Dear friends in Christ
Looks like a dismal week ahead.
The suffering of Job continues: on Sunday, October 27, I’ll begin with chapter 15, which is the 2nd speech of Job’s first friend, Eliaphaz. But, actually, there are subtle and interesting developments in Job’s understanding through these various speeches, worth noticing. It isn’t unremitting suffering after all! The Sunday class is on the fifth loor at 10am, and for those who can’t make it, the class is repeated on Thursday, October 31 at 12:40pm on the second floor. Each class lasts about 40 minutes.
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti has a lot of suffering also—the present-day suffering of the poor in a city in Pakistan. Yet here, too, there is grace in unexpected forms. If you’ve read the novel, you’re welcome to the conversation: Monday, October 28, from 6:15 to 7:45pm in Andrew Hall.
Finally, Aquinas: who himself doesn’t exactly have the reputation of an author of gripping page-turners. Nonetheless, we are finding a lot of interest, and light shining into mystery, in his “Question” on the knowledge of God. For instance, in the section we read last night he describes the life of the blessed (in their resurrected bodies) as showing forth God’s own being, just as (even now) when you see someone else you “see” that he is alive. In that sense, Aquinas offers, we will see God…. No need to do any preparatory reading, but if you want to print out the text, it’s here. We will be starting with article 6 (whole citation: Summa theologiae I.12.6) and may get through article 8, on Wednesday, October 30, at 6:30pm in Andrew Hall.
Peace.
