Dear friends in Christ
We are coming to the end of II Corinthians. On Sunday, July 27, at 10am (repeated on Thursday, July 31, at 12:40pm) we will look at the final chapter. It is interesting how Paul ends his letters. I have a few words to say about the “holy kiss,” as well as a number of other things. Visitors/newcomers always welcome. If you ever don’t know where a class is meeting, just as the receptionist in the Parish House at One West 53rd.
There was a full house for Hell on Monday, July 21, and we’ll continue going down, to the bottom (which in Dante is the center of the created universe) on Monday, August 18, 6:15pm. On that evening we’ll discuss Inferno cantos 18-34. Anyone who reads the text is welcome.
Some people have asked about the translation I am reading. It’s by the Hollanders, and besides the print version you can find it at the Princeton Dante Project website. But let me emphasize: I think it is helpful to the seminar to have a number of translations around the room, so please continue reading in whatever translation you have or prefer. There is no one, best translation.
Around the web
It’s been awhile since I have recommended the daily “Brother, Give Us a Word” emails from the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, the Episcopal monastic order in Cambridge, Mass. You can get emails like the following daily by going here and selecting the “daily” option. The following is the email from Tuesday, which was the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene:
Hope
Mary Magdalene’s suffering was not completely ended once she met up with Jesus. Suffering doesn’t just go away; suffering seems to be a part of life. But whatever suffering she continued to know in life since having met Jesus, her suffering had been put in some new perspective. That there was some pattern of meaning being woven into the tangled warp of her life. She had been given hope.
–Br. Curtis Almquist
Peace
