Atonement

As gardener to the sisters in the convent Valjean realizes that he is again in prison, albeit a vastly different prison, a vastly different experience, than his former estate at the beginning of the tale. But so too are the sister. Earlier in this passage he describes, at length, the two prisons: his former home …

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December 2, 2011 – 5:11 pm | By Steve | Posted in Les Miserables | Comments Off

The joy we inspire

Valjean and Cosette have found sanctuary, hiding in a convent–Bernadines of Perpetual Adoration; he as a gardener, she as a charity student. Cosette had permission to go and spend an hour each day with him. As the sisters were sad and he was good, the child compared him with them and worshipped the ground he …

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December 2, 2011 – 4:31 pm | By Steve | Posted in Les Miserables | Comments Off

And while this goes on, the poor are dying of hunger

This vessel, disabled as it was, for the sea had treated it badly, made quite an impression when it limped into harbor. It was bearing some flag or other—I can’t remember which—that earned it a regulation eleven-gun salute, rerurned by it blast for blast, making twenty-two in all. It has been estimated that in salvos, …

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November 28, 2011 – 3:20 pm | By Steve | Posted in Les Miserables | Comments Off

Happy New Year!

Advent begins today, and with it another year. The readings for The Morning Office struck me as an especially appropriate way to begin: Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. Psalm 111:1 Let them know that you, whose Name is YAHWEH, …

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November 27, 2011 – 7:54 pm | By Steve | Posted in Advent | Comments Off