Resistance Podcast #247: Asceticism Explained via CS Lewis & Narnia

About this sermon

What if asceticism isn’t dour self-denial—but love sharpened into freedom and joy? In this lecture, I connect C.S. Lewis to the Christian ascetical tradition—showing how our desires are healed, our appetites re-ordered, and creation is seen “deeper and thicker” as we go further up and further in. Drawing on Mere Christianity, The Horse and His Boy, The Silver Chair, The Great Divorce, and The Last Battle, plus the Fathers (Augustine, Maximus the Confessor, Ephrem the Syrian, Gregory of Nyssa, John Climacus) and Alexander Schmemann, we explore the meaning of theosis, Eucharistic life, and why discipline is a road we build for grace. What you’ll learn A working definition of asceticism (not dualism or world-hatred) Why the goal is deification (theosis)—sharing the divine life (2 Peter 1) How time is given for our transformation and why desire must be healed Lewis’s images: Turkish Delight, Puddleglum’s burned foot, hard feet on Heaven’s grass, the stable bigger inside than outside, and “further up and further in” Why God is the true hedonist (Screwtape)—and sin only twists pleasures How fasting, almsgiving, prayer, and vigil untwist our love (ordo amoris) Memorable lines & ideas “A Christian without asceticism is like a pancake without flour.” “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak.” (Lewis) “There’s nothing like a shock of pain for dissolving certain kinds of magic.” (on Puddleglum) “Duty digs channels so grace, when it comes, finds us ready.” (Lewis) “Further up and further in”—why the inside is bigger than the outside. 00:54 – Not just “about asceticism”: setting the scope 01:23 – Why C.S. Lewis is a powerful “hook” 03:36 – Plan: definition, time, and images 04:05 – What “asceticism” means: practice, labor, love 04:44 – Goal: Theosis—sharing the divine nature (2 Pet 1) 06:01 – Creation–Fall–Redemption: Eucharist & agape 08:01 – Asceticism as grace-filled cooperation 09:17 – “You may eat me if you like”: love & the eating metaphor 13:08 – Mystical images: food and sex cross the boundary 14:59 – Not dualism: world affirmed, nature healed 17:06 – Misdirected appetites & the false God/happiness divide 18:04 – Schmemann: the non-Eucharistic fall 18:39 – Jill & Aslan: “I make no promise”—risking God’s interference 21:00 – “Dabble and splash”: resisting depth 22:03 – Humility as the engine of asceticism 23:01 – Turkish Delight: enchanted appetite & original sin 26:15 – Puddleglum’s foot: pain breaks the spell 27:19 – Why God gives time: training the will 28:09 – Means, not end; duty serves delight 28:54 – Digging channels for grace; building the road 30:35 – Maximus: why time & motion exist 31:00 – Ephrem: synergy & virtue as colors 33:20 – Spiritualizing nature; more real, not less 34:51 – Centaur image: spirit & nature harmonized 36:04 – A “deeper, thicker” world 37:50 – Hard feet on Heaven’s grass (The Great Divorce) 38:07 – Ponies now, winged horses later 39:16 – “Desires too weak”: Lewis’s hedonism of Heaven 40:08 – Not diluted pleasure; twisting vs. untwisting 41:54 – Screwtape: God “has filled His world with pleasures” 42:19 – Ordo amoris: the right ordering of love 43:07 – The really real 44:10 – The stable: inside bigger than outside 45:04 – “Further up & further in” 47:04 – “Aslan, you’re bigger”—as we mature, He enlarges 48:10 – Descent & the greatness that stoops low 49:06 – “Go within”: Isaac the Syrian; Augustine; Gregory 51:00 – Chessmen & giants: time vs. the eternal soul 52:12 – Two directions: toward or away from God 53:07 – Chesterton on loving immortal things 54:12 – Scent of a flower, echo of a tune 54:32 – Breaking enchantment of worldliness 55:12 – What worldliness really means 56:43 – The tyranny of the immediate 57:01 – Amphibians: spirit in time; peaks & troughs 58:42 – God wants sons, not cattle 1:00:34 – Symbol vs. diabolical 1:01:02 – Synergy: God’s hunger and ours 1:05:18 – Faces of saints: time mastered 1:06:33 – Why holy people “have time” 1:07:49 – The “secret society” of joy 1:08:11 – Closing thanks & prayer https://www.cuapress.org/9780813221175/on-liturgical-asceticism/ https://www.audible.com/author/David-W-Fagerberg/B001HOGDNG https://smile.amazon.com/Liturgical-Asceticism-David-W-Fagerberg/dp/081322117X?sa-no-redirect=1 #Asceticism #CSLewis #MereChristianity #TheGreatDivorce #Narnia #TheSilverChair #TheLastBattle #ScrewtapeLetters #Theosis #Eucharist #SpiritualFormation #ChristianSpirituality #OrthodoxChristianity #CatholicTheology #Liturgy #Worldliness #Puddleglum #TurkishDelight #FurtherUpAndFurtherIn 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 Support Catholic Businesses here - https://sensusfidelium.com/catholic-businesses/ Sensus Fidelium Press - https://sensusfideliumpress.com/ Sensus Fidelium Apps - https://sensusfidelium.tv/ Support Sensus Fidelium - https://sensusfidelium.com/donate-support/ 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 🙏🏻PLEASE HELP OUR CHANNEL GROW 🙏🏻 ▶️