The Liturgical Calendar: The Church Remembers

Today the church remembers Clive Staples Lewis, Apologist and Spiritual Writer, 1963.

Certainly C. S. Lewis must be one of the saints who is most widely known to the modern world. Hollywood blockbusters and popular books ensure that many people, whether or not they are Christians, know of Lewis and his work. Such a grand presence would not be obvious from the beginnings of Lewis's life.

Born in Ireland, Lewis attended the Protestant church, though he left participation in the church in his teenage years. As a young adult, he flourished as a scholar. He was accepted into University College, Oxford, to study classical literature. During the first world war, Lewis volunteered with the army, and he was sent to the Somme Valley. There he experienced the horrors of trench warfare.

Several years after the war, Lewis found himself embracing Christianity once again, described in Surprised by Joy, "I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." As a Christian and a gifted author, C. S. Lewis provided the world with book after book in which the simple and grand truth of Christianity is exposed. His well-known titles include The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, Miracles, The Great Divorce, and, of course, The Chronicles of Narnia.

Lewis found deep joy in the faith, despite many challenges of his life. His wish was that all people might know the love of God. "God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

Give us your deep joy, O God, and strengthen us that we might share your love and your peace with the world. Amen.

Read the Wikipedia article here.

O God of searing truth and surpassing beauty, we give you thanks for Clive Staples Lewis, whose sanctified imagination lights fires of faith in young and old alike; Surprise us also with your joy and draw us into that new and abundant life which is ours in Christ Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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