✣ Highlights from the week online
It is time to read Dante Web evangelist Bishop Robert Barron has urged Catholics to read Dante’s Divine Comedy, hailing its “extraordinary spiritual power” and saying it “changed his life”. In particular he picked out Dante’s image of the Devil. Unlike other depictions, he said, Dante “presents Satan not as ensconced in flames, but as buried in ice ... Dante’s devil has nothing glamorous or romantic about him. He is just stuck, pathetic, and sad.” Dante’s flight through the various levels of heaven, meanwhile, is a journey through “different modalities and dimensions of love, for heaven is nothing but love”. Bishop Barron said the account was not merely “medieval fantasy” but also “a vivid description of the process by which we find salvation. Hence, it is as relevant now (probably more so) than it was in the 13th century.” Bishop Barron concluded: “Pope Francis has said that, especially in this Year of Mercy, we should read and re-read this magnificent spiritual teacher. I think he’s right.” All hail the boy bishop At the National Catholic Register Thomas McDonald recalled the “peculiar Christmas custom of the boy bishops”. He explained: “The festival of the boy bishop ... was a period of about three weeks in which a child, usually from the choir, was chosen, or perhaps elected by his fellow choristers, to be bishop. It began on the feast of St Nicholas and ended on the feast of the Holy Innocents: two days associated with childhood.” The tradition died out as it became ever more raucous. “What dignity the Church managed to impart to this curious custom was lost,” he wrote. McDonald urged us to regard it as “lighthearted fun”, adding: “Although I doubt we’ll ever see a return to boy bishops, we should remember it.” Sarcasm is merciless What is the antithesis of mercy? Sarcasm, according to Larry D, who blogs as Acts of the Apostasy. “Satan loves sarcasm, because it leaves wounds that can be difficult to heal,” he said. That is why, for the Year of Mercy, Larry D – a self-confessed snark – will be trying to give it up. “So often in social media we witness sarcasm masquerading as fraternal correction, insults disguised as instruction. Offence is given yet rarely forgiven. If mercy is a fruit of charity, then sarcasm must be renounced. That fleeting moment of smug satisfaction after a snarky retort isn’t worth the prolonged animosity, the ... loss of faith and trust.” Larry D added: “The first step, then, is this: I ask for forgiveness from those who have borne my sarcasm, and I ask for mercy should I succumb to future temptation.”
