Advent 2010

I am not sure that Advent is the forgotten liturgical season around the Catholic blogosphere, however, Marcel LeJeune at Aggie Catholics has a point when he says we have forgotten how to celebrate.

He has a good reflection on the season along with suggestions for celebration ... as well as a crackerjack list of links to other places where you can find information.

Well Said

From my quote journal.

Why not be both honest and consistent, and simply say something like, "I hate Catholics because they don't agree with me and then have the effrontery to continue disagreeing with me even after I've set them straight?"

It's quicker, for one thing.

Venerable Beads

Fifteen Novels in Fifteen Minutes

I was tagged for this on Facebook (which I actually remembered to visit today), but it is too good to just leave there. Influenced is harder than "liked" ... but here we go ...

The Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List, in no particular order) fifteen authors (poets included) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

1. Rumer Godden
2. Agatha Christie (nonfiction)
3. Harriett Beecher Stowe
4. Robert Alter (his OT translations)
   
5. Flannery O'Conner (The Habit of Being)
6. Dean Koontz
7. CS Lewis
8. Shirley Jackson
9. Samuel Shellabarger
10. Fulton Sheen
11. Francis Fernandez (author of the In Conversation with God series)
    
12. Nathaniel Hawthorne
13. Robert R. Chase
14. Charlotte Bronte
15. M.F.K. Fisher

You're supposed to tag fifteen people but I decline that part. Not that I wouldn't like to see what Jeff Miller, Stephen Riddle, Will Duquette, and Maureen (Aliens in this World) would pick. I'm just sayin' ...

Worth a Thousand Words: Budapest

My brother and sister-in-law recently visited Budapest which I have always have heard is striking lovely. His photos bear it out and he gave me permission to share them with y'all. You will see many of them in the weeks to come.

The above statue doesn't really bear out anything about "striking lovely" but I loved it and the way it made that large bricked surface seem smaller and more human. And who doesn't love a child feeding a dog? (Or wolf?)

Immaculate Conception* Novena: Day 1

Black Madonna of Częstochowa, Polish relic, pre-15th century

Mary's purpose is to show us her Son. She always points the way to Him. I have never known her to fail me whenever I have asked her to show me Jesus. I will be posting something each day as this is a very worthy Advent contemplation ... and if you want to pray the novena, then here it is!

Mary constantly showers down graces and favours on the faithful, and so has won the prerogative all-powerful intercessor. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Christians know that they can reach God through his Mother. She is our shortcut — the most direct path to God for us. Our love for her is shown in our continually coming up with new ways of expressing affection for her. We begin the Novena leading to the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception by trying to offer Our Lady something special each day.

In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

DAY 1: MORNING STAR

Our Lady's appearance is the first ray of dawn that shines forth in the world. She rises over the horizon and is the forerunner to the brilliant splendour of salvation that will enter the world through Jesus Christ.

Paul VI quoted in
In Conversation With God :
Feast Days July - December(vol.7)

Here is the novena for the first day.

PRAYER TO THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son,
we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain,
so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession, to come unto You.
Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, world without end.

Amen.

Day One

O most Holy Virgin, who was pleasing to the Lord and became His mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on me as I implore your powerful intercession. O most Holy Mother, who by your blessed Immaculate Conception, from the first moment of your conception did crush the head of the enemy, receive our prayers as we implore you to present at the throne of God the favor we now request...

(State your intention here...)

O Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your Divine Son while upon this earth; you have the same influence now in heaven. Pray for us and obtain for us from him the granting of my petition if it be the Divine Will.

Amen.

Litany of the Blessed Virgin

Lord, have mercy on us
Christ, have mercy on us
Lord, have mercy on us
Christ, hear us
Christ, graciously hear us

God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the World, have mercy on us
God the Holy Spirit, ...
Holy Trinity, one God, ...

Holy Mary, pray for us
Holy Mother of God, pray for us

Holy Virgin of virgins, ...
Mother of Christ, ...
Mother of Divine Grace, ...
Mother most pure, ...
Mother most chaste, ...
Mother inviolate, ...
Mother undefiled, ...
Mother most amiable, ...
Mother most admirable, ...
Mother of good counsel, ...
Mother of our Creator, ...
Mother of our Saviour, ...
Virgin most prudent, ...
Virgin most venerable, ...
Virgin most renowned, ...
Virgin most powerful, ...
Virgin most merciful, ...
Virgin most faithful, ...
Mirror of justice, ...
Seat of wisdom, ...
Cause of our joy, ...
Spiritual vessel, ...
Vessel of honour, ...
Singular vessel of devotion, ...
Mystical rose, ...
Tower of David, ...
Tower of ivory, ...
House of gold, ...
Ark of the covenant, ...
Gate of heaven, ...
Morning star, ...
Health of the sick, ...
Refuge of sinners, ...
Comforter of the afflicted, ...
Help of Christians, ...
Queen of Angels, ...
Queen of Patriarchs, ...
Queen of Prophets, ...
Queen of Apostles, ...
Queen of Martyrs, ...
Queen of Confessors, ...
Queen of Virgins, ...
Queen of all Saints, ...
Queen conceived without original sin, ...
Queen assumed into heaven, ...
Queen of the most holy Rosary, ...
Queen of Peace, ...

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Grant we beseech Thee, O Lord God,
that we, Thy servants,
may enjoy perpetual health of mind and body:
and, by the glorious intercession of the blessed Mary, ever Virgin,
be delivered from present sorrow and enjoy eternal gladness.
Through Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

This link is where I got the novena.

* The Immaculate Conception is a belief in the Catholic church, as well as some Protestant denominations, that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was protected by God from the original sin during her own conception. Since she subsequently lived a life completely free from sin, this makes her perfectly pure. The idea of the Immaculate Conception is often confused with the doctrine of the Incarnation and Virgin Birth of Christ. The Immaculate Conception was defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854 and consecrated by Pope Pius XII in 1942. However, this tradition had existed within the Catholic church for more than a millenium. Eastern Orthodox Christians do not believe in the Immaculate Conception, because they have a different view of the original sin from Catholics, and in their tradition, it would be unnecessary for Mary to require divine purification from this. The majority of Protestants reject the idea because it is not explicitly stated in the Bible.  (Description from Olga's Art Gallery.)

Well Said

From my quote journal.

Do [atheists] remember when they are writing thus that when they tell us we "ought to make a better world" the words "ought" and "better" must, on their own showing, refer to an irrationally conditioned impulse which cannot be true or false any more than a vomit or a yawn?

My idea is that sometimes they do forget.  That is their glory. Holding a philosophy which excludes humanity, they yet remain human. At the sight of injustice they throw away all their Naturalism to the winds and speak like men and like men of genius. They know far better than they think they know.

C.S. Lewis

Worth a Thousand Words: At the Movies

Why do the international crowds get all the best posters? (see the other two here)

As compared with the U.S. poster.

Advent Comes ... and With It Comes the New Church Year

Interior Of The Mezquita Cathedral Virgin Mary Icon

Everybody knows, even those of us who have lived most unadventurously, what it is to plod on for miles, it seems, eagerly straining your eyes toward the lights that, somehow, mean home. How difficult it is, when you are doing that to judge distances! In pitch darkness, it might be a couple of miles to your destination, it might be a few hundred yards. So it was, I think, with the Hebrew prophets, as they looked forward to the redemption of their people. They could not have told you, within a hundred years, within five hundred years, when it was the deliverance would come. They only knew that, some time, the stock of David would burgeon anew; some time, a key would be found to fit the door of their prison house; some time, the light that only shows, now, like a will-o'-the-wisp on the horizon would broaden out, at last into the perfect day.

This attitude of expectation is one which the Church wants to encourage in us, her children, permanently. She sees it as an essential part of our Christian drill that we should still be looking forward; getting on for two thousand years, now, since the first Christmas Day came and went, and we must still be looking forward. So she encourages us, during advent, t take the shepherd-folk for our guides, and imagine ourselves traveling with them at dead of night, straining our eyes towards that chink of light which streams out, we know, from the cave at Bethlehem.

R.A. Knox, Sermon on Advent 1947
quoted in In Conversation with God, Vol. 1, Francis Fernandez

With Advent the liturgical year begins in the Western churches. Before Christmas we spend time in contemplation and preparation for the coming of Christ on three levels: as memorial of his incarnation as the babe in Bethlehem, to his coming with grace in our souls, and in looking forward to when he comes as the Judge at the end of time.

Those who celebrate Advent do so with various private devotions during this time. Some read a specific book to think about, some go to regular adoration, some try to avoid excessive focus on Christmas preparations, and such things. I am going to try to attend daily Mass several times a week. Among other things, such as continuing to read a chapter a day of Eric Sammons' Who is Jesus Christ? which I am finding to be a really terrific book.

Jen at Conversion Diary asked for ideas and has A Cornucopia of Ideas for Celebrating Advent for those considering a devotion.

Owen has a drawing in praise of nascent life which I like very much and which you may too.

Pope Benedict's Advent launching observance is perfect and one which Whispers in the Loggia summed up nicely: In Rome and across the Catholic world, at B16's behest tonight sees a first-of-its-kind observance: a global Vigil for All Nascent Human Life, which the pontiff marked at First Vespers in St Peter's and many local churches have planned special commemorations of on relatively short notice. He also has the Pope's prayer for life and some other good things listed there.

I like this Advent Litany which may be helpful as we school ourselves to wait in patience to wait for Our Lord and contemplate what that means.

Advent Litany

Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world.
Come, Lord Jesus.

You are light in our darkness.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Son of God, save us from our sins.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Son of Mary, deepen our love.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bring hope into the lives of all people.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Give your peace to all nations.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Be the joy of all who love you.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bring unity among all who believe in you.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bless us as we gather here in your name.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus, stay with us always.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Let us pray:

May Christ give us his peace and joy,
and let us share them with others.
All peace and glory are his for ever.

Amen.

From the InBox: CyberMonday Sale for Gryphon Rampant

As you may know I offer prints of my art through a third party vendor. I wanted to let you know that everything at our Print Gallery is on sale until midnight Monday, November 29. Now is a great time to shop for Christmas at 30% off. You choose the size, paper, mat and frame all at a great savings. This is the largest sale my print vendor offers, take advantage of it while you can.

Use discount code: CYBERDEAL

Check out both galleries:
The Art of Faith
The Communion of Saints

And don't forget our poster clearance sale.

In which we ask, "Who are these kids, anyway??

Hansel and Gretel or Little Brother and Little Sister or Brother and Sister?"
Either name it's the same story with a witch and without a gingerbread house.
Joseph brings us something extra from the Brothers Grimm.

Pick up a little something extra for the Thanksgiving weekend at Forgotten Classics.

Thanksgiving Weekend Joke

A tad late but it still made me smile. Thanksgiving weekend is a long 'un so I'm posting this today.

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked the stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?"

The stock boy answered, "No ma'am, they're dead."

I'm Very, Very, Very, Very Busy

Cooking.

The menu? Same as every Thanksgiving and you can read about it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

And also I'm braving airport traffic to pick up Rose this morning. She was up soooooo early in order to catch the L (or whatever it is) to O'Hare, in plenty of time for the lines, full body scans and whatever other assorted trials await her.

So I'm outta here to have a round of real, hands-on life!

For which I am very, very, very, very thankful.

While we're counting what I'm thankful for ... and there is so very much, beginning with God's revelation to me that He is indeed a real person who cares about me, personally ... know that I am very thankful for the community of friends I'd never have met without the dear ol' interwebs. That is to say, you! :-)

I'll be back after Thanksgiving (possibly before, but we will let that be a delightful surprise should it occur).

But What Does the Pope Really Think?

I have just been reading David Scott's review of Light of the World, which is the first one I've seen from someone I trust (David wrote my favorite book about Mother Teresa and recently was named editor in chief for CNA and EWTN News).

We all know that the Pope answers the hard questions about faith in a thoughtful manner that provokes us to think more deeply ourselves. That much I already knew from Jesus of Nazareth and reading another Seewald/Ratzinger collaboration Salt of the Earth. I expect to be enlightened and challenged.

What I did not expect was the surprisingly endearing confession that the Pope is glad he's in good health because he hates exercise. (hey, me too!) Or that he turns to the saints often, “I am friends with Augustine, with Bonaventure, with Thomas Aquinas.” (hey, that's what I say!)

In other words, we get to see the human man that goes with the heart and intellect we know.

A great review that does a lot to give an overview which makes me impatient to get that book in my hands. Go read it.

Worth a Thousand Words

The Golden Hour

from Margaret at Ten Thousand Places

Well Said

From my quote journal.

There is much wisdom in not being surprised that the circle of terrestrial happiness is never a perfect circle, that it is necessary to endure in order to grow, and, in working to bring about greater justice, to bear one's own lot of moral fortitude. This wisdom contains a great wealth of joys and happiness.

It forget the sufferings of yesterday in order to rejoice in the pleasures of today, modest as they may be; avoiding bitterness, it sweetens sorrows; in time of trial it values the least drop of joy. It is modest in its desires; this modesty permits it to receive with gratitude every grace and every gift of Heaven, every proof of neighborly sympathy.

Dom Lou, Ways of Confucius & Christ
(via Frank at Why I Am Catholic ... click through to read more from Dom Lou)

In which we encounter the "begots" and begin Noah's story.

More of Robert Alter's Genesis comin' atcha! Chapters 5-7 to be precise. Plus a great Christmas music and fact podcast (click through just to get the link to that if nothing else). And what does Yunbin, our Korean correspondent have to say about hearing this translation? All that and more are awaiting you with Episode 142 of Forgotten Classics.

Has Anyone Else Noticed What a Crackerjack Job The Anchoress is Doing At Patheos-Catholic?

I've been receiving a steady flow of notices about new columnists and seen a variety of interesting articles. Seems as if the Patheos gang is getting their money's worth on The Anchoress because it has really turned into an interesting spot to spend some quality Catholic reading time (and nobody has asked me to say this ... I'm just sayin' what I'm seein' ...)

The latest columnist is Tim Muldoon whose writing I know I've seen somewhere but can't pin down right at the moment. He's beginning a column titled Culture at the Crossroads today.

The notion of culture itself is at a crossroads. For if culture -- like its cognate word "cultivate" -- is about a certain way of growing, then the obvious questions are about who's doing the sowing, what the seeds are, and what's going to be harvested from them. What's the point of culture? And how is it different from any number of historical attempts to control people, like the absurd Chinese operas that emerged during the horror of the Cultural Revolution, inculcating revolutionary propaganda? (See the fine film Mao's Last Dancer for one dancer's story of escaping from that reality.)

This column proposes that culture is the ongoing conversation of peoples reaching for the transcendent: questions like "what changes, and what remains the same?" and "how shall we live?" -- the kinds of questions, in short, that we raise today much like our ancestors of three millennia past, and whose answers, far from being irrelevant and arcane, are as challenging to us today as they were when they were first written.

And there's some T.S. Eliot later on. Go check it out.

Book Giveaway: Light of the World

You've been hearing about one small aspect of the new book of questions and answers between Pete Seewald and Pope Benedict.

There is a contest on Facebook to win free copies.

Don’t miss your chance to get a free copy of the Pope’s groundbreaking new book!

Never has a pope, in a book-length interview, dealt so directly with such wide-ranging and controversial issues as Pope Benedict XVI does in “Light of the World.” Taken from a week-long series of interviews with veteran journalist Peter Seewald, this history-making book tackles head-on some of the greatest issues facing the world of our time. Benedict XVI is candid about the problems and the solutions.

They’ll be giving away 3 copies a day beginning November 23, 2010 and it will run until 11:59 pm on December 3, 2010.

Now Here's a Movie I'm Interested In Seeing

Daniel Craig in Western gear. Mmmmm, mmmm, mighty fine. Just in case you haven't seen the trailer or heard of it, I will just let it unfold without mentioning the name.



I have no idea what this will be like but I loved Eifelheim and this may work just as well albeit in a different medium.

The Pope, Condom Comments, Etc.

I will be getting my copy of the new book which has had excerpts picked to make it sound as if Pope Benedict is approving of condom use. I would have to read this for myself in context before I could comment.

My favorite comment and the one that resonates with me is this from Jen at Riparians at the Gate:

What I see in the holy father’s newly-famous comment is this:  There’s the prodigal son, and he’s starting to look around at the pods the pigs are eating, and wonder if there isn’t a better way.

Is he back in his father’s arms yet?  No.  But his father is standing on that hill looking out already, cheering on every tiny little thing that is one baby step on the path to reconciliation.

The holy father is not speaking about some hypothetical archetype of man.  He’s got the internet in an uproar because he’s peering in at the details of a real life, of a real person living today in our world.  Salvation works itself out in ordinary life.  For a man mired in male prostitution, this might be what that first awakening looks like.

However, there are lots of pages from people who I trust with many links which you may care to peruse.

• Aliens in This World
• The Anchoress: Part I and Part II
• Get Religion
  

When Blog Meets Go Wrong: "You'll probably need this. Aim carefully. That's all the ammo you have."

Theocoid recounts our get together last week and shows that he has a talent for more than code and theological blogging. I can't resist putting it all here ... he really should be writing novels.

We missed our initial meeting as my flight out of Boise left almost two hours late. However, we rescheduled for the evening just before I left. Julie sent me directions to an out-of-the-way eatery deep in the heart of Dallas, with the instruction that I to make sure no one followed. "Oh yes," she added, "have a newspaper under your left arm, and wear an Aggies ballcap so we can recognize you."

After a long week of work, I was feeling a little punchy anyway, so cruising the back streets of Dallas did little to improve my spirits. I found the diner, an odd little Tex-Mex joint with a broken neon sign that blinked "Jo s ats." I entered and was seated at a booth in a corner. I ordered a beer and waited a good 20 minutes before I noticed that written on the coaster in ink were the words, "Flip over." On the backside, was a note: "Go out the back, and we'll pick you up in the alley."

I finished my beer and made my way to the rear exit. As I did, a set of headlights flicked on, a Buick sedan glided up, and a door opened. "Get in."

I looked up and down the alley, then ducked in just, my foot just barely leaving the pavement before the vehicle pulled off.

"Did anyone see you leave?"

"No," I said, "Hey, what's this all about?"

"Too much to explain right now. Are you packing any heat?"

"No, unless you're talking about the Icy Hot I use for my strained back."

"You're a smart guy. Smart guys don't live long in this neck of the woods."

Tom drove. I noticed that the panel under the steering column had been ripped out, and some wires were spliced together haphazardly. Julie handed back something heavy and cold.

"You'll probably need this. Aim carefully. That's all the ammo you have."

"So what's up? I thought we were just getting together for a nice meal and some chat."

"Yeah, well, that was until we got this new job, you see? It was supposed to be simple... a little marketing piece with some product listings, four colors, a slam dunk in InDesign. And then, the scope creep. A tweak to the margins here, an extra column to a table there, and now we're looking at a 2500-page monstrosity with nested tables, custom layouts on every page, and a ransom-letter type style. I snapped. There's no going back."

I laughed, I cried, I wished my life was really this exciting.

Worth a Thousand Words

Rose Eruption

by Belinda Del Pesco

Lagniappe

Usually this would go in the sidebar but it was just too good to risk people missing it. When we saw this on Bones we all laughed so much that milk came out our noses. (Then we had to go look up Urban IV to see what his deal was.)

Vincent Nigel-Murray: It was widely rumored that Pope Clement XIV was killed with a cup of poisoned chocolate.

Cam: Was he a good Pope or a bad Pope?

Vincent Nigel-Murray: He was no Urban VI.

Cam: Oh, no, of course not.

Vincent Nigel-Murray: Oh who, by the way, was the answer to my record-breaking Daily Double win on Jeopardy. The category, of course, “Torture”.

Bones

Have You Read This? Well, HAVE YOU?

From Theocoid ...  here we go.

P.S. About half of these are NOT really classics but just popular modern books. Give me a list of 100 that have already stood the test of time and I'll be much more interested. Mitch Albom? Really?

UPDATE: Melanie Bettanelli commented on the Facebook version of this that she had actually seen it loosely linked originally with a list from the Guardian when she did a vain attempt to track it back to the BBC. Either way, it is still rather a fun list to look at.

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here...

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, underline the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

  9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (but I"m working on it)

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy          

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan     

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel       

52 Dune - Frank Herbert             

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy     

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (This is NOT a classic and is mean spirited enough to make it never become one in my book ... stick to his history-ish books, not the travel guides)

75 Ulysses - James Joyce         

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare  

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

UPDATE
Dr. Boli (from whom I am honored to have received a comment) shows us a different way.

The fundamental flaw of the list is that there seems to be no way to construe the word "classic" so that it includes Dan Brown. However, we may find another use for the list. Copy it again, and this time bold all the titles that nothing short of a substantial payment, cash on the barrel, would ever induce you to read. Give reasons.

Weekend Joke

Thanks to Marcia for this one!

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, 'If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?'

'No, I had to stop drinking years ago', the homeless woman told me.

'Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?' I asked.

'No, I don't waste time shopping,' the homeless woman said. 'I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.'

'Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?' I asked.

'Are you NUTS!' replied the homeless woman. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!'

'Well, I said, 'I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.'

The homeless woman was shocked. 'Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.'

I said, 'That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine.'

Opt-Out Day ... Play Russian Roulette on Your Own Time Please UPDATED

Sorry, I have had this rant building for some time ... and here it comes ...

I have been reading more and more incredulously the protests about full body scans at airports, the tantrums thrown by people who then tape them to show everyone, and now comes "Opt-Out Day" ... which just seems like another way for a great many immature people to force their childish protests on the rest of the flying public.

For those who don't already know what this is about, this column from Eric Felten at the Wall Street Journal makes it clear.

In fact, it is his column that was the last straw for me.
 
Everyone is blaming the government.

What about blaming the terrorists?

They are the ones who are trying to kill you. By blowing up your plane.

They would be thrilled to kill my daughter when she flies home for the holidays.

They'd love to kill my sister, and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who are frequent fliers.

We are at war. What I see is a lot of people who would have argued with the government about their ration cards during WWII instead of pitching in to win the war.

Think of the lengths terrorists are willing to go to in order to achieve their goal. Those explosive breast implants are real, not a joke. Only the scans can stop those.

Flying is not a "right."

Flying is not necessary. If you don't like the new rules then walk, ride a bus, drive, take a train, take a boat, or stay at home.

Got privacy or body issues with the scan? It still seems better than forcing the TSA to search you. Yes. Forcing. They don't want to grope you. They want to keep your plane from being blown up. How are you with that?

Don't like the scan because of radiation? The last I heard from a doctor on the news, you will get more radiation from being in the plane than going through the scan.

If you want to go one-on-one with the terrorists, that is your right. But do it where you won't take a lot of other people with you.

And otherwise ... just shut up about it.

UPDATES
Naturally, SNL has chimed in on this issue ... a coupla times.

Here's a clip you can watch about the pat downs that was sent by Frank ... I stopped 2/3 of the way through because, as happens so often, they just kept going and going.

Here's a transcript (couldn't find a clip) of a skit that Hannah remembered about racial profiling.

Saturday Night Live Transcripts

Season 28: Episode 2

02b: Sarah Michelle Gellar / Faith Hill

Trans American Airlines

Captain.....Chris Parnell
Stewardess #1.....Amy Poehler
Employee #1.....Will Forte
Stewardess #2.....Maya Rudolph
Employee #2.....Tracy Morgan

[ SUPER: "A Message From The Men And Women Of Trans American Airlines" ]

Captain: September 11th, 2001 changed a lot of things about the way we live.

Stewardess #1: But, if you've traveled by air recently, you know that new security procedures at most airlines can make flying a frustrating and unpleasant experience.

Employee #1: But at Trans American, we don't believe that endless lines, early check-in requirements, or confiscating tweezers are the best way to prevent terrorism.

Captain: At Trans American, we have a better idea. We screen our passengers with a system we call "Racial Profiling".

Stewardess #1: You see, unlike other airlines, we at Trans American have noticed that airline hijackers always seem to be Islamic males, age 15 to 45, of Middle Eastern descent.

Employee #2: That's why, at Trans American, any passenger who fits that description is put through the industry's most exhaustive secuity check - including sodium-pentathol interrogation, strip search, and full body cavity exam.

Stewardess: Any passenger who doesn't, we leave the hell alone. That's a promise.

Stewardess #2: Some of our competitors take issue with our policies, and even say that, if you allow racial profiling, the terrorists have won. But we don't agree. I mean, why would terrorists want racial profiling? That's how you catch them.

Captain: Rest assured, at Trans American, we have no intention of changing the system that's given us the best security record in the industry. Fly with us, and you'll see why. And, by the way, you can bring your tweezers.

Voiceover: Trans American Airlines. Security. Reliability. Racial profiling.

SECOND UPDATE
I believe that both sides have expressed themselves fully. Comments are now closed.

Well Said

From my quote journal.

If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.

Alan Simpson

Worth a Thousand Words

Fall Tree

by Duane Keiser

Bulletin Board: Guided Sight

The scripture verse that I hang my hat on is Romans 8:28, "We know that in all things God works for the good for those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose." It is the "all things" part that is tricky. Sometimes we can only comprehend what God wants to teach us by living through our difficult times rather than trying to avoid them. He will not leave us or forsake us; we really can trust in him (Heb. 13:5).
The Lord is the only one who can see the road ahead of each of us. He is our "Sighted Guide," and in my first column here at Patheos, I'd like to explain this title more fully.

I speak what I know. When I was in my early 20s I lost my sight from diabetic retinopathy.

In her debut column [at Patheos], “Guided Sight” Morrissey shares a little of what it was like, to lose her sight, and what it brought her: “I looked at everything I could still see with great intensity, trying to brand things into my memory, but also into my heart -- the blueness of the sky, the color of new grass. I studied my photo albums over and over again, pressing each face, each smile, each shy or exuberant expression on the faces of my family members and friends into my memory like flowers between pages. Even today, all these years later, when I want to picture someone, these photographs come to my mind.”

This is a great idea for a regular column, especially these days when anyone who isn't completely perfect is thought to be suffering. Check it out.

What's Goin' On: The Dishwasher

Looking back, I see that it has been almost two years that we have been doing without the dishwasher.

As nearly as we can recall it began because the dishwasher was making an odd screeching sound and I did not want to pay the $75 service call to have a repairman come out just to tell me (as I darkly suspected) that buying a new one would be as cost effective as repairing it.

That had been happening a lot to us around that time.

However, we have another problem around the house right now (all this dust, where is it coming from?) and Tom's dark suspicions are that we will have to shell out some big bucks for something to do with ductwork.

If that's the case, I pronounced $75 a small price to pay to get the real story on possibly stopping washing dishes by hand. The charms had passed and I was tired. Perhaps it was because with Hannah home I was handwashing for three instead of two and that was my tipping point.

Whatever the reason, we really couldn't recall the problem. So I ran a trial load to see what the problem was.

Problem? What problem?

Other than the heating element not working, which was a previously known factor, there is nary a screech and everything is getting washed just fine.

I have a real feeling of luxury every time I wash the dishes and there are so few things to clean ... just the pots and pans? That's all?

So, Rose, your homecoming will be more joyous than you thought. There are not nearly as many dirty dishes to wash!

Getting to Know You ... Theocoid Up Close

We had a delightful dinner with Bill B. (a.k.a. Theocoid) last night. I think that he is among my oldest blogging acquaintances. So, naturally, I was thrilled that he was going to be in town for a meeting, giving us the chance to have an actual face-to-face discussion over some Tex-Mex.

It is always wonderful to meet someone with whom you "click" and Bill was one such person. He and Tom talked web code, formatting code, and the like. When the talk turned to Catholic podcasters we have in common (yes, Into the Deep, I'm lookin' at you ... I listened before they faded, Bill actually knows two of the guys) and other such faith-ish things then it was my turn to jabber. But we could all join in equally about kids, dogs, and life in general.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and we are hoping that Bill will have some other trips in the future so we can continue the conversation!

Send Supplies to Iraqi Christians

Frank at Why I Am Catholic is putting action alongside our prayers for our embattled brothers and sisters. He's found a way to send donations that will be used for food, shelter, and clothing. Go and read and then take the action that seems best to you.

Worth a Thousand Words

Walking the Dogs in Barcelona

taken by Barcelona Photoblog

(click through to see this one larger)

Lagniappe

From my quote journal.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. [pause] Time to die.

Roy Batty, Blade Runner

Advent Reading ... #2

Obviously events overcame me yesterday so I didn't get a chance to post another good Advent reading choice. C'est la vie!

Today, however, I bring you a book that I haven't yet finished because I am finding myself almost forced to read it slowly and meditatively in order to consider the wealth of information.

Who is Jesus Christ? by Eric Sammons takes an interesting tack in answering the question that Jesus him self put to the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" We all have our favorite and comfortable concepts about Jesus. They are not necessarily wrong but they also are not all that Jesus Christ is. It is in contemplating those areas outside our comfort zones that we most often meet God. Or so it seems in my experience.

Sammons takes each of the labels put on Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew and devotes a chapter to considering whether it is the result and/or fulfillment of incomplete perception, role, Old Testament prophecies and figures, or son.

These chapters are fairly brief but cover quite a bit of ground as we are shown the reason for each perception, whether it is really true (and if so, how true), and ultimately how this aids our understanding of Jesus Christ. For example, the chapter titled Carpenter's Son discusses our natural desires to know all about the person we love, the result of that desire in generating some of the legends about Jesus performing miracles as a boy, the fact that if those legends were true the townspeople wouldn't have been amazed at his wisdom when Jesus returned to Nazareth to preach, the truths about Messiah's wisdom revealed in Psalms and elsewhere, Christ's complete embrace of the ordinary life, and his restoration of the world through his sacrifice.

That is not even all that is covered in those eight pages. One might think that this crowds too much information into each discussion but it really doesn't. Sammons' writing flows so naturally that each conclusion leads organically to the next and we are carried on the logical track to the final consideration and couple of thought-provoking questions that are provided.

As I mentioned, I am reading this slowly, a chapter a morning and I then find myself considering various aspects of the chapter through the day. That is a perfect way to await Our Lord, by thinking about the way he reveals himself to us and getting to know him better.

Well Said

From my quote journal.

... I'm just waiting until one party or the other actually gets a moral compass and a backbone.

John Perry Barlow

Worth A Thousand Words ... Heck, a Couple of Thousand Words

Because we're getting two great images today.

 

Many thanks to Jen from Riparians at the Gate for calling my attention to her husband Jon's wonderful photography. Find more of it at Palmetto Cove.

Advent Reading ...

The Anchoress has a wonderful looking list of Advent reading suggestions. (Good Heavens, she not only has a list but she's already updated it!)

I must say that, like Thanksgiving, the idea that Advent will begin soon has crept up on me ... where, oh where, has the time gone?

How soon? November 28.

I know!

I do have some reading ideas which all seem to revolve around the idea of patience, waiting, meditation upon God, and absorbing things a little at a time. That all seems to work for Advent which is to help us prepare spiritually for the coming of the savior.

My first suggestion is a book I wrote about recently, Praying with Saint Matthew's Gospel. Read all about it in my short review, but this bit gives the essence of why I thought of this book for Advent reading.

Magnificat gives us a line by line meditation on Saint Matthew's Gospel that I have found to be thought provoking and fruitful. In a sense it is like a directed form of lectio divina. Twenty-four different authors each take different sections of the gospel and provide commentary that often takes me in a direction I never considered before.

Tomorrow, a book that I haven't finished but that I can already tell is a good 'un.

Worth a Thousand Words

painting, mary, rosary

by the very talented Owen at drawn to catholicism

Well Said

From my quote journal.

To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.

St. Teresa of Avila

In which Adam and Eve give in to temptation and suffer the consequences.

Chapters 3 and 4 of Robert Alter's translation of Genesis are now up at Forgotten Classics.

Rose Has Edited a "Crash the Superbowl" Contest Entry.

Rose sez:

I edited a Doritos commercial that a producer friend of mine at Columbia shot. I think it's pretty good and right now it is submitted to the Crash the Superbowl online contest. The winner is played during the Superbowl! ...and wins a lot of money...

So, having views betters our chances of making it to the final round.

Once you skip the intro, the video will pop up.

I watched this over Tom's shoulder this morning, only knowing that it was directed by a friend of Rose's who is attending Columbia. I liked it.

Did Tom tell me Rose edited it? No.

(sigh)

Upon opening my email I saw the message above. Swing by and take a look.

Worth a Thousand Words

Bartender

by Edward B. Gordon

Which Bars Make the Grade When You Request Something Off-Menu?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, not the ones that advertise their bars the most.

So far these listings are only for Dallas and Springfield (MO) which is where I've had the opportunity to "test" bars. I'll add to it as new opportunities arise!

Lagniappe

From my quote journal.

... I've steadfastly refused to join the Cult of Jobs ever since I saw the first happy-clappy revival tent launch; it brought back painful memories of a junior management training course the late and unlamented Bridget sent me on a few years ago. ...

The Jesus Phone [iPhone], I swear it is smiling at me: Come to me, come to me and be saved. The luscious curves, the polished glissade of the icons in the multi-touch interface—whoever designed that thing is an intuitive illusionist, I realize fuzzily as my fingertip closes in on the screen: That's at least a class five glamour.

The next thing I think is: I shouldn't have let myself get so close. But by then I'm on my way out of the store, clutching a carrier bag ...

Charles Stross, The Fuller Memorandum

NY Giants-20, Dallas Cowboys-33 ... YEAH, READ IT - 33!

I. am. stunned.

And happy.

VERY. VERY. HAPPY.

Go Cowboys!

(And thank you, Jason Garrett.)

Now, Jerry, let's talk. When are we getting a new kicker? Seriously, c'mon.

Weekend Joke

The punny stuff, from Pun of the Day.

The friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds.

Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought this was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not.

He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him.

So the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop.

Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that: Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.

Worth a Thousand Words

Waxwing

taken by Remo Savisaar

Be sure to click through and see the photo in a larger size. It is simply gorgeous.

A Little Flannery: Lagniappe

More from The Habit of Being.

At the Ga. Wr. Thing I asked [a participant writer] if he had any good students at Emory. No, he said in a severe voice, teaching writing is a fraudulent occupation. I thought, yes, and brother you would have been better off if you had been exposed to a little more of it.

Flannery O'Connor

Bill Bryson Does Not Always Equal Snark ...

... but it's a rare occurrance as all too often his attempts at humor fall into that mean-spirited vein.


As Darwin points out in a well put post. My comments? In his comments box. Along with the title of the one nonsnarky book of Bryson's I've read. Which was excellent. Go and read.

The Paragraph Farmer Signs Off

Let's hope he will still lurk here and there. I have enjoyed his blog immensely but know that family is more important than any blog ... we'll miss ya Patrick!

"The Word of God in the mission of the Church." It's the Pope’s new scripture “Apostolic Exhortation.”

AND it's over 200 pages long.

So it's really a book.

Luckily, for everyone like me who didn't even know there was a new exhortation out, Maureen at Aliens in This World has some commentary and Rich Leonardi has a link to the pdf. He sent it to his Kindle. Now, if I could only get that feature to ever work. Ever.

Anyway, go read. And we can discuss later.

UPDATE
God bless Jeff Miller. He has converted the pdf to ePub and mobi (Kindle-readable) formats and linked from The Curt Jester. I believe he just got significant time off of Purgatory in saving me from an occasion of sin in impatience and cursing! Thanks Jeff!

Unstoppable

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine versus runaway train. That’s enough, isn’t it? How much more do you need?

Exactly. What Decent Films said.

I've been drawn to the ads just by the two stars and secretly expecting to be disappointed. SO. VERY. HAPPY. to hear otherwise.

Not enough for you? Go read the review.

What's Goin' On: Conan's Premiere Opening

Not having cable and also lacking a predilection for staying up late, I am not going to be watching Conan's new show. However, I really found his desk washing ad funny.



So when a friend told me about his opening bit, I watched ... and laughed. You will too.

A Little Flannery: Well Said

More from The Habit of Being. This is from August 1955.

I believe too that there is only one Reality and that that is the end of it, but the term, "Christian Realism," has become necessary for me, perhaps in a purely academic way, because I find myself in a world where everybody has his compartment, puts you in yours, shuts the door and departs. One of the awful things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarnation, the present reality is the Incarnation, and nobody believes in the Incarnation; that is, nobody in your audience. My audience are the people who think God is dead. At least these are the people I am conscious of writing for.

As for Jesus' being a realist: if He was not God, He was no realist, only a liar, and the crucifixion an act of justice.

Flannery O'Connor

Pat Gohn Gives Us the Good Word

Pat Gohn has been writing some very good columns for Patheos and I have been neglecting to let y'all know.

No more!

She now has a regular column over there, A Word In Season. The description says:

This new weekly column will celebrate the richness of the times and seasons in the Church. Its purpose is to explore themes related to the liturgical year including prayer and scripture, the lives of the saints, the Catechism, and the deep history of Catholic Tradition. In the coming year, it will also look at the changes coming to the Roman Missal.

However, I'll tell you that it is going to have a whole lot more than that. I have the pleasure of having met Pat and talked to her upon occasion. She is an excellent writer who knows and loves the Church and her passion is catechesis. Put all that together and it makes compelling reading.

Don't believe me? Go read her first column, How Good It Is!. You'll see.

Worth a Thousand Words

National Fund for Welsh Troops

via Wikimedia's photo of the day

Veteran's Day Tribute

Photo credit: Kate Gardiner

(via Slashfood)

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN,
who salutes the Flag,

It is the veteran,
who serves under the Flag

The above is seen everywhere and I haven't seen where it should be ultimately credited, but it says just what I feel.

• Slashfood has a list and links to restaurants giving veterans free meals or food deals today.
  
• Recta Ratio comments on the day and how our lack of true celebration is a commentary in itself on our culture.

For me, nothing says it better than this, also pulled from 2006, which shows just why our soldiers and veterans are so worthy of our thanks and pride. I look at this and think of my brother who has said several times, with becoming modesty, that he really just wanted to help other people.

This moving photograph shows Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, superintendent of the 22nd Wing Medical Group at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas, holding an injured Iraqi girl. The picture was taken in October 2006, while Sgt. Gebhardt was deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq. According to the Air Force Print News, the infant girl Sgt. Gebhardt held in his arms "received extensive gunshot injuries to her head when insurgents attacked her family killing both of her parents and many of her siblings."

Sgt. Gebhardt is now back home in Wichita, Kansas, with his wife and two children. An Air Force Link article about the sudden fame he gained as the subject of this photograph reported that:

The chief had a knack for comforting [the injured Iraqi girl] and they often would catch a cat nap together in a chair.

"I got as much enjoyment out of it as the baby did," he said. "I reflected on my own family and life and thought about how lucky I have been."

While deployed to Iraq, the chief tried to help out any way he could. He figured holding a baby that needed comforting that would free up one more set of arms that could be providing care to more critical patients.

"I pray for the best for the Iraqi children," he said. "I can't tell the difference between their kids and our kids. The Iraqi parents have the same care and compassion for their children as any American."

Source: Snopes

I haven't said it enough because none of us really can but to our veterans as well as those serving now ... thank you from the bottom of my heart.

What's Goin' On: Louis L'Amour's Short Stories

I have been on a short story jag since getting the Kindle. As I've mentioned, I find that format a big improvement over hulking "best of" collections for science fiction, mysteries, and fantasy. Browsing the Kindle store, I came across Louis L'Amour who I have never cottoned to much in novel-long format.

Truth to tell, I have never given him much of a chance. I had a period of reading Zane Grey when I was in junior high. I still love Gwen Bristow, several of whose books are set in the Old West. But Louis L'Amour ... maybe it was his name? I don't know ...

One of the Kindle's best features is the ability to download samples. The Louis L'Amour short story collection I sampled (the first of seven or eight I saw available) contained two stories in their entirety. It worked. I can't explain it but these simply told but human stories grabbed me, interested me in the fate of the protagonists, and had me trying to work out how the inevitable ending would come about. That was the interesting thing ... you knew how the stories would end up. It was how L'Amour got there that was riveting.

What a wonderful surprise it was to discover a new author. Even better, one who has a large library of books for me to explore. I'm still not sure about the novels, but I am sure the short stories will suck me into reading the longer format eventually.

I know that L'Amour has a huge fan base and nothing makes that more evident than the price of those Kindle collections. Not the usual $9.99 for a current book. No, these are all $14.99. Nothing testifies to popularity like a long-dead author's works holding an above-market value.

I put that collection in my wish list so I can find it later. I have several short story collections to finish up. Then, the next one I buy ... is gonna take me to the wild West.

Worth a Thousand Words

Portrait of a Black Man, Nils Blommér (1816 - 1853)

via Art Inconnu

A Little Flannery: Well Said

More from The Habit of Being.

I am mighty tired of reading reviews that call A Good Man brutal and sarcastic. The stories are hard but they are hard because there is nothing harder or less sentimental than Christian realism. I believe that there are many rough beasts now slouching toward Bethlehem to be born and that I have reported the progress of a few of them, and when I see these stories described as horror stories I am always amused because the reviewer always has hold of the wrong horror.

Flannery O'Connor

"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." — Tertullian

"Since Tuesday evening, there have been 13 bombs and two mortar attacks on homes and shops of Christians in which a total of six people were killed and 33 injured," a defense ministry official said. "A church was also damaged."

An interior ministry official earlier gave a casualty toll of three dead in 12 of the attacks across the Iraqi capital early on Wednesday.

The attacks come less than two weeks after 44 Christian worshipers, two priests and seven security personnel died in the seizure of a Baghdad cathedral by Islamist gunmen and the ensuing shootout when it was stormed by troops.

On November 3, Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the cathedral hostage-taking and warned it would step up attacks on Christians.

Google News

God bless and protect our brothers and sisters who are in such fear and danger now.

(Via David Scott of Catholic News Agency and EWTN News where they are keeping a close eye on proceedings and related stories, such as the general assembly of Interpol being addressed by a Vatican archbishop.)

Everywhere I Look, I See ... Exorcists

• Our Catholic women's book club just met last night to discuss The Rite. (BTW, if you live in Dallas don't be shy. Come to the next meeting!)
• I was just told that The Rite is being made into a movie. Not sure how that will work out, but still ... it was unexpected.
• The USCCB is asking for a few good exorcists (actually priests willing to be trained as exorcists) to step up.

What's Goin' On: Outsourced

We find this comedy about an American manager who has been sent to India to manage his company's novelty business telephone room pretty amusing. Although the novelty items for sale are highly sexualized and crude ... which is not very amusing ... there is a sweetness and innocence about many of the cultural misconceptions and miscommunications. As Tom said, it is that innocence that makes the best comedy.

Worth a Thousand Words

dish with olive leaves

by marissa at pilgrim's breakfast

A Little Flannery: Lagniappe

I treasure this because of how hard I laughed after I read it. From her collected letters in The Habit of Being.

The latest [letter] came from a Mr. Semple of Cincinnati who has not read anything of mine but doesn't really see how I can say a good man is hard to find. He is an industrial engineer, likes to play bridge, is the active type, 31 years old, single etc. etc. I wrote Mr. Semple that I didn't think I'd like him a bit but he would be crazy about me as I had seven gold teeth and weighed 250 pounds.

Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being

Bulletin Board

I am extremely behind on a lot of things, but especially on email responses and posting of interesting items that have come to me (see my Google Reader in the sidebar for items that I found interesting on regularly read blogs).

• St. Francis Mission
  Corrie writes: St. Francis is a ministry of the of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) among the 20,000 Lakota people on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota. The Mission is a not for profit organization founding in 1886, whose mission is to serve the spiritual, educational, and physical needs of Lakota Catholics and those who are un-churched on the reservation.
  
  We have many programs ongoing at the mission – schools, recovery, religious education, a radio station and a museum. Right now, I’m looking for individuals who may be interested in sharing information about the St. Francis Mission and our programs with their readers/listeners. We have a blog and website. We also have a radio station, KINI Radio.
  
  
• Top 50 Catholic Blogs List
  Theology Degrees Online seems an unlikely place to find a list of top 50 Catholic blogs, but it looks as if "Top 50" lists are becoming a specialty with which to attract traffic. Nothing wrong with that, sez I, as long as the lists seem legit, and the Catholic one does as far as I could see. I also found the 50 Best Blogs for Kosher Living to be fascinating. Use discernment but this is an interesting spot.
  
  
• Miracles of the Saints
  I am super-late in posting this for All Saints Day. However, there is no bad time to read about saints and miracles. Glenn wrote to tell me about Miracles of the Saints site which I enjoyed poking around and reading: The website is called “Miracles of the Saints” and is full of interesting articles about the many different miracles that the saints have performed. It is very unique and full of information that is not available elsewhere on the internet, and I am sure many of your Catholic readers will like it.

What's Goin' On: Sherlock Holmes Updated on BBC

We've really been enjoying the first two episodes of the updated Sherlock Holmes on Masterpiece Theatre. As we've been taping it and then watching later, I haven't seen the third and last installment in this mini-series. Yes it has its problems here and there, but overall I think it is very true to the spirit of Holmes and Watson as Doyle wrote them. I can forgive a great deal when the entertainment is as good as this.

I tend to agree with Hannah who said, after we finished the second episode, that she preferred this series to the recent movie Sherlock Holmes (you know, the one with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law). There is a very similar spirit shared between the series and the movie, but on the whole, I prefer the series. And I hope there are more to come in the future.

Worth a Thousand Words

Central California Farmland

by Belinda Del Pesco

A Little Flannery: Well Said

We turn to Flannery O'Connor this week for our quotes. I forgot to bring Habit of Being to work so picked this up from a quotes page because I think it is something that I actually marked in that book to share. And even if not ... it's good no matter where it came from.

To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life and this is a softness that ends in bitterness.

Flannery O'Connor

In which we witness creation, from near and from afar

Finally, we are down to reading the actual text of Genesis ... the first two chapters. With commentary and translation by Robert Alter and more commentary from some sources I found. At Forgotten Classics.

God Speaks. But What Has To Happen Before We Listen?

... God spoke through Mozart and Bach, through Caravaggio and Monet, through Shakespeare and John Donne, through St. Thomas Aquinas and Pope John Paul II. He speaks in many languages: mathematics, chemistry, biology, astronomy; paint, paper, film; stone, wood, and metal; the bloom of a rose and the fall of a leaf.

But has ever he spoken to me?

Ah yes, but he had to use a language he only reserves for his hardest cases: the language of pain and suffering. Pain, as C.S. Lewis says, is God’s megaphone. Make no mistake, Our Lord does not cause our suffering, but he uses it to reach us.

Thomas L. McDonald opens up so that we may have a chance to hear also. A beautiful piece, honestly written.

Weekend Joke

From Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine, I have lifted this fascinating commentary on how to attract cardinals to your backyard. Click through to his blog to see a photo of the little fellow you can attract using the techniques below.

Dear Dr. Boli: In light of the pope’s recent creation of new cardinals, perhaps this would be an appropriate time to ask: how can I attract cardinals to my garden? —Regards, Miss Jane C., North Carolina.

Dear Madam: The Cardinal or Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinalis cardinalis) is generally a solitary bird, and thus difficult to attract in great numbers. Occasionally, however, certain extraordinary circumstances can impel cardinals to gather in a large flock, known to ornithologists as a “conclave.” A conclave of cardinals is one of nature’s most colorful sights, and it would be well worth your trouble to reproduce in your own back yard the circumstances that bring cardinals together in conclaves.

The gathering is normally touched off by a prominent obituary, and you may be able to bribe the editor of your local broadsheet to insert such an item for the price of a reuben sandwich. The obituary is not enough, however: cardinals have certain expectations when they gather in conclaves, and if you do not meet those expectations the cardinals will simply pack up and go home.

Foremost among these expectations is good catering. The St. Louis subspecies may be content with hot dogs and nachos, but most other varieties require daintier fare. A professional caterer will be able to advise you on selections of foodstuffs, but a good basic list would include sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and torta alla Monferrina.

Cardinals also require adequate press coverage for their conclaves, or they will quickly show signs of boredom and soon after depart for some more public location.

Incidentally, the supposed power of the pope to “create” cardinals is the subject of one of the interesting differences between Catholic and Protestant theology. Catholics believe that the Holy Father is ornithologically infallible and can create cardinals at will, whereas Protestants hold that only God has such creative power. (Certain Anglican theologians hold that the pope does have the power to create cardinals, but that such power is territorially limited in extent.) Your backyard bird feeder is thus one of the chief battlegrounds in the great contest between the separated branches of the Christian faith.

Worth a Thousand Words

A Great Clock of Christendom ... from Rouen

see more here at The Lion and The Cardinal

Well Said

From my quote journal.

If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.

Isaac Asimov

And now he knows that he had that idea of God just right.

Worth a Thousand Words

Mustangs

by The Pioneer Woman

Lagniappe

From my quote journal.

Titania's face, shining with young vitality, seemed to him more "attention-compelling" than any ten-point Caslon type-arrangement he had ever seen. He admired the layout of her face from the standpoint of his cherished technique. "Just enough `white space,'" he thought, "to set off her eyes as the 'centre of interest.' Her features aren't this modern bold-face stuff, set solid," he said to himself, thinking typographically. "They're rather French old-style italic, slightly leaded. Set on 22-point body, I guess. Old man Chapman's a pretty good typefounder, you have to hand it to him."

Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop

Worth a Thousand Words

Five Spoons

by James Neil Hollingsworth