Full respect for freedom

On her part, the Church addresses people with full respect for their freedom. Her mission does not restrict freedom but rather promotes it. The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. She respects individuals and cultures, and she honors the sanctuary of conscience. To those who for various reasons oppose missionary activity, the Church repeats: Open the doors to Christ!

John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio

I'm slowly working my way through JPII's encyclicals. This one about the Church's missionary mandate was good in a lot of ways.

Monk and Cat Bookplate

A bookplate
created by Daniel Mitsui

I love the cat on the monk's shoulder. That touch of humor makes the bookplate sparkle. If you haven't visited Daniel Mitsui's website you are missing a chance to support or at the very least enjoy a modern artist who works in the old style.

You’re a thief just as another man is a stamp collector or a hunter.

“You seem to be fairly well known here,” said Jimmy.

“Yes,” replied Angel ruefully, “a jolly sight too well known. You’re not quite a stranger, Jimmy,” he added.

“No,” said the other a little bitterly; “but we’re on different sides of the House, Angel. You’re in the Cabinet, and I’m in the everlasting Opposition.”

“Muffled sobs!” said Angel flippantly. “Pity poor Ishmael who ‘ishes’ for his own pleasure! Pathos for a fallen brother! A silent tear for this magnificent wreck who’d rather be on the rocks than floating any day of the week. Don’t humbug yourself, Jimmy, or I shall be falling on your neck and appealing to your better nature. You’re a thief just as another man is a stamp collector or a hunter. It’s your blooming forte.

Edgar Wallace, Angel Esquire

As I said earlier this week, Edgar Wallace can be very funny while telling a crime mystery.

Garden Path

Der Gartenweg, Edward B. Gordon

The artist says: "And at the end of the path, behind the bamboo grove, there live the fairies."

I simply love the cool peacefulness of that garden.

Work distinguishes man from the rest of the creatures.

Work is one of the characteristics that distinguish man from the rest of the creatures, whose activity for sustaining their lives cannot be called work. Only man is capable of work, and only man works, at the same time by work occupying his existence on earth. Thus work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons. And this mark decides its interior characteristics; in a sense it constitutes its very nature.

John Paul II, Encyclical Laborem Exercens

This had never occurred to me before. I've seen a lot of things singled out as distinguishing us from animals but not work.

Tulips in a Pot

Tulpen im Topf, Edward B. Gordon

The painter says: Their heads shine in the sun like stars that had no desire to fly into the sky."

And maybe that's why I like the painting so much.

And the Winner Is — 1938

 Our family is working our way through Oscar winners and whichever nominees take our fancy. Also as they are available, since these early films continued to be hard to find.

This year's movies had another delightfully mixed bag ranging from drama to screwball comedy. There are some treasures in the bunch but some real duds too.

Nominees not viewed: One Hundred Men and a Girl wasn't available, Dead End which we'd seen as part of our William Wyler viewing, A Star is Born which story we just don't like after having seen so many other versions.

Looking over the ones we skipped, I discovered one that we overlooked - Captains Courageous. We'll fix that soon!

WINNER

A fictionalized account of famous French writer Emile Zola and his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair.

What a dud. Boring, staid, and clearly an "important cause" movie. Almost every other nomination should have beat this. This has become code in our household for a boring movie — "It's no Life of Emile Zola." 

 NOMINEES

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other’s attempts to find new romance.

The movie that got Cary Grant noticed. It was funny with a clever screenplay but the chemistry between Irene Dunne and Grant was the real bit that made it sparkle.

The ups and downs in the lives and careers of a group of ambitious young actresses and show girls from disparate backgrounds brought together in a theatrical hostel.

In some ways it was like a light-hearted version of All About Eve. I liked the boarding house environment, seeing so many people who would go on to be stars, and the dialogue. I LOVED Andrea Leeds as Kay. It was well acted and entertaining.

British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like valley of Shangri-la.

Who knew Shangri-La could be so boring? The beginning and end were great but the middle dragged it down to the bottom with The Life of Emile Zola.

The O’Leary brothers – honest Jack and roguish Dion – become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

Not bad, but not as good as the previous year's nominee San Francisco, which it was clearly patterned on. It's a real Cain and Abel story set in a fictional story of the O'Leary family (yes, Mrs. O'Leary and the cow that start the Chicago fire). 

China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.

This should have won. We left it for last because this sort of movie doesn't usually appeal to me - long dramatic sagas of families struggling to survive, especially since I'd read the book long ago and hadn't liked it much. How wrong we were. By the end we were loving it. (My full review is here.)

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All the Oscar viewing is here.

Tulips

Tulpen, Edward B. Gordon

We're way past tulip season here in Dallas but I love seeing this reminder that spring is coming around the world.

We are like men fighting a fire ...

We Catholics, in our effort to convert England, are not like furniture removers, paid by the hour, slowly and gingerly piling things onto a van. We are like men fighting a fire, desperately keeping at bay, here and there, the flames of unbelief and social disorder, while we hurriedly rescue all that we have time to rescue. The fire will get ahead of us if we stop to contemplate our work.

Ronald Knox, Captive Flames

Boy oh boy, do I know how he feels. Our whole culture feels as if it is on fire while we dart in and out trying to rescue all we can.

Cartoon Bookplate

Via Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie

Doesn't every book lover need this book plate? I know I do!

Conflicting Bargain Sales

She turned hurriedly, it seemed to Tillizinni, to introduce her mother — a lady dressed in the abrupt fashion which was suggestive of conflicting bargain sales.

Edgar Wallace, The Tomb of T'Sin

I read Edgar Wallace for the adventure and clever mysteries. I forget that he can be slyly funny at the same time.

Helen Louise Taylor Bookplate

The Library of Congress, Bookplate of Helen Louise Taylor

I can't lie on the floor that gracefully but this bookplate makes me want to try!

The surprising effect of an American pope

By Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar

It was really strange to watch the evening news and see the interviews with Leo XIV's brother and friends in the Augustinian order in Chicago. He'd taught at a local Chicago high school. All were overjoyed and also rather dumbfounded at knowing the pope so personally.

I've read similar stories about the two popes previously elected in my Catholic lifetime — Benedict and Francis. All were nice but left me relatively untouched. 

The stories from the news last night somehow made it more immediate to me. As if I knew him too. Then I realized this Leo XIV is just a couple of years older than I am. We have the same cultural touchstones in growing up in the Midwest (Kansas and Missouri for me). He's gone to 4th of July parades, eaten hot dogs and hamburgers (what does he like on his Chicago style dog?), had favorite sports teams, saw Star Wars at the movies, watched Bewitched on TV.  Or many similar points of connection. 

It is a distinctly odd feeling to have such things in common with Our Holy Father.

Never say to God: "Enough!" Simply say: "I am ready."

Every illness and every trial is permitted by God as the means whereby we can best ensure our salvation and as the material most fitted for our sanctification. Take your illness as a penance given you by God, who knows the extant of your debts to him as well as the best way in which you can discharge them. You should be content to do as he wishes, for he is satisfied with far less than you owe him.

Read into everything God's explicit will. Suffer with our Lord, uniting your sufferings to his. Don't look for sufferings, but do not refuse them. Value them as precious marks of favor that he bestows on you. Don't desire to exchange them for others, but don't torment yourself by adding to them. Don't fix your eyes on the lash that scourges you, but kiss and adore the loving hand and heart wielding it.

God is not content to see you merely suffering with patience. He wants you to be grateful and to approve of what he does. ...

Feel a more lively gratitude towards those who brace you up and invigorate you in your pain than towards those who merely commiserate you. An unpitied pain wins greater merit before God. Never say to God: "Enough!" Simply say: "I am ready."

St. Sebastian Valfre

This is a controversial take on suffering these days. But my own experience makes it seem sound. Not that I am able to be grateful but, without understanding the big picture, I can accept that what God sends is meant for my own good. Especially difficult is the advice that we have a lively gratitude to those who "invigorate" us in our pain. I still resent those people. But remembering that advice helps lessen my resentment some.

Bookplate of Charles P Searle

Bookplate of Charles P. Searle (1904). Sidney Lawton Smith, 1845-1929, engraver.
Etching with engraving. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

We all want this bookplate, don't we? I know I want that library. I also love that the reader's book is engraved with a large CPS. Click on the image to see the details better.