The Catholic Thing: Reading Paradise Lost by William Saunders

William Saunders makes a plea for us all to read (or to re-read) Paradise Lost.

If my words don’t conjure it up for you, try Milton’s instead. You don’t have to rely on finding the time and energy and resolve dutifully to read a “forbidding” text. No; listen to it instead. Hear the words ring, hear the clang of battle, the cries of the vanquished. Enter, almost as a participant, a grand saga that lifts you out of the humdrum, the daily.

Do yourself a favor before this summer comes to an end. If you don’t want to try Paradise Lost, then try the Aeneid. If not that, then how about the Iliad, or the Divine Comedy? Great intellectual and spiritual stimulation and wonderful adventures await you. It’s not too late for those of us who have graduated from high school into the work-a-day world. Try one of these great books on tape.

Excellent advice!