Comments for The Key That Fits the Lock, Part Six at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 7 out of 7 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Sun, 19 May 2013 09:27:50 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13653 Dear Folks, Thanks for your kind words! Yes, I am thinking about working this up into a book. (By the way, parts 7-13 are already written; TCT has them in the hopper.) On Augustine: Sometimes it's hardest to notice what's right in front of our noses. Augustine's tribute to his mother Monica is the first extensive tribute to the virtue and wisdom of a flesh-and-blood woman in the history of the world -- either that, or St. Gregory of Nyssa's tribute to his sister, St. Macrina. Both are astonishing ... I cannot imagine a Cicero admitting that he derived his faith and his insights from his big sister. Sigrid Undset helps here, too -- she who noticed that Christians were the first to look to the wisdom of women. She writes that there's a darned good reason why men like Jerome (whose personal dealings with women were uncommonly friendly and generous) wrote so vehemently against the Temptress. It's because they understood how weak men are, sexually, and how dangerous the Temptress is. Good women understand it, too, and that's why THEY, and not men, have been most severe against them. - Tony Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:05:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13600 Thank you, Prof. Esolen, for this and your other wonderful essays. My friend, who is more educated in sacred scripture than I, has pointed out to me that the basic pattern in Gen. 1-11 is the following: 1. human sin 2. consequences of sin 3. God responds with grace and a sign of hope So Adam and Eve sin, they are ashamed of their nakedness, and God gives them leather garments. Cain murders Abel, is banished, but God marks him for protection. Humanity's sin is out of control, the flood, God's promise to never do that again and the rainbow. Finally, the Tower of Babel, it crumbles as humanity is scattered, and then immediately Abraham's genealogy. I never understood exactly how the latter is a sign of grace and hope since the others were much more obvious. And then my friend pointed out to me what should have been the most obvious of them all. The scattering of humanity is healed in Abraham since Christ, his descendant, will gather all people to Himself. Thanks be to God! - Steve S Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:32:35 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13591 I love this series, Mr Esolen. Any thought of working this series into book form? If so, when can I pre-order? - Randall Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:30:08 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13590 Whoa, Prof! GREAT! A-GAIN! and just my "womanly" take @ Dan Deeny's question/comment: i have read St. Augustine and about St. Augustine and prayed for years to St. Augustine. my understanding of him from almost 1700 years distance is that for St. Augustine, the caress of a woman did always bring him down. he could never rise above his lust to the point of self-giving, sacrificial love. he was always seeking dominance and satisfaction at a woman's, and at one point "any" woman's, expense. she was an enjoyable though considerably lower being in his exalted self. i would surmise that since his true conversion came so late in his life and his sexual habit so deeply rooted, he was one who had to completely turn away from female company. SHE was a source of sin and temptation for him. i would guess that this is the case for some men. to be fully MAN united to a WOMAN self must be sacrificed on the Cross of Love. then the two are one and both fly closer to the Image they were created in. sure, it takes years of practice, but can be done. and thank God, He makes good of all things so we don't need to worry about the condition of our parents' souls at the moments of our conceptions, or even that of our own during our children's......or most of us shouldn't be here! maybe Malcolm was in the same place in his soul. better for a man to have a wrong idea about a woman than marry one and be abusive in his heart toward her, wouldn't you agree? - debby Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:57:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13583 I like Muggeridge, but I have a question and some criticism. Question: Did he have a family? Children? Criticism: He wrote in one of his books that he agreed with St. Augustine who said that the caress of a woman brings us down (to this world, I guess, instead of up to God). Without that caress, neither Muggeridge nor Augustine would have made it into the world! - Dan Deeny Wed, 26 Sep 2012 06:07:58 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13578 What a great way to start the day with this read. Esolen, keep it coming. - W.E. Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:24:56 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2012/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-six.html#comment-13576 How very sober and vigilant are your words Professor Esolen! Would that the world could hear them. Peace on earth to all men of good will. - Achilles Wed, 26 Sep 2012 03:36:35 +0100