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1. Use this thread to post your thoughts and reflections while reading.

I have recently started reading Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago 1918�1956, which turns out to be solid, if grim, preparatory reading for Father Ciszek's book. Not the reason I started it, but a bit of a bonus.

John wrote: "I have recently started reading Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago 1918�1956, which turns out to be solid, if grim, preparatory reading for Father Ciszek's book. ..."

I haven't read The Gulag Archipelago, but did read years ago The First Circle, which describes quite well life in the Lubianka, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which does the same for the work camps. Both left me an indeleble mark, and are good preparation for this book, as you say.

Manuel wrote: "John wrote: "I have recently started reading Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago 1918�1956, which turns out to be solid, if grim, preparatory reading for Father Ciszek's book. ..."

I..."

I've read One Day and Cancer Ward. As you say, both left their mark and I think Solzhenitsyn belongs with Dostoevsky at the top of any list of great Russian authors. First Circle is on my list.

I was thinking of Viktor Frankl’s Man in search of meaning -I’m not sure that is the title of the book in english- when Ciszek discusses man’s dignity and worth in all places and circumstances.

Tania wrote: "I was thinking of Viktor Frankl’s Man in search of meaning -I’m not sure that is the title of the book in english- when Ciszek discusses man’s dignity and worth in all places and circumstances."

Almost correct: "Man's search for meaning" :-)

Frankl's religion was Judaism, but he was married to a practising Catholic and his way of thinking was not far from ours.

It is true that Frankl was catholic, I was referring to the similar experience they went through of looking inside themselves to discover the value and man, even when they were treated with cruelty and inhumanly. At the end believing that men have a value was an important key of survival.

I meant to write wasn’t * catholic .

What a grace that he recognizes despair as a temptation rather than an inevitability.
He seems to say in 5 Lubianka that prayer is easy when and only when we feel God's presence. I think habits of prayer can be easy, though perhaps not so easy to unite oneself fully with God.

I didn't write many comments here, but I liked the book very much.
I need to reread it and maybe then I will post quotes.

In general I liked better the parts where he was telling his story before he got off into theological reflection about it, which tended to sound over-familiar. For example, his honest recounting of the terror of suddenly being in front of a firing squad (even though he believed in heaven) was fascinating, as were his observations about how the Russians respect the dead even though they've been taught death is the end. His paragraphs about what Christians believe were much less interesting reading. I did like his brief accounts of the kinds of ultimate questions about the meaning of life that led him into conversations.

He has deep respect for other denominations; how sad that it wasn't usually reciprocated.

Surely men in prison camps didn't need to fast all day before receiving communion!!! In fact, that kind of fasting under the circumstances seems wrong, though of course purely motivated.

I think he is absolutely right about humility being the key to spiritual growth and the lack of humility its main obstacle.

Jill wrote: "Surely men in prison camps didn't need to fast all day before receiving communion!!!"

Jill, the rules for Eucharistic fast were not the same then as they are now. The rule was: "If you want to receive communion today, you must fast since the previous midnight." No exceptions. And drinking water was supposed to break fast. The rule affected, not just lay persons, but also priests.

Towards 1961, the rules changed. The Canon Law of the Catholic Church, Canon 919 nr.1 says now: "Whoever will receive the Most Holy Eucharist, should refrain from taking any food and drink at least from one hour before Holy Communion, with the exception of only water and medicines." Since then, the time of fast has been drastically reduced, and water no longer breaks fast.

I remember my religion teacher in High School, who had been a missionary in South America, told us that he had suffered a lot in the jungle, while he was walking from one village to another to say Mass, for he couldn't drink any water. Sometimes, when he was cleaning the cup with water after a mass, he inadvertently drank the water (as they do) and then thought: "I cannot have communion in my next mass!"

Jill wrote: "Surely men in prison camps didn't need to fast all day before receiving communion!!! In fact, that kind of fasting under the circumstances seems wrong, though of course purely motivated."

I was struck and humbled by how important the Eucharist was to these men, how many today seem hardly aware of the fast at all. Or perhaps we have our last cup of coffee a half hour before mass starts, confident that it will be an hour before we have communion. (Yes, I am talking about myself.)

I knew this was the official rule, I just didn't comprehend why a confessor couldn't authorize an exception to such a harsh, even life-threatening rule.
But good point that the pendulum today has swung way too far in the opposite direction.

The thought of those missionaries denying themselves water and then Communion makes me sad. Yet I agree the pendulum has swung far off course. The rule changed, but for people and a time that didn't need it. Vatican II was necessary, but a lot of good was thrown out/neglected with Vatican II changes. I feel sorry for Fish Stick Catholics--my term for pre-Vatican II Catholics living in a post-Vatican II world

Victoria wrote: "The thought of those missionaries denying themselves water and then Communion makes me sad. Yet I agree the pendulum has swung far off course. The rule changed, but for people and a time that didn'..."

But they didn't deny themselves Communion, they fasted so they could receive. And it is clear that the Eucharist held tremendous meaning for them. I am not sure it is they who are to be pitied.