Brideshead Revisited

Revisited indeed. Long ago, I read that book so quickly it was gone in a whirlwind. Seeing as the new version is out, I figured it was time for me to see the old film. And so I returned to the story that has remained with me, more vivid than any book. I felt, as I walked through Oxford, sat at the great Brideshead fountain, stood by the dying old man's bed, that I had lived through it all like my own life. It is remarkable how someone can make a story so real, just with the use of words.
It occurred to me that it is perhaps the most honest book about Catholicism. Not because we are all pigheaded Brideys or charming Sabastians, but because it makes no apologies for the suffering. It disguises nothing. And yet by the end, you see the flame shinning in the sacristy lamp and know how much you need it.