IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 2

 

A favorite passage from one of my favorite books is the quote below from Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte, two young Englishmen, meet at Oxford in the period between the two world wars. Charles is not a believer, and Sebastian is from an aristocratic Roman Catholic family. After they've been friends for a while, Sebastian brings up the subject of his faith and Catholicism. What follows is the dialogue between the two:

(Sebastian) “Oh dear, it’s very difficult being a Catholic!”

(Charles) “Does it make much difference to you?”

(Sebastian:) “Of course. All the time.”

(Charles) “Well, I can’t say I’ve noticed it. Are you struggling against temptation? You don’t seem much more virtuous than me.”

(Sebastian) “I’m very, very much wickeder,” said Sebastian indignantly.

(Charles) “… I suppose they try to make you believe an awful lot of nonsense?”

(Sebastian) “Is it nonsense? I wish it were. It sometimes sounds terribly sensible to me.”

(Charles) “But my dear Sebastian, you can’t seriously believe it all.”

(Sebastian) “Can’t I?”

(Charles) “I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass.”

(Sebastian) “Oh yes. I believe that. It’s a lovely idea.”

(Charles) “But you can’t believe things because they’re a lovely idea.”

(Sebastian) “But I do. That’s how I believe.”

I love the passage, because Sebastian describes how I believe, too. It's very much the stories, the myths (not myths in the sense of something that's not true - myths in the sense of universal truths) that draw me into Christianity.

(Edited and reposted from 2007.)

BELIEF

From this Story of the Day:

Can you prove any of the stuff you
believe in? my son asked me & when I
said that's not how belief works, he
nodded & said that's what he thought
but he was just checking to make sure he
hadn't missed a key point.

To an exchange in the comments:

The Annunciation - Botticelli

Grandmère Mimi said...

What if I say I believe the story happened, but I can't prove it? What if I say I believe because it's a lovely story?

My evidence is in my heart, in my change from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. My evidence is how I live my life because I believe the story. Not that I'm good or holy, because I'm not, but that I'm a far better person because I believe the story. The story changed my life. That is my evidence.

----

Murdoch Matthew said...

Everything in our minds is story -- we understand and remember through language. The lives we live, the things we do, these are reality. You've got that right.

I think that good people reflect credit on their traditions more than that they are products of the tradition. The best priest I ever knew, one who drew me and many others to the Episcopal Church by his example, was (I came to realize) a product of his German Lutheran youth. There are good people in all traditions -- and none. Whatever happened in the past happened -- NOW is the time we live in.

Adoration of the Shepherds - Caravaggio

Thanks to Ann for the 'Adoration of the Shepherds'. I had already decided to use the painting in the post, but she confirmed my decision. Great minds....

WHERE WERE ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE?

From nakedpastor, David Hayward, who is kind enough to have his cartoons in Creative Commons, which permits free use unless the material is used for commercial purposes.

Thanks to Ann. Ann, you don't have to buy me a Christmas present, since you give all year long.