Great website for Chesterton's writings

[RNRobert]

There is a website called http://hismercy.ca/ that has many of G.K. Chesterton's writings in .pdf format. Simply click on the link above, and then click on the "Ebooks" link on the left of the screen. In addition to Chesterton's works, there is also an e-book version of the Cathechism and other writings, such as the Sermons of the Cure d'Ars.

[libby060]

Thanks RNRobert,
I've begun Manalive. This is great!

[RNRobert]

Libby,

I'm glad you like it- I've started to read The Ball and the Cross.

[libby060]

Manalive was fantastic. He spoke to so many of my own perceptions. If anyone wants to discuss it, please do.

Also I believe I've found holes in the Innocence of Father Brown. anyone interested?

[RNRobert]

Originally Posted by libby060

Manalive was fantastic. He spoke to so many of my own perceptions. If anyone wants to discuss it, please do.

I'd love to, as soon as I get a chance to read it.

[RNRobert]

Originally Posted by libby060

Manalive was fantastic. He spoke to so many of my own perceptions. If anyone wants to discuss it, please do.

I just finished reading Manalive, and enjoyed it. Chesterton's writing (whether fiction or non-fiction) have a jolliness that is a balm to the soul.
Which of your perceptions did the book speak to?

[libby060]

One was the feeling of appreciation one gets whenever returning home from a lengthy stay. Innocent took great strides to make this happen but I experience it when just being away for a week. I walk in and see the room(s) in something of the same light that a stranger would when entering my home. I experience a feeling of appreciation and think something similar to "Hmmm what a nice place, I think I'd be comfortable here."

I don't intentionally go away just to come home anew, as did Innocent, and I experienced a touch of sympathy for him that he seemed to feel he had to. But I think his exaggerated example may have been GK's way of expressing his own deep love for hearth and home. And if one were to compare the eccentricity of Innocent's ways to the angst of so many people who seek something new and different, at the expense of what was known and dear, one could see the wisdom of Innocent's way.

Do you understand what I mean?

Another was the serenity Innocent enjoyed due to his complete assurance that he was indeed innocent. When he had been "taken" into custody and was standing outside the house, just before the wild carriage ride, he had been silent and as still as a statue. When in the dock charged with crimes as great as attempted murder, he was playing with paper dolls. He lived in the total cocoon of peace because there was not one speck on his conscience of guilt. In situations where most of us would have been whining of our innocence and bridling at the audacity of the accusation, Innocent rested apart.

Do you know who said, “Only the innocent know what guilt is.”? I think it was Bishop Sheen, but I’m not sure. Innocent knew guilt and knew it was not among his possessions.

I am not saying that Innocent and I are alike in this matter; rather that it would be marvelous to always feel as refreshingly unperturbed as he did.

Would you share something of your perceptions, please.

[RNRobert]

I too have the same feelings about coming home. I usually take two or three trips a year (it's nice to have a job that gives you 5 weeks paid annual vacation ), as I enjoy sightseeing and being in different parts of the country. For the past three years I've been using a travel trailer, so it's like having a home away from home. Still, after awhile (particularly on a two week trip), I start to get antsy and look forward to returning home.

[RNRobert]

Chesterton made a similar comment about home in the Introduction to The Everlasting Man:

There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place and I tried to trace such a journey in a book I once wrote.

I take it he was thinking of Manalive! when he wrote the above.

[libby060]

Ok, so let's give it a spiritual dimension.

One can stay home (in the Truth of the Church) as some do. They never wander off in the direction of heresy. They remain close to Tradition and reception of the Eucharist, and they aren't tempted too strongly toward the valley of the shadow. At the end they are home with the entire family of God. At least I think that is what GK could have meant by the first part of the statement.

Then there are the rest of us who do wander off to some degree but by the Grace of God are led back home, for that is always what we are seeking, so that at the end we too will be in the eternal home.

He makes no mention of those who never find their way back. Neither does he mention those who do not start home to begin with. Unless these people are represented by the persons he met throughout the journey, the persons who wrote the letters about having met Innocent.

What do you think?

[RNRobert]

That's an interesting hypothesis. On the other hand, the people that Innocent meets could be representatives of various non or anti-Christian philosophies. For example, the stationmaster in Russia represents socialism, and the templekeeper in China represents the various Eastern philosophies.
And there are some (like Doctor Warner) who are spiritually dead.

[libby060]

I'll get back to this later. I just wrote a lengthy response only to accidentally hit my keyboard and lose the whole thing. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

[RNRobert]

Originally Posted by libby060

I'll get back to this later. I just wrote a lengthy response only to accidentally hit my keyboard and lose the whole thing. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Bummer! I've had that happen before. Looking forward to your response (when you get it posted.

[libby060]

Ok, second try. Doing this one on Word as usual to avoid an accident.

I agree that the people he met on trip were representatives of various philosophies/religions. I’m sure GK meant that. But going a bit deeper I wonder if there could have been a second layer of meaning. GK was such a deep thinker that I figure I miss half of what he is saying some times.

Warning: lots of supposition here.

It’s reasonable to believe that the French café owner, Jules Durobin, may well have been baptized (or started at home) as the event occurs some long time after the revolution. But he tells us he is a believer in the common sense of science, which means he is now an atheist. He’s a long way from home. Innocence asks him if he ever wanted to rush out of his home so that he may find it.

The Russian is less likely I’d think to have been baptized, and the temple master not at all as he had never left the temple since boyhood. So they never had a home to start from. But the socialist speaks of being free by never going to one’s home again. Innocence retorts that every man wants to be found! And we do. Our entire lives we are waiting to be found by the one great Love who offers an eternal home. We know He is with us at all times of course, but we still yearn for the time we’ll be home with Him. And although He will determine when it is our time to be “found” we strive to get there on our own.

Innocent tells the Buddhist to break his temple and his gods will be free. If he were to destroy the temple, his physical home, he would need to find another. The opportunity would be there to find Christianity. But it wouldn’t be possible as long as he was imprisoned with his false idols.

Louis Hara lives in a hut at the top of a mountain at a point he calls a “specially steep and threatening pass”. I find him most interesting. I thought that it was an odd way for someone to describe the spot chosen for home. When we are looking for a place to spend the night, we usually look for somewhere that is safe, and all the more so if it is to be home. While someone else might have thought that he lived in an unsafe place, he specifically says he does. Why did he choose to run/live in a tavern? Seldom did anyone come by. He said he is lonely, lives a savage life, and mentions being confused about his heritage. He had a mother from old Spanish heritage and an Irish father. He is the most likely one to have been baptized.

He said that the mountain peaks seemed to be pillars holding up heaven. The globe over the light, with a nativity scene on it is something he brought from home, something his grandmother gave to him. I wondered why he had packed that particular light when he prepared for his desolate experience. He had not looked at it in fourteen years, but because Innocent seemed mesmerized by it, he stared at it too. Then Innocent pointed to the eastern sky at a bright star, and says that wise men followed the star and found the house. Have you ever heard of the cave in Bethlehem being called a house? I think the house was the Christ.

He said his grandmother would have said we are all in exile and that no earthly house could cure the holy home-sickness that forbids us rest. Innocent goes on to say that God has given us a love of special places, a hearth and native land, so we don’t worship the greatest idol or rival of God.

After Innocent left Louis said that a fever of homelessness would shake him. I think he may have packed up eventually and found his way home again.

Well enough for now. Tell me what you think.

[RNRobert]

Very good. Chesterton is a deep writer, and every time I read his works I come away with new insight.