To your rich November 2007 special issue, “Telling Stories,” on books and theater, I’d like to add a brief but, to me, significant emendation. In “Dramatic Faith,” James Martin, SJ, writes that “the whole of the liturgical year … can be seen as a kind of extended drama.” Yes, but he also says that the liturgical year ends with Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. This leaves out those important times of Pentecost and Kingdomtide. The former is traditionally understood as the beginning of the church and the latter is that long time that we have to live out the Christian life. The liturgical year never ends, but is an ever-renewable cycle without a break. It is a frame for creating and telling our stories.
Charles Courtney
Madison, New Jersey