mebtravelling

I really was SURPRISED BY JOY.
I kept hearing about letters between C.S. Lewis and Bede Griffiths, the most famous (and most recent – he died fewer than 20 years ago)of Shantivanam’s 3 founders, so I decided to visit Shantivanam’s library to see if I could find a collection of Lewis’ letters, and among them see if I could find one to Father Bede. I’d been told that the library, awooden temple-like wooden, contained Bede’s library.

Once inside, I found a place that smelled like a library, if you know what I mean: musty, Indian-dusty, i.e. wonderful. I walked around – somebody has catalogued, like a Twin Cities used bookstore: Theology/Scripture; French Language/French Literature; English Literature/English Poetry… I walked over to the English Literature, scanned the shelves of Lewis’ works, and pulled out one of about 10 that had “Letters” in its title. I’d set my canedown on the cement floor and had settled in for a good long search ,but the book fell open, and I’M NOT KIDDING, to “Letter to Dom Bede Griffiths, OSB, on the occasion of his ordination.”