Just a Reminder: I'm on Retreat Praying for You!

REMINDER: I will not be moderating comments or posting during my annual retreat which began on Monday and ends Saturday after lunch. I wrote this post last Sunday before I left. Isn't technology great? Susan will be doing most of the posts this week. Special prayers for her and Chriss, my intrepid allies.

Nous sont les trois amis de Les Femmes.

I am so grateful for their friendship, their faith, and their writing skills!

And now my thoughts for this Wednesday on the retreat:

Want Irony? Read Shakespeare

Shakespeare, master of irony

I just finished reading Henry V and we went to Blackfriars Theater last night to see the play. Ouch...not a particularly good production. They turned many of the scenes into light comedy.

One that was particularly inappropriate was the tennis ball scene. The Dauphin, prince of France, insults Henry who led a loose and playful life before ascending the throne by sending him, via his messenger, a casket of tennis balls. Henry, who is about to invade France, responds calmly but you can see the rage roiling beneath his self control. Kenneth Brannagh is perfect in his understated anger as the young king. I highly recommend that film although the battle scenes are very graphic and bloody,

Saturday Morning Trivia: Shakespeare and Sherlock

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes

A few friends and I decided to start a book club to alternate between reading Shakespeare and Church documents. We just started, and our first selection is Henry V. For those not versed in Shakespeare, the play revolves around the main battle of the 100 year war between England and France, the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.  Henry, who lived a loose and lascivious life before mounting the throne, casts off his former self to become a serious monarch, one who intends to claim what he considers his right to French lands.

Last night (in the wee hours when I couldn't sleep), I read Act III which finds Henry and his retinue on the French coast laying siege to the city of Harfleur. This is the source of the famous speech that begins, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more." As I read Henry's exhortation to his troops I stopped short at the end when I read, "The game's afoot."