Letter 211 by Saint Augustin, 5-8: The rule for women

Saint Augustine was a Shepherd, so he had a pastoral concern for his flock. He wrote a rule for religious men, the Praeceptum, as well as a rule for women. The latter was written in 423 for the occasion of a dispute of the religious who wanted to remove her superior. It is contained in his letter 211.

Paragraphs 1-4 seem to be a rebuke, whereas number 5-10 contains the precepts for the community. In these precepts, Augustine highlight common possession of goods, unanimity, prayer, and fasting.

The religious are not allowed to have anything of their own. They have all in common. The superior distributes food and clothes to each one according to their needs. For it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: 

They had all things in common and distribution was made to each according to they need.

The religious come from both well-to-do families and poor families. They live together, nevertheless, this must not be an occasion of pride for neither the former nor the latter. What would be the use of renouncing the earthly belongings and giving them to the poor if this is a cause of pride? They have to live in unanimity, as they were only one soul. 

Prayer has to be at the appointed time. They must avoid distractions because the heart and the lips have to work at once. 

Finally, it is important that the religious follow fasting and abstinence from food and drink. 

 

'Roald Dhal: Collected stories'

 The book consists of a compilation of 51 stories written by Roald Dahl. Some of these are settled in Greece during the German invasion in the II world war. Other ones go by on urban stages or rural ones in England.

A strong point of these stories is that they have ironical twists. Some of them present antic whirls, like in “William and Mary”, and end with unexpected outcomes, like in “Genesis and catastrophe”. The work carried out by Dahl is to set a plot that relentlessly evolves towards an unexpected denouement. Another strong point of the book is Dahl’s style. It is precise and economic. No sentence left over. The book has, nevertheless, a weak point. The narration is shallow, so even often remains in the anecdote.
Although Dahl’s books are frequently for children, the stories contained in this one are addressed to an adult audience. They will appeal to those who are keen on popular British Literature.

'Dubliners' by James Joyce

 

The book consists of a compilation of fifteen short stories. The stories are set in the city of Dublin at the beginning of the twentieth century. The thread that ensembles the stories is Dublin. Characters evolve in that stage. Each story develops its own themes. Thus in ‘Two gallants’, a couple of friends walks by Dublin while they consider whether they have had autonomy in their lives or have lived at the expense of other people. ‘The boarding house’ explains the story of an innkeeper's daughter whose honour has been sullied. In ‘The little cloud’, a fellow feels discontent about his life in comparison with a friend’s life who has travelled abroad a lot. The strength of the book is how Joyce draws Dublin. Not only does he draw its landscape, but its geography. Another strong point is the resort to symbolism. The weak point, if there is any, is that the style is a little distant. They say it is boring. I recommend reading this book with the help of an external essay so that you can get through its symbolism. It is for all fans of classics.

'Learning the virtues' by Romano Guardini

 This book consists of a proposal of ethics for the men and women of the author’s time.

The book is about knowledge of good as a cause for joy. It runs through different virtues and ends in an epilogue about justice before God.
The strongest point of the book is that it gives a positive sight of moral - it is not a stoic imposition, but something that tends to good -, and that realizes a complete effort of reflection about morale. However, its language and style have got a little dated – one should think it is written in the past century.
This book is greatly recommendable. It appeals either to people who like Romano Guardini, or those interested in dialectical theology. 

'Treatise on the Holy Spirit' by Basil of Caesarea: A commentary

Sticking with the religious issues, I wish to make a commentary on a fragment from a treatise about the nature of the Spirit by a Cappadocian father ('Treatise on the Holy Spirit', 9).

This fragment begins with the name of this trinitarian person. His proper name is 'Holy Spirit' because has nor body, neither matter. He cannot be divided. He has not a circumscribed nature, so we cannot say 'He is here' or 'there'. As a matter of fact, he is not a creature but a being with intelligence, with infiniteness, who has no limits, cannot be measured and abundantly bestows its gifts. 

The Holy Spirit communicates to all who seek sanctification. He can sanctify others, yet needs nothing: nor strength, neither addition - he is full by himself. He grants life and illumination not to everybody, but to those who are worthy of him. He shares, giving himself, as though who receives him were alone, yet is present to everyone and is given for all humanity.

The Holy Spirit dwells in the person who shares with him. This is why this person becomes spiritual and may communicate the Spirit to others. Many gifts issue from this dwelling: prophecy, wisdom, becoming like God and being destined to him.

'The power and the glory' by Graham Greene: a review

 This book is a kind of road movie set in the Mexican revolution in the twentieth century.

The novel relates the pursuing of a priest by the police and his runaway to a Northern state. During his road the priest debates between leaving his religious duties -being a sinner and a betrayer to his faith- or going on until the foreseen end, being a martyr. Its plot evolves to an unexpected end for the reader.

The strongest point of the book is the drawing of secondary characters. Thus the lieutenant, a man obsessed in haunting the priest; padre José, a regretting priest who has conformed to the law and has got married; and Maria, a peasant who had an affair with the priest. The weakness of the novel, if there is any, is some inconsistency in the priest’s character, like his easiness to getting over from his alcoholism.

This book is very recommendable. It will appeal to readers who like good literature, for it is considered as a masterpiece.

Alphabet game

Alaric Watts, a famous journalist, wrote a poem in alphabetical order in the Trifler magazine in 1817. It is a kind of alphabet game.

An Austrian army, awfully arrayed, 

Boldy by battery besieged Belgrade. 

Cossack commanders cannonading come, 

Dealing destruction's devastating doom. 

Every endeavour engineers essay, 

For fame, for fortune fighting - furious fray! 

General 'gainst generals grapple -gracious God! 

How honours Heaven heroic hardihood! 

Infuriate, indiscriminate in ill, 

Kindred kill kinsmen, kinsmen kindred kill. 

Labour low levels longest, loftiest lines; 

Men march 'mid mounds, 'mid moles, 'mid murderous mines; 

Now noxious, noisy numbers nothing, naught 

Of outward obstacles, opposing ought; 

Poor patriots, partly purchased, partly pressed, 

Quite quacking, quickly 'Quarter! Quarter!' quest. 

Reason returns, religious right rebounds, 

Suwarrow stops such sanguinary sounds. 

Truce to thee, Turkey! Triumph to thy train,  

Unwise, unjust, unmerciful Ukraine! 

Vanish vain victory! vanish, victory vain! 

Why wish we warfare? Wherefore welcome were  

Xerxes, Ximenes, Xanthus, Xavier? 

Yield, yield, ye youths! ye yeomen, yield your yell! 

Zeus', Zarpater's, Zoroaster's zeal, 

Attracting all, arms against acts appeal!

Can you notice that there is no line for j? This is because in that time j was considered a variant of i.