Author: Emmanuel L. Di Rossetti

Antigone, rebellious and intimate (1/7. The family)

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1st part: the family

From the first reading of Antigone, an ambiguity settles in the mind of the reader. Does Antigone embody action or reaction? What moves Antigone? The reaction never exists by itself whereas the action needs no one, it legitimizes itself in the act. Action always inaugurates something. Contrary to what is often said or believed, Antigone does not wait for Creon to be Antigone. Like Electra for revenge, Nausicaa for hospitality, Penelope for fidelity, Antigone embodies duty. It is action, because it serves: it is accomplished in duty. It is accomplished in servitude (are we pretending to forget that servitude means “to be a slave”?). Contrary to what is often said or believed, Antigone is never an individual. She never stands alone. If the law of Creon pushes it to action, and if this one can seem a reaction, it is only on the surface, by simple chronology.

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The meeting of Péguy and Lonsdale – Between heaven and earth

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Between heaven and earth

It's a little marvel to which Michael Lonsdale invites us with the show Entre Ciel et Terre . A delight. Such nuggets always deserve to be given space. You have to make room in the tumult, in the oppressed heart, in the life that you dream of and forget to live. Live every moment, live in the consciousness of life. It's so hard. It is also the first step on the hushed path of love.

Pierre Fesquet, who shares the poster with Michael Lonsdale, created a poetic montage from the book Between Heaven and Earth , the book that Michael Lonsdale dedicated to Charles Péguy. Lonsdale has an activity as a writer, a cantor of beauty, as important as his activity as an actor. Lonsdale thrives on the word of God. We can say of him that he carries out an artistic apostolate and there is something rare enough in the contemporary world of culture for it to be noted… and encouraged and praised.

By listening to the beautiful voice of Michael Lonsdale, but also by observing Pierre Fesquet who mixes with the reading, increases it with his enthusiasm, his generosity and above all, above all, his ingenuity, the show gives the possibility of entering in the world of Péguy.
But I could say otherwise. I could say that by letting oneself be penetrated by the metaphysics of Michael Lonsdale, the bewitchment of the language of Péguy torments us. By letting ourselves be surprised by the way Pierre Fesquet has of embracing us, of forcing us to wrestle with the text and its permanent surprise, we appropriate every word of Péguy, but perhaps more importantly, we feel the wind blowing in our ears, woodchips falling on the ground, bullets whistling nearby, Hope taking our hands and the Virgin Mary encouraging us to docility. Grace is there just waiting for our conversion, and this show participates in it in a beautiful way. It's at the Théâtre de Poche. And this is not unusual. In this very small room, we are at our ease to receive a divine message.

Extension from March 29 to April 19. Please note that this extension is at 7 p.m. and not 9 p.m. as the first presentation of this poetic show.

Théâtre de Poche – Montparnasse
75 bd du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris
Reservations: 01 45 44 50 21
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Poche bar offers light meals and its selection of wines before and after each show.

Charlie's Fate

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soldier drawing

“The enemy limits you therefore gives you your form and founds you”. This sentence from Saint-Exupéry expresses quite well our condition at the end of this first week of the year 2015. The enemy forces me to evolve according to his codes, within a space that he has circumscribed. First I am a prisoner. He chooses the terrain and compels me to remain confined there. Of the two immutable human givens, space and time, he takes space away from me. Taking space away from time is a bit like taking Laurel away from Hardy. The other unit lives on, but is disfigured. She lost the balance offered by the otherness of her spouse. Time is not the same depending on the space in which it evolves. Geography accomplishes destiny with a measure as precise as the hourglass. Continue reading “Charlie’s Destiny” →

Novena for France

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What a great initiative! A novena for France. A novena to express our love for the Blessed Virgin and ask her to watch over our beautiful country with all the saints. It is useless to belch on social networks or on the Internet or even in the street, there is no point in belching if we do not ask the intercession of our most holy Mary for our country. If we don't do it, if this effort of prayer is not intimate and obligatory to us, then we have nothing to do with France. We feed ourselves with words. The intercession of the Blessed Virgin is the way to receive enough graces to hope that the future of our country will be worthy of its past. Never believe that our future is due to anger, agitation, side effects, whatever we do, good or bad, the future also belongs, above all, to our prayer. Never think we are enough. The acceptance of our weakness, of our lack, of the insufficiency precisely of our strength and of our will proves that divine intercession is obligatory. This acceptance marks our entry into the novena! Without knowing it, the docility linked to this acceptance, the “conformity” of our soul, allows us to enter this novena. Let us be guided when the Lord has only one deep desire: to lead his little flock. Docility is the fruit of tenderness...

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The Humanity of Cheyenne Carron — Reflections on the Film The Apostle

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The Apostle of Cheyenne-Marie Carron movie information
The Apostle of Cheyenne-Marie Carron movie information

What amazement came over me one recent morning while listening to the voice of a young woman auscultated by Louis Daufresne in his program, The Great Witness , on Radio Notre-Dame. I was going to learn that this young woman's name is Cheyenne Carron. Christian, she directed a film, The Apostle 1 , the story of a Muslim touched by grace who decides to convert to Catholicism and has to suffer the outrages of his relatives.

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In memoriam Alvaro Mutis

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It was a year ago. Alvaro Mutis joined the sky. The immense Colombian writer deserves to be read and re-read. This sparkling monarchist projected a bridge between old Europe and South America. His poems, his stories, his novels carry and carry our history through the figure of Maqroll el Gaviero, solitary sailor, disillusioned, dreaming of the Empire of Byzantium or the reign of Saint-Louis aboard old tubs close to sinking.

Read the tribute article

From traditional…

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“We are dwarfs on the shoulders of giants; we see more than they, and further; not that our gaze is piercing, nor lofty in stature, but we are elevated, heightened, by their gigantic stature”.

This quote from Bernard de Chartres (12th century) found in Rémi Brague's latest book, Moderately Modern (Editions Flammarion), always strikes me as brighter each time I read it. Tradition is never what traditionalists or progressives say it is. Tradition resolutely ignores divisions. She doesn't even know confrontation. Tradition boils down to a deep sense of balance and serenity. If we dive into her, we immediately realize that she is inaccessible to most men, that few are those of whom she could be proud, that they were always armed with prodigious humility. But all those who wanted to put her in a cage because they hated her influence or those who did the same because they wanted to protect her from herself and keep her for themselves, did not understand or saw a thing. . The tradition is unalterable. Contrary to popular belief, its destruction is impossible. At worst, is it possible to forget it. And forgetting it does him no harm. She knows how to reserve herself. She is never in a hurry, panicked in the face of her time. She takes her time, since she accompanies him. If men forget her, she knows how to leave traces here and there so that we rediscover her existence when the time comes.

It is like water: no one can break it or hold it.

You should almost not refer to it. You should act as if she wasn't there. We deserve it so little… It immediately loses its luster when we talk about it, when we bring it down to our level. Tradition is intrinsically linked to life; in reality, they are one. They go together.

Which saints to turn ?

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The Marcial Maciel affair forces us to ask the question of Evil. Our time avoids rubbing shoulders with it. What do we know about the work of the devil and what can we do to protect ourselves from it? After trying to hide the good in life, is it any wonder that evil comes to light? The works of the devil are innumerable, but the Holy Spirit can do everything, especially transform them.

You had to have the eloquence of Léon Bloy to affirm: “There is only one sadness, that of not being a saint”.
This nagging question of holiness always comes back like a season that does not pass. There are many things we can get rid of, but never the question of holiness is one of them. It is consubstantial with us. As soon as we see or witness something right or wrong, something good or bad, we walk on the path of holiness. Whether towards her or against her. It takes a long time to realize to what extent the question of holiness is consubstantial with us. We are holy, we are a temple, we started from the Church which is holy, we are in the image of God who is Holy, and yet we shake ourselves, we fall, we struggle, we strive... So little results for so many promises. It is that the condition of saint requires a great deal of effort and gives little visible results. Read more about “Which saints to devote to?” →