there?
This is oldie but a goodie… Chris Rice sings “Were you there?”…
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Oh were you there when they crucified my Lord
Ooh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross
Ooh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the cross
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Ooh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb
Well were you there when the stone was rolled away
Were you there when the stone was rolled away
Ooh sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when the stone was rolled away
Wedding Mass Readings
As I’ve mentioned before, at the moment virtually all my friends are getting married. Over the course of life thus far I’ve been to many weddings and got to hear many different Scripture selections by different couples. Needless to say I’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13 far too often! At the most recent wedding, the subject came up and I shared what would be my own Scripture choices for my own wedding. I figured that I may as well turn it into a blog post 🙂
Everything about abortion
