St. Peter Claver's Memorial

Peter Claver was born of a distinguished family in Catalonia, Spain. He became a Jesuit in 1604, and left for Colombia in 1610, dedicating himself to the service of black slaves. For thirty-three years he ministered to slaves, caring for the sick and dying, and instructing the slaves through catechists. Through his efforts three hundred thousand souls entered the Church.

Catholic Culture

I have loved Peter Claver from the first time I read about him. The brief description above doesn't do justice to his heroic efforts: going to the slave ships with water, medicine, food, and clothing; working and living among slaves on plantations in order to minister to them; ministering to all levels of society in Cartagena from the wealthy to Muslims to criminals.

Take a few minutes and read more about this saint who shows the extraordinary difference that ordinary people can make when they follow God's promptings.

Here is part of a letter that St. Peter Claver wrote describing his ministries, as quoted in the Liturgy of the Hours.

Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. When we approached their quarters, we thought we were entering another Guinea. We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of bricks. This, then, was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them.

We laid aside our cloaks, therefore, and brought from a warehouse whatever was handy to build a platform. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, while I addressed the other group. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. Of these we had two wallets full, and we used them all up on this occasion. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of this sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.

This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick.

After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. When by their answers to our questions they showed they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to a more extensive instruction, namely, about the one God, who rewards and punishes each one according to his merit, and the rest. We asked them to make an act of contrition and to manifest their detestation of their sins. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.

COLLECT

O God, who made Saint Peter Claver a slave of slaves
and strenghtened him with wonderful charity and patience
as he came to their help,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things of Jesus Christ,
we may love our neighbor in deeds and in truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Young Girl with a Bouquet of Tulips

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Young Girl with a Bouquet of Tulips, c. 1878
via Arts Everyday Living

Isn't it interesting that everything in this painting is fairly ethereal except the hat which is much more realistically drawn? And it is the hat that made me love this painting.

Article 7 by D.L. Gray

I was intrigued by the premise of the book — what happens when someone stops showing up for work and no one looks for them? And when someone is asked to look, this person doesn't seem to have existed.

People come to the seven o'clock Mass for the same basic reason they come to a private detective. Something has gone missing, and they've run out of places to look.

I work at both counters. Have been there for ten years now. Weekday mornings I open St. Joseph's — unlock the doors, light the lamps, lay out the vestments, serve the seven o'clock at Fr. Toner's elbow — then put in an hour on the books of the orphanage out back, and by nine-thirty I'm at a desk over on Detroit Avenue with the other ledger open, skip tracing a man who owes child support in three counties. I used to think the two jobs would fight each other. They never have. They're doing the same job at different pay scales, and only one of them has a pension, and it isn't the one you'd guess.

Then I was hooked by these two opening paragraphs. Which I read to my household so they could also see what a great start this book has.

I was genuinely startled several times as the plot took unexpected twists. The way the book is written invites the reader to do their own thinking, by interpreting a turn of phrase or situation. And that's why I was startled. I got there about the same time as the detective, Brock, on my own. I will say, that for a little while, I was wondering if there was a science fiction angle to the story. It's how I roll — genre mash-up anyone? Not actually, as it turns out, but it was fun to be reading something that could logically veer off in any direction like that. As I say, I hadn't a clue as to where it was going until I was far into the story.

Brock has a background in accounting and he writes his cases down in ledgers so he can see what matches up and where there are holes for a mystery to be investigated. He's also a member of an 800 year old order that is dedicated to caring for widows and orphans, a few of which we see in this book. As he says above, all these things overlap. A few of the mysteries are left open for now, most notably in the area of Brock's personal relationships.

This is D.L. Gray's first novel and it does show a little, but never enough to throw the reader off the track of a very exciting, intriguing story. There are going to be 13 books in the series and I'm really looking forward to reading them all.

As an added note, I was touched by the author's donation of a dollar from each copy to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Cleveland. Each conference for SVdP has it's own personality as they carry out their vocation. In Cleveland they must take care of the homeless. Here in Dallas we pay for rent, utilities and food. But each conference, everywhere around the world, sees the people in need as neighbors who can show us the face of Christ. Vincentians go on home visits so they can meet the people being helped. And this book is about seeing people for who they really are, about not letting your eyes pass over them. It's a lovely application of the SVdP vocation in mystery/thriller form.

This film inspired Julie and Scott to start a Ramones tribute band. It has taken weeks for Julie to put sequins on all the outfits.

 In episode 387 of A Good Story is Hard to Find, Scott and I discuss Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson

Feast of the Nativity of Mary

Via The Deacon's Bench

Responsory Prayer from today's readings

Let us celebrate today, with great devotion, the birth of Mary, the every-virgin Mother of God, whose virtues shed light upon the Church throughout the world.

Let us glorify Christ with heart and soul on this feast of Mary, the noble Mother of God, whose virtues shed light upon the Church throughout the world.

More about this feast day and the symbols, customs, and activities associated with it can be found at Catholic Culture.

The Birth of the Virgin Mary by Alessandro Turchi, c. 1631-1635
Via J.R.'s Art Place

Chrysanthemums

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chrysanthemums

A Movie You Might Have Missed #105 — Song Sung Blue

Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it’s never too late to find love and follow your dreams.

I didn't realize how many Neil Diamond songs I heard on the radio when I was growing up. Evidently it was practically all of them since I knew the words to every one sung in this charming, easy to watch movie.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson have never been more appealing. Hudson portrays a depth I've not seen her called on to show. No wonder this earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

I'd never encountered before the motivations of people who put on these sorts of shows. This movie also shows us people who must be involved in music to thrive, be they dentists, mechanics, or tour guide. They know they won't be famous or even probably make money but it is in the doing that they find fulfillment.

This is the sort of little movie that you don't see too often these days. Like Thelma, The Dish, Shower, and The Castle, this has earned a place in our pool room.

Excellent performances all round and a great script that never showed us a gun in the first act without firing it in the third. Plus - I knew every song.

Among the Pines

Amongst the Pines (1915). Stanhope Alexander Forbes (Irish, 1857-1947).

Is everyone having a good Labor Day? This looks like the perfect activity and I hope that we all are able to enjoy a picnic or good book.

I feel as if I'm there with the dappled light on the page, the earth beneath me as I lie reading....

Mother Teresa's Feast Day

I grew up hearing now and then about Mother Teresa. She's now Saint Teresa of Kolkata (which I'll never be able to think of except as Calcutta — the habits of hearing of her as Teresa of Calcutta over a lifetime die hard). 

Now, many years later, I am caring for my mother at home in hospice. We're facing another new challenge in her care as we go along and I was asking Mother Teresa this morning for her prayers for our strength. Her loving care, as well as that of my grandparents in caring for my great-grandmother when she died, is an example that I strive to follow in this one little example.

Anyway, here's a bit of her story.

After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On 21 December she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and TB. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.” After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.

[...]

The whole of Mother Teresa’s life and labour bore witness to the joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of every human person, the value of little things done faithfully and with love, and the surpassing worth of friendship with God. But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes, hidden even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, “the darkness.” The “painful night” of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.

Read much more at CatholicCulture.org which is where the above excerpt came from.

For me, I think of how brave she was to begin her ministry simply by walking to the slums and taking action. So simple.

I know from having to get up my nerve to visit my ailing mother-in-law who suffered from mild dementia and often didn't respond to conversation. You must take your courage in your hands to make yourself that vulnerable to failure, to rejection. I was able to do so only because of Jesus' prodding through a disagreement with a pro-abortion friend and through Bilbo's journey in The Hobbit. Yes, believe it or not. Such weird influences, but God uses what tools He will and I am supremely grateful for that.

I also know of the tremendous rewards I received in doing so. It is one of the reasons I cried through her funeral. I loved not only the woman in her prime, but I had been allowed to love the much simpler person she had become in her extreme old age and illness.

One of Mother Teresa's most memorable acts that always comes to mind is when she spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. She spoke from her heart. She spoke what we needed to hear.

I am so used to seeing the smiles on our people, even the dying ones smile. And Sister said: "This is the way it is nearly everyday. They are expecting, they are hoping that a son or daughter will come to visit them. They are hurt because they are forgotten." And see, this neglect to love brings spiritual poverty. Maybe in our own family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried. Are we there? Are we willing to give until it hurts in order to be with our families, or do we put our own interests first? These are the questions we must ask ourselves, especially as we begin this year of the family. We must remember that love begins at home and we must also remember that 'the future of humanity passes through the family.'

I was surprised in the West to see so many young boys and girls given to drugs. And I tried to find out why. Why is it like that, when those in the West have so many more things than those in the East? And the answer was: ‘Because there is no one in the family to receive them.' Our children depend on us for everything -- their health, their nutrition, their security, their coming to know and love God. For all of this, they look to us with trust, hope and expectation. But often father and mother are so busy they have no time for their children, or perhaps they are not even married or have given up on their marriage. So their children go to the streets and get involved in drugs or other things. We are talking of love of the child, which is were love and peace must begin. These are the things that break peace.

Read the whole talk at Catholic Education Resource Center.

Just as illuminating is Peggy Noonan's article about what it was like to be present at that talk.

Later I was to remember this part as Mother Teresa’s carpet bombing. Then she dropped the big one:

I know that couples have to plan their family, and for that there is natural family planning. The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life or loving through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self, and so it destroys the gift of love in him and her. In loving, the husband and wife turn the attention to each other, as happens in natural family planning, and not to self, as happens in contraception. Once that loving is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily. That’s why I never give a child to a family that has used contraception, because if the mother has destroyed the power of loving, how will she love my child?

It was at this point that the senator turned to his wife and asked if his jaw was still up.

It was something, the silence and surprise with which her words were received. Perhaps she didn’t know that we don’t talk about birth control in speeches in America. Perhaps she didn’t know, or care, that her words were, as they say, not “healing” but “divisive,” dividing not only Protestant from Catholic but Catholic from Catholic. It was all so unhappily unadorned, explicit, impolitic. And it was wonderful, like a big fresh drink of water, bracing in its directness and its uncompromising tone.

That too is available at Catholic Education Resource Center.

There are so many people all around us who need our bravery, our willingness to be vulnerable and give of ourselves. Many of them are not poor. Many are our friends, our family, those we see every day. Today is a good day to look at our lives and see where we can follow Jesus' example, as did his devoted daughter, Blessed Teresa, and ask where we can show his love.

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

Lagniappe: The Thing About New Orleans

That's the thing about New Orleans, now. It's a generous city. Give you what you want before you hardly know to ask for it. Trouble is, acourse, that a man wants a number of things that aren't particularly good for him. And those sort of things are a New Orleans specialty.

Owen Parry, Rebels of Babylon

That checks out!

Turtle on the Path

Turtle on the Path taken by AC Parker

If I hadn't seen the name of the photo I would have been puzzling over just what this object was. And then once you know ... it all comes into focus! I love it!

An Out of Doors Study

John Singer Sargent, An Out-of-Doors Study, 1889,
depicting Paul César Helleu sketching with his wife Alice Guérin

Lagniappe — That Dashed Greek Thing

“Went off in one of his pets as soon as he heard you wasn't home," said Ferdy. "Said he'd call on Revesby to answer for his villainy. Good God. I'm dashed if that Greek thing hasn't got after Monty too, Sherry! Very remarkable circumstance, 'pon my soul it is!"

"What the devil *is* all this about a dashed Greek?" demanded Sherry. "George was trying to tell me about him, but I'm hanged if I could make head or tail of it! All I know is, I'm not acquainted with any Greeks, and what's more I don't want to be!"

"It ain't a thing you're acquainted with, dear old boy. Duke knows what it is. Comes up behind a fellow when he ain't expecting it. Thought it was after me, but it turns out to be Monty. Good thing."

"Yes, but what *is* it?"

Mr. Tarleton said, with a quiver of amusement in his voice: "I fancy he means Nemesis."

"That's it!" Ferdy said, looking at him with respect. "Nemesis! You know him too?"

"Well, it's more than I do!" declared Sherry. "What's more, whoever he is, he had nothing to do with my coming to Bath!”

Georgette Heyer, Friday's Child

Georgette Heyer has long been one of my favorite authors and this lovely bit of inanity shows her at her comedic height. When she's on a roll it's like reading a screwball comedy.

Louis & Lola?

Louis & Lola ?-- TITANIC survivors, [1912 April]
Library of Congress on Flickr

Notes on Mark: Transfiguration as Suspension of Miracle

12th-century icon of the Transfiguration
Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai (Egypt)

MARK 9:2-8

The transfiguration is a mystery pure and simple. I would have been just as dumbfounded as the disciples who were there to witness it. 

I am not sure where I picked up this particular note, however, it is fascinating to see that St. Thomas Aquinas said the transfiguration was actually the cessation or suspension of a miracle. This is because Christ pulled aside the veil of flesh to allow His natural glory to be seen.

Mind-blowing, am I right?

Let's just wrap our minds around that for a bit and then I'll have some other people's take on the transfiguration for further mind-bending.

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Sources and Notes Index