"What on earth or in Middle-earth does Bilbo Baggins have to do with the penitential season of Lent? What does a diminutive creature in a fairytale, a work of fantasy literature, have to do with the nitty-gritty business of penance, or with fasting and prayer?
"The answer is to be found in Tolkien's insistence that fairy stories hold up a mirror to man. They show us ourselves.
"As with those fictional stories that Christ tells us in the Gospel, The Hobbit is a parable that teaches priceless lessons about the spiritual life. . . ."
In a recent commentary based on the examples of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, Joseph Pearce, Director of Book Publishing at the Augustine Institute, reflected on The Hobbit as a meditation on the text of St. Matthew's Gospel.
To access Mr. Pearce's complete essay, please visit:
Aleteia: Joseph Pearce: Lent with Bilbo Baggins (14 MAR 24)
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