“ ‘Our lives are lived under the white glare of eternity, if we only had the eyes to see it. Maurus, our days are flung against a background of finality that frightens one. Did you hear my father’s last words?’
‘No.’
‘There is only one mistake in life – not to be a saint… Yes, Maurus, those were the dying words of my father, and he never uttered a truer syllable all his days. That’s why men are born, Maurus. That’s why you and I are here at St. Pierre de la Celle – not to make life’s only mistake!’ ” So reads a core passage in M. Raymond O.C.S.O.’s Three Religious Rebels, an impassioned and rousing story following the lives of three canonised saints to whom the foundation of the Cistercian Order is owed. What does it matter what we seem to be in the eyes of the world, so long as we do not make life’s one mistake? Sam Guzman’s The Measure of Success from Catholic Exchange elaborates on the idea of failure and success, from the point of view of eternity, of course. After all, what else is there?
While we’re taking notes from literature, visit Seton Magazine for 7 Extreme Lessons On Manners from Great Literature by Dr. Mitchell Kalpakgian. Just like being put to death was generally understood as part of the package deal, so to speak, with becoming a Christian in the days of Nero, Diocletian, etc., it goes without say that living as a true Catholic today means standing out and being noticed. Sometimes we forget that with this comes a grave responsibility; good manners, kindness and consideration in our dealings with others in all the little things of everyday life could be the difference between giving scandal and being an occasion of edification.
Where Are the Nation's Captains? by John Horvat II on The Imaginative Conservative is today’s final article, in which the author uses the all-too-familiar story of airport delays to point out the difference between those who are simply in positions of authority and those who are leaders.
