“Present touches Eternity”

February 28

"The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them" CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p227

February 27

Two quotes for today since the first one is rather short: "Why are nuns nicer than monks and school-girls nicer than schoolboys, when women are not in general nicer than men?" ~CS Lewis, Letters to an American Lady

The second one: "Remember what St. John says "If our heart condemns us, God is stronger than our heart'. The feeling of being, or not being, forgiven and loved, is not what matters. One must come down to brass tacks. If there is a particular sin on your conscience, repent and confess it. If there isn't, tell the despondent devil not to be silly." ~CS Lewis, Letters to an American Lady

War and Love

February 26

"All our merely natural activities will be accepted, if they are offered to God, even the humblest, and all of them, even the noblest, will be sinful if they are not. Christianity does not simply replace our natural life and substitute a new one; it is rather a new organization which exploits, to its own supernatural ends, these natural materials." ~CS Lewis, "Learning in war-time", p54

February 25

Since we are in university pursuing learning this quote seems quite appropriate. Lewis addresses the problem of studying at the university while the war is raging in Europe. "….every Christian who comes to a university must at all times face a question compared with which the question raised by the war are relatively unimportant. He must ask himself how it is right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to Heaven or hell to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology." CS Lewis, "Learning in War-time", p48

February 24

"Nature never taught men that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me…. I do not see how the "fear" of God could have ever meant to me anything but the lowest prudential efforts to be safe, if I had never seen certain ominous ravines and unapproachable crags. And if nature had never awakened certain longings in me, huge areas of what I can now mean by the "love" of God would never, so far as I can see, have existed" CS Lewis, The Four Loves, p20

– Couple comments for further thought… Does this connect with Romans 1 (particularly v 18-20)? Secondly – his comment about 'awakening certain longings' does this refer to the Joy he speaks of in this autobiography Surprised by Joy

The Weight of Glory

February 23

"If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power or both. This is the problem of pain, in its simplest form." CS Lewis, Problem of Pain p560

February 22

Lewis speculates about glory that is to come and then warns against too much of such thought. He provides this directive when contemplating glory. "It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken." CS Lewis, Weight of Glory, p45.

Once again Lewis compares self-reflection to reflecting on that which exists outside of oneself. This is a recurring theme in Lewis literature, and is indicative of Lewis practical and logical nature. Throughout his Letters to an American Lady he repeatedly gives advice, acknowledges the difficulty of following the advice, but nevertheless says – just follow it. In the beginning of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe the Faun has intentions of betraying Lucy to the Evil White Witch. The Faun, after spending time with Lucy, feels complete remorse and begins to break down in self-loathing. Lucy's advice (suggestive of Lewis) to the Faun is for him to simply do what is right. Yes, the Faun felt deeply, and yes Lucy is sympathizes, but the plan of action remains clear. The Faun himself recognizes this when in response to Lucy's request to let her go he says, "Of course I will, I've got to, I see that now." While Lewis has a phenomenal grasp on human intellect, emotion, and logic - and he loves to delve into the fantasy world – he continues to remain engaged with the reality of ethical obligations in his writings and the Platonic concept of morality, which for him flows from God.

More Lewis Quotes

February 21

I will use one more quote from the "Efficacy of Prayer". I do this because Lewis states that we can't stay at the question "Does Prayer work?" Lewis continues to give us a more definite answer. "Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In it God shows Himself to us. That He answers prayers is corollary – not necessarily the most important one – from that revelation. What He does is learned from what He is." And just in case we fall into the temptation to place people on different levels of prayer and influence (Mr. So and So is a prayer warrior, when he prays you know God will answer) Lewis leaves us with this statement – "When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore." CS Lewis, "The Efficacy of Prayer"

February 20

This quote I found in an essay entitled "The Efficacy of Prayer". It builds on the quotation from February 12. Lewis is introducing the concept of prayer and its efficacy. He states, "Now even if all the things that people prayed for happened, which they do not, this would not prove what Christians mean by the efficacy of prayer. For prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them." CS Lewis, "The Efficacy of Prayer"

February 19

"No man who says I'm as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did. The St. Bernard never says it to the toy do, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept." ~CS Lewis, The Screwtape Proposes a Toast, p291

February 18

"Of course we have all been taught what to do with suffering – offer it in Christ to God as our little, little share of Christ's suffering – but it is hard to do. I am afraid I can better imagine, than really enter into, this. I suppose that if one loves a person enough one would actually wish to share every part of his life; and I suppose the great saints thus really want to share the divine sufferings and that is how they can actually desire pain." ~CS Lewis, Letters to an American Lady, p53