Ornaments of Grace - J.R.R. Tolkien [1 John

Описание: Little ones, I address you, for through his Name your sins have been forgiven…Have no love for the world, nor the things that the world affords. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love has no place in him, for nothing that the world affords comes from the Father. Carnal allurements, enticements for the eye, the life of empty show – all these are from the world. And the world with its seductions is passing away, but the man who does God’s will endures forever. 1 John 2:12-17

While most recognized today for his highly successful works of fantasy such as The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings about a world called Arda and, within it, Middle Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about a wide variety of subjects. Born in 1892 in the South African Republic, his father was a bank manager. When Ronald (the name his family called him) was three, he went with his mother Mabel and his brother to visit family in England. Before his father could join them, he died of rheumatic fever, leaving the family without a means of support. So, his mother took Ronald and his brother Hilary to live with her parents in Birmingham. Mabel taught the boys at home, and Ronald was eager to learn. She showed them the beauty of plants and taught them basic Latin. By the time he was four, he could read, and his mother encouraged him to read all kinds of books.

Over the protests of her Baptist family, Mabel chose to enter the Catholic Church in 1900. By 1904, the family cut off all financial support for Mabel and her two boys. She labored long and hard to support her sons in a rental cottage, teaching them the Catholic faith as well as secular subjects. Sadly, Mabel died of diabetes when she was only 34 and Ronald 12. Insulin had not yet been discovered, so Mabel lived as long as any diabetic could in those days. She had given guardianship of her two boys to a Father Francis, a priest she admired greatly. He ensured they received an education and were brought up in the faith.

At just sixteen, Tolkien and Edith Mary Bratt fell in love. Both had been orphaned and both shared a great deal in common. Fr. Francis told Ronald he was too young and should cut off all communication with her until he was twenty-one. Ronald was obedient. Even though Edith was going to marry someone else by then, he contacted her on his 21st birthday. Soon afterward, Edith cut off her engagement. She became a Catholic and married Ronald. In the beginning, he had nothing to offer her except his love.

When England entered World War I, Ronald finished his degree and then served in the army. There he got trench fever and was sick with it often throughout the war. When World War II broke out, Tolkien was asked to be a code breaker. He attended school for this work but was never called to use his skill. Together Tolkien and Edith had four children. Both parents loved the children fiercely.

J.R.R. Tolkien was particularly devoted to his faith and once wrote to someone seeking the answer to our purpose in life. He said that it was “to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks.” Seeing Tolkien living his faith helped his good friend C.S. Lewis move from atheism to Christianity.

J.R.R. loved the Eucharist deeply and urged all to receive Communion frequently. He once wrote to his son: “The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Holy Communion.” That is where his treasure was – in God. He did not care about wealth or fame, things that came to him in later years. Rather, his focus was on doing God’s will.

J.R.R. Tolkien is today’s Ornament of Grace.

Is your faith more important to you than riches and career and power? How can you tell?

Do you, like Tolkien, find a cure for fainting faith when you receive Holy Communion? Can you name a time when this was particularly clear to you?