Pumping Gas and Watching Stars

Want to know what the stars are really like? Work at a gas station near where they live. Tom's nephew, Little John, grew up in Malibu and has a million stories ... as I pry them out of him (though so far not much prying has been required) I will share them.

Living in Malibu was an interesting experience. My first year of community college I worked at the only full service gas station in the area. Of course nobody who is anybody pumps their own gas, so I got to serve a lot of the big stars.

My friend Eden Unger's parents had built a spectacular home, even by Malibu standards, and a year or so after completion of the home I saw Eden at a party, which was rare since she was a sophmore at UC Berkley. Eden's parents were friends of Leo Penn (Sean's dad) and everyone in the world knew that Madonna and Sean were to be married in a super secret wedding. I asked Eden if the wedding would be at her house and she smiled and said, "maybe". We knew that was a yes. So, the next night I am working at the gas station and we hear that the big wedding is taking place at Eden's house. It was a madhouse, the first big paparazzi wedding with helicopters and the whole nine yards. At about midnight I am shutting the gas station when a short guy walks up and asks me for change for a dollar since he needs to use the pay phone (1984, before mobile phones). It's Tom Cruise. I think, "Wow is this guy short!" Anyway he says thanks and heads over to the pay phone. I shut the station and get in my car to go home and I notice he is still talking on the phone. I have always wondered why he needed to use our payphone at such a strange hour.

I have a million celebrity stories from Malibu and the Unocal 76 station!

Feed My Sheep...

The Catholic Diocese of Dallas is asking its parishes to take a little extra out of their collection plates to help pay diocesan legal costs.

In a letter sent to pastors this week, Bishop Charles Grahmann said two legal fights were likely to cost the cash-strapped diocese more than the $1 million budgeted for litigation in 2006.

Those two cases are the battle against the Dallas school system's attempt to condemn land next to a Catholic cemetery and the lawsuit over two child molesters who worked at St. Pius X Catholic Church's child-care center in Far East Dallas in the 1990s.

"Those costs have exhausted our reserves," the bishop wrote of those two lawsuits.

Dallas Morning News
(free registration required)

I have often said that if our bishop can't be a good shepherd the least we could expect is a good businessman. Evidently not.

Seeing this in the newspaper this morning evoked the usual eyerolls from Tom and me. We haven't forgotten, as apparently Bishop Grahmann has, the first time our reserves "were exhausted" by paying for the Rudy Kos lawsuit settlement due to the bishop's intransigence (he only officially apoligized to the victims and their families last year). The St. Pius X is too much more of the same for us.

Our parish has had its own problems with the bishop, as have many others. Like most Dallas Catholics we are waiting until next year when Bishop Grahmann turns 75 and has to send his letter of resignation to the Vatican ... and crossing our fingers that they accept it. Until then I guess we'll just have to keep on paying and waiting for our bishop to remember to "feed my sheep."

Fetal Tissues Are Used in Vaccines?

I had no idea at all. It took a Vatican statement condemning the practice and the CWN news report to clue me in.

The Vatican has condemned the use of vaccines derived from fetal tissue, and exhorted Catholics to lobby for the development of alternative vaccines.

The new instructions from the Vatican provide strong support for parents and doctors who resist the use of vaccines that are based on fetal remains. Such vaccines are commonly used today in the US to inoculate patients-- usually children-- against diseases such as measles, mumps, chicken pox, rubella, smallpox, rabies, polio, and hepatitis A. In some cases the vaccines developed from fetal tissues are the only products available to patients seeking protection from the disease. ...

Although parents and doctors may be morally justified in using such vaccines, when no alternative is available, the Vatican document says that they "have a duty to take recourse to alternatives, putting pressure on political authorities and health systems" to produce morally acceptable alternative treatments.

In its analysis, the Pontifical Academy for Life listed the vaccines developed from fetal tissues:

A) Live vaccines against rubella:

• the monovalent vaccines against rubella Meruvax®!! (Merck) (U.S.), Rudivax® (Sanofi Pasteur, Fr.), and Ervevax® (RA 27/3) (GlaxoSmithKline, Belgium);
• the combined vaccine MR against rubella and measles, commercialized with the name of M-R-VAX® (Merck, US) and Rudi-Rouvax® (AVP, France);
• the combined vaccine against rubella and mumps marketed under the name of Biavax®!! (Merck, U.S.);
• the combined vaccine MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) against rubella, mumps and measles, marketed under the name of M-M-R® II (Merck, US), R.O.R.®, Trimovax® (Sanofi Pasteur, Fr.), and Priorix® (GlaxoSmithKline UK).

B) Other vaccines, also prepared using human cell lines from aborted fetuses:

• two vaccines against hepatitis A, one produced by Merck (VAQTA), the other one produced by GlaxoSmithKline (HAVRIX), both of them being prepared using MRC-5;
• one vaccine against chicken pox, Varivax®, produced by Merck using WI-38 and MRC-5;
• one vaccine against poliomyelitis, the inactivated polio virus vaccine Poliovax® (Aventis-Pasteur, Fr.) using MRC-5;
• one vaccine against rabies, Imovax®, produced by Aventis Pasteur, harvested from infected human diploid cells, MRC-5 strain;
• one vaccine against smallpox, AC AM 1000, prepared by Acambis using MRC-5, still on trial.

Read the entire story at Catholic World News. The entire Vatican statement can be found here.

The Christian Attitude Toward Death

I like that Kreeft points out it is natural to have multiple attitudes toward death. So often we are expected to have only one ... if we miss someone there is sure to be a person who points out that we should be happy they'll be in heaven. Right. Got that. But that doesn't mean we can't miss them ... or not look forward to the process ourself.

Since death is both natural, unnatural, and supernatural, we should have three corresponding attitudes toward it:

Since it is natural, we honestly confront it and accept it as a fact of our being, instead of avoiding it by endless diversions of our attention or, by living in denial, pretending it is not there.

Since it is also unnatural, the inescapable punishment for sin, we hate it and fight it as our enemy, "the last enemy" (1 Cor 15:26).

Finally, since it is also supernatural, transformed by Christ's Resurrection, we welcome it. For if we are in Christ, death comes to us as God's golden chariot sent to fetch his Cinderella bride from the cinders of this dying world to his golden castle to live with him in eternal ecstasy.

The element that pervades all three of these attitudes is readiness. "The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the hour of our death. In the ancient litany of the saints, for instance, she has us pray: 'From a sudden and unforeseen death, deliver us, O Lord'; to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us 'at the hour of our death' in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death (CCC 1014).

"'Every action of yours, every thought, should be those of one who expects to die before the day is out. Death would have no great terrors for you if you had a quiet conscience ... Then why not keep clear of sin instead of running away from death? If you aren't fit to face death today, it's very unlikely you will be tomorrow'" (CCC 1014).

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Delivering Ultimatiums to God

You know the kind I mean. At some point we're lying there in bed suffering from the flu or a terrible sinus headache, not really convinced that we might not die, and we issue the directive, "Either heal me or take me now, Jesus." And we mean it ... because we have never felt so terrible ... ever.

Ok, somewhere deep in the recesses of our minds we know we're not gonna die. We know that another and better day will dawn; maybe even this very day will improve. But, personally, that is a time when I am not about thinking. I am all about feeling. That is when it is very, very good to be a Catholic. We're told that our suffering is never wasted if we offer it up for others, following Jesus' example. All we have to do is to be able to remember it at that point.

This morning, with a sinus headache that made my pillow feel hard, I had some first-class suffering to offer up. And I have a friend in dire need who I could offer it up for. So I lay there, struggling my way through the rosary, forgetting what I was doing because I moved my head and that might have been the very moment when Jesus was coming to take me because I felt as if I was dying ... and then getting back to it. And you know what? It helped me too because I had my mind, such as it was, on something besides how I felt. No matter how horrible I felt that allergy pill and aspirin were going to kick in eventually and my friend has no such options. Her problems are so much worse.

I made it all the way through the rosary and eventually that aspirin did kick in. Another lesson in gratitude was mine. Not only do I appreciate my good health but I also am glad for all those little annoyances of everyday life ... the ones that I try to let slide off my back and offer up for various causes. If not for that daily practice I am not sure I would have remembered to offer up the big one this morning. Which not only helped my friend, it helped me. No wonder I'm happy to be Catholic.

Symbolism of Beasts in Harry Potter

Which is your favorite Harry Potter beast? They all have a symbolic meaning says John Granger in Christianity Today. He spells it out for each in the article.

For most of us, the connection between an animal and its symbolic quality is pretty clear. A dog embodies and radiates the virtue of loyalty; a cat, feminine beauty and grace; a lion, power and majesty; an eagle, freedom; and a horse, nobility.

But the animals in Harry Potter are not your conventional domestic pets or zoo beasts. Rowling has a rich imagination and a special fascination for fantastic beasts; she has even written a Hogwarts "schoolbook," Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, cataloging her favorites, A to Z. Are these products of her imagination symbols in the way eagles and lions are symbols? ...

Many of the animals in Harry Potter are Rowling's own inventions (although the Acromantula reminds Tolkien fans of the giant spider Shelob and of the den of spiders in The Hobbit). However, let's focus on traditional symbols from European literature because of the wealth of references that support the interpretation of their supernatural qualities. If there is a single giveaway of the Christian meaning in Harry Potter, it is in the uniform meaning of the symbols. The magical creatures and figures we will look at more closely are the griffin, the unicorn, the phoenix, the stag, the centaur, the hippogriff, and the red lion. Each is a traditional symbol of arts and letters used to point to the qualities and person of Christ.

The Blogger and the Fatwa

The Anarchangel has had a fatwa and death threats issued for his blogging about Islam and the Koran. Granted, "in your face" seems to be the only style he knows, but this is the sort of extreme reaction that Robert Spencer wrote about in Islam Unveiled when talking about why Muslims in the United States didn't complain about extremists. He then went on to talk about documented cases of people disappeared if they gave information to the authorities and I think I am remembering that he mentioned Arizona which is where this blogger lives ... which makes me glad that the FBI is taking The Anarchangel seriously. Via On the Other Foot.

This is What Happens When You Don't Blog All Weekend ...

... and keep finding interesting stuff because everyone else did blog all weekend. You wind up with a zillion blog entries. And still you haven't blogged about the family's day trip to the Fort Worth Zoo.

It is justly among one of the top in the country with most of the zoo having lovely landscaping and habitats that are clearly designed for the animals' comfort. (The exception to that is the newest part of the zoo which feels more like a badly designed amusement park with few exhibits that make you feel as if the animals are comfortable. Unbelievably badly done considering the majority of the zoo.)

The weather was fairly comfortable thanks to the daily rainstorms we've been having and the animals were much more lively than we had expected. We wound up spending six hours walking around and having a blast.

Our favorite moment was when watching an orangutan family that had a playful and curious youngster. At one point a frog jumped out of the stream nearby and he scurried over to sniff it, very hesitantly poke it with a finger and then jump back when it jumped away. He followed it all over trying to figure it out until an older sibling came up to see what he was doing, picked up the frog until he lost interest, and then put it down again and left. It was almost like watching them with the family pet. Rose got a photo of the youngster getting ready to touch the frog. I circled the frog but it is well camouflaged that I don't know if you can see it.



Our other favorite moment was when the youngest of the elephants decided to go full body in the water and really play. I don't think I've ever seen an elephant do that and although this photo doesn't capture any of the actual hijinks, Rose did manage to get this little elephant's face expressing the delight of the moment.

About That "Weeds" Parable

This one really hit a chord as I have seen posts all over St. Blog's about it. I'm guilty too but my post was just a commentary excerpt that I really liked. Most have mentioned some variation of the Kinder, Gentler Parable mentioned by Karen Hall. That is what we got ourselves. Something about turning from "bad wheat" into "good wheat." Oh well. Maybe it was meant for someone else. I got my message earlier from "In Conversation with God."

No one had the guts of the priest who gave the history lesson on "The Weeds of Islam" as reported by Lofted Nest. Now there's a priest with conviction.

Ok, Good Charlotte Fans, Here You Go

The most looked for thing on my blog in the last few weeks? These two photos. Go figure. Maybe it was the shock of seeing those photos connected with a blog called Happy Catholic. Anyway, that's why I'm reposting this blog entry. Gotta keep the people happy, doncha know?

This Good Catholic Boy ...

Benji Madden, Good Charlotte

... wrote this song ...

"Wondering"

If you want me to wait
I would wait for you
If you tell me to stay
I would stay right through
If you don't wanna say
Anything at all
I'm happy wondering

Since I was a young man
I never was a fun man
I never had a plan and no security
Then ever since I met you
I never could forget you
I only wanna get you right here next to me

[chorus]
Cause everybody (a-whoa-oh-oh)
Needs someone that they can trust and
You're somebody (a-whoa-oh-oh)
That I found just in time
If you want me to wait
I would wait for you
If you tell me to stay
I would stay right through
If you don't wanna say
Anything at all
I'm happy wondering


Now my life is changing
It's always rearranging
It's always getting stranger than I thought it ever could
Ever since I found you
I wanna be around you
I want to get down to the point that I need you

[chorus]

Don't tell me
The bad news
Don't tell me anything at all
Just tell me
That you need me
And stay right here with me

[chorus]

... about his dog. Awwww. Read the chorus again ... I think those are his dog's words there. Double awwwwwww.

Why do I say he's a "good Catholic boy?" Well, I'm not positive but here's his twin brother with his tatoos of the Virgin Mary on one arm and the sacred heart of Jesus on the other. So, just guessing here...

Joel Madden, Good Charlotte

Thanks to my "beat reporter", Rose, for this one, presented as supporting evidence when revising her "Mom mix" playlist ... just keeping me current, ya know! (And if you like these pictures you ought to get an eyeful of the posters on her wall!)

Are Protestants to blame for church divisions?

Yes. And so are Catholics.

"'However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers ... All who have been justified in faith by Baptism are incorporated into Christ'" (CCC 818); they are our "separated brethren."

"Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church" (CCC 819). The Protestant limbs that broke off from the Catholic tree can still have enough life-giving sap (God's truth and grace) from the root (Christ) through the trunk (the Catholic Church) to be the means of salvation for their members. The Church of Christ "subsists in" (CCC 816) the Roman Catholic Church most completely but not exclusively.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

The Church as the ultimate reason for creation

"Christians of the first centuries said, 'The world was created for the sake of the Church.' God created the world for the sake of" [our] "communion with his divine life, a communion brought about by ... the Church ...

"'Just as God's will is creation and is called "the world," so his intention is the salvation of men, and it is called "the Church"'" (CCC 760).

The Church is the reason for creation, the reason for the Big Bang. The universe is a Church-making machine, and the Church is a saint-making machine.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

The Church is necessary for salvation

Since we have no salvation without Christ,
And we do not know Christ without the Church,
It follows that there is no salvation without the Church.

This traditional formula of the Church Fathers (see CCC 846), "Outside the Church there is no salvation", does not mean that Protestants and others are not saved, because this formula is not an answer to the mind's curiosity about the populations of heaven and hell, but an answer to the sincerely seeking heart's question "Where is salvation? Where is the road? What has God done to show me how to be saved?" Similarly, Christ's words to his disciples about "many" choosing the "wide" road to destruction and only "few" finding the "narrow" road to life (Mt 7:14) are not the words of a statistician spoken to a census taker, but the words of a loving heavenly Father to his beloved children, warning them of danger. To the Good Shepherd even one out of a hundred sheep is too many to lose and ninety-nine too few to save (Mt 18:12).

In fact the Church explicitly teaches that many who call themselves non-Catholics are saved. Vatican Council II said that "they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it" (LG 14), but also that "[t]hose who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience -- those too may achieve eternal salvation" (LG 16) -- not because conscience is an adequate substitute for the Church, but because conscience, too is contact with God.

Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Batman Begins

I read so many highly favorable reviews by so many diverse people, including Barbara Nicolosi who it seems never likes anything of this sort, that I was very surprised to find myself bored about two-thirds of the way through the movie. One more explosion, one more hallucinatory vision shown, one more over-the-top action scene ... it reminded me in a way of True Lies in which James Cameron just kept going with the action scenes until they had the reverse effect of that intended ... it was too much and I tuned out. Now, I liked True Lies but a little restraint would have made it a much better movie and that is how I felt about Batman Begins. I really liked so much of it, especially Christian Bale's star turn ... the way his appearance was so flexible he really looked different from portrayal of callow youth to rich playboy Bruce Wayne to in-transition ninja-training guy. Katie Holmes didn't add anything to her role but I did like the way her character would stand up for herself using her taser or grabbing a gun on the run when protecting the little boy (maybe he'll become Robin?).

Aside from the unrelenting action scene complaint, I hafta say that none of us understood the reason that whats-her-name (Katie Holmes) gave for not being able to hook up with Batman. I have never heard such twisted logic. "Umm, Bruce, you've turned yourself into everything that you should have and I'm missing that shallow guy I fell in love with so forget it." What the heck?

I thought the whole responsibility for power/living up to dead father's expectations theme was done much better in Spiderman 2, although I did like the constant reminder, "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

HC Rating: *** (Liked it despite absence of flubber.)

What the Bleep Do We Know? More Than These Moviemakers Do.

Guest reviewer, Hannah, has strong feelings about What the Bleep Do We Know?

Her rating: * - Worse than Godfather III.
Her review:

I'm know a lot of people found this movie "eye-opening" and "enlightening", but it is the most pretentious mockery of a film I have ever seen. The makers of this film completely threw philosophy and logic out the window when they decided to support the claims of the so-called experts interviewed herein.

The first example of such woeful judgment calls is the tale of the Native Americans not being able to see Columbus' ships. The explanation is that the ships were too foreign to them, so their brains ignored them completely. Only when the shaman focused and pointed them out did the others believe and see. First of all, this is a myth hundreds of years old and from a non-credible source. Second, the logic of this story would make all new-borns blind, as the world is an alien place to them, much more so than a big ship is to an Indian. Later on in the film, the experts turn to a subject on which they do not even claim to have expertise. They begin derailing all conventional views of God. Whether they realize it or not, these include Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism of any sort. In other words, all of the worlds' most cherished religions are debunked in a few moments. These are no theologians, but people who, like everyone else in the world, simply think their reasoning is the best. And what is their reasoning? They don't give any. They simply rave about how wrong and insulting it is to our pantheistic, universe- encompassing God of Spinoza's fancy that there are those who would still follow the old ways. Conflicting views are simply out of the question. When thoroughly examined, these people are some of the most close-minded I have ever beheld. No substantial logic is ever laid out, so we just have to believe that they somehow obtained extensive knowledge about a subject that has remained elusive to humanity since the beginning of time. Sounds reasonable.

The animation portion of the movie is disgusting and poorly-executed. I am a huge fan of animation, and these little "things" disgusted me and made me want to turn the movie off and burn it. This section alone would have caused me to want to suppress the memory of this movie forever, had not so many other hideous flaws done the trick already. I do not claim to have all the answers nor to be the ultimate judge of logic or reason, but check your facts, people, and use your heads. This movie makes no sense and is designed to be appealing to those with no background in philosophy or specialized sciences. As a student and lover of both, this movie makes me sick.

While researching the movie, Hannah found additional information:

I found out while reading many of the 350 reviews, that the movie was basically an infomercial for Ramtha. You know, the 35,000 spirit of the Cro-magnon warrior of Atlantis that the main expert was "channeling". None of the experts names and so-called qualifications were revealed until the end because they were all followers of J.Z. Knight's cult, except for one, who has loudly complained that his interview was edited to give the false impression that he supports the cults beliefs. Wow. That explains a lot. This was my favorite Amazon review:

If you are interested in listening to professors talk in circles, then ultimately admit that quantum physics is impossible to explain, then this movie is for you. "How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?" one of them says. Was he really quoting Alice in Wonderland?

Let me sum it up for you: Thinking positively about a memory, event, or the future is better than thinking about it negatively. Wow, what a mind blowing concept. I think I learned that when I was 12 yrs old.

Now can I go up to Rantha's camp in Washington and get locked in the place? I'd be happy to sign her contract not allowing me to leave the facility, use electricity, etc. I think I'll sit under the $100,000 chandeliers in the horse stables and ponder if reality is real.

Hero Revisited

Tom hadn't seen Hero and that was all the excuse we needed to rent the DVD again. He was less impressed than the rest of us but liked it well enough. The vivid visuals made us wonder about the symbolism of the colors and so we went a-Googlin' and found this:

In many of his films, Zhang Yimou has used the color red as a means of making a vibrant symbolic statement. However, according to the fact file on IMDB.com, the spectrum of the color motif in Hero has been expanded to include red as a symbol for imagination, blue for perceived reality, white for truth, and green for enlightenment and peace.

Source

We also found references to other symbolism that we hadn't particularly wondered about but that proved to be very interesting as well.

The chorus of the king’s servants are not meant to be comical, as it would seem to many, but rather emblematic of the will of a population under political stress.

The fight scenes are not meant to be presented as if these people enjoyed supernatural powers. Rather, they are the memories of the individuals and—more importantly—mythic figures of the people of China who endow them with abilities and traits far beyond the scope of the average person.

Source

Infallibility

Vatican Council I defined what Catholics had always believed: that the pope, like the ecumenical (worldwide) councils, is infallible (preserved by God from error) when defining doctrine or morality for the whole Church. He is not personally infallible, but his office is.

God did not let us wonder and wander in darkness about the most important truths we had to know in order to fulfill our most important task in life, union with him. No human lover would allow that if he could help it. Neither did God. Papal infallibility, like every other Catholic dogma, is properly understood only by the primacy of love...

When the Church is infallible

1. "The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful..., he proclaims in an absolute decision a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals" (LG 25).
2. "The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops, when together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme teaching office" (LG 25).
3. Even doctrines not explicitly labeled infallible can be binding on Catholic belief because "[d]ivine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter,...when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a 'definitive manner,' they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium teaching ... of faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful 'are to adhere...with religious assent' (LG 25)" (CCC 892). Wise and good parents do not explicitly label everything they say to their children as "infallible", yet wise and good children trust them. Similarly, we should trust Holy Mother Church, the Church of the apostles, saints, and martyrs, the Church with a two-thousand-year-long-memory, much more than we trust our own opinions.
4. The sign the Church attaches to an infallible teaching is Christocentric: "When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine 'for belief as being divinely revealed,' and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions 'must be adhered to with the obedience of faith'" (CCC 891).
   

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Mini Book Reviews

Quick comments about the last few books I've read:

• 57. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum may be looking for a new job but it's business as usual. More cars are blown up in this book than usual and the family works itself to a fever pitch preparing for Valerie's wedding. For me this book didn't pick up until the last third when Stephanie gave up sugar and was forced to take up another stress-reducing activity. I'll let y'all find out what that is. Any Stephanie Plum fans will find this worth reading though not up to the last book's standards.


• 56. Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski - Mike Yankoski and his friend, Sam, set out to find out what it is really like to be homeless in America by taking to the streets with minimal supplies and living in four American cities sleeping on the streets, earning their way with their guitar playing, and getting a deeper glimpse into what it means to be a Christian. This came highly recommended by martha, martha (sidebar) and is HIGHLY recommended in return by me. It will make you think twice the next time you want to turn your head and avoid that homeless man or woman coming toward you with their hand out. Also worth noting is their conclusion about handouts after months on the street. They advise giving food, water, gift certificates to restaurants or grocery stores, or taking the person to a place and buying them a meal. They do not advise giving cash because half of the time the person will be using it for drugs. This was the subject of much debate here several months ago and I'm glad to have confirmation of my granola bar/bottled water policy.
  


• 55. Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger - classic book about a young soldier whose family runs afoul of the Spanish Inquisition. He winds up with Cortes discovering Mexico and goes through not only adventures but individual growth during that time. Written in 1954, this book has a good sense of perspective. Highly recommended, this has been a favorite of mine for many years.

For cookbook minireviews go to Glad Gastronome.

Church authority: The basis for the doctrine of the Trinity

The authority of the Church was necessary for us to know the truth of the Trinity. This most distinctively Christian doctrine of all, the one that reveals the nature of God himself, the nature of ultimate reality, was revealed by God clearly only to the Church. It was not clearly revealed to his chosen people, the Jews. It is not clearly defined in the New Testament. God waited to reveal it to the Church.

Scripture contains the data for the doctrine of the Trinity; but that is not enough, for every heretic, too, throughout history has appealed to Scripture. As a matter of historical fact, it has proved impossible for men to know the nature of the true God without the true Church. The dogmas of the Trinity and the Incarnation (and the two natures of Christ) were in fact derived from the Catholic Church.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Post-Vacation Vow

I am going on a diet. From this day forward, I pledge there will be no pork chop too succulent! No donut too tasty! No pizza too laden with delicious toppings to prevent me from reaching my scientifically-determined ideal weight! As God as my witness, I'll always be hungry again!

Homer Simpson

This is a pretty universal experience wouldn't you say?

Abilene Update

We're in the Holiday Inn Express at Abilene, Kanas, impatiently awaiting the opening time for the Eisenhower Presidential Library (9 a.m.). We're grooving on the cable (first the history channel for a little Roman/Gaullic conflict, now Animal Planet for the skinny on the Tasmanian Devil ... very, very scary animals).

The hotel manager said that this hotel is always full because of the big draw that the Eisenhower Library creates. Lots of people like us will detour just enough to visit. Not only did Eisenhower save civilization and lead our country, but he helped saved his hometown of Abilene by creating a steady tourist trade.

We got an upgrade to a Executive Suite because of a room shortage (not because it's too full at the moment but because two maids called in sick this morning and they still don't have all the regular rooms cleaned up ... pity the poor breakfast cook who got a call after her father's birthday party to come in and clean rooms). Anyway, this room gets a much high rating than the Embassy Suites we stayed in at the Plaza in KC. Sad for the Embassy Suites but nice for us at the moment.

Most amazing is that I'm blogging from a Holiday Inn in Abilene, Kansas. Yes, wireless high-speed Internet is available everywhere. Though it is free here as a marketing pull (all the hotel billboards for a long way around push their FREE internet connections). Another improvement over Embassy Suites where we paid ten dollars a day ... good thing Tom had business to check on.

Another Postcard from KC

Hey, at least I'm not "live blogging" the reunion.

Yesterday we went to Pierpont's, a very nice restaurant in Union Station, the old railroad station. The station is very grand and has many shops but what fascinated Tom and me was the hallway that had the doors where you used to board the trains. At night with no people around you really could almost go back in time to when this place was just as busy as DFW Airport is today.

Reinforcing that is the General Pershing Memorial which is on top of the hill across from the station. It is imposing and grand and also done in that 1920's style. Really a wonderful sight to see and reflect on. It was so sad to look at the inscription that talked about "The World War" and realize all the joy of the war being over that was reflected in the monument was so short lived as WWII happened so soon afterwards.

My brother-in-law was astonished that this existed in KC and my mother never even knew it existed despite all the time they spent in and around KC during our formative years. It makes sense, though, because General Pershing was from here, Truman was from Independence just down the street (so to speak), and Eisenhower was from Abilene ... all those people coming from Kansas. And being in the middle of the country with the railroad as the main form of transportation, KC was vital to the war effort during the first World War. You tend to forget that these days.

Today my brother and his brave wife have taken all the kids to Worlds of Fun (local amusement park) while the rest of us are left to our own devices. Tom and I are meeting The Happy Capitalist and Merry Stitcher (check my sidebar) who are my old college friends from KU (we're not gonna go into how long ago that was!

Kind of funny during all this family interaction to look at how everyone has changed and in what ways ... how one family is very much like ours while another kind of reminds me of the family dynamics I grew up in. It's interesting.

Postcard from Kansas City

Hey y'all! We're having a blast here in K.C. Since our family is so small there are only 14 of us all total and there are no planned activities so this is like having a great vacation with your entire family. Very cool.

Won't bore everyone with the details but my sister's family and ours went to the zoo yesterday while waiting for the others to arrive in K.C. I think she had the best summary of the experience: "It's like they went for the San Diego zoo but forgot to put in the animals." I have never walked so many long concrete trails through very nice landscaping and seen so few animals ... especially at a ZOO!

Best Indian restaurant name ever (found in Westport):

Korma Sutra
The Sensual Food of India

Lords of Dogtown

*** Liked it despite absence of flubber. (see rating key at bottom)

The Lords of Dogtown is a movie about the Z-Boys who started the skateboarding craze in Venice, California, in the 1970s. If you are at all interested in the Z-Boys, skateboarding or Heath Ledger (the movie's one "name") then you probably will enjoy this gritty look at that time. The movie did a great job of showing us the boys' disparate backgrounds and problems and how they handled their eventual fame with the accompanying sex, drugs, and partying.

Not really being interested in any of those things I still found the movie to be well done and compelling, though it could have used a little less skateboarding for my taste (hence my rating). It is a really well done piece though and, not being a Heath Ledger groupie (unlike some in my household!) I was really impressed with his performance in a less than glamorous role. He was totally believable as the surf shop owner who first forms the skateboard team and then has to face who he really is in the wake of their rise to fame.

Extras: a killer soundtrack from that time period and cameo appearances by the actual Z-boys (if you're in the know).

______________________________
HC Rating System
(from The Simpsons, what else?)

**** Listen, we've been meaning to have a talk with you about your reviews. Everything's a rave! Nine thumbs up, what the hell is that? (newspaper editor to Homer)
*** "Liked it despite the absence of flubber..." - Mel Gibson reading Prof. Frink's review
** Christian: You desecrated a classic film. This is worse than "Godfather III."
Mel Gibson: Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa! Let's not say things we can't take back.
* "Your movie was more boring than church. All you did was yak, yak, yak. You didn't even shoot anybody." -Homer Simpson's comment on movie screening

The Spirit and the Church

The Holy Spirit is to the Church what the soul is to the body. He is the Church's soul, the Church's life. The Church is "the Temple of the Holy Spirit" (CCC 737). Our bodies, too, are temples of the Holy Spirit (see Cor 6:19), because we are cells in the Body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit infallibly guided the Church's earliest ecumenical councils to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity -- including the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Why do Catholics believe in the Holy Spirit? On the authority of the Holy Catholic Church, which teaches it. And why do Catholics believe this Church has infallible authority? Because the Holy Spirit, and not any human spirit, is her soul.

"[T]he Church's mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament" (CCC 738).

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Second Rate Movie is No Treasure

NATIONAL TREASURE
HC rating: Worse Than Godfather III **

I had so many people recommend this movie that against the movie critics' better judgment we rented it this weekend. I like Nicholas Cage and had a sneaking desire to see it so I can't blame it all on everyone else. Ho hum. Second rate plot. Lackluster acting except from John Voight who, with the lack of actual material to work with, seemed to be channeling the father from "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Sean Bean who turned in his usual excellent performance, though with an equal lack of decent material he was reduced to a lot of teeth gnashing. Distinctly boring puzzle pieces and mystery to solve. Nicholas Cage seemed to think that being scholarly involved a lot of sleepwalking in this part. The movie makers evidently were under the impression that if they mashed bits of a lot of classic movies together they could come up with a winner. Wrong.

You can do much, much better by renting one of the movies they were trying to copy.

• A great adventure movie: Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark
• A great movie with a quirky father-son chemistry: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Fabulous mystery to solve with two adversaries working against each other: The Fugitive
• Humor, romance, puzzle solving mystery: Romancing the Stone
  

______________________________
HC Rating System
(from The Simpsons, what else?)

**** Listen, we've been meaning to have a talk with you about your reviews. Everything's a rave! Nine thumbs up, what the hell is that? (newspaper editor to Homer)
*** "Liked it despite the absence of flubber..." - Mel Gibson reading Prof. Frink's review
** Christian: You desecrated a classic film. This is worse than "Godfather III."
Mel Gibson: Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa! Let's not say things we can't take back.
* "Your movie was more boring than church. All you did was yak, yak, yak. You didn't even shoot anybody." -Homer Simpson's comment on movie screening

How to "Get" the Holy Spirit

We cannot "get" him; we can only let him get us. He is God. Only God can give him. Christ gives him. He comes from the Father through the Son...

The Spirit is free. He is God's gift. There is nothing we can do to "get" him; we must simply ask, in faith, like a child trusting his father's love. That same is true of the Spirit's gifts, such as wisdom: we get them simply by asking and believing: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith" (Jas 1:5-6).

But be careful what you ask for, because God will take you at your word. The Spirit's job is to sanctify, to make saints, and saints are not safe! They are like the One who makes them. God is not safe. Rabbi Abraham Heschel says: "God is not nice. God is not an uncle. God is an earthquake."

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

I think we all get to feeling so "familiar" with God that we forget who we're dealing with sometimes. That's why I like Rabbi Hershel's reminder, "God is an earthquake."

The Spirit and Scripture

When a Spirit-filled Christian reads the Word of God -- the Word this very Spirit inspired -- the book seems to "come alive" and "light up" from within itself. This is because its primary Author is really present in the reader, alive, interpreting his own words...

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Does it get any cooler than that? Nope.

Best Summer Movie Ever!!!

MR. & MRS. SMITH
HC rating: Nine Thumbs Up ****

Better than Bond. More fun than True Lies. More gorgeous than ... practically anyone (except Tom Cruise ... or actress of your choice - not really my forté, actresses).

No real need for more details but let me just say that when Hannah and Tom go to see this movie next week (and they will), Rose and I will be going too. It was just that much fun.

UPDATE: Barbara Nicolosi thinks the movie was a "Reece's Peanut Butter Cup" while her friend, Sean, goes for the chocolate truffle. Of course, I'm with Sean on this one. She also thinks a Christian would have made a better movie...

... If we made that movie, we would be more interested in the marriage issues than the shoot-em-up sequences. We would be more interested in showing how real love makes being an assassin by profession impossible. Then, I think it would be okay for us to do.

Perhaps so but it would not have been the same movie and I think it would have been virtually impossible to do in a way that would be appealing to the same crowd. She's talking about a different movie, one that I'd like to see, but not this one. I really expected this movie to take the "War of the Roses" turn (a movie I despised) and was very pleased when it didn't.

______________________________
HC Rating System
(from The Simpsons, what else?)

**** Listen, we've been meaning to have a talk with you about your reviews. Everything's a rave! Nine thumbs up, what the hell is that? (newspaper editor to Homer)
*** "Liked it despite the absence of flubber..." - Mel Gibson reading Prof. Frink's review
** Christian: You desecrated a classic film. This is worse than "Godfather III."
Mel Gibson: Whoa, whoa, hey, whoa! Let's not say things we can't take back.
* "Your movie was more boring than church. All you did was yak, yak, yak. You didn't even shoot anybody." -Homer Simpson's comment on movie screening

Human Sexuality

God invented sex. That is why it is not "bad" or "dirty". Nor is it merely neutral, to be used as we please. It is good and holy.

No aspect of the Church's teaching is more misunderstood and rejected today than her unchanging and unchangeable principles of sexual morality. For these cannot be understood except in the context of her vision of man.

Man has not evolved by accident or blind chance. Man has been loved into existence by God. Man is willed by God, deliberately designed, as male and female. That is the first reason why sex is holy.

The second reason is that God has designed and willed not only the existence of sex but also its purpose. It is holy not only because of its origin but also because of its end. That purpose is to be the means of procreating the greatest things in the universe: new persons, with immortal souls. "By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman as spouses and parents cooperate in a unique way in the Creator's work" (CCC 372).

Sexual intercourse is like the Consecration of the Mass. It is a human work that God uses as the material means to do the most divine work done on earth. In the Mass, man offers bread and wine, the work of nature and human hands, for God to transform into the Body and Blood of Christ, In sex, man offers his work -- the procreation of a new body -- for God to do his work: the creation of a new soul. God grants priests the incredible dignity of being his instruments in working one of his two greatest miracles. God grants spouses the incredible dignity of being his instruments in working the other...

The principles of sexual morality are essentially unchanging because the meaning of sex is essentially unchanging. They stem from human nature itself, which God designed, not from the changing mores of society, which man designs. God's law is very clear: no adulterated sex, that is, sex outside of marriage. As Holy Mass is the place for Transubstantiation, holy marriage is the place for sex.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Demons

Angels have intellect and free will, like man. Some angels chose, at the beginning, to rebel against God's will and became demons, or evil spirits.

Just as good spirits help us, evil spirits seek to harm us by tempting us to sin.

Any baptized and believing Christian has the power to resist temptation, whether it comes from "the world, the flesh, or the devil" - that is, (a) from the external world of fallen human society, (be) from the internal world of our own fallen, selfish instincts, of body or soul, or (c) from the supernatural world of evil spirits.

No faithful Christicn can be demon-possessed against his will, though many will be severely oppressed and all will be tempted. The Church, like Christ, has the power to free those who are "possessed" by exorcising the evil spirits. Christ promised this gift to his Church (Mk 16:17). In most times and places, demon possession and exorcism are rare. But they are real.

If the devil is not real, the Bible lies (for example 1 Pet 5:8), and Christ was a fool, for he certainly believed in demons and in Satan (see, for instance, Luke 10:18).

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

The Hill of Crosses

I can't get this place out of my mind after reading about it in Catholic Shrines of Central and Eastern Europe by Kevin J. Wright. Steve at November Song brought it to mind again by this post which has some really wonderful links to information and photos of this unique outward testimony to the faith of the people of Lituania. This is one of the lengthier entries in the book but I am putting it because it pulls together everything so well.

One of the most unforgettable and emotional sites in Lithuania is the Hill of Crosses. An intense place of pilgrimage, the shrine offers a glimpse into the history of Lithuanian Catholics and their struggles with the former Communist regime. A worldwide attraction, the two-humped hillock is today buried amidst a multitude of crosses.

More than 170 years ago, however, the site was simply a hill overgrown with weeds. That all changed in 1831, when the first of hundreds of crosses were placed in the ground to honor those killed or deported to Siberia in an anti-Russian uprising. Thirty years later, more crosses were mounted on the hill in memory of those tragically killed in the peasant rebellion of 1863. In the ensuing years, more and more crosses were added to the site. At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, the faithful came here to pray in solitude or take part in religious processions. They came to present their needs to God, to mourn those who had been killed, imprisoned, or exiled, and to recall important historical events.

When Soviet authorities took power in Lithuania after World War II, the new government designated the place as "forbidden" and severely punished those who defied them. The great drama then began to unfold as authorities destroyed the crosses on the hill in an attempt to smother Christianity and erase the "fanaticism." Between 1941 and 1952 the Lithuanians suffered greatly as many of their people were exiled to Siberia. Entire villages were emptied. In 1956 the people began returning to their homes.

Only a short time later, the faithful began secretly replenishing the hill with crosses again in memory of the unbearable torture they had endured and of those who had died and in gratitude for coming back. Lithuanians who returned from captivity in Siberia also put up crosses to thank God for the chance to walk the paths of their homeland and breathe its air again. In time, the Hill of Crosses with its heart-wrenching inscriptions became an open book of people's lives. The site symbolized resistance to violence, oppression and genocide. The resurrection of the crosses on the hill told the world that the nation of Lithuania was not dead.

But once the Communist authorities discovered the freshly planted Christian symbols, they attempted in the spring of 1961 to rid the site of its religious sentiments once and for all. Under the strict guard of the Red Army and KGB, soldiers bulldozed the area, burned the wooden crosses, recycled the iron ones, and buried the stone crosses in the ground. A maple tree, planted by the people to symbolize Lithuania's independence, was also uprooted. (Ironically, however, the townspeople later returned the tree to the hill in the form of a cross.)

When new crosses began cropping up, the Soviets attempted new ways of destroying the hill. On oe ocasin, the Soviets flooded the place, turning the Hill into a virtual island. The Communists exhausted themselves in designing new ways to stop the faithful from planting the symbols of resurrection. They dug ditches, closed bus stops, posted signs, punished trespassers, and blocked roads. But all was in vain. Ironically, one of the new crosses erected during the night read, "Jesus, do not punish the villains for they not know what they are doing." In total, the government bulldozed the hill three times, only to see the crosses spring up again and again. In 1975 the authorities leveled the hill for the last time.

Since then, more than fifty thousand crosses have been placed on the hill -- a testament to the spirit of the people. the planting of crosses can be traced to the Lithuanian tradition of erecting crosses near roads and settlements. In fact, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, so many crosses had been placed on the side of roads that the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire issued an edict forbidding the erecting of them. However, the order had little effect, as the cross had already become a deeply rooted symbol in the heart of theLithuanian people...

Prayer of the Cross

Jesus, you became an example of humility, obedience, and patience, and preceded me onthe way of life bearing your cross. Grant that, inflamed with your love, I may cheerfully take upon myself the sweet yoke of your gospel together with the mortification of the cross and follow you as a true disciple so that I may be united with you in heaven forever and ever. Amen.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Silence, Our Father, and Glory Be

The prayers that make up the Rosary are simple and easy to memorize (though I will admit I haven't really got the Apostles' Creed down yet). You can go here for instructions on which prayers are said when.

Before beginning each decade it is customary to announce the mystery and read the scripture associated with it, sometimes along with a short meditation. I tend to do most of my meditation while I am saying the prayers rather than before but I like to take a moment before each decade to center my mind on what I will think about, as you can range far wider in the Gospel than merely the announced mystery. This is usually when I "dedicate" each decade to an intention. Oftentimes the entire rosary will be dedicated as well but different mysteries will be applicable to different needs on your heart at the time.

Listening and meditation are nourished by silence. After the announcement of the mystery and the proclamation of the word, it is fitting to pause and focus one's attention for a suitable period of time on the mystery concerned, before moving into vocal prayer. A discovery of the importance of silence is one of the secrets of practicing contemplation and meditation. One drawback of a society dominated by technology and the mass media is the fact that silence becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Just as moments of silence are recommended in the Liturgy, so too in the recitation of the Rosary it is fitting to pause briefly after listening to the word of God, while the mind focuses on the content of a particular mystery.

The thing that I really noticed when I started saying the rosary was that the decades of Hail Mary prayers were always begun with an "Our Father" (aka The Lord's Prayer) and ended with a "Glory Be" (Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.). In my mind they "cradle" the other prayers, surrounding the entire proceedings with God to whom all our thoughts and prayers should be offered during that time. Quite often when I am saying them, I also am thinking of how perfectly planned but yet unexpected God's plan of salvation is.

The “Our Father”
After listening to the word and focusing on the mystery, it is natural for the mind to be lifted up towards the Father. In each of his mysteries, Jesus always leads us to the Father, for as he rests in the Father's bosom (cf. Jn 1:18) he is continually turned towards him. He wants us to share in his intimacy with the Father, so that we can say with him: “Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). By virtue of his relationship to the Father he makes us brothers and sisters of himself and of one another, communicating to us the Spirit which is both his and the Father's. Acting as a kind of foundation for the Christological and Marian meditation which unfolds in the repetition of the Hail Mary, the Our Father makes meditation upon the mystery, even when carried out in solitude, an ecclesial experience.

When I was learning the "Glory Be" I was struck by its perfection as well. It was a long, long time before I could get past thinking about the sheer mystery contained in "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." How do so few words communicate so much about God's nature and glory and what he has done for us?

The “Gloria”
Trinitarian doxology is the goal of all Christian contemplation. For Christ is the way that leads us to the Father in the Spirit. If we travel this way to the end, we repeatedly encounter the mystery of the three divine Persons, to whom all praise, worship and thanksgiving are due. It is important that the Gloria, the high-point of contemplation, be given due prominence in the Rosary. In public recitation it could be sung, as a way of giving proper emphasis to the essentially Trinitarian structure of all Christian prayer.

To the extent that meditation on the mystery is attentive and profound, and to the extent that it is enlivened – from one Hail Mary to another – by love for Christ and for Mary, the glorification of the Trinity at the end of each decade, far from being a perfunctory conclusion, takes on its proper contemplative tone, raising the mind as it were to the heights of heaven and enabling us in some way to relive the experience of Tabor, a foretaste of the contemplation yet to come: “It is good for us to be here!” (Lk 9:33).

RESOURCES:

• Rosary Center
  
• EWTN - Rosary, How to Pray the Rosary, The Rosary and Sacred Scripture
• All quotes are from: Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis by Pope John Paul II

Angels

Angels are not mythical but real. They are not an optional addition to the Catholic faith; their existence is a dogma of the faith (Lateran Council IV). Angels appear many, many times in Scripture. The life of Christ especially is surrounded by their work (see CCC 333).

"Angel" means "messenger". "St. Augustine says: '"Angel" is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is "spirit"' " (CCC 329). Angels are spirits who worship and serve God by ministering to men. (So do we!) They minister to men by announcing messages from God (their most important messages were at Christ's birth) and by guarding and guiding us.

Every human being has a guardian angel assigned to him from birth to death. Christ himself assured us of that: see Matthew 18:10 and Luke 16:22.

"Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels" (CCC 331). When he returns at the end of the world, he will come with all his angels (Mt 24:31; 25:31).

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Man's Place in Creation

God created "the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1), that is, "all that is, seen and unseen" (CCC 326, referring to the Nicene Creed). Man lives in both dimensions. He lives in the visible world of matter by his body, and he lives in the invisible world of spirit by his soul. The acts of the soul are invisible and immaterial: thoughts, feelings, desires, and choices have no size, weight, shape, or color.

Man is the lowest of the spirits and the highest of the animals. He is the center and bridge of the created universe. He is creation's priest, for when he offers his whole self to God he offers all creation, since he is in himself all that creation is: spirit (mind and will), which he shares with angels; sensations and feelings, which he shares with animals; organic life, which he shares with plants; and physical matter, which he shares with chemicals.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Good Job, Genius!

STAR WARS III, REVENGE OF THE SITH

WARNING, SPOILERS

Everyone has gone into great detail with various reviews and I am just going to give my general impressions here. Probably the best commentary for discussing how George Lucas deals with details that must be settled to flow into Star Wars IV (the real first movie) is found at Quoth the Maven. Loaded with spoilers, so watch out if you haven't seen it.

• So when Obi Wan kept complaining "he was supposed to bring BALANCE!" ... it never occurred to anyone that two Jedi would be the balance to two Sith? Ok, so they're not rocket scientists.


• Moral relativism charges about this movie ... having seen the movie, I now can reply, "Bunk!" Didn't anyone hear Chancellor Palpatine talking to Anakin about "Good is all in your point of view?" That's how he started messing with Anakin's mind in the first place, through moral relativism. When Obi Wan said that "absolutism was the way of the Sith" in my personal opinion he was talking about the way that Anakin was judging people to be either all good or all evil ... as tools to be used.


• Watching the "mosquito" ships on the Wookie planet, and seeing General Grievous turn into a giant cockroach without his cloak, and seeing that lava planet ... just kept reminding me of Texas in August. And I don't like to look into the future like that.


• The best character in this movie was a toss-up for me ... either R2D2 or Yoda.


• The best real-life actor was (to my great surprise) Hayden Christensen. If he doesn't decide to become an architect instead of going on acting as I read on someone's blog (can't remember where), then he should specialize in villainous characters (with or without glowing yellow eyes) Second best actor was Ian McDiarmid (Councellor Palpatine).


• There was still absolutely no chemistry between Anakin and Padme, although because Anakin kept obsessively talking about his mother, I did believe that his one true goal was to save Padme from death. Ironic that as the Emperor told him in the end, Anakin actually did kill her ... though the Emperor was just saying whatever worked to raise the hatred and self-loathing levels.


• I want to ride a giant lizard like Obi Wan did.


• Order 66 ... what a good idea that was (if you were evil, anyway).


• There is nothing so fun as watching Yoda go ballistic on someone. When it is on the evil Emperor then it is twice as fun.


• Where did "Good job, genius!" come from? That was Rose's reaction when Anakin pushed Samuel L. Jackson out the window and then said, "What have I done?"

The Cows Got Into the Corn Field

I always am likening having our own business to being farmers. When the kids didn't want to help with filing or come up to the office during the summer I would talk about how farmers' kids would be helping milk cows. When we had to cut vacation short or Tom had to work incredible hours to make a deadline I would think of having to get the harvest in before it rained. So now we have damage control after the cows have broken through the fence and trampled through the corn.

Our office was broken into last night. The good news is that we are insured and that the thieves were not interested in anything but obvious computers. Just one room over were all our servers where we also host other sites. Now that would have been a nightmare if they had had the smarts to go prospecting and knew what to look for. The bad news is that they went for the glossy stuff: our sub-leaser's G5 and Apple monitor, my computer and 1-day-old Apple monitor (sigh), and Chris' computer and one day old Dell monitor (we were comparing the Apple and Dell to see what the differences in color were ... neglible for anyone who is interested). No files were lost, at least those of any importance, because they are all kept on the servers, which were spared. Anyway we back-up nightly and take the tapes home in case of fire, flood, or ... theft.

So not that big a deal except in terms of time lost and finances juggled to replace the computers to get up and running as early as possible tomorrow.

The Distinctiveness of the Doctrine of Creation

It is a simple and startling fact that no human mind on earth ever conceived the idea that the entire universe, visible and invisible, was created out of nothing, not just made or formed out of something, by a single all-powerful God -- not one except the Jews and those who later learned this idea from the Jews, namely, Christians and then Muslims.

The Jewish idea of the universe as something created was as unique in history as the Jewish idea of God the Creator -- the idea of a single all-perfect, all-powerful, all-wise, all-holy, all-just, and all-merciful God. The uniqueness of both ideas can be explained by the same fact: both came from God's revelation not man's imagination. (see Is 60:1-3).

The truth about our ultimate origin -- the doctrine of creation -- had the same supernatural source as the equally unique and startling doctrine about our ultimate destiny -- to be spiritually married to the one perfect God. That too is something "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (I Cor 2:9).

Different human cultures imagined different ultimate destinies: Nirvana, the Happy Hunting Grounds, the Elysian Fields, the Return to Paradise -- but all these pale in comparison with the divinely revealed truth about our destiny. Similarly, different cultures also invented many different so-called creation myths, but none ever got as far as a Creator of the universe out of nothing.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

How perfect that I read this just the other day. Yesterday our priest's homily was really amazing. He's always an amazing speaker but I have never heard anyone do such a wonderful job of saying that Christianity is the true religion while not saying anything bad about the other ones. He took the above concept as his starting point and then went further to talk about God stepping over the gap to meet us in humanity ... the humanity of Jesus Christ ... and about using that as a stepping stone for meeting each of us personally in our hearts and in our lives. The way to do that? Prayer, of course.

The Nature of God

God is infinite; therefore he cannot be defined. But this does not mean he has no nature. He is not a "whatever", an "everything in general and nothing in particular". He has a character. He is one thing and not another: righteous, not wicked or indifferent; wise, not foolish; merciful, not cruel. But each of his attributes is infinite (unlimited): he is infinitely righteous, indefinitely wise, infinitely merciful, and so on. He is infinite, but not indefinite. He is infinitely himself.

And we can get to know this character:

1. better by faith than by reason; better by trusting his own revelation of himself better than by trusting our own cleverness;


2. better still by prayer, by real personal contact with him, both private and public, both spontaneous and liturgical;


3. and best of all by loving him, doing his will and obeying his commandments, especially that of loving each other; "for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 Jn 4:20).

We can know something of God's nature, or character, from ourselves, from our deepest desires. God is our ultimate joy. God is the one whose presence will give us infinite and unimaginable ecstasy without boredom forever. What must God be, to do this? A sea of infinite beauty, a light of infinite understanding, a heart of infinite love. And more, always more, infinitely more, "what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived" (1 Cor 2:9).

Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Faith and Trials

God tests our faith by allowing us to suffer. He does not make us suffer, but he allows it. He does not miraculously shield us from suffering, though he could. He does this so that we learn to trust him more; he does it to mature and strengthen our souls and thus to increase our ultimate happiness.

God also tests our faith by remaining invisible, so that we must believe him instead of seeing him. He could manifest himself in constant miraculous displays, but he does not do so, for our sake. For more "blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (Jn 20:29).

He tests our faith to make it stronger, as a gardener prunes a plant or a blacksmith forges iron in the fire or an athlete trains his muscles by exercise.

That is why he holds back and lets himself be forgotten, ignored, or even rejected. If we could not refuse him, our faith would not be a free choice. It is the Godfather who makes you "an offer you can't refuse", not God the Father.

We do not need to have faith in the moon: we can see it. We do not need to have faith in an equation: we can prove it. But we need to have faith in the goodness of our friends, our parents, our spouse. God is more like a friend, a father, or a husband than like the moon or an equation.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

What I Learned From the Star Wars "Trili-gon"

The way everything ended up we had about 7 boys and definitely 3 girls spend the night. However, this is not accounting for the "floaters" who came and then had to leave for other events or those who were at other commitments and then came late ... and left later. In fact, one boy who couldn't make it Saturday showed up at 8:00 on Sunday and stayed until 3;00 with the other hangers-on.

I was told we were "brave" and that it sounded "chaotic" but not really at all. One dad who teaches at the school called and asked Hannah, "So how is it over there? Cats and dogs sleeping together? Boys and girls doing the same? How about your parents? Are they watching the movies with y'all?" Ummm, boys and girls in separate parts of the house and though I drifted in every so often to see which part of the movie was on we didn't intrude tooo much. The good thing about this gang is there is a lot of positive peer pressure. They really were there to watch the movies, play "Collector's Edition Classic Star Wars Trivial Pursuits", etc. And, we trusted Hannah that if anything untoward happened she'd alert us to the situation.

It was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed having a bunch of boys around since the ratios always have been reversed until this weekend. So, what I learned:

• You can never, ever have too much food around when you are feeding 7-10 teenage boys. Three 16" pizzas disappear as if they never existed. 6 quarts of popcorn likewise. Four liters of pop are gone in four hours. Good thing I had emergency supplies of pretzels, Doritos, etc or they would have wasted away to nothing.


• A chocolate sheet cake creatively decorated with crossed blue and red light sabers and "May the Force be with you" (all done by Rose) is NOT regarded as dumb and, in fact, may result in having people "call" the pieces of cake with the light sabers.
  
• If you have a gallon of whole milk for breakfast, you will get called a hero by many and hugged by three boys you do not even really know. Girls will smile and be thankful, but not as openly appreciative.


• No one can get every ounce of enjoyment out of Star Wars like a bunch of guys. My first clue was hearing the discussion begin as they trooped down the hall to watch Star Wars, "So do you think there is any significance to the fact that Luke starts out with a blue light saber and then winds up with a red light saber?"


• StarWarz Gangsta Rap is seriously funny.


• I'm not sure exactly which demographic Gray's Anatomy is appealing to but I was interested to overhead one of the guys saying at breakfast that the ads looked "raunchy" to a chorus of agreement. If teenage guys don't think all those sexy shenanigans in the ads look good ... but maybe they're too smart for the show ... or at least the ads. Haven't seen it but it was the "raunchy" factor that turned me off too.


• George "Michael Moore" Lucas says that the over-25 crowd likes the three older movies while the under-25 crowd like the newer movies. He wishes. Only parts of the newer two movies are acceptable and they were all discussed at length. I mean Darth Maul is very cool and how about when Yoda whoops up on the evil count? Good moments but they can't make up for that tragic romance (and we're not talking Romeo and Juliet kind of "tragic"). This doesn't mean that no one is going to see the third movie. Everyone will see it with high hopes that something will finally measure up to the first three.


• Tom is one savvy guy. We were talking later about how much we liked these kids and how nice they are (while still being normal ...). I was shocked when he said, "Yeah, you can see no one has any shenanigans in mind. No one is going out to their car every 10 minutes or anything." Gee, I hadn't even thought of something like that. But he was quietly assessing everything. So nice to learn new things about each other even after so many years.


• Dallas is a much smaller town than you'd think. Turns out one boy's mother dated someone who later married someone who was a very good friend of mine many years ago. The guy is Jewish and keeps kosher while my friend is Baptist (?). This leads to my next point...


• Theology teaching moments come up at the oddest times. During the "break" with everyone standing around eating cake and drinking milk in kitchen when that whole Jewish guy who married my friend thing came up ... the boy said, "Yeah and she's always telling him he's going to hell because he's not a Christian." Just didn't sound like my friend but we haven't been in touch for years. Anyway, then he went on to say, "Just like my 1st grade teacher and my confirmation teacher talking about how non-Catholics are going to hell." Which was my chance to leap in and say that was totally against Church teachings and tell about the American bishop who recently was excommunicated for preaching that very thing. All were much impressed and I heard this being peripherally talked about later.


• When it came to going to Mass the next morning I surprised even myself by suddenly lowering my "cool mom" factor several degrees when I suddenly began quizzing each and every kid there, "Are you Catholic? Then when are you going to Mass today if you don't go with us?" Which led to more "non-Catholics WON'T go to hell" talk.

Bottom line, these are good kids, they were a heck of a lot of fun to be around, and when Hannah has her "Firefly" shindig later this summer I'll buy lots more pizza.

Faith and Belief

Faith includes belief, but it is more than belief. Here are some of the differences.

Belief is an act of the mind; faith is also an act of the will.

Faith is an act by which one person says to another: "I choose to trust you and believe you."

The object of belief is an idea; the object of faith is a person.

Belief alone is not something to die for. But faith is. Faith is also something to live every moment.

Belief alone is not enough to save us from sin and bring us to heaven. "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe -- and shudder" (Jas 2:19). But faith does save us. We are "justified by faith" (Rom 5:1), if it is a faith that is alive and thus produces good works (cf. Jas 2:17).

Non-Catholics who, through no fault of their own, do not believe that the Catholic faith is true can still be saved by the faith in their hearts that leads them to love and seek God. For Christ promised that "he who seeks finds" (Mt 7:8). So while correct belief without faith cannot save anyone, faith without correct belief can.

Catholic Christianity:A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Faith and Feeling

Faith is not some state of feeling we get ourselves into. It is much simpler than that. It is simply believing in God and therefore believing everything he has revealed -- no matter how we feel. "God said it, so I believe it, and that settles it."

Feelings are influenced by external things, like fashions and fads, wind and weather, diet and digestion. But when God gives us the gift of faith, he gives it from within, from within our own free will.

The devil can influence our feelings, but he has no control over our faith.

We are not responsible for our (unfree) feelings, but we are responsible for our (free) faith.

Yet, though faith is not a feeling, it often produces feelings: of trust, peace, gratitude, and confidence, for instance. And faith can also be aided by feelings: for instance, when we feel trustful or grateful to someone, God or man, it is much easier for us to believe him than we feel mistrustful or ungrateful.

But even when we do not feel trustful or peaceful, we can still believe. Faith is not dependent on feelings. It is dependent on facts: divinely revealed facts.

There is a Chinese parable about faith and feeling. Fact, Faith, and Feeling are three men walking along the top of a well. As long as Faith keeps his eyes on Fact, ahead of him, all three keep walking. But when Faith takes his eyes off Fact and turns around to worry about how Feeling is doing, both Faith and Feeling fall off the wall. (But Fact never does.)

Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Are There Animals in Heaven?

I have a few friends whose pets have died recently or who have just found out about a bad pet illness. This is from last July for anyone who wants to see what Peter Kreeft says about the subject.

Interpreting Scripture

... the Church is the servant of Scripture, as a teacher is faithful to her textbook. Her Book comes alive when the Holy Spirit teaches through her, as a sword comes alive in the hands of a great swordsman (see Heb 4:12).

Some of the most important principles of interpreting Scripture are:

1. All Scripture is a word-picture of Christ. The Word of God in words (Scripture) is about the Word of God in flesh (Christ).


2. Therefore the Old Testament is to be interpreted in light of the New (and vice versa), for Christ came not "to abolish the law and the prophets ... but to fulfill them" (Mt 5:17).


3. Saints are the best interpreters of Scripture, because their hearts are closer to the heart of God, Scripture's primary Author. Christ said, "If any man's will is to do his [the Father's] will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God" (Jn 7:17).


4. The Gospels are the very heart of Scripture. The saints found no better material for meditation than these (see CCC 125-27).


5. Each passage should be interpreted in its context -- both the immediate context of the passage and the overall context of the whole Bible in its unity, all the parts cohering together.


6. Scripture should be interpreted from within the living tradition of the Church. This is not narrow and limiting, but expansive and deep. It is also reasonable; for suppose a living author had written a book many years ago and had been teaching that book every day: Who could interpret that book better than he?

Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

Where Do I Go When I Need to Feel Closer to Jesus?

About two weeks ago when I just felt like I needed to get closer to Jesus. I instinctively started praying the rosary. That answer might surprise people who don't know about the rosary. I know it surprised me when I first started learning about it.

The first time I ever prayed the rosary was about five years ago when Hannah had woken us in the night with extreme stomach pains and Tom wound up taking her to the emergency room to see if it was appendicitis. I didn't know the first thing about the rosary except that it was supposed to be a great way to pray ... and, truth to tell, I was in quite a panic and wanted someone who would relate to me ... another mother ... Mary. Of course, I did it all wrong. I managed to dig up the actual prayers, I counted off the prayers as I said them aloud and ... I prayed to Mary for Hannah to be well. It was like a textbook case of what critics of the rosary would point to. Hannah was fine and I know that God understood my total confusion. But with that panic filled night arose my determination to find out what the story was with Mary and that rosary.

I went to Amazon (where else?) and got the easiest book I could find to fill me in, Christ's Mother and Ours by Oscar Lukefahr. I already knew the rosary beads are simply a set of counting beads to help you keep track of your prayers. As you say each prayer you go on to the next bead. However, what I learned was that the vocal prayers are intended to be aids in meditating on various events in Jesus' and his mother's life. When you pray, you mentally concentrate on either the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, or Glorious mysteries. You put yourself "in the scene" for each of the mysteries. I have heard it said that praying the rosary is praying the Gospels. As Pope John Paul II said in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae we are contemplating Christ with Mary.

Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring his every word: "She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the "rosary" which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life.

When I found out all that then the rosary started to mean something to me. It didn't change my life. I am not devoted to it. I go through fits and spurts and usually wind up saying it while driving to work (long ago having memorized the prayers and mysteries). However, if I really stay focused and meditate on the mysteries it is a rare occasion when I do not come away enlightened ... sometimes by something in an event, sometimes by God reaching through the prayers to touch me. And, if nothing else, I have been spending about 20 minutes contemplating events from the Gospels ... and that can't hurt!

I'm in the mood to talk about the rosary so there'll be more later about the prayers themselves and what those mysteries actually are.

Why We Need Faith

We need faith because our world is full of death.

And so are we. Each one of us will die. So will each nation. Many individuals and nations will also kill. Our world has always been a world at war with itself, because it has been at war with God. Thomas Merton wrote: "We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves. And we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God."

Human nature does not change. Today we live in what the Vicar of Christ has called "the culture of death," a culture that kills children before birth and kills childhood after birth, kills innocence and faithfulness and families. What is the answer to this culture of death?

Faith. The Catholic faith is the answer.

Faith in the God who has not left us in the dark but has revealed himself as our Creator; who, out of his love, designed us for a life of love, in this world and in the next.

Faith in the gospel, the good news of the man who said he was God come down from heaven to die on the Cross to save us from sin and to rise from the grave to save us from death.

Faith in the Church he left us as his visible body on earth, empowered by his Spirit, authorized to teach in his name, with his authority: to invite us to believe the truth of his gospel, to live the life of his love, and to celebrate the sacraments of his presence.

This church is our only sure and certain light in this beautiful but broken world.

Faith is the answer to fear. Deep down we are all afraid: of suffering, or of dying, or of God's judgment, or of the unknown, or of weakness, or of our lives slipping out of our control, or of not being understood and loved. We sin because we fear. We bully because we are cowards.

Faith casts out fear as light casts out darkness. God has shone his light into our world, and it is stronger than darkness (Jn 1:5).

That light is Jesus Christ.

Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft