My Highway to Heaven by Blaise D'Souza

He was fifteen when he died. He had already catalogued the miracles of the world. Now a girl in Mumbai has three weeks to make them make sense.

Naomi Fernandes is sixteen, in Std. X, and not at all sure what she believes. So naturally, Sister Philomena picks her to run the parish's exhibition on St. Carlo forty panels on the Eucharistic miracles a teenage computer whiz from Milan catalogued before he died. Three weeks. One thousand rupees. A missing fortieth panel she has to find herself.

With her friends — Farhan, who is Muslim and can't stop joking; Kabir, who keeps saying he's fine; and Rajesh, a Hindu skeptic who fact-checks everything — Naomi starts reading. And the further she reads into a dead boy's list of impossible things, the closer it comes to her own family, her own friends, and a question she has never once let herself ask.

Moving between present-day Mumbai and Carlo's own short, joyful life, My Highway to Heaven is a warm, funny, moving novel about doubt and devotion, friendship and family — and about a God who goes looking for us long before we think to look for Him.

This teen novel swings between Naomi's journey and detailing various Eucharistic miracles described by Carlo Acutis. The miracle descriptions are brief but are just enough to pull the reader in. In fact, the entire book pulled me in. It is a book for teenagers but I was fully invested, unable to put it down at night, reading it in two days. I can highly recommend the book. It is indeed, as the blurb aptly describes, "a warm, funny, moving novel about doubt and devotion, friendship and family — and about a God who goes looking for us long before we think to look for Him."

Caveat
This book made me struggle — not with my faith, but with the idea of an AI written book. At the end, the author confesses that the book was written by AI. He did a lot of work, comparisons, and prompts to be sure it told the story the way he wanted. However, it was written by AI.

That was abhorrent to me. It destroyed my pleasure in the book. And yet the book didn't leave my mind or imagination. It kept coming back to me with moments I liked about the story and miracles. I found myself in a struggle as wrenching as Naomi's in the book. My questions to the author brought forth the comment that he himself struggles with expressing himself in writing, hence using this tool to write this story.

I discussed this with my family and select friends. Many had similar objections. A few, however, brought up both Alexandre Dumas's and James Michener's stable of researchers/writers. Another brought up painters from the 14th-17th centuries who relied heavily on stables of lesser-known painters who operated rather like an art factory. AI is not exactly the same thing but clearly this concept of group craftsmanship is a similar idea.

My Take

I still recommend the book. I really liked it and I think Blaise D'Souza's involvement makes it human enough. I'd have given it more stars except for the AI involvement.

I received this as a review copy and I think it is pretty clear that I didn't let that influence me.

Halloween Lagniappe: The Ghost House

This melancholy and evocative poem by Robert Frost is perfect for October.

I dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.

O’er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.

I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;

The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.

It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me—
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.

They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,—
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.

Remembering John Paul II on his feast day

I wrote this when John Paul II was beatified. Rereading it, I was taken back to my feelings about this wonderful saint. I am truly privileged to have become Catholic during his pontificate. Not all the links work because it was so long ago, but I left them in so the sources are maintained.

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I really couldn't think of what to write for the occasion of seeing public acknowledgment of something I already know, that Pope John Paul II is a saint. Of course, I'm not the only one. Public acclamation of him as "the Great" began at his funeral. I was interested to read in one of Mike Aquilina's books recently that the people proclaim someone as "the Great." The Church later makes it official.

I couldn't think of anything better than this tribute which originated with my thoughts upon John Paul's death and which I have updated very slightly below. Nothing I can say can cover the scope of such a personality and many others in the news and online will doubtless do it better. But this is how I feel and that's often why you come by. So let's look back at the beloved Papa we all were so privileged to know.



At 9:37 p.m. on the evening of April 2, 2005, (a Saturday) Pope John Paul II died.

I will never forget it, not only because I loved him more than I realized until heard that news, but also for the company I was keeping at that moment. I was with fellow bloggers Mama T, Smock Mama and Steven Riddle in the Rockfish Grill dawdling over a long, enjoyable lunch. As I wrote the next day...

We were in a restaurant but it was as if we were in a soundproof bubble. Nothing else existed except the four of us and our shared, mingled sadness and joy. Tears flowed and we clasped hands and shared prayer together for our pope and our church. What an odd "coincidence" for us to be together to share that moment ... as if I believed in coincidence. In fact, my husband has said three times that he still can't believe how odd it was that I was with those St. Blog's parishioners at that time (and he doesn't repeat himself like that).

Today we are living in an age of instant communications. But do you realize what a unique form of communication prayer is? Prayer enables us to meet God at the most profound level of our being. It connects us directly to God, the living God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in a constant exchange of love.

Pope John Paul II
Celebration with Youth, St. Louis, 1999

The above photo and quote is one of a series that I did during those days of mourning afterward. I like looking through them. They remind me of what a treasure he was for the Church ... and for me.

• Until We Meet Again
• It Is Jesus That You Seek
• How Does the Pope Pray?
• The Heart of the Young
• What Made John Paul II So Real
• The Right to Life
• The Family
• Contemplating Christ With Mary

This was written much later but is my review of Peggy Noonan's book, John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father. I highly recommend it and there are several good links in that review as well.

Fleeing Skeleton

Fleeing Skeleton by Władysław Podkowiński, 1892.

You could think of this as a bit of memento mori (an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death)! Or just as a nice scary piece of art for October!

Notes on Mark: On the Mountaintop

The Franciscan Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor

MARK 9:2-8

I am going to take several posts to quote William Barclay* on the transformation as I like how he explains both some of the details of this important event. Here we will look at when it happened and just which mountaintop they were on.

Mark says that this happened six days after the incidents near Caesarea Philippi. Luke says that it happened eight days afterwards. There is no discrepancy here. They both mean what we might express by saying, "About a week afterwards." Both the Eastern and Western Churches hold their remembrance of the transfiguration on 6th August...

Tradition says that the transfiguration took place on the top of Mount Tabor. The Eastern Church actually calls the Festival of the Transfiguration the Taborion. It may be that the choice is based on the mention of Mount Tabor in Psalm 89:12, but it is unfortunate. Tabor is in the south of Galilee and Caesarea Philippi is away to the north. Tabor is no more than 1,000 feet high, and, in the time of Jesus, there was a fortress on the top. It is much more likely that this event too place amidst the eternal snows of Mount Hermon which is 9,200 feet high and much nearer Caesarea Philippi and where the solitude would be much more complete.

The Gospel of Mark
(The Daily Bible Series, rev. ed.)

* (Do keep in mind that I like Barclay's insight into language and bygone customs, but his theology can be a bit wacky. That's not to say that I often don't find him inspiring. He can be. But just know that he should be read with caution.)

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Sources and Notes Index   

El Gato Negro

Sometimes foreign movie posters capture the essence of the thing so much better than the American ones. That cat looks like a panther, ready to strike!

Kohada Koheiji

Kohada Koheiji, Hokusai
from the series Hyaku Monogatari [One Hundred Ghost Stories] (ca. 1830)
via J.R.'s Art Place

Based on a real event, the cuckold and murder victim Kohada Koheiji returns from the dead to torment his cheating wife and lover. Here he grins over the top of the mosquito netting that surrounds the bed of his killers.

See more at Public Domain Review.

Halloween Lagniappe: H.P. Lovecraft

Through all this horror my cat stalked unperturbed. Once I saw him monstrously perched atop a mountain of bones, and wondered at the secrets that might lie behind his yellow eyes.

H.P. Lovecraft, The Rats in the Walls

Another of my favorite horror authors chimes in for Halloween from one of my favorite of his stories. A lesser tale, but still a good 'un.

Carving the Pumpkin

Carving the Pumpkin by Franck Antoine Bail, 1910
via J.R.'s Art Place

Happy Catholic - Flinching Before God

The publisher surrendered the copyright for my first book to me a few years ago. As I format it for self-publishing, I thought you guys might like seeing the pages now and then so am going to include some every week. 

Here's part 2.

• | • | • | • | • | • 

Flinching Before God

We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.

C. S. Lewis

Mother Teresa serving the poor in Calcutta. Pope John Paul II, twisted with pain, unable to speak in his illness and old age. God saying, “This is how I treat my friends, Teresa,” after St. Teresa of Avila was dumped into a large mud puddle. We are in full sympathy when she answers, “No wonder you have so few of them, Lord!” It isn’t just the world that is wary of what it means to really serve God. We, too, tend to lean back a little when we feel that God might be calling us forward for a special task.

Lately, however, I begin to feel that we have it all wrong. Those times that I have truly been closest to God, I have had no problem tackling things that normally would cause me grave apprehension. It is not a matter of what God “inflicts” so much as how aligned we are with Him, how much we are willing to give.

God knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us to be who we are and achieve perfectly the place we inhabit in life. So why would we not thrill to our task, find it fascinating and enthralling, be pulled back to it time and again? Yes, it may take us beyond what we plan or think we can do, push us out of the comfortable places where we live. Merely being willing to step into that potential discomfort is part of the growth we need to see God’s plan falling into place bit by slow bit.

Such are God’s ways and such is our own reluctant recognition of our own short-sightedness that makes us read C.S. Lewis and wryly laugh in acknowledgment. And then, hopefully, press on past the doubt.

Halloween's Coming: Horror, Monster, and Monstrance

We're going to count down to Halloween with some of my favorite spooky quotes and images. But let's put it in perspective first ... Catholic perspective that is!

By Toby Ord

Most people don't think of horror as a genre of literature or film that is particularly agreeable to Christian sensibilities. However, two of the great practitioners of horror on both page and screen consider their work to be an extension of the gospel. Stephen King, author of many a scary tale, says that he considers himself the spiritual heir of the great Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards (who preached the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"). William Peter Blatty, who penned "The Exorcist" wrote the story precisely in order to show both the depths of demonic evil and to remind the world of the reality of Christ-like self-sacrifice.

By Broederhugo

It is the depth of the darkness of the Enemy that paradoxically highlights the brilliance of the light of Heaven. Indeed, the word "monster" comes from the same root as the word "demonstrate" and "monstrance." A "monster" demonstrates what we can and will be apart from Christ. A monstrance shows forth the saving eucharistic, and self-sacrificial power of him who underwent the worst horror the world has ever known to save us from the terrors of Hell. He has prepared a eucharistic table for us in the presence of Satan himself--and deprived him of his prey.

This Halloween, be not afraid.

Catholic Exchange, Word of Encouragement, Oct. 31, 2005

The Witches' Ride

The Witches' Ride by William Holbrook Beard, 1870.
Via J.R.'s Art Place

Memorial: St. Theresa of Avila

Saint Theresa of Avila
Saint, Mystic, Doctor of the Church
Memorial

Saint Teresa of Ávila by Peter Paul Rubens

St. Theresa of Avila is probably the second saint who ever "caught" my attention. She did so by force of her remarkable personality which comes to us down through the ages as vital and sparkling. She was a profound contemplative, a zealous reformer of religious life, and the first female doctor of the Church. Those things make us expect a person so far above us in prayer, thought, and accomplishments that we can never hope to understand her. Indeed, she is far above me in all those things. However, it is impossible not to love and relate to someone with this amount of sass:

Those watching from the river bank saw the carriage she was in swaying on the brink of the torrent. She jumped out awkwardly, up to her knees in water, and hurt herself in the process. Wryly, she complained. "so much to put up with and you send me this!" Jesus replied, "Teresa, that's how I treat my friends." She was not lost for an answer: "Small wonder you have so few!"

That's so very human and Theresa lets her humanity hang out in a very real way.

From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.

She scandalized people when they came upon her teaching the nuns in her convent to dance. When they received a donation of pheasant on a fast day, she instantly cooked them up for all to feast upon. "Let them think what they like, she said. "There is a time for penance, and there is a time for pheasant."

When I have trouble praying I remember that St. Theresa too said that she often needed to have a book to help her pray (obviously a soul sistah!). She was often distracted and couldn't calm her thoughts.

This intellect is so wild that it doesn't seem to be anything else than a frantic madman no one can tie down.

Heaven only knows that I have had more times like that than I care to admit. When I have trouble sticking with prayer at all, Theresa's open and honest avowal helps me hang in there just a little longer.

For many years I kept wishing the time would be over. I had more in mind the clock striking twelve than other good things. Often I would have preferred some serious penance to becoming recollected in prayer.

These things are those which give me hope that I could come near to loving God and serving Him the way that she did. Here is a little more information about her.

Last, but not least, here are a few of my favorite inspirational quotes (since I have already favored you with the more humorous above).

How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing Thee?

Give me wealth or poverty, give me comfort or discomfort, give me joy or sorrow...What do you want to make of me?

As to the aridity you are suffering from, it seems to me our Lord is treating you like someone He considers strong: He wants to test you and see if you love Him as much at times of aridity as when He sends you consolations. I think this is a very great favor for God to show you.

Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.

It is only mercenaries who expect to be paid by the day.

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life, which is short and has to be lived by you alone; and there is only one glory, which is eternal. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.

All Decorated

Decorated House, Weatherby, Pennsylvania

Is there such a thing as being too decorated for Halloween? The answer is no, definitely not.