Something Dark in the Doorway by Gregory Miller

Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,įor a terrible calamity will come upon the earthĪnd a wrathful judgment upon this people.Īnd be taken as captives to all the Gentiles Īnd Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles These excerpts in particular strike at the “end times”: In Year C on the 33rd Sunday this Gospel is repeated. The last Thursday in Ordinary Time (34th week) we read Luke 21:20-28. The Gospel verses below roll in my head as I listen to the book. “It would have been better if we’d died before all this began.” “Ah, that’s bad isn’t it?” said the second Mouse. The worst thing in the world has come upon us.”Īnd later the small wood animals that help comfort their King Tirian of Narnia: If we had died before to-day we should have been happy.” “Jewel,” he said, “What lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. Suddenly the King leaned heard on his friend’s neck and bowed his head. They suddenly realize they are living in very dark and dreadful times: The main characters discover there is an Anti-Aslan and their country is being taken over by an enemy. He is the “Anti-Aslan” similar to what we would call the “Anti-Christ” from the book of Revelation.

The story opens up with an animal posing as Aslan. So much of the book echoes the Gospel readings we have been hearing in the last weeks of Ordinary Time and the beginning of the new Liturgical Year in Advent. It is easy to enter into the emotions of the characters, walking with them during the “end times.” Our preparation in Advent is for the end of time, Parousia, when “God will be all in all.” The Last Battle has this eschatological focus, with the story unfolding about the “End Times” of Narnia. It is the eschatological aspect that especially strikes me in the Advent liturgy. The Church’s focus during Advent is remembering or reliving the historical coming of Christ, and preparing our hearts for His Second Coming (and His daily coming in Grace and in the Eucharist). This past weekend during our family’s road trip, we decided to listen again to The Last Battle as Advent reading. The themes of the book fit quite nicely into the themes of Advent. At that time, just by coincidence, we listened to the last book, The Last Battle read by Patrick Stewart, during Advent.

Something Dark in the Doorway by Gregory Miller