10 October 2021 | XX Sunday after Pentecost | Menlo Park, Calif.

Fall has fallen upon us at last! As I take in the crisp morning air this Sunday, I share some thoughts about midterms, ordination preparations, the passing of time and the turning of the seasons. In this week’s Tolkien readings, we learn some background details about the Dúnedain, the Istari, and the palantíri, and what the man really thought about the first cover design of the American paperback edition of The Hobbit! Also, how is the Church both the body and bride of Christ, as well as the people of God? We unpack it all here under the fading leaves.

Opening music: “Ecce panis angelorum,” sequence by St. Thomas Aquinas, composed by Juan Alfonso Garcia, sung by Laudes Christi, dir. Lucian Onița, Timisoara, Romania, 2018. All rights reserved.