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.

Apples

Apples by Thomas Worthington Whittredge, 1867.

 Fall is here. Let's celebrate with apples fresh from the tree, maybe in a pie!

At the Sunrise

At the Sunrise
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Major

This was a really excellent biopic/action movie showing Major Sandeep's story. He was a hero of the Mumbai attacks who rescued many people and directed his team in saving others.

I knew very few details of the terrorist attacks and hadn't heard of Major Sandeep, including whether he lived or died. That made it very suspenseful. Knowing it really happened made it hit much harder than the usual action film even though this did have a lot of big moves that you would expect from a Hollywood film.

Breeze in the Autumn

Breeze of Autumn photo
taken by Calligraphy in the Landscape

Mark of harvest season approaching.

Color, and taste. It is the master of Japanese food.

The highest quality rice.

初秋や　海も青田も　一みどり　

松尾　芭蕉　(1644 – 1694)

early fall　　sea and rice fields　　filled with green 　

Matsuo Bashō　(1644 – 1694)

I urge you to go to the post at Calligraphy in the Landscape, not only to see this photo in greater detail, but to also see all the other lovely images and poetry in the post about autumn.

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). 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.

Coke

Coke
painted by James Neil Hollingsworth

This is from a long time ago but it is so perfectly painted that I have to share it again.

Notes on Mark: Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Depiction of the Christian Holy Spirit as a dove,
by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the apse of Saint Peter's Basilica

MARK 3:28-30
I always wondered why blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was the only unforgivable sin. This makes it crystal clear.

Jesus has just worked a miracle but the scribes refuse to recognize it "for they had said 'He has an unclean spirit'" (v. 30). They do not want to admit that God is the author of the miracle. In this attribute lies the special gravity of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit -- attributing to the prince of evil, to Satan, the good works performed by God himself ... That is why our Lord says that he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven: not because God cannot forgive all sins, but because that person, in his blindness towards God, rejects Jesus Christ, his teaching and his miracles, and despises the graces of the Holy Spirit as if they were designed to trap him (cf. St. Pius V Catechism, II, 5, 19; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 14, a. 3). CF. note on Mt 12:31-32.

The Navarre Bible: St. Mark

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Sources and Notes Index

Julie wrote uplifting notes in all her children's books. Scott forgot his wallet again and had to beg for cabfare.

 Episode 339 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, with guests Rose and Hannah! 

Velo

Velo
by Edward B. Gordon

As I have said many a time, I love it when modern art reflects modern life in a way that people in the future can get a feel for how we live. No one does it better than Edward B. Gordon.

How Harry Cast His Spell by John Granger

How Harry Cast His Spell explains why the books meet our longing to experience the truths of life, love, and death; help us better understand life and our role in the universe; and encourage us to discover and develop our own gifts and abilities.

I recently listened to a podcast specializing in deep meaning in novels do several episodes on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone. It was really interesting and led to me to look for information about the following six novels of the series.

This book fills the bill. Not only does John Granger have chapters about Christian and literary symbolism, names, and themes, but he then goes through each book looking beneath the surface. This led me to reread the series for the first time in years, which I enjoyed immensely. Granger's commentary showed me some new ideas about the books and that made them even more meaningful. I enjoyed this a lot. 

Definitely recommended.

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....

The power of character

It often feels like we’re in society that’s moved beyond any accepted definition of character or morality. It’s shown in our politics, our entertainment, our social media feeds . . . But in the person of Lincoln, we’re clearly reminded about the power of character. Kindness, magnanimity, wisdom, thoughtfulness, etc. These things matter.

Jeremy Anderberg, The Big Read, commenting on Team of Rivals

Absolutely. I look at Lincoln and I look at our leaders today. These things matter and we don't require it of our leaders any more.

Fun Summer Reading — The Empress of Mars by Kage Baker

Empress of Mars is an enjoyable "Western" romp on Mars as seen via Mary Griffith who runs the local saloon and represents society on the fringes being oppressed by big business. As people come and go we see their individual stories and how they fit into the jigsaw puzzle that is this Martian colony. I really loved the romantic Ottorino Vespucci, scion of a wealthy but boring Earth family. He's a misfit due to his love of adventure and "translates" all the finagling for power in the Martian colony in terms of Western movies. And it fits.

I also really enjoyed Baker's ability to tell the truth without worrying about letting the chips fall where they may. Proper society is one that we might predict from watching current popular sociological trends. Although the "Goddess" worship popular among Mary and her cronies is linked to the Virgin of Guadalupe, it is also a nebulous sort of faith which encompasses something far beyond any Christian understanding of the Virgin Mary. And yet Baker isn't afraid to include Christians among those who would be thrown into the Hospital for Eccentrics, which is something a good many authors would have been blind to, depending upon their own prejudices.

This book is set in the world of Baker's series about "The Company." It is a stand-alone and only tangentially connected to that series. I honestly didn't recognize the two obvious Company characters who were included (Mr. De Wit and Mr. Nennius) but knowing who they are explains why they are enemies from the time they meet.

Overall a fun, light, imaginative read.

A City Atlas

Sidney Starr, A City Atlas, 1888-1889
via Arts and Everyday Living