Friday in the 2nd Week of Lent: Letter 13 Notes

Welcome back to The Screwtape Letters for Lent and today we start with the news that Wormwood has made a “tremendous error.”  How appropriate for Letter #13. 

A quick side note on what makes the number 13 - unlucky.  The tradition goes back centuries in the West and is probably based on the mistaken notion that Jesus plus 12 disciples were present at the Last Supper and Judas was number 13.  There is, however, no Biblical justification for this theory.  For one thing, it would be rather arbitrary to decide that Judas was number 13.

In case you were wondering – the fear of the number 13 is called TRISK-AI-DEKA-PHOBIA.  You suffer from an overwhelming fear of Friday the 13, when you have PARA-SKEVI-DEKA-TRI-A-PHOBIA

And one more bit of #13 trivia before we move on – earlier I said the this is a tradition in the West.  In many parts of the East, 13 is a lucky number and the number 4 is considered unlucky.

Now before we explore Wormwood’s error and how Screwtape proposes to fix it, we need to define a few names and other unfamiliar words in this letter. 

First is the word, Touchstone.  Originally a “touchstone” was a piece of fine-grained dark metaphoric rock or a piece of jasper used in testing alloys of gold by observing the color of the mark they made on it.  Later it came to mean a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized.

So, when Screwtape uses the phrase “touchstone of reality” he is talking about how Pains and Pleasures in their created form can help The Patient see what is real and what is simply fantasy.  Basically, they help The Patient see through the temptations being thrown at him.

The name Childe Harold refers to the main character in Lord Byron’s long narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.  He is a young, passionate and cynical man who travels the world looking for meaning after growing disillusioned with worldly pleasures.

Likewise, the name Werther comes from the story, The Sorrows of Young Werther written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Gur-tuh) in 1774.  Young Werther is desperately in love with a woman who chooses to marry another.  He is so distraught that he decides to kill himself.

More in a few minutes on these two and how they fit into Letter #13.

Trumpery means worthless nonsense or trivial and useless articles – what we would probably call junk.

 

In his final paragraph, Screwtape quotes an unnamed human who said, “active habits are strengthened by repetition, but passive ones are weakened.”  You will find this passage in Analogy of Religion written by the Anglican Bishop and Theologian, Joseph Butler, in 1736.  I wouldn’t recommend it for casual reading.  It is rather long and quite theological.   When I was Chaplain at St. George’s Schools in Memphis many years ago, I used to read Butler to students on field trips who were not following the rules.  One such student was Andy Campbell who never did develop a taste for Butler no matter how many times he was invited to sit beside me on the bus.  Andy later graduated from Law School at the University of Alabama, spent time at Bradley Arant and was a member of Saint Luke’s.  Today he practices in Washington and New York.  I like to think the readings from Butler helped.

Now to Letter #13.  What was Wormwood’s tremendous error?

Well, it seems that he took a wrong turn with his Patient and now he has experienced a renewed presence of God (aka the Enemy) in his life.  Screwtape describes this as a second conversion more powerful and life altering than the first. 

Remember back to the 3-tiered description of we humans.  There is the fantasy level which is the realm of demons along with the intellectual level which can feed our fantasies with unrealistic thought about the “real world.”  Finally, there is the level of the heart where God works within us to convert us to a life of love for God and our neighbors.  From the heart, God can work in the intellect and the fantasy levels.  This, the demons do not want.

This conversion happened because Wormwood allowed his Patient to experience 2 distinct pleasures.  First, he read a book for the pure joy of reading and learning.  You will remember as far as demons are concerned, we should only read a book so we can make wise sounding and pithy statements to others in the hopes of impressing them and ourselves with our superior intellect. 

Let us not forget that Pleasures are the work of God in our lives and demons can only corrupt these moments of JOY.  The same is true of Pain which can increase our dependence on God bringing about the joy.  Screwtape explains to Wormwood that true Pleasures and Pains offer “a touchstone of reality” to remind us that God is with us. 

The second Pleasure was a walk in the countryside down to the old mill where he enjoyed a cup of tea.  It is in those times that the Patient can reflect on his life and realize his shortcomings.  From there he repents and realizes that his new circle of self-absorbed friends has drawn him away from God and the Church. 

Screwtape outlines 2 ways to take the Pleasures God gives us and lead us right into temptation.  The first is the Romantic approach by making us a “kind of Childe Harold or Werther submerged in self-pity for imaginary distresses…”  Notice the move from matters of the heart and God to the Fantasy world of our own imagination and all the distress we can cause ourselves from an overactive imagination and our own inflated woes. 

The second approach is the Worldly Method.  Here an dedicated demon works to make vanity, busy schedules, flippancy and expensive tedium appear as pleasures.  In other words, we begin to take a personal pleasure in all our pain and misfortune. 

I was particularly struck by the section highlighting the difference between God detaching us from ourselves and the tactics of a hardworking demon.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples that if we give up our life to Christ, then we will discover what it truly means to be ourselves.  Screwtape offers a truly excellent commentary on the passage when he tells Wormwood,

When He talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.

Now demons, on the other hand, want to detach their patient from himself so he may be wholly consumed by temptation and evil.  Here the demon wants to turn the Patient away from God by becoming fully absorbed with his own feelings and perceived needs.  He must worry more about what others think of him so he is not concerned with how God leads. 

Screwtape ends with a brief bit of instruction on how to make the best of this new conversion.  The key is to keep the Patient from taking this contrite and penitent heart and acting on it to serve his neighbor. 

No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we keep it out of his will.

This goes back to a previous letter when Screwtape advises Wormwood to tempt his Patient into continually seeking to feel his faith.  If we wants humility, lead him to try and feel humble.  After a while, it will be almost impossible to achieve the feeling and he will decide that his faith was little more than a passing phase.

Our Scripture lessons for today include 2 stories that illustrate several points made in Letter 13.  First we hear the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors in both our reading from Genesis and Psalm 105.  I would say that Joseph’s brothers were have a Childe Harold and Werther moment feeling rather sorry for themselves – so sorry that they were willing to kill their brother.

In our Gospel lesson from Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the landowner to illustrate the coming of the Messiah.  If you look toward the end of the passage, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah who compares the Messiah to the cornerstone of a foundation.  This reminded me of Screwtapes’ Touchstone of Reality statement.  If we can look the lens of Christ as we live our day to day lives, then our view of the world and our neighbors will be seen in the light of the Gospel.

As always we close today with the Prayer of the day.  Let us Pray.

Grant, O Lord, that as your Son Jesus Christ prayed for his enemies on the cross, so we may have grace to forgive those who wrongfully or scornfully use us, that we ourselves may be able to receive your forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.