Hallow Advent
I’ve been using the Hallow app for a long time now, and this Advent, I’m using it daily for their Pray25. It uses the writings of C.S. Lewis to discuss the themes of Advent, and the C.S. Lewis portions are read by Liam Neeson, who was the voice of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie in 2005. Let’s be real though – I think I’m listening to Qui Gon Gin when he’s talking.
Jonathan Roumie does most of the rest of the talking, though there are others. Jonathan plays Jesus in The Chosen. If you’ve not watched that show, I highly recommend it.
C.S. Lewis
If you’re only familiar with Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia, you’re missing out on some great Christian books. My favorites are Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. The Screwtape Letters were dedicated to J.R.R Tolkien, and are letters from a senior demon to his nephew on how to ensure the nephew’s target ends up in Hell.
The book contains one of my favorite quotes. The uncle, Screwtape, writes to his nephew, Wormwood:
“He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
No Mere Mortals
One of this week’s reflections in Hallow reminded me of another C.S. Lewis quote, this one from The Weight of Glory.
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest, most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which — if you saw it now — you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another — all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
There’s a lot going on there. Every person I met with this week, every person who I failed to listen to, every person who annoyed me, every person who made me laugh, literally every person has an eternal destiny. They are not mere mortals.
Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.
It is not an easy task to remember that when dealing with others! How quickly we forget. But we all need to remember because, “All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.”
No pressure, or anything. Another good reason to start the day off with prayer!
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