From July 30 to August 27, Assumptionist Brothers Paul and Ryan led a book group through The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.  Meeting at St. Anne's & St. Patrick's Parish in Fiskdale, the group, which also included parishoners from nearby parishes, numbered around thirty people. We met on Thursday evenings despite the August heat.

The Great Divorce is a dream of the afterlife.  After death the characters in this story board a bus for heaven.  Before getting there, they meet others they had known in the life before.  In the ensuing conversations the reader is led to discover the importance of choices, which move us either closer or further from the Lord.  What keeps us from heaven is selfishness.  What helps us get there is consenting to the Lord's desire to purify us and prepare our hearts for heaven, a process that is not comfortable at first but, as Lewis points out, marks the beginning of lasting joy.

And so it was that on some warm evenings in August, the parishoners of St. Anne's  & St. Patrick's, along with others from nearby parishes, joined us in an imaginary tour of lives and life-choices.  It was the occasion of laughter, thoughtfulness and discussion.

By Bro. Ryan