Thursday, August 31, 2017

Hurricane Harvey and H-E-B

When we left for Florida last week, Hurricane Harvey was threatening landfall in Corpus Christi, where my husband has relatives. Of course, like everyone at the time we were relieved to hear it was going to miss Corpus ... and then horrified at the havoc wrought upon Houston by the never ending rainfall. We were relieved to find that my husband's Houston-based relatives were not in danger but the flooding in such familiar areas is really surreal to people who know it well.

While we donate and help however we can (my charitable avenue is Catholic Charities), let's not forget the power of prayer. God will help in ways we cannot foresee.
May God, the Lord of mercy and compassion, protect all who are still in danger, and bring to safety those who are missing.

May He care in a special way for those who were already homeless, or without support and resources, before this disaster.

We pray in thanksgiving for the first responders who are risking their lives to save others at this very moment.

We include in our intentions the everyday heroes reaching out to help their neighbors in need, those who, like the Good Samaritan, cannot walk by a person in need without offering their hand in aid.

Amen.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Speaking of tangible aid, I found this video heartwarming. H-E-B is a Texas grocery store chain which is much beloved throughout the state. Certainly, I love their Central Market which is near my house. So I was happy to see how much a part of the community they are.

Ben-Hur and Me: 1957, 2016, and 1880

One thing I have discovered is that once I've seen one chariot race, I've seen them all. Luckily, there is much more to Ben-Hur than the famous chariot race.

1959 film
This is the one everyone has seen at least once. I've seen it numerous times and so have passed from wowed to blasé to appreciative over the years. Most recently I viewed it for a 2015 discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast with Scott Danielson. That was the viewing where I was suddenly much more appreciative than I've been before. Yes, it's 3-1/2 hours and Charlton Heston can be pretty stiff sometimes, but this is the one you want to watch.

Then I watched the 2016 version with Rose recently. She'd only seen this version once so I simultaneously summarized the differences between the two films while we were watching. (Just for the record, this was at her specific request.) It made me appreciate this version even more and pat myself on the back for how well I recalled the plot.


2016 movie
By itself, without knowing the story in any other way, this 2016 version of Ben-Hur is fairly forgettable. To be fair, this director is known for great action (I loved Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter — as did Roger Ebert, so don't judge me!) and not for drawing great performances from actors. (I've never seen Morgan Freeman so wooden and stilted.) And a director is hampered if the script isn't good to begin with. So Timur Bekmambetov had a lot against him from the beginning on this project.

However, viewed as a companion piece to the classic 1959 movie, this movie lends itself to interesting reflections on the nature of mercy, forgiveness, redemption, etc. Make no mistake, it does reflect modern cultural views in many ways. For example, one must ignore some of the namby pamby New-Agey Jesus statements made early on in the movie. And Messala's angsty attempts of "can't we just all get along?" are completely out of place. But it is worth seeing once for the gorgeous visuals and the way the story treats Ben-Hur and Messala's relationship.

Be warned. Worst sea battle ever. You can't tell what's going on. And Bekmambetov loves shooting night scenes in the actual dark. So at one point we thought we were watching Ben-Hur sneaking around in a garden at night to meet his wife. Turns out it was Judas getting ready to betray Jesus. Talk about confused!


1880 book
After watching one movie while simultaneously summarizing the other, I decided to reread the book because my memory of it is muddled by the various film versions. I'm enjoying it so far and surprised by some of the book facts that the movies changed. Actually, make that a lot of things that both movies changed. 1959 changed a lot of Ben-Hur's motivations and internal thoughts. And then 2016 changed the rest.

I read this story many years ago, long before I was Christian. Certainly it long before I picked up the fact that the author was a Civil War General ... which somehow just makes the book that much more interesting. I also recently was in a conversation in which I learned that Ben-Hur was the Harry Potter of its day. Since people couldn't afford to travel, this was a great way to combine exotic travelogue and an inspiring tale.

I most recently read it in 2015 when we discussed it on A Good Story is Hard to Find and don't remember it much at all. Which says something about how little this hit me at that time. Now, with both movies specifically in mind, I find myself liking it much more.

Well Said: Being one of the five thousand

How naturally a common meal serves for a symbol of fraternity; how easily a scratch party of guests get on together if you take them out for a picnic in the open air! Just imagine what it must have meant, later on, if one of those five thousand met, by accident, one of the others; what fellowship must have been imposed on them by their common store of reminiscences! "Yes, don't you remember, I was sitting about seven or eight off you, and Peter — or John, or James, or Judas — came round with the crust which looked as if it could never satisfy more than two; we both seemed to be in starvation corner, didn't we? And then when he got to the end of the row the crust was still there."
G. Chevrot, The Well of Life
via In Conversation with God, vol. 4
You know, it never occurred to me to think about any of the people for whom Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, at least from the point of view of their lives later on. There were so many of them, in one case 5,000 and in another 4,000, and Israel was a small country. Maybe a lot of them were related. Of course, they would have bumped into each other later on.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Gone Fishing

John Singer Sargent, Two Girls Fishing, detail, 1912
via Arts Everyday Living
Again, I'm headed out of town, this time to a place where I actually could fish (if I wished, which I don't). To Florida to visit my dear mother!

We won't be dressed like this. Or, as you know, fishing.

But we will be enjoying each other's company, as well as that of Rose who's also going on this outing. We'll be cooking and watching movies, talking about books, and having all sorts of fun.

There are a couple of feast days when I'll have posts for reflection. Enjoy!

I'll be back in a week or so!

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Cornflower, National flower of Estonia

Cornflower, National Flower of Estonia, taken by Remo Savisaar

Well Said: On Ray Bradbury's Birthday

"They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressures; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves."
Ray Bradbury, "Usher II" (1950)
Ray Bradbury shares a birthday with Hannah ... which I tend to forget. They both share the qualities of being smart as whips, logical, and never fearing to speak the truth. Hannah doesn't have nearly as many best sellers, but there's time.

Julie and Scott don't like it when ...


... people come up to them after a podcast and say, "I really dug your message, man." They like it when people come up to them the next day, or a week later, and say, "I listened to your podcast, man. What happened?"

Episode 165, Tootsie (1982) starring Dustin Hoffman, is the subject of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel (1528), Hans Hoffmann

Well Said: Scientists and theologians

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a bunch of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.
Robert Jastrow, NASA scientist and Columbia University physicist

Friday, August 18, 2017

What We've Been Watching: Horror, India, Action, Satire, and James Bond

THE GREAT WALL
European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defense of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures.

To our great surprise, we found this a solid action movie with a classic, if simply put, message of trust and giving of yourself for others. The action pieces were inventive and the whole thing was gorgeous, as one would expect from this director. Sure it was no Hero but it was also not nearly as disappointing as Rogue One.




THE APARTMENT
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he’s left with a major problem to solve.

A Billy Wilder classic that I watched because Rose said it was a comedy. Actually, satire is a better description. Not as funny as Some Like It Hot and not as dark as Double Indemnity, this film falls in the middle tone-wise as Billy Wilder gives us his take on infidelity and the cost to everyone involved. I loved the performances and the clever contrasting and parallel situations and characters which all helped to make the point. And Jack Lemmon - of course, fantastic as always.


GET OUT
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner for modern times, with a horror twist. When a young woman brings her boyfriend home to meet her parents, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead to a truth that the boyfriend never could have imagined.

A well acted tale that shows talent which makes me eagerly look forward to director/writer Jordan Peele's future movies. This much lauded movie does what a lot of good horror does, draws our attention to social conditions by exaggeration to make us think about the horror underneath.

Where Peele does something new is in the group of people he skewers before the outright horror begins. Taking well-meaning, liberal white people to task for the shallowness of their racial equality is a place that no one's gone before, because it is unfashionable to point out such things.

It really felt like a 70's horror movie in a lot of ways, and I mean that in the best possible way.


LION
A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

It is hard to believe this was made by a first-time director, except when I recall several other advertising directors who've wowed the film world.

This is a really skillfully told story that, as others have pointed out, is really two movies in one. The first is that of little Saroo who is lost 1,000 miles from home and lives as a street urchin in Calcutta which is a sort of modern-day Victorian nightmare. The second is of the adult Saroo, who after adoption forgot his childhood memories and had a happy life in Tasmania. Until a sense memory brings it all flooding back and sends him on a journey to see if he can locate his lost family.

I was lukewarm on the story until I had to watch it for a group discussion. The whole thing blew me away. Really, really well told story that feels genuine.

JAMES BOND
We continue watching the James Bond movies in order. It's the rare weekend when we aren't spying with 007 so we've gotten as far as Moonraker, which was much better than we thought it would be.

This has been an interesting project and I can finally say I've seen George Lazenby's turn as Bond, which I enjoyed immensely. I had no idea they were rebooting the franchise as early as that. It makes me eager to see how the Timothy Dalton movies hit me. But we're still at least a couple of movies away from that.

Worth a Thousand Words: Vase of Gladioli

Gustave Caillebotte, Vase of Gladioli, 1887
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Being, having, and doing

Being is much more significant and essential than having or doing. And the greatest temptation we face is to prefer having and doing more than being.
St. John Paul II

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Well Said: Even ordinary books are dangerous

Elsewhere, someone might have said, "It's just books! Books aren't dangerous! But even ordinary books are dangerous, and not only the ones like Make Gelignite the Professional Way. A man sits in some museum somewhere and writes a harmless books about political economy and suddenly thousands of people who haven't even read it are dying because the ones who did haven't got the joke. Knowledge is dangerous, which is why governments often clamp down on people who can think thoughts above a certain caliber.
Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

Worth a Thousand Words: Garden at Vaucresson

Garden at Vaucresson, 1923, Édouard Vuillard

Genesis Notes: Jacob's Resume

What this overview allows us to see is how clearly Jacob's life changed every time he encountered God. Just like Jacob, our lives too change every time we encounter God. And just like Jacob, perhaps, it is hard for us to see it until we're looking back over our lives.

Jacob and the Angel, Gustave Moreau
Jacob's life had four stages, each marked by a personal encounter with God. In the first stage, Jacob lived up to his name, which means "he grasps the heel" (figuratively "he deceives")... In the second stage, Jacob experienced life from the other side, being manipulated and deceived by Laban. But there is a curious change: the Jacob of stage one would simply have left Laban, whereas the Jacob of stage two, after deciding to leave, waited six years for God's permission. In the third stage, Jacob was in a new role as grabber. This time, by the Jordan River, he grabbed on to God and wouldn't let go... Jacob's last stage of life was to be grabbed -- God achieved a firm hold on him. In responding to Joseph's invitation to come to Egypt, Jacob was clearly unwilling to make a move without God's approval.

Strengths and accomplishments:
  • Father of the twelve tribes of Israel
  • Third in the Abrahamic line of God's plan
  • Determined, willing to work long and hard for what he wanted
  • Good businessman
Weaknesses and mistakes:
  • When faced with conflict, relied on his own resources rather than going to God for help
  • Tended to accumulate wealth for its own sake
Lessons from his life:
  • Security does not lie in the accumulation of goods
  • All human intentions and actions -- for good or evil -- are woven by God into his ongoing plan
Vital statistics:
  • Where: Canaan
  • Occupation: Shepherd, livestock owner
  • Relatives: Parents - Isaac and Rebekah. Brother - Esau. Father-in-law - Laban. Wives: Rachel and Leah. Twelve sons and one daughter are mentioned in the Bible.
Key verse:
"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28:15).

Jacob's story is told in Genesis 25-50. He also is mentioned in Hosea 12:2-5; Matthew 1:2; 22:32; Acts 3:13; 7:46; Romans 9:11-13; 11:26; Hebrews 11:9, 20, 21.
All material quoted is from the Life Application Study Bible. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Blogging Around: Right Wing Asshole, the Miracle and the Jihadist, and Charlottesville

Ask Andrew W.K.: My Dad Is a Right-Wing Asshole
You’ve reduced your father — the person who created you — to a set of beliefs and political views and how it relates to you. ...

The world isn’t being destroyed by democrats or republicans, red or blue, liberal or conservative, religious or atheist — the world is being destroyed by one side believing the other side is destroying the world. The world is being hurt and damaged by one group of people believing they’re truly better people than the others who think differently. The world officially ends when we let our beliefs conquer love. We must not let this happen.
Ask Andrew W.K., The Village Voice
Truer words were never spoken. Go read the letter and Andrew W.K.'s whole response. Via Tony Rossi.

The Miracle That Saved a Priest From a Jihadist’s Knife
I don’t know what I prayed at that moment. I was very afraid, and I told Marie Alphonsine, “It can’t be by chance that I’m carrying you with me. If it is necessary that the Lord take me while I’m young, I’m ready, but if not, I ask you that no one else die.”
And what happened next was a miracle. Get the whole story at Aletia.

Charlottesville — Two Articles, One Answer

Former neo-Nazi Joseph Pearce (yes, that Joseph Pearce, now a well known Catholic author) examines Charlottesville Through the Eyes of an Ex-White Supremacist
I recall three separate occasions when I confronted an enemy with hatred and enmity and received in return love and friendship. In each case, the receiving of love when I was expecting hatred sowed seeds of healing in my hate-battered heart. ...

This is the challenge we face in the wake of the horrors of Charlottesville. It is to love our enemies. We should not demonize the white supremacist or the abortionist, but should love them into submission. We should not prey on them but should pray for them, hoping that, in the future, by the grace of God, we can pray with them.
Matthew Archbold looks at a moment of grace in The Suprising Thing That Happened in Charlottesville. Mark Heyer, father of the young woman who was killed, shows Christ-like love.
He spoke of forgiveness. “I include myself in that in forgiving the guy who did this,” he said. “I just think about what the Lord said on the cross, ‘Forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.’ … I hope that her life and what has transpired changes people’s hearts.”

Words like that are the only things that can.

Mark Heyer called the young man who killed his daughter “stupid.” And that's the thing. Hate is stupid. It makes you that way. There's a reason they call it “blind hatred.”

"Everyone wants the key to finding God, but there is no lock"


If you’re looking for a retreat that will bring you closer to Jesus, Julie Davis will be happy to be your retreat guide. You won’t even have to leave your house – and neither will she. She conducts this retreat of sorts in her book “Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life.”
Tony Rossi sums up the two-part Christopher Closeup radio interview we had in a really nice written interview at Aletia. Read the interview here and find links to the podcasts of the interview at the bottom of the piece.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

What I've Been Reading: Adventure, Noir, and Investigative Reporting

TREASURE ISLAND by Robert Louis Stevenson
After outsmarting a band of buccaneers, young Jim Hawkins crosses the Atlantic in search of buried treasure. Jim and the ship’s crew must brave the elements and outwit the ruthless pirate Long John Silver.

I listened to Alfred Molina's superb narration of this classic adventure story. I remembered only the beginning and that only sketchily. As the story progressed I was caught up in it and couldn't wait to get back to listening. It is truly the ultimate adventure story, expertly told.

Right up to the end I was continually being surprised by plot twists. No wonder this story is still beloved by so many.

THE TRUTH by Terry Pratchett
William de Worde is quite surprised when his printed page full of "things written down" is suddenly incredibly popular. As he publishes Ankh Morpork's first newspaper, learning as he goes, William becomes involved in solving a murder. And, thus, he also becomes Discworld's first investigative reporter.

As I continue working  my way through the Discworld novels in order I wasn't thrilled when I got to this one because it's a stand alone novel. I am much more attached to the books which are part of the several series within the Discworld books.

However, Pratchett was clearly on a roll and this book does have enough of the Watch and other regulars from Ankh Morpork that it was both enjoyable and good. Watching everyone adjust to the idea of having the media report on their actions was worth the price of admission, especially since a lot of that adjustment came from the person who inadvertently invented the newspaper in this book. Fun and worth reading.


BLACK JACK JUSTICE by Gregg Taylor
It was a simple enough case, but don't they always start out that way? When a pair of His and Hers private detectives get involved, the sparks start to fly and the blood begins to spill in earnest. With every shot that's fired, the hole digs a little deeper, and the list of people our sparring shamuses can trust gets shorter and shorter.

Fans of Decoder Ring Theatre's long-running full-cast audio series Black Jack Justice will delight in the very first meeting between Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon, girl detective. 


I thoroughly enjoyed reading this hard boiled detective story when it came out in print. As a longtime fan of Decoder Ring Theater's Black Jack Justice series, I could hear the voices of the main actors as I read. It was lively, humorous, and had all the banter one expects from a Chandler-esque novel.

Now they've done it one better and brought the book out in audio format. So you can actually hear the voices of the actors as they read the book. Perfect!

IVANHOE by Sir Walter Scott
Set in the familiar time of Robin Hood, evil Prince John, and good King Richard, this adventure tale has it all. It is not precisely about those three characters but they are major players. I read this for my book club (the adult equivalent of a high school reading assignment when it is for a book you've managed to avoid for years).

Consequently I listened to B.J. Harrison's excellent narration to help me get into the book. And it worked. I initially enjoyed it it on the level of adventure novel, a la Treasure Island.

I was surprised at the inventive plot twists, the laugh-out-loud humor, and most of all at Rebecca. Here is someone who is female, from a despised group, and who is only valued by most for her beauty. Yet, she is articulate, quick witted, and will not allow herself to be used as a pawn or allow others to get away with facile explanations for their own evil actions. What a role model!

Overall, Ivanhoe was a reminder not to avoid a classic just because the first chapter seems a little difficult or because one thinks the plot is hackneyed. Highly recommended.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Valkyrie

The Valkyrie via Brandywine Books

Well Said: Using Time

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.
Jean de la Bruyere

Monday, August 14, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: The Hammock

The Hammock, Joseph Rodefer DeCamp, 1895

Well Said: Not knowing how the world works.

Barry would have been all right if he hadn't become a physicist. But all that nonsense about mass and energy got him believing he really knew how the world worked. And he didn't. He never did. And that's what got him killed.
Jack McDevitt, The Devil's Eye

The Maltese Falcon and the God Shaped Hole - on SFFaudio


Jesse, Paul, Maissa, and I go to surprising places in our conversation about the classic hard boiled detective story, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Catch it at SFFaudio!

Friday, August 11, 2017

Well Said: Getting Older

You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
George Burns
This makes me think of Raymond and Thelma, my grandparents. No matter how much older they got, they were never old. They are my role models in many ways and this is one of them.

Worth a Thousand Words: Evening at the Coast

Evening at the Coast, taken by Remo Savisaar
This makes me long to be in Galveston.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Mufti Reading in his Prayer Stool

Jean-Léon GERÔME, Mufti Reading in his Prayer Stool
via French Painters

Well Said: Conversion and the Looking Glass

Conversion is like stepping across the chimney piece out of a Looking Glass world, where everything is an absurd caricature, into the real world God made; and then begins the delicious process of exploring it limitlessly.
Evelyn Waugh
I really can't add anything to the perfection of that observation. It does explain the depths I suddenly began seeing in the everyday world.

Glen Campbell, rest in peace

It's funny. My mom loved Glen Campbell so, as a kid, I thought of him as pop music. (Also based on the radio stations he was often played on. I'd never heard of "crossover" music.) And my family was very snobby about country music so I never associated him with that.

Then I married a country music lover (to be honest, he loves practically every sort of music) and just listening to that wild variety began a broader education. Imagine my surprise when he highly praised Glen Campbell and talked about what he did for country music. I had to listen with new ears ... and heard a master.


Recognizing a lot of the famous faces around him in that clip made me realize that I knew a lot more about country music of that time period than I realized. Seeing their admiration warmed my heart.

Glen Campbell was brought vividly to mind when one of my favorite BBC radio shows, Soul Music, did an episode on one of Campbell's iconic songs, Wichita Lineman. You can listen here.

Many thanks to Marc whose email brought all this to mind and inspired this post.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Gorgeous Stained Glass

Domestic window by Dirck Crabeth for the house of Adriaen Dircxz. van Crimpen, of Leiden. (1543)
via Wikipedia
Van Crimpen was a member of the government. The scenes show seven scenes from the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament and five scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. Though the house is still standing, the stained glass is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Well Said: A longing for romance and wonder

What did I want?

I wanted a Roc's egg. I wanted a harem loaded with lovely odalisques less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels, the rust that never stained my sword. I wanted raw red gold in nuggets the size of your fist and feed that lousy claim jumper to the huskies! I wanted to get up feeling brisk and go out and break some lances, Then pick a likely wench for my droit du seigneur—I wanted to stand up to the Baron and dare him to touch my wench! I wanted to hear the purple water chuckling against the skin of the Nancy Lee in the cool of the morning watch and not another sound, nor any movement save the slow tilling of the wings of the albatross that had been pacing us the last thousand miles.

I wanted the hurtling moons of Barsoom. I wanted Storisende and Poictesme, and Holmes shaking me awake to tell me, "The game's afoot!" I wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and elude a mob in company with the Duke of Bilgewater and the Lost Dauphin.

I wanted Prester John, and Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake. I wanted to sail with Ulysses and with Tros of Samothrace and eat the lotus in a land that seemed always afternoon. I wanted the feeling of romance and the sense of wonder I had known as a kid. I wanted the world to be what they had promised me it was going to be—instead of the tawdry, lousy, fouled-up mess it is.
Robert Heinlein, Glory Road
What he wanted was the Catholic Church, as G.K. Chesterton could've told him. It's got all the romance and sense of wonder (and mystery) you could want.

Genesis Notes: God's Covenant Confirmed

GENESIS 35 & 36
God tells Jacob to move to Bethel, which if we look back at Chapter 34, is where he was supposed to go in the first place! So although it didn't seem like a big deal at the time, if Jacob had just gone to Bethel from the beginning his whole family would have been saved a world of pain. Good reminders for me to go the distance even when it doesn't make sense. I like the way this sums up Jacob's mistake and then shows what he did to get right with God.

I don't know why I'm continually surprised that these Old Testament stories have such good lessons for me right here and right now. You'd think I'd be used to that by now!

Sebastien Bourdon, Jacob Burying Laban's Images
Some of us, given the chance to intervene at this point, might choose to punish Simeon and Levi. Justice must be served, after all. But God's ways are not our ways. They will be punished in good time, but Simeon and Levi are not the root of the trouble. To punish them would be a stopgap measure at best. In the same way, destroying sinful man with the flood was not the final solution to the Fall. God planned not to destroy but to save mankind by grace, however undeserved. Wiping out "the bad guys" would leave sin in control of men's hearts, and it was sin itself that had to be dealt with. In this case, God first zeroed in on Jacob's heart, and called him to get right with Himself.

God told Jacob to return to Bethel, to settle there, and to build an altar to the God who has been so faithful to him. Doing that would do more than remove the family from the scene of the crime, where they could expect further trouble. It would put them where they should have been to begin with, and focus them back on God and on His plan
for them.

It might seem a small thing that Jacob built his altar and settled at Shechem instead of at Bethel. After all, Abraham received the promise of the land at Shechem (Gen. 12:6-7). Jacob did all the right things, just not at the right place. He followed the spirit of the law, we might say in his defense. But God has His reasons for asking particular things, and He requires obedience. Jacob did what God asked but he did it on his own terms. Not going as far as Bethel may be a small thing in and of itself, but it indicates a huge problem inside him: His way, not God's way, took first priority. By returning to Bethel, Jacob will not just obey the letter of God's law, he will humble himself to do things God's way. By settling there he will separate his family from Canaanite influence. And by building an altar and worshiping God he will have the chance to repent, to be purified, and to start again.

In Jacob's response we see that in spite of his mistakes, his heart desire is for God. He acted immediately to move his family to Bethel. In the process he did four important things:
  1. He had everyone get rid of their foreign gods. Before anything else, they had to get rid of anything that kept them from giving themselves totally to God. Jacob's family divided their allegiance between God and the household gods that were part of the culture they came from and settled in. The other gods had to go.
  2. Next Jacob had them purify themselves, and change their clothes. That external act was a sign of what they needed on the inside before they could be reconciled to God.
  3. Now they were ready to go to Bethel, the "house of God." This meant not just doing what had been left undone, it meant putting themselves physically in God's presence in a conscious way. Jacob took them to the place where God appeared to him and gave him the promises, and sought His face there.
  4. Finally, Jacob worshiped God at Bethel. When you worship, you acknowledge who God is and His greatness and your dependence on him. You accept His will. You throw yourself before Him. You pray when you worship, and as the Catechism says, "Prayer restores man to God's likeness (CCC #2572)." In prayer and in worship, Jacob got back on the road to following God and to becoming more like Him.
All quotes from Genesis, Part II: God and His Family. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Not your mother's fairytale: Cinder Allia by Karen Ullo

Cinder Allia has spent eight years living under her stepmother’s brutal thumb, wrongly punished for having caused her mother’s death. She lives for the day when the prince will grant her justice; but her fairy godmother shatters her hope with the news that the prince has died in battle. Allia escapes in search of her own happy ending, but her journey draws her into the turbulent waters of war and politics in a kingdom where the prince’s death has left chaos and division. Cinder Allia turns a traditional fairy tale upside down and weaves it into an epic filled with espionage, treason, magic, and romance.
I really enjoyed Karen Ullo's first novel, Jennifer the Damned, which was a fascinating, unexpected vampire story. So I was interested to see what she'd do putting an "untraditional" spin on a familiar fairy tale (is that a genre yet?).

She begins in full blown "this isn't your mother's fairytale" style with Cinder Allia (Cinderella) learning from her fairy godmother than the prince has just been killed in battle. Because the fairy godmother messed up. Ouch.

Where do you go from there? We do have a wicked stepmother, a ball for all the maidens in the land, a lost slipper, cinders, and many of the traditional props, but they all turn up in unexpected ways. I thoroughly enjoyed it when they would appear, woven into a richer, fuller story that included a really interesting political situation with a neighboring country.

The story is told from multiple points of view, including the royals scrambling to recover from the prince's death. Several themes come to the fore. All the characters are driven by some sort of loss or failure while struggling with how to balance truth, justice, and mercy. And, of course, love.

There is also some background about how Allia's mother died and why her father allows her to be treated so badly (he's still alive in this version). I didn't enjoy this part as much because there were a couple of points that rang false to me, emotionally.

My quibbles are not enough to keep the story from being entertaining and definitely worth reading. Cinder Allia is a richly woven tale that stands on its own merits.

(Full disclosure: I received a review copy of the book. But my opinion is fully my own.)

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Cat Sleeping

Cornelis Visscher, Cat Sleeping, 1657
via Arts Everyday Living
Don't miss the charming little creature right behind the sleeping cat.

Lagniappe: French breakfast

The French think that a man can face the day with chicory and milk, and a croissant, which probably accounts for their unstable politics.
Robert Heinlein, Glory Road

We All Scream

I loved narrating this short piece about a happily married wife and mother whose ice cream truck business runs into an unexpected problem one day.

It's as if the author knew me! I was pleased and humbled that EscapePod asked me to read it.

You can find it on iTunes (episode 585) or here at EscapePod.

Under the door comes a new set of orders.


Julie and Scott have to record yet another podcast, this time against insurmountable odds. 

Episode 164 of A Good Story is Hard to Find: Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Before the Storm

Before the Storm by Edward B. Gordon

Well Said: America and Corinth

America is strikingly similar to Corinth. According to polls, most Catholics consider themselves "Americans who happen to be Catholics," rather than "Catholics who happen to be Americans." Two of the words they dislike the most are "authority" (or "lordship") and "obedience." Yet these are precisely what Paul calls for.

Christ always sought out the most needy, and His Church has always followed His lead. Christianity naturally flows to the lowest places, like water. Corinth was the world's lowest place, the spiritual gutter. Yet the Corinthians thought of themselves as high, not low — like the high and airy temple of Aphrodite. For one thing, they were rich due to trade and prostitution. For another, they were well educated. Though they did not produce philosophers, many philosophers from Athens taught there. The most prominent philosophical school at the time was probably Scepticism. The last thing any of them would believe was a man rising from the dead.
Peter Kreeft, commenting on First Corinthians,
You Can Understand the Bible
Everything old is new again!

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Interior with woman and child

Interior with woman and child, Carl Holsøe

Well Said: Bad News and Good News

The first step is the problem, the “bad news” that we all have a mortal disease called sin, "the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile)." The good news is that all are offered salvation, "the Jew first and also the Greek. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

[...]

The good news makes no sense unless you believe the bad news first. A free operation is not good news if you don’t think you have a mortal disease. In a more realistic age, the main obstacle to believing in Christianity was the good news. It seemed like a fairy tale, too good to be true. Today the main obstacle is the bad news: people just don't believe in sin, even though that's the only Christian doctrine that can be proven simply by reading daily newspapers.
Peter Kreeft, commenting on Romans,
You Can Understand the Bible

Genesis Notes: A Violent Attack and the Wrong Reaction

GENESIS 34
Now we are faced with something that could be out of a newspaper story. Jacob's daughter, Dinah, is raped. Not only does Jacob not deal with it himself, his sons Simeon and Levi make a deceitful deal with the rapist who wants to marry Dinah. Then after everyone has gone along with the terms (circumcision), they kill them all. Yowsa! Not exactly what we were expecting from anyone. This helped me to see why it was a bad idea for Shechem to marry Dinah and also underscored what I already saw as terrible actions from Jacob and his sons.

Simeon and Levi slay the Shechemites, Gerard Hoet

Shechem loves Dinah and wants to marry her. Hamor not only asks for her on Shechem's behalf, he suggests to Jacob that Israel settle among them, intermarry and make their home among them. On the surface this seems a generous offer. But what did Hamor's people have to gain? Why were the men of that city willing to submit even to circumcision so that Shechem could marry Dinah? Clearly they wanted to absorb Israel, which was a potential threat to them, and benefit from God's blessing in people and possessions. This would prove a continuing problem for Israel as it is to us today: the world, if not attacking God's people, seeking to absorb them into itself.

If Jacob's sons appreciated the true meaning of this Covenant rite, it is hard to imagine that they would ask it of another nation not so they could be joined, but so they could take advantage of the men in their pain and destroy them. They are deceitful like their father, only to an evil end.

... This is the future family of God, His chosen people! Certainly Simeon and Levi are accountable for their own actions. They are deceitful, violent, and lacking in remorse. They use a covenant rite for their own purposes, emptying it of meaning and disregarding its sacredness and value. They show no compassion for Dinah, only outrage. Where there might have been a peaceful solution, she was kept lonely and isolated and shamed. But Jacob must take some share in the blame as well. We have already seen that he has abdicated power to his sons. He does not appear to have brought at least the older ones up in the knowledge and love of God and His commands, as evidenced in their light treatment of circumcision and in the presence in the household of foreign gods (see Gen. 35). When his sons massacre the Shechemites, Jacob's reason for anger seems to be not over the Shechemites' loss, but rather over how the act affects his safety and status in the community. And finally, Jacob seems to have forgotten all God's care and leading over the years. When he hears of his sons' atrocities, his main worry is for the safety of his household -- the household God promised and gave him and promised to protect -- and he does not go to God for help.
Certainly, this is the sort of situation that comes up all too often today. Sadly, we have all too many examples of people who use religion for attacks on others. There is a message in this long ago Old Testament chapter that we can apply to our lives in this very situation.
How can God allow a bad man to be a pope, or a bishop or priest? Why does He allow sinners into His family at all?

The obvious answer, that sinners are all He has to choose from, doesn't satisfy. We all know people who are better than others and those, we think, are the ones who should be the Christian leaders. Remember that God called Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Jacob's sons -- and He has called the popes and bishops and He calls us today -- not because we are worthy, but because HE is worthy, and because He loves us. Chapter 34 is not the end of the story. God is constantly calling us as He will call Jacob's family to return to Bethel, to the House of God; to obedience; to worship. As we will see with Simeon and Levi, God does not leave sin unpunished. But His goal is first and always to reconcile his children to Himself.
All quotes from Genesis, Part II: God and His Family. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Worth a Thousand Words: Around the World in 80 Days

Around the World in Eighty Day, 1873 via Books and Art

Lagniappe: Nobby and the Winning Side

"We-ell, no point in going to war unless you're on the winning side," said Nobby, sticking the white feather in his helmet.

"Nobby, you was always on the winning side, the reason bein', you used to lurk aroun' the edges to see who was winning and then pull the right uniform off'f some poor dead sod. I used to hear where the generals keps an eye on what you were wearin' so they'd know how the battle was going."
Terry Pratchett, Jingo

Julie is excited about going to Japan. Scott breaks the news that it won't be a vacation ...


... and asks how she feels about sleeping in caves. Julie said nothing. This is not about that kind of silence, Scott said.

They discuss Silence (2016), directed by Martin Scorcese, in episode 163 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.