In Lent, 2008, I began to post on our late and very much lamented dot-Commonweal blog daily excerpts from the writings of St. Augustine, a practice I continued from 2011 to 2017. The passages quoted were ones that struck me for their religious and theological insights and also for their rhetorical power. Many of them were like lightning-bolts, jolting me to attention and making me wish others could share the experience. I came to think of it as a kind of spiritual alms-giving. A number of people let me know that they appreciated the effort and enjoyed encountering a different Augustine than the one they had heard of or thought they had known.
After the assassination of dot-Commonweal, I no longer had a forum for this enterprise, and I’ve missed doing it. But this Lent I thought I might try reviving the effort, posting the excerpts on my own blog, https://jakomonchak.wordpress.com/, under the category: “Lent with St. Augustine.” Some of them will be new, but many will be ones that I posted in the past, some of which I myself had forgotten....
I will welcome comments, positive or negative, expository or meditative, personal or public. In one of the excerpts I’ll send, Augustine commented on the words of the Psalmist: “Magnificate Dominum mecum”–“Magnify the Lord with me!” (Ps 33[34]:3) and said, “I don’t want to be the only one to magnify the Lord. I don’t want to be the only one to love him, the only one to embrace him.” Augustine would certainly reject the application, but I don’t want to be the only one to appreciate Augustine.
Glad to see that you are alive and apparently well.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are posting on your own blog so everything will be together but will post a link here so that we can discuss each post as well as the series.
I have a technical suggestion, when you create the link on this blog check the option which says "open in a new window" that we can see your posts and the comments here on this blog.
I am glad to see you back, Father K. I look forward to "encountering a different Augustine" on your site.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited! I created an Ash Wednesday post below, and had meant to go out to the Commonweal site to see if you were still posting them there.
ReplyDeleteI am delighted. I'll join in the magnification, and I'll be there for all even though I won't comment on all because, as I recall, some will leave me speechless. (No mean feat, that.)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Will look forward to them. Peggy
ReplyDeleteHooray! We need more good news like this. I'm really looking forward to your posts, Joe.
ReplyDeleteBy the way: do you have "Complete Works" files for your posts from 2011-2017? I'm sure many of us had counted on being able to go back to them from time to time, to take a slow, reflective, prayerful look at them on Commonweal's website; sadly, we were precluded from doing that by the manner in which dotCommonweal was shut down. What wonderful news it would be if you were to say, "Yes, I've got them all, and would be happy to share them."
To those of you who haven't met Joe: besides being a fine theologian and writer, he's a great guy. Last fall, I had to go to Boston for an event. For the first time in my life, I actually rented a car, because I wanted to go see him and have some time with him. It was a four hour drive, and worth every minute of it. Would you believe that the first time I met him was on a fateful night in March, 1980? He had come to a Manhattan parish to give a talk on liberation theology. It was quite late when we emerged from the meeting room. The sacristan was waiting to close the church. Transistor radio in hand, he told us he'd just heard that "somewhere in Latin America" that night, a bishop had been murdered. Turned out it was Archbishop Romero.
While we're speaking of dotCommonweal, and the people we came to know there, I'll mention that Carolyn Disco (I drove another four hours to meet her, after being with Joe) died on Sept. 5, shortly after having a stroke. She was full of energy and working hard on a book when I was with her in May. Her son Will, a Benedictine priest, gave a lovely homily at the funeral Mass. If you'd like a copy of it, let me know.
Thanks Gene. I caught the homily via email. Learned so much from the homily. Only knew Carolyn through her cogent posts. Sad and shocked to hear of her sudden death. Prayers for all.
DeleteGene, thanks for letting us know about Carolyn. Sad news. I didn't know her son was a priest. I would love a copy of the funeral homily if you wouldn't mind sending it to me.
DeleteGene, got it - many thanks!
DeleteSo nice to see these again. (And terribly sorry to hear of Carolyn's passing; got the email from Gene Palumbo (thanks Gene)
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the kind notes. Gene, I have the files from which I chose the excerpts published on dot-Commonweal, but not the posts themselves. The latter can be found in the archives on the Commonweal website, but by whatever process was used to shut down the blog, the original posts were often garbled orthographily, and, the real mortal sin, the responses and debates that posts evoked have completely disappeared.
ReplyDeleteI found it ironic that at the same time the editors wanted to promote "Commonweal Conversations" all over the country, they eliminated the one taking place on-line. I do not understand why the editors would not have wanted to keep the evidence of the kind of conversation Commonweal promoted on-line.
I am very sorry to hear about the death of Carolyn Disco. I always enjoyed her contributions.
Gene, thank you for sending the homily. I will add Carolyn to my list of souls. Our late blog friend Ann Olivier has been in my thoughts lately.
ReplyDeleteWonderful homily. Indeed, I wish I could go back to dotCommonweal and look back at some of her comments as a tribute to her memory.
ReplyDeleteI did have a few exchanges with her by email. Excerpts:
Aug 2, 2011:
"PS: Sitting by the shore on the Cape with all family around is a great gift. "When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged..." Ps 8"
Feb 23, 2011
"It is the Eucharist that keeps me here. I cannot imagine life without that gift and grace."
Feb 23, 2011
"Claire, I am heartsick as well, but survive in private prayer and meditation, and not enough of it at that. [...] Are there any priests or religious men or women who share your thoughts? That helps me enormously since they have the burden of living in such proximity to corruption. There is no other word. Their courage nourishes mine.”
Really good thoughts in today's and yesterday's Augustine readings. I especially liked "Tears are the heart's blood" and "We want to get to the kingdom of God, but not by dying." Tried to leave a comment there but for some reason couldn't .
ReplyDelete