For the books (04/02)
Since ancient times, books have been witnesses and guardians of human history. Their relationship with faith, identity, and resistance is undeniable. In Acts 9:31, we read about a Church that enjoyed peace in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, a community growing in strength and spiritual comfort. This image of construction and hope reminds us that knowledge and spirituality have always walked hand in hand.
When Matthew wrote his gospel, he not only left a religious testimony but also a geopolitical map of a martyred Palestine. His work, like that of many evangelists and thinkers, transcended time, becoming a beacon of wisdom.
The silence of the seventh seal in Revelation 8 makes us reflect on the weight of history and the expectation of revelation. Is this not the same silence we feel when opening an unknown book? Each page is a threshold between what was and what is yet to be discovered.
Maranatha, the exclamation calling for the Lord’s coming, echoes in books that seek answers. And in John 14:6, Jesus declares himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Books, in a way, are paths that lead us to truth, reflections of humanity’s endless search for meaning.
Holy Week is fertile ground for poetic symbolism. It is during this time that words gain a special power, where sacrifice and redemption are narrated like a great poem that transcends generations. Socratic maieutics, the search for knowledge through dialogue, becomes an essential exercise: What do books say on their own? What have others said before us?
The eternal tension between Eros and Agape, between passionate love and spiritual love, is also present in literature. It is in books where these forces debate, confront, and sometimes reconcile.
If we were to retell history, we would discover that books have been essential tools for human expression since the very beginning. They have also been engines of cultural and social transformation.
I have come to realize that the introduction to literature is deeply rooted in our relationship with books. Childhood and books are intrinsically linked, as if the act of reading were the first independence we achieve.
I am awake.
The pages of the Moleskine you gave me remain blank.
I am awake, like Sor Juana, because books have awakened me.
And no, they are not mere commodities.
Books are not just objects of trade; they are vessels of thought, imagination, and revolution. They shape identities, challenge structures, and open paths to understanding. To recognize their value is to acknowledge the power of stories in defining who we are and who we aspire to become.
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner."
-ER
*******
Comments
Post a Comment