We are listening to The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, read by Patrick Stewart.
We have slowly gone through the whole series of Narnia on audio in our car. It has been a delightful journey, and we’ve enjoyed all the British readers for the series. I’m hesitant to buy audio cds, but this has been an excellent investment. The boys are eager to listen all over again.
I can’t stop thinking about how wonderful it is to be listening to The Last Battle during Advent. The Church’s focus in Advent is remembering the historical coming of Christ, and preparing our hearts for His second coming (and His daily coming in Grace and in the Eucharist).
And here we are listening to “End Times” of Narnia. I am so struck by the descriptions of the Anti-Aslan. And so much of the book echoes the Gospel readings we have been hearing in the last weeks of Ordinary Time and the beginning of the Liturgical Year.
Last Thursday we heard from Luke 21:20-28, and Sunday we heard from Luke 21:25-28; 34-36. These excerpts in particular:
Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
They will fall by the edge of the sword
and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles;
and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Those verses roll in my head as I hear these words from The Last Battle:
Suddenly the King leaned heard on his friend’s [unicorn] neck and bowed his head.
“Jewel,” he said, “What lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before to-day we should have been happy.”
“Yes,” said Jewel. “We have lived too long. The worst thing in the world has come upon us.”
And later the small wood animals that help comfort their King Tirian of Narnia:
“Ah, that’s bad isn’t it?” said the second Mouse. “It would have been better if we’d died before all this began.”
But all is not gloom, because we are comforted and given strength to endure, just like Tirian:
And still there was no change in the night or the wood, but there began to be a kind of change inside Tirian. Without knowing why, he began to feel a faint hope. And he felt somehow stronger.
So, I’m dwelling on Sunday’s Gospel, particularly the part of
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
If my to-do list is very long and I let it bother me, then I’m letting these anxieties overtake me. So I’m plodding carefully, gradually taking on Advent preparations, with the time that I can, but not letting it worry.
I want to “Prepare the Way of the Lord” and it starts within.
The book is all so beautiful and rich, words just fail me! It makes me eager to get back in the car to keep on listening and contemplating!
