A Brief Pause in the Action
After arguably the best retreat I've had since I made the Spiritual Exercises (January '05), I am now back in Detroit. These are, to be sure, very busy days: I have a lot of odds-and-ends to take care of before I leave for the Netherlands next Saturday. I have been meaning to share with my readers a little suggestion on some summer reading. Over the past few months, I have been very much taken with the writings of Josef Pieper , especially three lovely texts: Guide to Thomas Aquinas , Leisure: The Basis of Culture , and The Silence of St. Thomas . Just a few little nuggets I thought worthwhile to share: But of course [this] listening is not concerned solely with grasping the substance. It is also directed fully at the interlocutor as a person; it draws its vitality from respect for the other's dignity, and even gratitude toward him - gratitude for the increase in knowledge which is derived even from error. " We must love them both, those whose opinions we share an...