CMP Review 2024-03-17

One of the great theological and devotional passages in Charlotte Mason’s writings appears in Book II of Ourselves. There she tackles the question that has baffled lay person and philosopher for centuries: the problem of evil. How do we reconcile a loving God with the suffering we see in the world?

Mason’s reflections on pages 89–90 of Ourselves are stunning. “Christ wept,” she writes, “not for Lazarus: his sorrow was for the griefs that fall upon all men, as upon the two sisters. Perhaps He would have said, ‘If they only knew!’”

Charlotte Mason’s final poem on the raising of Lazarus is the complement to this reflection in Ourselves. Entitled “The man who knew,” the poem considers the perspective of one who had spent four days on the other side of death. Her poem is more surprising and mysterious even than her reflections on the problem of evil in Book II of Ourselves. If only we knew, how would our life be different? Listen, read, and wonder here.

@artmiddlekauff