Deus Misereatur

War in Heaven by Charles Williams My rating: 4 of 5 stars Oftentimes the mundane and material are perceived as swimming in a closed system, performing and progressing along well defined tracks to a clearly predictable destination; unless the mundane and material are seen through the eyes of the mystically minded. Charles Williams, long-time friend and confidant of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, is such a one. “War in Heaven,” originally published in 1930, and recently republished as a 260 page e-book (Kindle), is an ideal example of Williams’s ability to see the commonplace and corporeal through celestial senses. This particular edition has a new introduction written by admirer Jonathan Ryan. “War in Heaven” seizes the reader’s interest in the first line, “The telephone was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no-one in the room but the corpse” (11). From there the story takes the reader from London to Fardles, city to country, and back again as we follow the steps of...

Before I Go: Letters to Our Children about What Really Matters by Peter Kreeft My rating: 5 of 5 stars Over the years I have sat with many people as they draw close to the end of their life, and I have noticed that several find themselves frustrated by the short time they have left to say the final, important things to their loved ones. And as I continue to grow older I find myself pondering and asking, more and more, what I should hand on to my children, what valuable things do I want them to hear from me and take to heart. Peter Kreeft has launched a preemptive strike at that moment for his family by writing his short 244 page, readably warm hardback, “Before I Go: Letters to Our Children about What Really Matters.” Kreeft states that this book, written to his grown children, is simply a “word-insurance policy,” since it is “a way of speaking even after you are dead” (4). These are words written against the day when he may no longer be able to say what he deems important, to spea...

Morning Prayer: Our Father, who has gladly and joyfully initiated and implemented the only way the world may be saved and no longer be condemned, we lay our burdened hearts before you. We find that things are not as we had planned nor dreamed they would be. We find that some of us, some of our friends, or some of our family-members are in the middle of trials, disenchantments or distresses that are perplexing and worrisome….Grant that they and all of us may learn obedience by the things that we suffer, and turn to you, our Helper, in the time of trouble. May there be no bitterness in our sorrows, no despair in our submission, and no doubt of you in our bewilderment. Teach us to face trials bravely; please make even the dark things of life to work together for our good; and bring all quickly out of their distresses, that together we may praise you with joyful heart. With Your watchful eye, please preserve our U.S. Military personnel, and those of our numbers who are in othe...