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| Hawaiian Fisherman by Charles William Bartlett, color woodblock print, 1916. Via J.R.'s Art Place. |
I don't usually like wood prints. However, this is in the style of several book covers that my grandparets had. They were my father's old childhood books and when I was a kid I didn't really read them — but I liked the covers. It takes me back to those days.
When my father had been extravagant, he used to say gaily in self-defense that "one owed something to one's ancestors." Certainly,if it had not been for several of his ancestors, he would not have owed so much to his contemporaries.C.N. and A.M. Williamson, The Motor Maid
This light, fun book was one of my top reads of 2025. This bit gives you a sense of the humor throughout.
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| Second Dream of St. Joseph by Daniel Mitsui |
It depicts, in a Japanese style, the second dream of St. Joseph, in which an angel (traditionally identified as St. Gabriel) warns him to flee into Egypt with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. In this work, I especially imitated the style of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, a late ukiyo-e master. I referenced his series of woodblock prints 100 Aspects of the Moon for many parts of my drawing.
St. Gabriel holds a fan containing a vision of the Flight into Egypt and the Miracle of the Cherry Tree. I attempted to convey a sense of otherworldly urgency by having the angel’s robes and hair blown by a strong wind that affects nothing else in the picture. St. Joseph sleeps in the stable of Bethlehem, next to the gifts of the Magi (in antique Chinese vessels). The text is from Emile Raguet’s Classical Japanese New Testament translation of 1910, and says Gabriel and Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him.
Mary, you are the vessel and tabernacle containing all Mysteries.
You know what the Patriarchs did not know;
you experienced what was not revealed to the Angels;
you heard what the Prophets did not hear.
In short, everything that was hidden from preceding generations was made known to you;
even more,
most of these wonders depended on you.St. Gregory the Great, Marian prayer
This is simply a lovely reflection and also something that hadn't occurred to me before.
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| The Large Cat by Cornelis Visscher, 1657. via J.R.'s Art Place |
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| Martyrdom of the seven Hebrew brothers, Vatican Library, around 1450 |
Although it may not seem so now, this passage, when it was first spoken, was well-nigh the most revolutionary passage in the New Testament. Jesus has been arguing with the legal experts about different aspects of the traditional law. He has shown the irrelevance of the elaborate handwashings. He has shown how rigid adherence to the traditional law can actually mean disobedience to the law of God. But here he says something more startling yet. He declares that nothing that goes into a man can possibly defile him, for it is received only into his body which rids itself of it in the normal, physical way.
No Jew ever believed that and no orthodox Jew believes it yet. Leviticus 11 has a long list of animals that are unclean and may not be used for food. How very seriously this was taken can be seen from many an incident in Maccabean times. At that time the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, was determined to root out the Jewish faith. One of the things he demanded was that the Jews should eat pork, swine's flesh but they died in the hundreds rather than do so ... Fourth Maccabees (chapter 7) tells the story of a widow and her seven sons. It was demanded that they should eat swine's flesh. They refused. The first had his tongues cut out, the ends of his limbs cut off; and he was then roasted alive in a pan; the second had his hair and the skin of his skull torn off; one by one they were tortured to death while their aged mother looked on and cheered them on; they died rather than eat meat which to them was unclean.
It is in the face of this that Jesus made his revolutionary statement that nothing that goes into a man can make him unclean. He was wiping out at one stroke the laws for which Jews had suffered and died ...
With one sweeping pronouncement Jesus had declared ... that uncleanness has nothing to do with what a man takes into his body but everything to do with what comes out of his heart.
The Gospel of Mark
(The Daily Bible Series, rev. ed.)
We discuss Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky in our opener for Season 16. This was selected by special guest Rosamund Hodge who joins us for a discussion that is chock-full of spiders. No one wanted to fall in love with a spider, but we did anyway.
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| The Japanese Scroll by James Tissot |
It must once again be stressed that no human being is closed in upon himself or herself and that no one can live of or for himself or herself alone. ... Human beings are relational and they possess their lives — themselves — only by way of relationship. ... Sin is loss of relationship, disturbance of relationship, and therefore it is not restricted to the individual. When I destroy a relationship, then this event — sin — touches the other person involved in the relationship. Consequently sin is always an offense that touches others, that alters the world and damages it.
Cardinal Ratzinger, In the Beginning ...
That point about us possing our lives only by way of relationship is revelatory. How do we see ourselves in relation to others? How do they touch our lives and what does that mean to our journey through the day, the month, the year, to the end of our days?
People today know of no standard; to be sure, they do not want to know of any because they see standards as a threat to their freedom. ...
Thus sin has become a suppressed subejct, but everywhere we can see that although it is suppressed, it has nonetheless remained real. What is remarkable to me is the aggressiveness, always on the verge of pouncing, which we experience openly in our society — the lurking readiness to demean the other person, th hold others guilty whenever misfortune occurs to them, to accuse society, and to want to change the world by violence.Cardinal Ratzinger, In the Beginning ...
This was a superb, thought provoking book and it should have been on my Best of 2025 list. However, you can enjoy this bit in the fullness of the times in which we live. It was written in 1995 and, sadly, seems even more applicable now than then.
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord. This brings to an end the season of Christmas. The Church recalls Our Lord's second manifestation or epiphany which occurred on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan. Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its waters and to give them the power to beget sons of God. The event takes on the importance of a second creation in which the entire Trinity intervenes.Read more about this feast day at Catholic Culture.
Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for -- I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.
Kate L. Bosher
Here are my top picks from our year of TV viewing. Our television viewing was not extensive but we discovered some that were pure gold. In no particular order.
I began my "Best of" lists way back in 2008. To see them, check the label cloud in the sidebar under "Best of ..."
Most people know what to expect from this mystery series about three misfit friends and their true crime podcast. We were impressed that season 4 (a movie about the podcast?!) and season 5 (the old/new mob in New York) still hold up so solidly. This is a great team on all fronts.
Not as many people know this French series. Lupin is a French mystery thriller series starring Omar Sy in the role of Assane Diop, a man who is inspired by the adventures of master thief Arsène Lupin. As with Only Murders in the Building, the storytelling, production, and acting remain solid. It kept us running solution ideas up until the very end. And Omar Sy. Enough said.
Five comedians are set tasks challenging their creativity and wit. The tasks are supervised by Alex Horne but the Taskmaster, Greg Davies, gives points based on his own personal, occasional whimsical criteria. Genuinely funny.
We love police procedurals and this is a good one — a fun, quirky show that wasn't too over-the-top while providing a murder-of-the week. Lou and Henry, an odd couple sister and brother detective team in a small Pacific Northwest police force, must contend with colorful residents, a lack of resources, and their own complicated dynamics.
My favorite series of the year. I was drawn in by the name but found more than I expected. Set in a dystopian version of South Korea, this multi-layered, fast paced story kept us talking about it in the days between watching episodes. At the heart of this exciting drama is justice — from a wide variety of vantage points. Is Judge Kang Batman? Or The Joker?
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