Up early this August morning and savoring the dark, the quiet, the cool breeze coming in the window.
This summer I had a very ambitious reading list and while I haven’t gotten to everything, I have made some good progress. I’ve finally read Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper. The real find for me though was the translator, James Schall. He is thoughtful and cogent and very readable. I am in the middle of On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs right now, and I highly recommend his Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning. Taken by itself, this book could chart a very interesting course of study. My reading list grew by leaps and bounds! This quote, though, comes from his introduction to Leisure:
Pieper has called this mystic fortitude...the entrustment of oneself and one’s loves entirely to God. “The self is given to us that we might sacrifice it, ” wrote [George] Macdonald. “It is ours, that we, like Christ, may have somewhat to offer.” Mystic fortitude is an attribute of the faithful self that abandons itself for the sake of the other, letting go of earthly fear and natural desire.
Puts me in the mind of Thomas Howard…and makes me want to try and tackle Macdonald.
What books have you become acquainted with this summer?
The Amish often leave a space, a seeming mistake in the midst of their well-thought-out plans, to serve as an opening to the Spirit….If the quilt is to come to life, if my life is to come to life, I must leave room for the unexpected.
