EVERY FLOWER CREATED


G. K. CHESTERTON





Episode 14



Gilbert Keith Chesterton, otherwise called G.K. Chesterton, is not titled a Saint on this side of the celestial curtain, but that does not necessarily preclude him from the Heavenly Host. And so we discuss him not because he is a Saint currently, but because there is a large investigation into whether or not the man could be. For many of us, Chesterton is the reason for our introduction to or deepening of our faith (such was true for Lewis and Tolkien respectively), and by his multitudinous examples-- not only in his bountiful writings but also evidenced through the way he lived-- Chesterton shows the life of a Saint in numerous ways that we might follow his example.


Though there are flaws and faults in the man, they are flaws and faults in all of us until we achieve Sainthood. Chesterton was a modern crusader for the Church and for the Blessed Mother-- his weapon of choice was his pen, his fighting style was charitable wit, and victory for him was joyfully proclaiming the Gospel and living it with the wonder of a boy.



NOTES and RESOURCES.



Lived: 1874-1936

Canonized: He is not a canonized Saint. The initial review and investigation of his life and work began in 2013. There is no recent update on the status of this investigation.


SHOWNOTES:

Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton

The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton

The Complete Father Brown Stories, by G.K. Chesterton

The Man Who was Thursday, by, G.K. Chesterton

The Ballad of Whitehorse, G.K. Chesterton (poem)


FURTHER RESOURCES:

The Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Chesterton and the Jews: Friend, Critic, Defender, by Ann Farmer

G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, by Dale Ahlquist

G.K. Chesterton's Works on the Web (collection of all writings)

A Hymn: O God of Earth and Altar, by G.K. Chesterton (hymn)

St. Thomas Aquinas, by G.K. Chesterton



DANDELION





​ Chesterton wrote in his book Orthodoxy, “Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”


In moments like this, it is quite evident how he could be considered a spiritual sibling to Saint Therese of Lisieux, the namesake of our humble podcast. And while it might make the prime choice of a flower for Chesterton appear to be the daisy, there is one flower that might be even more fitting for all the same reasons and just two more.


To pair with G.K. Chesterton, we have to offer a simple dandelion. Just as in the seemingly monotonous vein of the daisy, the dandelion seems to show Chesterton’s gilding and sacramentalization of the every-day. Likewise, both the daisy and the dandelion are pervasive plants that are made out to be ordinary by their commonness, such that (even with the Chestertonian influences of thought) we can take foregranted how present they are in our daily lives. However, the dandelion has a single deciding factor that makes it more fitting for Chesterton than even a daisy. To see the dalliance of a dandelion on the wind bringing wide-eyed-wonder to a child seems the perfect pairing to Chesterton, the man whose own wonder, jubillence, and joy seemed childlike in the face of God’s creation. Chesterton, it seems, was able to see the world in a light of beauty that always revelled in Christ, through Himself, making all things new.



Artist: Kristen Hockel
Medium: Ink Drawing



SKYLER NEBERMAN





Skyler Neberman is a graduate of Benedictine College in Atchison Kansas, where he majored in Theology and Philosophy. He currently lives with his wife, Reghan, in New Haven, CT, where he is a graduate student at the Yale Divinity School, pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Religion, concentrated in Liturgical Studies. His research includes the study and restoration of Gregorian chant and medieval liturgy, as well as the intersection of liturgy with the arts and lay spirituality. In his free time he enjoys painting, writing poetry as well as fantasy and horror fiction, and brewing (and drinking) mead.


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