Did you ever stop to think about how much of the New Testament is made up of letters? Letters! In the Bible! Letters that give us personal glimpses into the lives of Paul and John and Peter... (“Get here before winter if you can”… “When you come, bring the cloak I left in Troas with Carpus, and the books…” ). Letters that weave such very human requests right in with sentiments like “I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ...” (Philippians 3:8). While the Bible is the most important source of letters to guide us, we can also find inspiration in letters of saints. Such writings “embody an art and style of their own, an unselfconscious art that tends to hide itself, and a style that is closer to the dialogue of spoken language….with the power to be formative for both writer and reader.” (Wendy Wright and Joseph Power OSFS, Francis de Sales & Jane de Chantal Letters of Spiritual Direction, Paulist, 1988)
With this in mind, I’d like to begin probing just a bit into our legacy of letters. I’ve enjoyed the breadbox excavations we’ve engaged in so far; they’ve brought smiles and perspectives and some food for thought. I like sharing photos (and will definitely continue to do so), but my interest right now is toward diving more deeply into the Breadbox. I have a feeling its depths are beyond what I had imagined.
I hope you’re up for a bit of exploring. After all, who knows what might be waiting right behind the Wonder Bread…..?
