Song: Mozart, Finale, “The Marriage of Figaro.” (1786)

Come for the famous overture but stay for the great finale. Do you desire beauty, forgiveness, and a taste of real joy? Share the glory of Mozart. As the final chorus sings: “Only love can resolve / this day of torments, / caprice and folly, / into joy and happiness.” Comedy leaves tragedy in the dust.

 

Book: “The Sadness of Christ,” by Thomas More (1535)

Written in the months before his execution, Sadness is More’s commentary on Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. In More’s mind, Christ “the commander” teaches through his actions “a battle code” and “fighting technique,” especially for his faint-hearted and weary followers. More’s writing helps readers glimpse the “lofty peak of heroic virtue” in a surprising place: Gethsemane.

 

Movie: “Coriolanus” by Ralph Finnes’ adaptation of a work by Shakespeare (2011)

“Coriolanus” surges to fresh life courtesy of Ralph Fiennes, a.k.a Voldemort. A great soldier, Coriolanus fights with spirit that would make even your modern bronze man tremble. And yet Shakespeare also reveals the insufficiency of the young warrior’s education and formation. Banished from the country he loved and having grown “from man to dragon,” Coriolanus returns to burn his own home, family, and friends to the ground in act five. What will happen next? Where does all this lead? I shall not say, but you should also watch “A Man for All Seasons” if you’d like to learn “how a man can lose his head and have no harm,” the riddle Thomas More said he was living before his own violent death in 1535.