Monday, July 13, 2015

"All believing Catholics should have this book in their personal library"

Dear Misfits,

Last [Wednesday] evening, we met for our final discussion of Lucy Beckett's examination of great writers of the past two and a half millennia.  Our meeting was again hosted by Misfit Chris Hagen and set beneath the gazebo of Claret Farm.  It was another warm summer evening with male fellowship, good talk, and a few beers.

Blaise Pascal - Illuminating Hero of Beckett

We all emphatically agreed that In the Light of Christ is a truly remarkable book.  Beckett's survey explains in brilliant detail how Catholic thinkers and writers from ancient to modern times have shaped our Catholic faith.  There are many excellent reviews of In the Light of Christ so I won't try to review the book in any depth other than to say that all believing Catholics should have this book in their personal library.  They should read, and reread, the book as it will explain and illuminate the great theological depth and intellectual scope of our Faith.

Now to the future:  Our book for [August] is a short one...but it is dense!  We will read Denise Levertov's, The Stream & the Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes. This collection of "selected poems on religious themes" is by a renowned poet, "who embraced the Christian faith late in life, interacting with spiritual sources that crossed her path while on her journey of faith."  I should add, that her searching led her to the Catholic faith.  The book is available on Amazon for $9.92.

Also, and as a part of our next meeting, let's each of us bring a favorite poem to read and make it a real evening of poetry

Our book for [September] is another novel by Evelyn Waugh, A Handful of Dust.  Laced with cynicism and truth, A Handful of Dust satirizes a stratum of English life where all the characters have money, but lack practically every other credential. Murderously urbane, it depicts the breakup of a marriage in the London gentry, where an errant wife suffers from terminal boredom, and becomes enamoured of a social parasite and professional luncheon-goer.  This is perhaps Waugh's most biting novel yet, his perspective is always that of a Catholic man.  The novel is available at Amazon for $13.86.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, August 12, at 7:00 pm at Claret Farm/Loome Theological Booksellers.  The address is: 2270 Neal Ave N, West Lakeland, MN 55082.

. . .

Yours in Christ,

Misfit Buzz

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