The world of words …

…  THE DREAM OF THE ROOD: A NEW TRANSLATION. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Translation, at least as we experience it, is a result of the Fall. Without the Tower of Babel, none of this would be necessary; every act of translation is essentially an attempt to recover a scrap of the blessed universality of speech that was ours before Babel. The task is, of course, impossible, but that is no reason to despair. For here we can hearken back to the teaching that whenever the Almighty permits evil, He does so because through evil there is potential for greater grace. This is the doctrine underlying the felix culpa of the Paschal Vigil Mass Exsultet (O felix culpa, quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!). If this is true, if even the Fall can be called fortunate, if God can make from the shattering of His own Son the greatest happiness, then surely He can make from the shattering of tongues a greater knowing.