Sin and Trampling on People

I've done many things that I thought I would never dare do because they were sins. But I didn't realize then that the consequence of sin is that you have to trample on other people.

Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter

Kristin Lavransdatter was an incredibly rich read during Lent. This quote shows you a little bit of why that is.

Naples Sunrise

Naples Sunrise, taken by Valery at ucumari photography

Simply beautiful for the end of the work week.

Irises

Irises, John Henry Twachtman, 1896

One of my favorite flowers — the Iris.

My Latest Book Crush — The St. Paul Daily Missal

Incorporates the revised English text of the Third Roman Missal and features Scripture readings for cycles A, B, and C for all Sundays and Solemnities and Years I and II for weekdays. Spiritual reflections on the readings, an expanded Treasury of Prayers, and introductions to the liturgical seasons enhance prayerful participation in the liturgy.

The above description may only mean something to Catholics. And this is a seriously Catholic book crush I have going on. I've dabbled with the idea of a missal before but they seemed intimidatingly difficult. Four ribbons? How much flipping around was going to be happening? Year A, B, or C for Sunday - was that going to be hard to find? What about sorting out Year I or II for the daily readings? (See, this is already insanely complicated — and it's the part I understood!)

Also — so expensive! $75!

So for a long time I stuck to Magnificat (until I found out those weren't really the daily readings) or Word Among Us. Both were expensive. Finally I caught on to a bigger reality —  two years of either publication equaled the cost of the missal. Three years in, the book is essentially free by that reckoning. Okay, I read reviews and made my choice for an Easter gift to myself with this version from the Daughters of St. Paul. 

This is a wonderful resource. The readings are all in order of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, followed by Ordinary Time, with a special section for prayers and for the liturgies of the Mass and other special days. It's really easy to follow and find your way through.

I've been getting more out of the readings and am so happy that I bought this excellent book.

Notes on Mark: Table Scraps

Ernest Gustave Girardot,
A Yorkshire-like terrier

MARK 7:24-30
I always was rather shocked by Jesus' apparent attitude toward this woman. For one thing I know that to call someone a dog in the Middle East is a great insult and for him to use it while turning down this poor woman's request is ... well just not the way I think of Jesus acting toward supplicants.

Barclay provides a good answer to this objection, and one that is exactly in line with how Jesus usually acts. I especially like the idea that this actually turned into witty repartee where Jesus was just waiting for the woman to give the right answer so he could say yes. Sometimes, the truth is in the translation!

The story itself must be read with insight. The woman came asking Jesus' help for her daughter. His answer was that it was not right to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs...

The dog was not the well-loved guardian that it is today; more commonly it was a symbol of dishonor. To the Greek, the word dog meant a shameless and audacious woman it was used exactly with the connotation that we use the word bitch today. To the Jew it was equally a term of contempt. "Do not give the dogs what is holy." (Matthew 7:6; cp. Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15)...

No matter how you look at it, the term dog is an insult. How, then, are we to explain Jesus' use of it here?

1. He did not use the usual word; he used a diminutive word which described, not the wild dogs of the streets, but the little lap-dogs of the house. In Greek, diminutives are characteristically affectionate. Jesus took the sting out of the word.
2. Without a doubt his tone of voice made all the difference. The same word can be a deadly insult and an affectionate address, according to the tone of voice. We can call a man "an old rascal" in a voice of contempt or a voice of affection. Jesus' tone took all the poison out of the word.
3. In any event Jesus did not shut the door. First, he said, the children must be fed; but only first; there is meat left for the household pets. True, Israel had the first offer of the gospel, but only the first; there were others still to come. The woman was a Greek, and the Greeks had a gift of repartee; and she saw at once that Jesus was speaking with a smile. She knew that the door was swinging on its hinges. In those days people did not have either knives or forks or table-napkins. They ate with their hands; they wiped the soiled hands on chunks of bread and then flung the bread away and the house-dogs ate it. So the woman said, "I know the children are fed first, but can't I even get the scraps the children throw away?" And Jesus loved it. Here was a sunny faith that would not take no for an answer, here was a woman with the tragedy of an ill daughter at home and there was still light enough in her heart to reply with a smile. Her faith was tested and her faith was real, and her prayer was answered. Symbolically she stands for the Gentile world which so eagerly seized on the bread of heaven which the Jews rejected and threw away.

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

Barclay's insights above are supplemented by these from Mary Healy.

Jesus' reply expresses his delight with her answer. once can imagine his smile at this lady's chutzpah. Her indomitable faith has moved his heart to accelerate the plan: the "children's bread" is given ahead of schedule to a Gentile. Upon her return home the woman finds her child delivered from the demon. This exorcism is the only work of healing done at a distance in Mark, accenting the efficacy of the woman's faith. In fact, it is one of only two healings at a distance in the Gospels, the other being the cure of the centurion's servant (Matt 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10; see John 4:46-54). Significantly, both involve Gentiles, and both demonstrate remarkable faith, in contrast to the tepid faith Jesus often finds among his own people. His ability to heal by a mere word someone who is not even present is a powerful message for readers of the Gospel: to experience the Lord's power it is not necessary to have seen or touched him as he walked on earth before his resurrection. All that is needed is faith.

Mary Healy, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Mark

This makes me wonder is my faith strong or lukewarm ... am I expecting enough from God?

===== 

Sources and Notes Index       

Julie and Scott are chased through town by a young Harrison Ford. They would have escaped if Julie didn't have to translate when Scott stopped to get a Coke.

 We can't believe we waited 14 years to discuss Blade Runner! Join us for Episode 377 of A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Mantel Clock

Mantel Clock, about 1789, Clock case attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire,
clock movement by Charles-Guillaume Manière. The J. Paul Getty Museum

San Jacinto Day! Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!

Veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto at a meeting of the Texas Veterans' Association in Galveston circa 1880. Center row, third from left: Valentine Ignatius Burch of Tyler County, Texas. Center row, second from left: Valentine Burch. Front row, second from right: George Petty of Washington County.

Courtesy the Star of the Republic Museum via the Portal to Texas History.

Via Traces of Texas.

My friend Don never forgets this ... he's the one always reminding me it is San Jacinto Day He has told me many a time:

I try to remember all of these good Texas holidays. They really bring home how unique the state –and future Republic?—truly is. This one is a real holiday, not like Cinco de Mayo. I mean, if you have a holiday to celebrate beating the French, then every day would be a holiday!

Ha! No kidding!

Let's all lift a margarita high to the Texian heroes of the decisive battle of the Texas revolution!

TV You Might Have Missed #19 — The Mandalorian

This is the Way.

Beginning five years after the events of the film Return of the Jedi and the fall of the Galactic Empire, The Mandalorian follows a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy. He is hired by Imperial remnant forces to retrieve the child Grogu, but instead goes on the run to protect the infant. —  Wikipedia.

We realize this is truly TV we missed while many others jumped on the Mandalorian train. This is for those who, like us, were largely indifferent to the idea of Star Wars TV spinoffs. However, we were casting around for something new to watch a few months ago and thought "Jon Favreau, eh? Let's give it a try." Three seasons (and a Boba Fett spinoff) later, we're true fans. Of the Mandalorian, not so much Boba Fett. 

Space Western is a category we've loved for a long time. Although the first season begins slowly we didn't mind. We were taking in the Western vibe and the truly great world building. For one thing, it was really interesting to see a part of the Star Wars universe where Jedis were considered almost extinct and no one mentioned Luke, Leia, or Han. This is truly the Outer Rim where they've got a hardscrabble existence and more to worry about than how the Empire went down.

As the season went along we saw there was another quality that is all too absent in television — optimism and a happy ending. This is the spirit of Jon Favreau's storytelling that also came across in Chef. I appreciate a story that makes me truly anxious for the hero's quest but also leaves me safe reminding myself in dark moments that everything will work out in the end.

Mandalorian belief is also a fascinating element. We're used to the Force in the Star Wars universe and it's similarity to Eastern philosophies. "The Way of the Mandalore" is a belief system that is more akin to Christian knighthood and we enjoy seeing that in the storylines. 

It's a really enjoyable show and I look forward to rewatching it. We're definitely going to watch the upcoming movie and going to try a couple of the other spinoffs. And we've got our fingers crossed that Season 4, reportedly all written up and in Jon Favreau's desk drawer, will be coming our way soon.

Tuna Assortment

Source

Early Spring-Bluebonnets and Mesquite

Julian Onderdonk, Early Spring—Bluebonnets and Mesquite

Welcome to Texas.

The first job in the morning

It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

C.S. Lewis

This is especially appropriate for me since I've been reading Romano Guardini's book about prayer which is talking about "recollectedness." And recollectedness is that "coming in out of the wind" that Lewis mentions, during which we may hear that other voice and let that other life come flowing in.

Leaping Carp

Ohara Koson
Completion Date: c.1910, Leaping Carp
Via Wikimedia

Challenging orthodoxy

At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is "not done" to say it ... Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionalb eopinion is almost never given a fair hearing, eithe rin the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals

George Orwell

As we all know, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."