Comments for The Key That Fits the Lock, Part 15 at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 5 out of 5 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Thu, 23 May 2013 04:13:39 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-15.html#comment-15845 Dr. Esolen: Getting over to Dante -- this week's resignation of the Holy Father has brought forth comparisons to one of the earlier papal resignations, that of Pope Celestine V. As a translator of Dante, you know, of course, that the character in the antechamber of Inferno who had made "the great denial" supposedly is the same Pope Celestine (though not named). Pope Benedict did not share Dante's opinion of Celestine; he left his pallium on Celestine's grave (there are pictures of this event). So, who was right, do you think -- Benedict or Dante? - HV Observer Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:23:07 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-15.html#comment-15812 Haven't heard of it before. I tried looking it up on Amazon. I notice that it is translated. Not sure if there are multiple translations available, but if there are, do you recommend any in particular? - Stanley Anderson Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:12:06 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-15.html#comment-15807 Thank you, gentlemen; Achilles, I will pray for you, be assured. Stanley -- I think you have got hold of something powerful and illuminating there. Have you ever read Charles Peguy's poem, The Portal of the Mystery of Hope? It's a long poem, but well worth buying an edition of, and meditating upon. He portrays Hope as the little girl among the three great virtues, leading her sisters Faith and Love ... - Tony Esolen Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:53:37 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-15.html#comment-15805 Professor Esolen, thank you for another wonderful article! I was just reading Weight of Glory this morning and pondering that our desires are far too weak and then thinking of the poor feminists who would be content with so many trappings of manhood instead of their true glory. Your voice has been a true blessing to me, one of God’s wretched, and you and your family are in my daily prayers. Please pray for me that the good Lord grants me peace of soul, Achilles. - Achilles Thu, 14 Feb 2013 07:14:46 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2013/the-key-that-fits-the-lock-part-15.html#comment-15804 You wrote of Jacob, "he is a man of desire." It reminds me of one of my "wonderments" (a word I use in my own personal definition to describe ideas that I find fascinating to contemplate and of possible truth and value, but not entirely certain of their orthodoxy or doctrinal validity, and of which I gladly retract if shown to be heterodoxical). I have long thought (in this "wonderment" fashion) that the Biblical concept of "Hope" differed from our earthly view of hope in that the earthly hope has two aspects, desire and uncertainty or doubt, whereas Biblical Hope has only the desire without the uncertainty or doubt. It is not so much that the Biblical Hope has unquestioned certainty about it, as that the certain/uncertain aspect simply doesn't enter into it. In other words it is simply the longing itself regardless of any infirmities or doubts we in our fallen state may have about the object of that longing. And in C. S. Lewis' biography "Surprised by Joy" he describes his own personal definition of the word "Joy" to be an intense, almost to the point of painful, longing for "I know not what", and yet a sort of pain to be sought out and preferred above all other possible pleasures. In the book of course he describes how we misinterpret the object of this Joy as "that distant hillside" that evokes the Joy, or a strain of music or whatever that we think causes the longing. But if we are honest with ourselves, we always end up discovering that the "earthly" thing we thought was the object of our Joy is false (though we often try to convince ourselves that it is not and wallow in false pleasure -- as you wrote, "The problem with sinners is not that they desire too much, but that they desire far too little"). Lewis' conclusion is that the true object of Joy is of Heavenly origin and calls us to God if only we look long enough and are diligent enough to keep tossing out the false ends that we keep mistaking for the source of that Joy. So I like to think that Lewis' Joy is a sort of pre-conversion form of Biblical Hope that simply does not yet know its true source. And I like to think that the admonition to the church at Ephesus in Revelation, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” is actually about this concept of Biblical Hope, i.e., the desire for God that has not connection with earthly concepts of certainty or uncertainty, but simply “is” and yet something we can stoke in holiness and faith or ignore and forget in our fallen nature. - Stanley Anderson Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:58:08 +0100