It is a curious thing ...

It is a curious thing about the attitude of our non-Catholic friends towards the Catholic Saints; they always strive to discredit, in one of two ways, their witness to the faith. Either they will say: "This was a very unpleasant, narrow-minded man, of ridiculous personal habits; and it that is what Saints are like we would sooner hear no more of them," or they will say: "Yes, this man was indeed a Saint; but then he was not really a roman Catholic. He was just a good Christian, as my wife and I are; he only happened to be in communion with the Pope because everybody was in those days." ... And the Church gets no credit either way.

Ronald Knox, Captive Flames

Fascinating. He nailed it.

An Elephant

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - An Elephant

I came across this in this great list of Rembrandt drawings which shows which major art pieces the sketches are thought to be associated with. Really interesting.

The elephant is on his own. Just a fun sketch with no painting done.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

I especially love that this solemnity is so important that it one of only five occasions in the year on which a diocesan bishop is not to be away from his diocese unless for a grave and urgent reason. It's that important.

This Solemnity goes back to the thirteenth century. It was first established in the diocese of Liége, and Pope Urban IV instituted it in 1264 for the whole Church. The meaning of this feast is the consideration of and devotion to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The center of the feast was to be, as Pope Urban IV described it, a popular devotion reflected in hymns and joy. In the same year Saint Thomas Aquinas, at the Pope's request, composed for this day two Offices which have nourished the piety of many Christians throughout the centuries. In many different places the procession with the Monstrance through specially bedecked streets gives testimony of the Christian people's faith and love for Christ, who once again passes through our cities and towns. The procession began in the same way as the feast itself.

For many years God fed manna to the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. This was an image and symbol of the pilgrim church and of each individual who journeys towards his or her definitive homeland -- Heaven. That food given in the desert of Sinai is a figure of the true food, the Holy Eucharist. This is the sacrament of the human pilgrimage ... Precisely because of this, the annual feast of the Eucharist that the Church celebrates today contains within its liturgy so many references to the pilgrimage of the people of the Covenant in their wanderings through the wilderness (John Paul II)....

Today is a day of thanksgiving and of joy because God has wanted to remain with us in order to feed us and to strengthen us, so that we many never feel alone. The Holy Eucharist is the viaticum, the food for the long journey of our days on Earth towards the goal of true Life. Jesus accompanies us and strengthens us here in this world, where our life is like a shadow compared to the reality that awaits us. Earthly food is a pale image of the food we receive in Holy Communion. The Holy Eucharist opens up our hearts to a completely new reality.

In Conversation With God Vol 6
Daily Meditations, Special Feasts: January - June

The Feast of Corpus Christi is a moveable feast, which means that it depends on the date of Easter Sunday. Corpus Christi is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which falls one week after Pentecost Sunday. As is often the case, many U.S. bishops have moved it to Sunday in their dioceses.

Some excellent historical information can be found in an old post at The Fathers of the Church where Mike Aquilina fills us in this feast and about the reality for the Church from the beginning.

One of the most telling pieces of evidence, to me, that this reality was the view of the early Christians on the Eucharist comes from St. Ignatius of Antioch's Letter to the Smyrnaeans (ca. AD 106) which was written about ten years after the death of the Apostle John. That means there wasn't time enough for him to have gotten "confused on this issue" (via John Bergsma, Word of the Lord, Year A).

But consider those who are of a different opinion with respect to the grace of Christ which has come unto us, how opposed they are to the will of God. ...

They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His greatness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. (emphasis added)

Scott flies to the moon. Julie gets ready to blow it up.

 We discuss  Scum of the Earth by Alexander C. Kane in episode 358 of A Good Story is Hard to Find. Join us!

Dinornis Elephantopus

Dinornis Elephantopus, Roger Fenton, photographer, 1854 – 1858
J. Paul Getty Museum

Perhaps Hell and Heaven are the very same thing ...

Perhaps Hell and Heaven are the very same thing: light, truth; but it blesses those who love it and tortures those who hate it.

Peter Kreeft, I Burned for Your Peace

I've had conversations where this has come up as an idea, but never so succinctly put. It is worth considering. Am I open to truth? Do I recognize my sins? As I've mentioned before, I am just modern enough to have trouble going to confession not because of having to speak my sins aloud, but because I often don't know what they are. I wind up asking Christ to open my eyes, shine the light, and let me see the truth of what is keeping me from getting closer to Him.

Lagniappe: Great curved scrolls of feet

Then the carpenters return to making more tables—tables on which to spread our pottery, a drawing-table for Mac, a table off which to dine, a table for my typewriter. ...

Mac draws out a towel-horse and the carpenters start upon it. The old man brings it proudly to my room on completion. It looks different from Mac's drawing, and when the carpenter sets it down I see why. It has colossal feet, great curved scrolls of feet. They stick out so that, wherever you put it, you invariable trip over them.

Ask him, I say to Max, why he has made these feet instead of sticking to the design he was given?

The old man looks at us with dignity.

"I made them this way," he says, "so that they should be beautiful. I wanted this that I have made to be a thing of beauty!"

To this cry of the artist there could be no response. I bow my head, and resign myself to tripping up over those hideous feet for the rest of the season!

Agatha Christie, Come Tell Me How You Live

Supine Bull

Something to go with today's Agatha Christie quote.

A supine bull, one of the Nimrud ivories found by Sir Max Mallowan
taken by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg)

What fascinated me about this, aside from the actual artwork which I find charming, is that Max Mallowan was Agatha Christie's second husband. I love thinking about her cleaning this piece as she described in her book Come Tell Me How You Live, which was about going on digs with Mallowan. You can see more of them at Wikipedia:

Mallowan's wife was the famous British crime novelist, Agatha Christie (1890–1976), who was fascinated with archaeology, and who accompanied her husband on the Nimrud excavations. Christie helped photograph and preserve many of the ivories found during the excavations, explaining in her autobiography that she cleaned the ivories using a fine knitting needle, an orange stick and a pot of face cream.

Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity

Icon of the Old Testament Trinity, c. 1410, Andrei Rublev

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Blessed Trinity. This, the ineffable mystery of God's intimate life, is the central truth of our faith and the source of all gifts and graces. The liturgy of the Mass invites us to loving union with each of the Three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This feast was established for the Latin Church by Pope John XXII, to be celebrated on the Sunday after the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is the last of the mysteries of our salvation. Today we can say many times, savoring it, the prayer: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit...

[St. Teresa] writes: Once when I was reciting the "Quicumque vult," I was shown so clearly how it was possible for there to be one God alone and three Persons that it caused me both amazement and much comfort. It was of the greatest help to me in teaching me to know more of the greatness of God and of his marvels. When I think of the most Holy Trinity, or hear it spoken of, I seem to understand how there can be such a mystery, and it is a great joy to me.

The whole of a Christian's supernatural life is directed towards this knowledge of and intimate conversation with the Trinity, who become eventually the fruit and the end of our whole life (St. Thomas). It is for this end that we have been created and raised to the supernatural order: to know, to talk to and to love God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who dwell in the soul in grace.

In Conversation With God Vol 6
Special Feasts: January - June

I love this portion of Proverbs which is always read aloud during this Mass. It is one of my all time favorites as it conveys God's creativity, mastery, craftsmanship, delight, playfulness, and ... love.

Thus says the wisdom of God:
"The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
from of old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains or springs of water;
before the mountains were settled into place,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
while as yet the earth and fields were not made,
nor the first clods of the world.

"When the Lord established the heavens I was there,
when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
when he made firm the skies above,
when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth;
when he set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the human race."
PRV 8:22-31

Sam Weller

Sam Weller, from a watercolor, c. 1890.

My favorite Pickwick character. Though there are many close-runs for favorite - Mr. Jingle comes to mind. He is as funny as he is despicable!

Lagniappe: A Very Pleasant Thought

I woke up thinking a very pleasant thought. There is lots left in the world to read.

Nicholson Baker, The Anthologist: A Novel

That is how I feel when I think of how much Dickens I have left to read. It is a very pleasant thought.

Swanson TV Dinner

Swanson TV Dinner 1963

We all know the best is the chicken pot pie, but I like the ad. It takes me back to a simpler time.

Lagniappe: The Patron Saint of TV Dinners

When I asked my friend’s mother why there was a little statue of The Virgin Mary on top of their Sylvania, she corrected me in a tone which faintly suggested that her family were better Catholics than mine would ever be. “Oh, Honey, that isn’t the Virgin Mary. That’s St. Clare of Assisi– she’s the patron saint of television.”

I approached the plastic idol with what I hoped was a reverential pace to examine her more closely. She held one hand upward in a gesture of blessing and her face looked up to the heavens. Or perhaps she was simply keeping an eye on the antenna which was fastened to the roof directly above. It was impossible to tell. I tried to pick her up, but discovered that she wouldn’t budge from her place.

I’d heard of people having their eyes glued to their television sets, but never their feet. It was a day of firsts.

When I came home, I took my usual place at dinner – the seat farthest from my mom. It was the lowest position in the family pecking order, but it also happened to be the only chair at the table which afforded a clear view of the family room and the television in it, which was always miraculously turned on and which I always (just as miraculously) got away with watching. I could now tune out the conversation of my older siblings and tune in to early evening network programming knowing there was a new saint in my life who was watching over me as I ate in silence, just like (as I would learn many years later) the sisters of the Franciscan Order founded by her, The Poor Clares.

Michael Procopio, Food for the Thoughtless

This is an old entry and it looks as if the blog is not around. But the quote remains amusing no matter what.