Fr. George Rutler on Lent and Our Unfinished Journey

"There are different theories as to why Schubert did not finish the Unfinished Symphony. Although his Symphony in B minor lacks two movements, it has two. And explaining why it began is as challenging as explaining why it did not end. Mozart did not finish his Requiem for the simple reason that he died. That also is why Thucydides did not finish his History of the Peloponnesian War, Raphael’s Transfiguration was incomplete, Giorgione's Sleeping Venus was left for Titian to complete, and Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov had unrealized chapters.

"A Roman soldier's sword prevented Archimedes from resolving a mathematical problem. Chaucer did not finish his Canterbury Tales because he had to go back to work as a clerk in the Port of London, and Spenser did not finish the last six books of The Faerie Queene for political reasons. . . .

"Artists rarely think that they have completed a work. Tolkien, for example, kept re-writing The Silmarillion. At least they have an intuition, a mental sense, of what should be realized with paint or pen. But if life has no goal, there is nothing to complete. Chesterton said that man has always been lost, but modern man has lost his address and cannot return home. Far different was Saint Paul: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith' (2 Timothy 4:7). His faith was trust that life has a goal, and it is realized in the eternal existence offered by the Creator who made us in his image. . . ."

In a recent commentary, Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the Church of Saint Michael, New York, NY, reflected on the relationship between Lent and our journey toward our goal, Jesus.

To access Fr. Rutler's complete post, please visit:

National Catholic Register: Blogs: Fr. George Rutler: Without Christ, Every Work is an Unfinished Work (12 FEB 18)