Top Ten Books of my M.A.

By John D. O'Brien, S.J.

As the summer winds down, one looks back on the great books discovered over the past year. In my case, I shall look back a bit farther and make it the past two years, since many came to light as a result of a master’s program in theology. St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote that “love consists in interchange between two parties”—that is, one shares what one has with the beloved. So, dear reader, may I share with you my top ten books of recent vintage, with the hope that you might enjoy them as I did.

An Outing to Stratford Ontario

By Artur Suski, S.J.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go see a play at the “Festival Theatre” in Stratford, Ontario; the play that I saw was Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, a very entertaining comedy. After seeing the play, some interesting points for reflection emerged, but I will limit myself to only one of these with the limited space.

This point might have been very obvious in the 1930s – when the play was written – but it is not so obvious today: when couples dated, they went into the relationship with the hope of finding a companion for life; that is, with the hope of finding a good husband or wife. When people dated, the partner that they dated was closely “scrutinized” because the goal was marriage. Good habits were sought after: whether the person loved family life, or whether he or she came from a good family, what are his or her religious views, etc. All these were because they had the long-term goal in mind. In short, a relationship was formed with another for the sake of a possible marriage.