Irish Jesuit Province

The House of Peace by M. F. EganReview by: L. de V.The Irish Monthly, Vol. 70, No. 825 (Mar., 1942), pp. 129-130Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20514997 .

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129

Book Reviews Celie." bttlAinus SenteAt. ed&ARI 1942. fllulnlnceAn CtAlJ, Ceo. tmaIA

2/6. CeAp A tAn o'oAiiO nA beAt " Ginoe " te pA5zlt AUn bt)tiaJAm seo AR coR Al

bit; is An beacAR pAiJpGaR te h-ASa1t ctO0olnedCcA OPASA1t At1s cA na

coscAis 4 AVOnea1i1 te poittsi(At4n (m COR01om sAn 1 tACtaiR ia b-tlAlne nA bext

lOllStlAt AR bit ORAnitl a (toismc nS beAOt i eiRe " to VASAit At0s So oci

So flbeat oemeAttei ts an ScoAlC5. ACC, buetOACAs te Dil, bi 0e&aRmflA boAn1CA

,AAtn1n. Ce& " Gine " CAn 6is reatC amAC 1 0ScflR 1942 A5us cA an tAtAfil

mIs SAetitSe seo Onm Atumin Sta(CrVAR 451is 13 si RiAril. CA cuma utitAt At

0A1 teAbAR, cuRiA 1n103 redRR, is 'OCt tnli, 11411 seAnl cuna4. CA tA mot AS 'out

0011n eCA5ACoC, 03os lA s5Riobn61Ri, 0o01n PottSiSCeoO AA5US 00 540 '4thlou

A CAbruiS i Oroittsiu(n " einoe." flit dCC teAt-cR-ROmn AR Al teabaR sp6is

eArhAlt Seo, tUAC Aln-R1ASftICA AR VA0.

C. S.

T'he House of Peace. By 1Rev. M. F. Egan, S.J. (Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son. Pp. 125. Price 2/6.)

One finishes the reading of The House of Peace -on a note of envy-envy (t that Jesuit community who were the first to receive the spiritual instruc tions that go to mnake up this book. Envy turns to hope that further instructions will be published so that many, by reading them, may be led to 4sit in the beauty of peace and in the tabernacles of confidence ". For in

the instructions under review there are to be found not merely clarity and sureness of style but clarity and sureness of spiritual direction also. That direction is based on an intimate knowledge of the movements of the soul and of the ways of God. It is always strengthened by principles of scholastic philosophy as inay be noted particularly in the fine chapter on "'

The Believing Mind." There are some very illuminating instructions on prayer which tempt one to expect that Father Egan will publish sometime a complete treatise on the subject. The book contains the most satisfactory account I have read of " Martha and Mary ". As I was reading the chapter I wondered would Father Egan deal with the problem (?) of the great emphasis placed these days on external works of zeal. The subject is, in fact, dealt with adequately. This chapter recalls, too, a piquant judg

ment on Marthas and Marys which nmay be reported in Father Egan's own words: ' I remember an old Carmelite Prioress, a soul very dear to God

(and now, I feel very sure, enjoying the light of His Presence), telling me of her troubles. The enclosure wall was falling down, the dairy was giving

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130 THE IRISH MONTHLY

trouble, the hens were not laying, the kitchen range was out of order. I ventured to quote Our Lord's words, " Martha, Martha . . ." " Martha indeed!" she exclaimed: " I wish I had a few Marthas in here to help me, instead of all these Marys!" ' L. de V.

A Bedside Book of Irish Saints. By Father Aloysius Roche. (Dublin; Browne and Nolan. Pp. 183. Price 5/-.)

Father Roche displayed great courage in writing this book. It had to be written in the style of his Bedside Book of Saints, and it hadl to face the problem of information concerning many of the Irish saints (once the pro

blem of their selection had been overcome). Father Roche is aware of these difficulties: " Thousands and thousands of them ther-e are-a veritable cloud of witnesses, a congregation such as St. John saw in hlis vision, whicht no man could number. That is the trouble, in a way, a sort of embarras de richesses. The trees will get in the way of the wood." " If the life of most of themn is obscured by too little information, the life of some is obscured by too much." One cannot but salute the amnount of labour the author must have undertaken in the preparation of this volume. It is well

disguised by the informal style in which the book is written, but our pleasure in admiring its author's gifts of characterisation, humour and

common sense shouild not make us forget his pre-requisite gift of hard work. Fiather Roche writes breezily of saints, remembering that they are humanz

beings. " Their inmpetuosities and frailties," he tells us, " enable us to

see them in correct perspective, to think of them sympathetically as those having to contend with rebellious instincts, and taking some rather hard

knocks in the process. We see what is neither wholly sublime nor wholly angelic, but is fairly and squarely related to our defective humanity. It is

just by these things that the pious biographer is apt to leave out that the

character of the saint is revealed. Edification may gain by ignoring the dangerous elenment that lurks in the nature of every saint, but truth suffers.

We may take it that at the source of the average holy person's life there is a

sort of frustrated and vanquished viciousness, the checking of which re

presents their supreme achievement. For all their sanctity, each is a

complex and multifarious being, the microcosm of a great State in which seethes a whole nation of desires and passions, caprices and impressions, interests and ambitions. All these are in their soul like subjects in an

empire, while at the seat of government the reins of authority are held by the will. Each was a sculptor who had to shape the rude clay until, out of

the formless mass of raw materials, he or she had moulded a just and balanced

personality. " L. de V.

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