The Blessing of Good Storytelling

Dear Friends and Family,

On this beautiful Sunday after the Ascension--a glimpse of which you see in the photo above, I had the blessing of spending the first part of the afternoon, after the Holy Mass, tasting fresh cherries from cherry trees near the house. I had stepped outside to find the adults--three couples and their children were here this afternoon--for lunch. But since lunch was not ready yet and since there was a flock of children calling to me under a cherry tree, I decided to go visit the children.

They were eagerly picking cherries, a few of which were ripe, and offering some to me. While I think the cherries will be better in a few weeks, it was a joy to see them laughing and to make them happy by eating some cherries with them. They then eagerly asked me to go examine two other cherry tries in different parts of the fields, and so we headed over there to examine the cherries and sample a few. Meanwhile, I picked up the four-year-old so that she could reach one of the branches and then swung her back and forth so that she could pretend she was Tarzan while holding onto the branch. All in all, a delightful way to prepare for lunch!

The lunch was an enjoyable time of learning and speaking Italian with new people, discussing the situation in the world and in Italy, raising their children in the Faith, and so forth. As with many people I've met, they were all quite bilingual (actually at least tri-lingual), but kindly agreed to have the conversation in Italian so that I could continue to learn. During the post-meal coffee I went off to call my parents, which was a blessing and joy, am now typing this to you all, and then will head out the door for a jog.

But the particular blessing of this week that I wanted to highlight was this.

I ordered it to encourage the children to read it as a way of working on their English and having something healthy and conducive to the Faith while doing so. But they are not quite ready for it yet, so I began reading it myself... I had forgotten how good of a writer CS Lewis is. Quite witty and entertaining, and quite profound. It's been a real joy to read some at the end of each day, as I hope to do this evening.

I'll leave you with how he concludes "The Horse and His Boy"--and excellent story though not as well known as some others. He is speaking of the two main characters, young adolescents when the story ends.

"Shasta had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently."

With those words of wisdom, I wish you a blessed Sunday.

May Our Lady be by your side to pray for you during the novena in preparation for Pentecost.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari