Diverting Divine Gifts

The tragedy of sin is that it diverts divine gifts. The person who has a genuine capacity for loving becomes promiscuous, maybe sexually, or maybe by becoming frivolous and fickle, afraid to make a commitment to anyone or anything. The person with a gift for passionate intensity squanders it in angry tirades and, given power, becomes a demagogue.... The goal of the monks was to know themselves as they truly were, warts and all, and to be able to call it "good," not in order to excuse bad behavior but to accept the self without delusions. The point was to know the material you were working with, in order to give a firmer foundation to your hope for change.

The Cloister Walk

Our Lady of Guadalupe and Symbolism

TSO mentions Our Lady of Guadalupe and says:

One of the interesting things about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is its teaching potential. Though she looks glorified, with stars and rays of sun coming from her as was predicted in Rev. 12, she is no goddess. Her hands are folded in supplication, her posture indicating that she is interceding for us at the throne of the God.

Indeed, he is right. There is so much in that image that speaks to Catholic hearts through symbolism.

However, there is much more to Our Lady of Guadalupe's image than that. As with all good Catholic images there is abundant symbolism that was specifically designed to speak to the hearts of the people to whom she brought her message ... the Aztecs. I remember when our priest put out a flyer about this and I was just knocked out at how meaningful every single thing in the image is. I really like this explanation.

The miraculous image produced on the apron or tilma of Blessed Juan Diego is rich in symbolism. The aureole or luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Rev. 12:1. The light is also a sign of the power of God who has sanctified and blessed the one who appears. The rays of the sun would also be recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god, Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.

The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Rev. 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet". The moon for the Meso-Americans was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness. However, in Christian iconography the crescent moon under the Madonna's feet is usually a symbol of her perpetual virginity, and sometimes it can refer to her Immaculate Conception or Assumption.

The eyes of Our lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open. We can only imagine how tenderly her eyes looked upon Blessed Juan Diego when she said: " Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief -- Am I not here who am your Mother?"

The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Meso-American Indians only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The angel is transporting the Lady to the people as a sign that a new age has come.

The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of the gods and of royalty. It was also the color of the natural forces of life and fecundity. In Christian art, blue is symbolic of eternity and immortality. In Judaism, it was the color of the robe of the high priest. The limbus or gold border of her mantle is another sign of nobility.

The stars on the Lady's mantle shows that she comes from heaven. She comes as the Queen of Heaven but with the eyes of a humble and loving mother. The stars also are a sign of the supernatural character of the image. The research of Fr. Mario Rojas Sanchez and Dr. Juan Homero Hernandez Illescas of Mexico (published in 1983) shows that the stars on the Lady's mantle in the image are exactly as the stars of the winter solstice appeared before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.

The color of the Madonna's dress is rose or pale-red. Some have interpreted this as the color of dawn symbolizing the beginning of a new era. Others point to the red as a sign of martyrdom for the faith and divine love.

The gold-encircled cross brooch under the neck of the Lady's robe is a symbol of sanctity.

The girdle or bow around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-petaled flower. To the native Indians this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. The cross-shaped flower was also connected with the cross-sticks which produce fire. For them, this was the symbol of fecundity and new life. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show that the Lady is "with child". According to Dr. Carlos Fernandez Del Castillo, a leading Mexican obstetrician, the Lady appears almost ready to give birth with the infant head down resting vertically. This would further solidify her identification with the woman of Rev. 12 who is about to give birth.

Source

Book 110 Finished

Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
I honestly had no idea I read so many books ... but there you have it. And this doesn't take into account the number of times I've read about one-third of a book, disliked it, and quit reading.

This is a time-travel twist to Sleeping Beauty, placed in Russia. The first third of the book, where Ivan is back in Sleeping Beauty's day, I found to be more of the usual. However, once the couple comes forward to modern times with Baba Yaga trailing them it gets much more interesting. Enjoyable entertainment, though not the equal of Magic Streetwhich is what prompted me to try this book (thanks for the recommendation y'all!).

Good Old Sin

Considering "good old sin," in the sense that the ancient monks understood it, exposes the vast difference between their worldview and our own. These days, when someone commits an atrocity, we tend to sigh and say, "That's human nature." But our attitude would seem wrong headed to the desert monks, who understood human beings to be part of the creation that God called good, special in that they are made in the image of God. Sin, then, is an aberration, not natural to us at all. This is why Gregory of Nyssa speaks so often of "[returning] to the grace of that image which was established in you from the beginning." Gregory, in fact, saw it as our lifelong task to find out what part of the divine image God has chosen to reveal in us. Like the other early monks, he suggest that we can best do this by realistically determining how God has made us -- what our primary faults and temptations are, as well as our gifts -- not that we may better "know ourselves" or in modern parlance, "feel good about ourselves," but in order that we might become instruments of divine grace for other people and eventually return to God.

The Cloister Walk

This actually ties in quite well with Steven Riddle's post Self-Knowledge and Christ's Knowledge which starts out considering what he has learned about himself and ends with a love letter to St. Blog's. A quite remarkable read and highly recommended (as is practically everything Steven writes ... yes, I'm a fan).

So meddling in things that are beyond me has taught me a great deal about the masks I wear and the image I would like to project. It has also taught me not to be ashamed of the fact that I am ultimately driven more by feeling than by intellect. There are those who would have one feel bad about such an arrangement, but so long as the feelings are as informed as one possibly can do, it seems that they may provide a solution when the intellect alone cannot resolve the perceived difficulty.

This dismantling of self is very painful, but also very productive. I discovered in it abilities that I had long thought were beyond me. I found ways of listening and ways around some of my own obstacles. I found in this dismantling a hint of who I am in Christ.

Anger

... the monk Evagrius, the first to write down and attempt to codify the beliefs and practices of the desert monks with regard to sin (which they called "demons" or "bad thoughts"), not only provides me with a means of understanding my own "bad thoughts" but also with the tools to confront them. His view of anger is typically sensible. Anger, he wrote, is given to us by God to help us confront true evil. We err when we use it casually, against other people, to gratify our own desires for power or control.

The Cloister Walk

Welcome to My Soap Box

Photo from Barcelona Photoblog

As my long-suffering husband well knows, from the fact that when he gave a handful of change to an Australian man sitting outside a London tube station years ago ... the man shouted after our family, "God bless you mate! Thank you!" My husband muttered, under his breath, "Don't thank me, thank her; I had nothing to do with it" as I gave him a thank you hug. This does not even compare to when he is driving and we come upon a corner with a homeless person ... now he has three people in the car all urging him to roll down the window and hand out granola bars.

I am reminded by smockmama at Summa Mamas that there is an ongoing debate among Christians about whether it is right to give to the poor. Please do go read her post and the link she provides to get a frame of reference for why I am dragging everyone back into my corner of Hyde Park.

Winter is coming and "'Tis the Season" so this question will arise even more. Therefore, I am going to repost this explanation of how I feel which originally saw light of day last November. If you don't want to read the whole thing, just look for St. John Vianney's quote which says it all.

GIVING TO THE HOMELESS, FACE TO FACE

The first time I ever saw a beggar was in Paris, 18 years ago. She was across the street and Tom said, "Don't look at her." Of course, I did and she began screaming invective and shaking her fist at me. It's a good thing my French wasn't very fluent or I'm sure my ears would have burned. Everywhere we went there were beggars. It was deeply troubling for someone like me who had never seen such a thing before. Tom, whose family lived in London for several years, was more blasé. He taught me to ignore them and that they were making plenty of money off of the population at large. I did make him give to a couple of WWII veterans who were playing music for their coins but at least they had sacrificed something for their country ... they had done something to deserve our charity.

I wasn't Christian then; I wasn't even sure if God existed. Nothing other than popular thought occurred to me in those situations. That was saved for 15 years later in 2001 when we went back to Paris and London with the girls. I had converted by then, we attended Mass weekly, and they went to Catholic school with religion lessons every day. It was fairly common to see the homeless on street corners but we were insulated by the car and traffic flow. These up close encounters with beggars in Europe were different. Tom and I gave the standard "making money off the crowd" explanation but it didn't sit very well, especially with the Christian precepts that had taken hold by then.

Then, one evening, I read this quote.

There are those who say to the poor that they seem to look to be in such good health: "You are so lazy! You could work. You are young. You have strong arms."

You don't know that it is God's pleasure for this poor person to go to you and ask for a handout. You show yourself as speaking against the will of God.

There are some who say: "Oh, how badly he uses it!" May he do whatever he wants with it! The poor will be judged on the use they have made of their alms, and you will be judged on the very alms that you could have given but haven't.

St. John Vianney

You certainly couldn't get much clearer than those words. St. John Vianney covered pretty much every objection I ever thought of for giving to the poor. That was my wake-up call and the end of ignoring beggars. We were supplied with handfuls of coins that were distributed at large as we went through the subway stations. When I got home I stocked the car with granola bars and bottles of water. I passed them out at every street corner we stopped at. I never have any cash on me and they almost always had signs saying "Will work for food" so it seemed a good match.

Then Dallas passed a law against any panhandling on street corners and, for the most part, the homeless disappeared from sight. I had gotten used to being on the lookout for people to give my granola bars to and now the corners seemed very empty.

About that time, I was the leader of a Catholic women's group that met weekly. One evening our discussion became a debate over two strategies of giving to the homeless. One group believed in giving to people as they were encountered. The other countered with stories of scam artists and believed in giving to organizations who would distribute goods and cash in the most beneficial way to the needy. Two things stuck with me after that meeting though. The first was that my friend, Rita, said she was troubled by those who didn't want to give face to face because "they don't know what blessings they may be depriving themselves of." Once again I remembered St. John Vianney's quote.

The second thing occurred to me as I listened to the debate. Jesus never said anything about helping the poor by giving to the local temple or soup kitchen. He said:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me."

Then the righteous will answer him and say, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?"

And the king will say to them in reply, "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."

Matthew 25: 35-40

Tom and I do support organized charities and I know they reach farther than I ever could personally. This is not an argument against those organizations. However, I think that we cannot rest with those contributions. I believe that if we have a personal encounter with the needy it is because they have been sent to us for their good and our own. If we turn them away, then we are turning Christ Himself away and what blessings are we sending away with Him?

This was reinforced for me during a retreat I attended a few weeks ago. Somehow the debate over how to give to the homeless came up along those old familiar lines, not just once but twice. Each time I trotted out my St. John Vianney quote. Then my friend, Mauri, said that when she looked at those unfortunates she saw people she knew. For instance, she has a schizophrenic nephew who doesn't want to take his meds so he has been found wandering only in his boxers in a Chicago suburb. A confused old lady at the bank reminded her of her mother and Mauri found a discreet way to help her while preserving her dignity. She reminded me of the worth and dignity of each of these people. She later sent me this story which is the perfect example of looking past the surface to the real person that is there in front of us.

Today at the post office I saw this man going through the garbage -- I think looking for food as he was going through a discarded fast food bag and picked out left over bun from the bag, emptied the bag of the other garbage, and then used the bag to neatly wrap up the left over bun and then placed it in his satchel. You could tell that he still had his pride as he looked well kept, although worn and a bit "dusty". He was not begging in any way. Just walking through the strip center where the post office was.

I wanted to help as I sensed that he was hungry, but he was not asking for help and he did not approach me in anyway. I was so worried to bruise his pride, but could not stand the thought of him only having the leftover bun for food. I got out of my car with $5 and asked him if he was hungry. He said he was fine but hesitantly. I gave him the money and told him that I had many of times when I was hungry but didn't have the cash on me to go through McDonalds or grab a sandwich. I told him to take it for when he might need it. I don't think I hurt his pride. His eyes were so kind.

I only wish I had asked his name ... He looked like he might have been mid 60s. I should have given him more money. I can't get him out of my mind. He could have been someone's grandfather, father, etc.

I am so grateful to Mauri for bringing me to this phase in my awareness of the homeless. Each of them was some mother's baby, a tiny toddler learning to walk, a laughing boy or girl at school. We must remember that when we are looking at these people who can seem so frightening or strange or manipulative. I pray that someday I can look at these people and find my vision is perfect ... I hope that someday I can look at a homeless person and see Jesus Himself. In this quest I think we can not do better than to take the advice of someone who achieved perfect vision and sought out her beloved Jesus in the homeless.

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

UPDATE
Under the Overpass is an excellent book to read about the homeless. It is about two young men who took Jesus at his word and went to live as homeless in different American cities for a six month period. If you have any questions at all about the homeless I highly recommend this book. It will open your eyes. They have specific advice about giving to the homeless which seems to support my granola bar and water hand out policy. However, I will add that I still do give cash if I am out of those. (reread St. John Vianney's quote for my reasoning in this)

FURTHER UPDATE
Listening to my soapbox ranting around the house this morning, Tom said, "What is 'Under the Overpass'? Because there's this song..." This Under the Overpass is by Dallas Wayne and will bring a tear to your country song lovin' eye. (For those who have never heard of Dallas Wayne, Tom compares him to Hoyt Axton ... unknown but good at both true country songs as well as those that poke fun at the genre. As one reviewer said, "If you don't understand Dallas Wayne, you don't understand country music.)

FINAL UPDATE (I think...)
How could I have forgotten my encounter with this homeless man?

Pride

Pride is a denial of God, an invention of the devil, contempt for men. It is the mother of condemnation, the offspring of praise, a sign of barrenness. It is a flight from God's help, the harbinger of madness, the author of downfall. It is the cause of diabolical possession, the source of anger, the gateway of hypocrisy. It is the fortress of demons, the custodian of sins, the source of hardheartedness. It is the denial of compassion, a bitter pharisee, a cruel judge. It is the foe of God. It is the root of blasphemy.

John Climacus (7th century monk)
quoted in The Cloister Walk

In Communion

Why did Jesus say two or three -- why not just one? It seems as though Jesus never intended for us to pray alone, and the practice of asking others to pray with us, even of invoking the followers of Christ who have fallen asleep (but are alive in Christ) to pray for us is a way for us to always pray with others even when we are physically alone.

Jesus revealed God as a communion of divine persons -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He invited his followers to be a part of that communion. He told them, "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (John 14:18-20).

Entering into this communion with Jesus "where two or three are gathered in his name" is never a solitary act. It is especially difficult in a society that is as individualistic as our is for some of us to understand this. We like to think of our faith as a private affair, something between God and the individual, but this is an illusion...

Before the fall there was harmony; since the fall there has been separation and division -- dare we say it, individuality. Jesus has come to restore the kingdom, to bring unity. Our individuality dies in the waters of baptism. The followers of Christ make the words of St. Paul their own: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I; but Christ live in me" (Galatians 2:19, 20); adapted fro Douay-Rheims).

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

Quick Book Reviews

MAGIC STREET by Orson Scott Card
Before this the only other book I had read by Card was Ender's Game. Hated it. So I never tried another one, thinking that all he wrote was books in that series. I am so glad that I picked up this book to try.

It is an amazing mixture of Shakespeare, magic, wishes, and love all brewed up in a middle class black neighborhood in Los Angeles. Card said that he wrote the book for a friend who complained that no books ever had black heroes. This one really has three. I truly am not sure how to describe it except to say that it put me in mind of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman ... and that is high praise indeed. I am definitely going to look for other Orson Scott Card books ... that are not in the Ender's Game series.

The BEST KITCHEN QUICK TIPS by the Editors of Cook's Illustrated
I thought that I knew all the kitchen tips around. How many can there be, after all? Wrong. This compendium of the best of the tips submitted to Cook's Illustrated over the years has some truly ingenious ideas. You'll be surprised at the practicality and simplicity of the ways people conquer some very annoying kitchen problems.

FEAST by Nigella Lawson
I'm a Nigella fan. Let's just say that now. Until now I would have said her finest book was her first one, How to Eat. This one matches it by using "feast food" as a theme. Feasts are anything from Christmas dinner to birthday parties to supper for two in bed. This allows her to gather a wide variety of delicious sounding food under one umbrella. The book also serves as a sort of "best of Nigella" compilation as many of the recipes were originally published in others of her books. Don't let that stop you. There are new recipes here and they all look mouthwatering.

SINK REFLECTIONS by Marla Cilley
After The Anchoress put out a public question for the value of "Fly Lady's" techniques, I requested this book from the library. The bad news is that the entire style of this book is as haphazard seeming as her website. This is maddening for someone like me who does not care about all the cooing and love exuding from FL and just wants to get to the point. It is full of self esteem boosts and reassurances that a sloppy household does not mean you are not a worthy person.

Ok, maybe part of my problem with all this is that I don't have a self esteem problem...at least in terms of "my house=me." I'm naturally tidy and have trained others in our household to do likewise. However, what I do not have is the leisure of time for actual cleaning. More importantly, I do not have the slightest inclination to do any real cleaning. It is boring and I am lazy. So. There we have it.

Once past the lovey dovey stuff, however, FL gives some very interesting and useful techniques for daily cleaning that just might make it tolerable. Using 15-minute power bursts of cleaning focused on one thing it does seem possible that one might be able to stand cleaning part of the house. Dividing the house into zones for cleaning that goes beyond the everyday surface vacuuming and dusting makes it seem as if my house might actually be cleaned again ... before I die. Whether it will work is up to me but at least I have the grip on a technique that could help me achieve it.

As to whether you have the stamina to wade through the "love" to get to the guts of the book ... well, that's up to you.

Approaching God as a Child

But the important part of prayer is to continue despite the swarm of gnats we call thoughts or stream of consciousness. These gnats are who you are and where you are right here and now. They are integral to what you are as a person and God loves them as He loves the entire person. When we share those we are sharing a part of ourselves. We should not be ashamed we do not have the strength to throw them off. Think of small children. For example, my conversations with Sam follow some alien trajectory that always ends up somewhere in Sponge-Bob land or roller coasters no matter where they start. I cherish this deeply because it is so much who he is. So God is with us, cherishing us for our childlike babbling and sharing of so many unrelated things. He will enter in and organize as He sees fit, so long as we continue to approach Him in love.

Steven Riddle

I read that. Then one of my very best friends sent me this.

I smiled, laughed, and was touched by those innocent letters to God.
And then I thought of how God might feel the same way about us.
And I love Him even more.

Thanks Steven. Thanks Cyndie.

Those of Jesus' Time

We are apt to think that it would have been easier to reverence the Lord if we had lived when he walked on the face of the earth. Yet open the gospels and you will see that the people of Jesus' time had it no better than we. They found fault with his carpenter's background, with the fact that he was from Galilee, and with the fact that his Aramaic wasn't perfect. Their ideas of who they thought the Messiah should be kept them from recognizing him when he was in their midst.

We risk missing Jesus time and time again if we look for the manifestation of God in all of his glory. Because God is merciful and knows we couldn't handle it, he comes to us in the imperfection of the present moment. Don't let him pass you by; invite him to come and stay with you.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

Tom Can Find the Very Best Jokes

A preacher wanted to raise money for his church and on being told that there was a fortune in horse racing, decided to purchase one and enter it in the races. However at the local auction, the going price for horses was so high that he ended up buying a donkey instead. He figured that since he had it, he might as well go ahead and enter it in the races. To his surprise, the donkey came in third! The next day the local paper carried this headline:

PREACHER'S ASS SHOWS

The preacher was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and this time it won. The paper read:

PREACHER'S ASS OUT IN FRONT

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the preacher not to enter the donkey in another race. The paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES PREACHER'S ASS

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the preacher to get rid of the donkey. The preacher decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The paper headline the next day read:

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN

The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. Next day the headline read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey, lead it to the plains where it could run wild and free. Next day, the headline in the paper read:

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE

-------------------------
For a news story that seems all too timely and related to this joke ... read this. Via Rick Lugari.

Early Morning Snippet of Conversation

Rose said that they used to have a Honors Theology class at BL. "I wish they still did. This one is so booooring. The teacher's ok but how can these kids not get some of this stuff? It's so simple!"

I gently reminded her that perhaps these other students were not blessed as she was with a mother who sits down at the dinner table and says, "YES! The natural world as proof of free will! Brilliant!" And then goes on to discuss further subtleties of that argument.

"Blessed?" responded Rose with an eloquent eye roll.

Punny Business

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other:

"Does this taste funny to you?"



"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'"

"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."

"Is it common?"

Well, "It's Not Unusual."



Two cows are standing next to each other in a field.

Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."

"I don't believe you,"says Dolly.

"It's true, no bull!" exclaims Daisy.



An invisible man marries an invisible woman.

The kids were nothing to look at either.



Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

Fast in Anticipation

We live in an age where we are bombarded with advertisements. They assault us at every turn on the city street, in what we hear on the airwaves, in pop-up ads on the Internet. They all promise to save us from some unsightly end, and while some can offer some relief, all of them can do so for only a time. It is the Bridegroom, Jesus, who can truly save us, and that is why fasting is so necessarily a part of the Christian life. Without it we lose sight of the fact that the real thing that we hunger and thirst for is not a thing at all, it is not some fruit hanging from a tree that is "a delight to the eyes" (Genesis 3:6), but rather the Son of God offering us salvation from the tree of the Cross.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

So Very Punny

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married.

The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.



A jumper cable walks into a bar.

The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."



Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.



A dyslexic man walks into a bra.



A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says:

"A beer please, and one for the road."

One Last Halloween Fling

No jury duty! Woohoo! Though it was less nice to drop by the house to pick up lunch and find our boxer curled up on the couch ... since we weren't expected home yet.

Anyway, I wanted to share this from Catholic Exchange's Word of Encouragement but didn't have time to post it this morning.

Happy All Hallows Eve!
-----------------------

Psalm 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup overflows.

--------------------
Most people don't think of horror as a genre of literature or film that is particularly agreeable to Christian sensibilities. However, two of the great practitioners of horror on both page and screen consider their work to be an extension of the gospel. Stephen King, author of many a scary tale, says that he considers himself the spiritual heir of the great Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards (who preached the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"). William Peter Blatty, who penned "The Exorcist" wrote the story precisely in order to show both the depths of demonic evil and to remind the world of the reality of Christ-like self-sacrifice. It is the depth of the darkness of the Enemy that paradoxically highlights the brilliance of the light of Heaven. Indeed, the word "monster" comes from the same root as the word "demonstrate" and "monstrance". A "monster" demonstrates what we can and will be apart from Christ. A monstrance shows forth the saving eucharistic, and self-sacrificial power of him who underwent the worst horror the world has ever known to save us from the terrors of Hell. He has prepared a eucharistic table for us in the presence of Satan himself--and deprived him of his prey. This Halloween, be not afraid.

Since they talk about authors ... let's just segueway over to scary books, shall we?

I've seen a lot of Halloween movies discussed but not favorite scary books. Here are a few creepy books that are favorites of mine (in no particular order). I know I'm forgetting a lot of them so just pipe up with your favorites.

1. The Shining by Stephen King
2. The Stand by Stephen King
   
3. The Exorcist by William Blatty (not reread ... scared me silly and once was enough)
4. The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
6. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
7. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (not traditionally scary but definitely unsettling)
8. Dracula by Bram Stoker (maybe this isn't scary but I must have read it at least 10 times when I was in high school and no Halloween list is complete without it .... and actually, Renfield is majorly creepy now that I think of it)
   

Incline Your Ear to the Lord

What are some concrete steps we can take that will help us get the most from the Word of God? Here are a few that can easily be remembered by using the word P.R.A.Y. ...

P ... Prepare by studying Scripture and coming to a better understanding of how Catholics approach and interpret the Word... The less familiar we are with the Word that we hear proclaimed at the Eucharist, the more likely we are to be distracted by what we hear rather than fed.

R ... Read the Mass readings beforehand... If we read beforehand we can better listen when the readings are being proclaimed, and it is more likely that we will truly hear what God wishes to say to us.

A ... Attend to what is being read to us at the Eucharist. Listen in a way that acknowledges that God wishes to speak to you at this Mass...

Y ... Yield to what God is asking of you and respond with a "yes." Every celebration of the Eucharist is a renewing of the covenant between God and us. God waits for our response.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

Roadside Crosses

Just this week, driving Rose to Kung Fu lessons, I noticed a roadside cross at a very busy intersection in the middle of Dallas. As always, when I notice them, it made me think. I wondered about the grieving family. I wondered how the accident happened. I thought about driving safety. Then I wondered where this custom came from. Thinking this custom probably had come with Hispanic immigrants, and probably originated in Europe (Spain?), I wondered if it was practiced only along the border ... or do they have roadside crosses as far north as Ohio?

The Dallas Morning News Religion section had their main story about that very thing. It turns out that the custom does, indeed, originate in Spain where crosses would be erected to mark a place of violent death. Although the custom was brought here by Hispanic immigrants it has spread throughout Southwest culture. Even my thoughts about driving safety were covered as it turns out the Texas Department of Transportation thinks they are a good warning about safe driving. They even have rules covering these memorials. Free registration is required but I found the whole story fascinating.

Also of interest in the section was an article about Opus Dei. I don't see any links yet but when one is put up I'll put it up. Fascinating and seemed very even handed. This article was prompted by John Allen's new book, Opus Dei. I will no doubt be reading this some time in the future.

Ok, This Is Absolutely the Last Hottie Around Here ...

... for a few days anyway.

But how could I not respond to Rhonda's pain?
Poor thing. It would really be wrong of me to leave a sister in such a condition.

Not that I didn't enjoy selecting the photos.

Now I am so seriously going to start putting up some different posts for a little while. Well, tomorrow morning, anyway.

The Body of Christ

The Second Vatican Council captured a way of looking at our membership in the Church that is drawn from the writings of St. Paul, namely that the Church is the body of Christ. "Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it" (1 Corinthians 12:27). The Orthodox liturgist Alexander Schmemann said:

We need to be thoroughly aware that when we come to the temple it is not for individual prayer but to assemble together as the Church and the visible temple itself signifies and is but an image of the temple not made by hands. Therefore, the "assembly as the Church" is in reality the first liturgical act, the foundation of the entire liturgy; and unless one understands this, one cannot understand the rest of the celebration.

If we make this the backdrop to everything that we do at the Eucharist we will find that our whole view of the meaning of our acts will change. We essentially will be responding for the sustenance of our own body -- which through our membership in the Church now will be Christ's body. Our voices, our movements, and our treasure will be given not to some cold institution but, as Schmemann says, to the "temple not made with hands."

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

Spero News Scoop

... Spero News is a success. It's that simple ... the visitors keep coming in. How many visitors? In our first month up (April) we had around 470,000 hits, 104,000 page views with 38,000 visitors, compared to so far this month 900,000 hits, 251,000 page views and 100,000 visitors. That means even if the growth stopped (which we don't think it will) the site will average over 1 million visitors a year...

From a recent update. Congratulations to Clint and Robert. They have put a lot of hard work into this project and it looks as if it is being felt. If you haven't dropped by Spero News, alternative Christian news, go see what you've been missing.

Bridget, This One's For You

And so is this one. I believe it was you who mentioned "the gorgeousness that is Jin?"

I Confess...

Every Mass begins with a chance for us to remember our own plunge into the waters of baptism, and throughout the Mass we recall all that separates us from God, namely our sins and our idols. When the priest or deacon asks us to call to mind our sins, we should do so. We should pay attention to what pops into our heads at that moment. God may reveal to you an area of sinfullness (somethat that is separating you from perfect communion with him) at that moment. Don't be surprised at what comes up but place it before God at this moment in the Mass so that he can transform it. Recall that God is your Savior, not yourself. Allow God to save you from your sins in his mercy. Believe that God's mercy is greater than your sins.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

I have been trying to remember to do this since I read about it. It can be surprising and humbling to see what may pop into your mind at that moment.

Two "Must Read" Pieces

In fact, the awe we experience is a manifestation of human dignity. We see and understand ourselves to be a part of a greater scheme. We understand ourselves to be a part of the masterpiece that is Creation. We- each of us, have a starring role in the play of life- Creation. It is an unfolding drama, comedy and musical- with our best efforts and intentions a part of the script. We are not meant to ad lib our way through life. We are obligated and meant to make Creation an even more magnificent expression that It is, and we each of us have lead role in doing just that.

The Fight for Your Soul at Sigmund, Carl and Alfred puts into sharp focus the reason that religion scares so many but why it is also so very vital to our welfare. Short, to the point, and inspirational.

(Those of you who are going to write me and say that traditional worship doesn’t do a thing for you need to hear the following sentence: Other than the Gospel, I don’t care what you get out of visiting a church. You, and your (or my) preferences and entertainment choices, are not the point. Including you is one thing. Catering to you is another.)

The Internet Monk discusses why the Church on the Corner is in peril. It all comes down to changing worship styles that began in the 1970s to make cater to the young. Long but well worth reading, his penetrating commentary is just as applicable to many Catholic churches I've attended. They may manage to keep to the mandated Liturgy (barely) but have changed the rest of the Mass to so glorify the musicians, participating lay people, and congregation that it is barely possible at times to remember that we are there to worship the Lord.

Admitting Our Need

There is often talk about the way "modern" Catholics believe, picking and choosing what they believe and bypassing what they don't. It has been termed cafeteria Catholicism -- what it is in reality is intellectual sin. We accept Christ's teachings only so far as it agrees with what we already think. When it challenges us, we ignore it.

Jesus didn't accept this from his disciples. When he announced the doctrine of the Eucharist in John 6 many disciples ceased to follow him because they found the teaching too difficult (see John 6:66). Did Jesus yell out, "Oh, that's okay -- take what you like, ignore the rest?" No, instead he turned to those who had not left him and asked, "Do you want to leave me too?"

Our reluctance to accept the Lord's teaching, "in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do," may be our most persistent sin, one that we constantly need to confess openly, as we do at the beginning of every celebration of the Eucharist.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

Confess Your Belief in God

Jesus revealed the love of God to us by dying for us and leaving us a memorial of his death in the Eucharist. The word memorial had a special meaning for the Jewish people of Jesus' time. It didn't mean recalling the past, as it does for us today, but rather it meant making present a past event. Thus, when we come together at the Eucharist, we are present as Calvary and witness once again what God is like through Jesus.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

An Atheist and An Agnostic Look for the Virgin Mary

The Miracle Detective by Randall Sullivan
Virgin Trails by Robert Ward

My lastest Spero news article is a review of two different books whose authors search for the Blessed Virgin. The surprising thing about them is that one author is an atheist and one an agnostic. What do they find? That would be telling.

Horrendous "Head Count" But a Lot of Fun

SLEEPY HOLLOW
In the spirit of Halloween we rented this movie. Dan mentioned in the comments boxes that he had such a slow workday that he wound up reading a story about a headless chicken who lived for 18 months ... he would have loved the number of headless bodies in this movie. Though, unlike Dan's chicken, they didn't live for any appreciable time once decapitated.

It is loosely based on the classic story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. It is set in upstate New York. There is a headless horseman. Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane (most adorably, of course) and there are a lot of people with Dutch last names. There ends any resemblance.

Nevertheless it was fun to watch and certainly better than Tim Burton's last movie, The Corpse Bride, if for not other reason than the large amount of gore everywhere at every opportunity. It is as if about halfway through the movie, Burton said, "Oh, to hell with it. This isn't the real story anyway. Let's have some FUN!" Witches, gore, a massive explosion, old West style stagecoach fighting with the headless horseman ... he threw in everything but the kitchen sink.

And for some reason that was ok. We laughed at the whole thing because so much of it was so over the top and had a great time. Certainly it was a wonderful way to forget about all the stress of the work day (which, sadly, had no time at all for headless chicken stories).

Recommended only if you like lots of bodiless heads, blood, Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci ... and won't hold it against them for not really making a movie about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

HC Rating: *** Liked it despite absence of flubber (flubber in this case being any sort of resemblance to the original story).

Savage Chickens and Halloween

Next week is Halloween Week at Savage Chickens. Looks like they're getting a head start today. Check it out.

Hannah's Field Trip and Our "Assignment"

Hannah's government class took a field trip to the criminal courthouse yesterday. The kids were all free to go to whichever trials they chose, switch trials, etc. as long as they obeyed courthouse rules and were quiet and respectful.

Hannah became fascinated by a murder trial and stayed in it the entire time although other classmates came and went. A doctor was giving testimony about his client, Paul, who suffers from disassociation and also being bipolar. Without going into all the details, the "voices" took over at one point about two years ago and Paul murdered his girlfriend.

Listening to Hannah tell about this, my heart was breaking for Paul, his family, his murdered girlfriend, and her family. Most poignant was when the doctor said that Paul wanted to be good and would try to read the Bible and pray. All the while the voices would be roaring in his head, telling him that he was a murderer, that it is impossible for him to be good or pray to God.

I was haunted by this last night and, of course, feel that I have been given a prayer "assignment" for all the people involved. Hannah told me the same thing.

Her field trip had been planned for a couple of weeks ago but the water pipes at the school burst and the trip was postponed. So not only did the kids get a couple of days off (though I know that the teachers and administration had a royal headache because of it) but Hannah saw this trial which brought Paul to our attention. God uses all for His good I think.

( By the way, I am not posting this to start a lot of questions about Paul's condition or any other details of the situation. There is no way we know enough about it to comment on that in any constructive fashion.)

Adoring God With Praise and Thanksgiving

One of my favorite quotes is from the journals of Father Alexander Schmemann: "God, when creating the world, did not solve problems or pose them. He created what He would call 'very good.' God created the world, but the devil transformed the world and man and life into a 'problem.'" If we want to adore God with praise and thanksgiving we are going to have to learn to stop seeing everything as a "problem" or "interruption" and begin to be open to seeing God's goodness and interventions even in the most unlikely of places.

Many of the most horrific sins ever committed by human beings happen because people see problems where they should see blessings. If we do not adore God above all, we risk doing horrible things as we serve whatever else we put in God's place.

How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist
by Michael Dubruiel

Oh brother, does this quote fit my very busy day today. Thanks be to God for the employment that is making me so very busy!

Blagueur* Spotlight

CATHOLICNEWS.ORG
This blog is definitely not what the name looks like. Instead of real Catholic news, Maureen Martin writes pointed and lively satires of news articles that parody absurdities in Catholic culture and life all around us. She was on hiatus to celebrate when her husband returned from Iraq. However, Maureen's extended absence showed how she has made her presence felt in her short time in the Catholic blogosphere as lplaintive requests for more stories began appearing in her comments boxes.

Some of my favorite stories include: " NBC to Air New Reality Show Featuring 'Ex-Priest' This Fall," " Baton Rouge Residents Secretly Pleased Over New Orleans' Demise," " Parishes Report Extraordinary Minister Shortage," and what has to be her best so far, Man Gets Birthday Wish, Church Ceases to Exist.

"That afternoon,I was reading the last page of the Aeneid when all the words vanished off the pages, and the book just crumbled to pieces," said Holland, a general medical practitioner. Words weren't the only thing to disappear. Apparently, the letter "J" was also a casualty of the birthday wish gone awry. "I'm known as Ohn now," he said.

Drop by and welcome Maureen back ... and check out some of those stories.

* joker (en Francais) = blagueur
(pronounced blogger, of course!)

Cure for the Liturgical Blues

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE EUCHARIST by Michael Dubruiel

Philothea Rose writes about not wanting to participate in liturgical discussions any more because they take her focus off of worshipping Jesus when she is at Mass (read the post, it's a good one). Many others have posted their bravas to this post.

I haven't run into this particular discussion problem (perhaps because I seem to constantly get sucked into predestination versus free will conversations at Protestant sites ... so I'm looking in another direction).

At any rate, I thoroughly understand Philothea's desire. The best book I have found that has helped me move further toward "reaching Jesus" in the Mass is a small and easy to read. It puts the Mass focus strictly where we should have it ... on the Eucharist and our response to it.

Dubruiel shows how to balance the Mass both as a holy banquet and as a holy sacrifice. Too often these days the sacrificial aspect is left out.

Participation in the Eucharist requires that we die to ourselves and live in Christ. If we want to get the most out of the Eucharist, then sacrifice is the key. This is what has been lost on many of us and if we want to reclaim all the spiritual riches that are available to us we must relearn what it means not only to "offer it up" but indeed to offer ourselves up.

Dubruiel uses an acronym to help remember the steps we can take to join ourselves in sacrifice to the sacrifice of Jesus.

Serve (obey the command that Jesus gave to his disciples at the first Eucharist)
Adore (put aside anything that seems to rival God in importance)
Confess (believe in God's power to make up for your weaknesses)
Respond (answer in gesture, word, and song in unity with the body of Christ)
Incline (listen with your whole being to the Word of God)
Fast (bring your appetites and desires to the Eucharist)
Invite (open yourself to an encounter with Jesus)
Commune (accept the gift of Christ in the Eucharist)
Evangelize (take him and share the Lord with others)

Each step is explored in a different chapter and every single one had "aha" moments for me, sometimes from Church Father quotes, sometimes from the Further Helps at the end of each chapter, and quite often from Dubruiel's own insights. Each chapter also includes "Lessons from a Three Year Old" to highlight points. This sounds corny but it didn't come off that way. In many cases, that three year old was much wiser his single mindedness than an adult.

I do not have time to write the review that this book deserves but did want to get mention of it out there for anyone who would benefit from it. Now that I think of it, I don't know any Catholic who would not benefit from it.

I will let the book speak for itself by posting a series of quotes in the days to come.

Serve the Lord

If you want to get the most out of the Eucharist you have to check your "I" at the door. The "I" that wants things, that endlessly critiques the way things are done, and that demands things be done in exactly a certain way (meaning "my way," not God's way). I think it was Peter Kreeft who once said that the famous song, "I Did It My Way," sung by such great artists as Frank Sinatra and Elvis, is the national anthem of hell. The way of the world may be to do things "our way" but the way of Christ is to do things his Way. We therefore consciously have to leave "my way" at the door and in exchange take up an attitude that asks "how may we be of service to you, Lord, in this celebration of the Eucharist?"

FUMA Reports Pittsburgh Unprepared for Zombies

"When it comes to defending ourselves against an army of reanimated human corpses, the officials in charge have fallen asleep at the wheel," Murphy said. "Who's in charge of sweep-and-burn missions to clear out infected areas? Who's going to guard the cemeteries at night? If zombies were to arrive in the city tomorrow, we'd all be roaming the earth in search of human brains by Friday."

Government-conducted zombie-attack scenarios described on the State Department's website indicate that a successful, citywide zombie takeover would take 10 days, but according to ZPI statistician Dr. Milton Cornelius, the government's models fail to incorporate such factors as the zombies' rudimentary reasoning skills and basic tool use.

"Today's zombies quickly learn to open doors, break windows, and stage ambushes," Cornelius said. "In one 1985 incident in Louisville, a band of zombies was able to lure four paramedics and countless law-enforcement officials to their deaths by commandeering an ambulance radio and calling for backup."

Read the whole story at The Onion who is doing their darndest to keep up with current Halloween news.

I'm Not a Baseball Fan Usually

But when the Astros are so close to getting into the World Series for the first time ever, my Texan pride overcomes all other prejudices!

And I am not alone in this sudden passion.

Halloween Countdown

For the ultimate superhero costume, I don't think you could improve on these.

Thanks to Tim for the heads up on this great site.

So, Mom, If I Wanted to Get a Job...

Isn't that every parent's dream? To have those words come from their child without a lot of prompting?

Hannah said she was interested in working at Boston Market. Having put in a stint during college at Pizza Hut my conviction is that every person should do time (and, yes, I meant do time) at a restaurant chain. It is how you become quite convinced that you must go to college and get a different sort of job.

Actually, any job involving service with the public will do in that capacity.

Later Tom said, "I wonder why she suddenly wants to get a job?"

I blithely replied, "Oh, she's been saying for a long time that when she gets her driver's license she'll need to work to help pay for insurance." We never have made that stipulation but she has many friends who have to do so. (That's Saint Hannah, right? Oh a mother's naivete.)

Yesterday on the way home from school, Hannah looked at me sidelong and said, tentatively, "So, if I got that job ... could I go to Europe this summer?"

AHA!

So much for those noble, lofty reasons I had. I told her about our conversation and she quickly said, "Oh ... of course ... that too!"

Right.

We were just happy to see that she thought she'd be comfortable spending three weeks with another family in Greece, Italy, France, and Ireland.

Hey, if I get an extra job do you think they'd take me?

The Anchoress Comes Out Swinging in Defense of Halloween

The Anchoress is standing up for the holiday people love to bash. Fantastic writing, as always, and you've got to go see the Invisible Monk costumes her boys had one year. Those may be the best costumes I've ever seen. EVER!

C'mon, Everybody, Sing Along!

What better fate,
To populate...

(clap clap clap clap)

Deep in the heart of Texas?

Get in the groove,
It’s time to move...

(clap clap clap clap)

Deep in the heart of Texas!

Screw doom and gloom,
There’s always room...

(clap clap clap clap)

Deep in the heart of Texas!

No need to toil,
(there’s so much oil...)

(clap clap clap clap)

Deep in the heart of Texas!

The numbers show,
There’s room to grow...

(clap clap clap clap)

Deep in the heart of Texas!

With much aplomb,
I thank you, Dom,

(clap clap clap clap)

Here in the heart of...Boston.

Kelly Clark
(in response to Dom's post about overpopulation)

St. Luke

MEMORIAL

St. Luke is Tom's patron saint. He says that he chose him because he was the only apostle who never saw Jesus. I like that sign of faith from Tom to identify with Luke that way. Certainly if we remember that detail then St. Luke's accomplishments become those that we can admire even more as a Christian who fully lives his faith.

St. Luke wrote the gospel that shows us so clearly divine mercy, gives us many details about Mary and the birth of Jesus, tells stories of women that no one else mentions, and gives us some unique parables such as my favorite The Prodigal Son. His medical training let him include many small details that otherwise might have gone unnoticed, such as in the story of the woman whose bleeding stopped after she touched the tassel of Jesus' robe.

His gospel and the book of Acts were written to someone who had converted. Luke wrote them not for himself but to help others and, in so doing, was used by God to leave a legacy of faith that helps us all today.

They say that he also was an artist who painted portraits of Mary. I like to think of him painting Mary while she perhaps told him stories of Jesus, of how she pondered things in her heart.

Most of all today, I am struck by the thing that was pointed out when I was reading Word Among Us' reflection for the day about today's Mass readings.

Only Luke is with me.
2 Timothy 4:11

Everyone left Paul except Luke. Luke was a devoted friend who knew how to show it when the chips were down, even if it meant danger to himself.

Surely Luke has left us much to admire but also much to attempt to emulate. Complete faithfulness to God, keeping our commitments, going the extra mile even when it wasn't easy, using every bit of ourselves in service.

St. Luke, pray for us.

(For more information about St. Luke look here.)

A Good Definition of Faith

For the pastor at the Byzantium Catholic Church who said he didn't know what faith was and if anyone had a good definition to let him know (as reported by TSO).

Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.

Saint Augustine

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…

St. Paul, Hebrews 11:1

If our priest said this I'd start worrying about everything else he said. It seems to me that someone who doesn't have at least an inkling of how they define faith is living an unexamined life. Way too unexamined on a very basic level to be giving the homily and telling everyone else how to live. At the very least, such a person is living a life without having read (every very cursorily) the classic Church Fathers...or certain parts of the Bible. Scary.

Weekend Reflection

Sin is the executioner of the good God, and the assassin of the soul. It snatches us away from Heaven to precipitate us into Hell. And we love it!
St. John Vianney

How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing Thee?

St. Teresa of Avila

All In God's Time

Last night we toasted to Ed's life, circled 'round the bed. His wife put a drop of his favorite single malt scotch (The Macallan) on his lips. At that, he raised the corner of his mouth in the way he always did when he grinned mischievously, then moved his tongue side-to-side to indicate he was there with us, enjoying the moment - and the whisky. That was a huge effort on his part, but there was no ambiguity. He was still there - a small, low pilot light.

Kobayashi Maru shares the three day vigil held with his brother, Ed, as he departed this world. It is a quietly powerful and moving story, one that I am not ashamed to say moved me to tears.

Ed was granted the gift of the "good death" that the old prayers to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph ask for. Surrounded by his loving family, allowed to go in God's time, while his family was blessed with the knowledge of God's love. As KM says, "God's purpose. God's plan. Goodness through hardship. Purpose through broken things." We know he wanted to stay, oh so badly. But since he had to go, what a way to do it. May we all be as blessed as Ed when our time comes.

Eternal peace grant to Ed, O Lord, and peace to his family.

I Had No Idea

I have heard about the Middle Eastern Christian martyrs and the Chinese Catholic Underground, but I am one of those who Crisis publisher Brian Saint-Paul mentions ... I had no idea about this situation. With that in mind, I am reprinting his entire email letter below.

A Religious Upheaval In India... And What It Means For Catholicism

Crisis Magazine e-Letter
October 13, 2005

Dear Friend,
Devidas Sabane was a diligent farmer, working the land of a former member of the Indian parliament. When his son fell ill, the impoverished Sabane went to the landowner's brother to request money for his treatment. The brother wasn't in a giving mood. He beat Sabane viciously and forced poison down his throat. The farmer died later that day. When his bereaved wife reported the murder to the police and the State Human Rights Commission, they brushed her off. She later committed suicide.

This is India today. The account -- one among many -- comes from the testimony of Indira Athwale, given last week before the United States Committee on International Relations. You see, the Sabanes weren't just Indians, they were Untouchable.

India is made up of a caste system, a construct of its Hindu heritage. At the top are the Brahmins -- the priestly class. Below them are the Kshatriyas, then the Vaisyas, and finally the Sudras.

There's another group that hasn't even merited a place on the Indian social ladder: the Dalit, otherwise known as the Untouchables. Life as an Untouchable is devastating. They're held in contempt by other members of society, are relegated to the most menial of jobs, and even physical contact with them is thought to bring contamination (requiring special purification rituals to cleanse the higher caste member). Their women are raped without retribution, and their men beaten and killed without justice.

While discrimination against the 250 million Dalit is officially prohibited in the Indian constitution, it continues unabated. That they make up almost 1/3 of the country's population is irrelevant. They're Untouchable and have no voice.

But now, something is happening among the Dalit... and it may have effects on the religious future of the country.

You see, after centuries of shameful oppression by their fellow Hindus, the Untouchables are starting to move away from the religion. Initially, there were large Dalit conversions to Buddhism. But the attractions of that faith are proving limited.

And so now, two religions are receiving attention and a growing number of Dalit converts: Christianity and Islam. The possibilities here are striking.

I spoke Friday with Betsy Vigneri, a media consultant with the Dalit Freedom Network, and she told me the shift began in the late 1990s. "It was a culmination of things," she said. "The world moved toward globalization, technology, and communication. Suddenly, some of the educated Dalits were able to see what was happening in the outside world. They realized they could tell their story to a global audience. That's when they organized and began to look for ways to help themselves. They also realized that the best way to find relief from this victimization -- from this slavery -- is to quit Hinduism and embrace another religion."

The transition wasn't easy at first. "Originally, the Christian churches were also practicing the caste system. But now, they're working for freedom of conscience in religion. They're there to serve -- the same approach Mother Teresa took. In their service, they're trying to demonstrate the love of Christ."

While the Muslims are making every effort to convert the Untouchables, the Christian churches have an advantage: the person of Christ. "I've found that when Dalits hear about Jesus, they're deeply moved to learn that He loves them," Vigneri said. "All their lives, they've been told how horrible they are. But they hear that Jesus not only loves them but died for them. In their minds, He reached out to the Untouchables of His day. Touched them... talked to them... ate with them... These are all forbidden for a higher caste person to do with the Dalits."

But Islam itself is not without its own attractions. When an Untouchable becomes Muslim, the female converts are protected by the Muslim men from the harassment of the Hindus. This is no small thing, since Dalit women are in frequent danger of assault and rape.

On the other hand, there are aspects of Islam that some Untouchables find disconcerting. Vigneri noted that "there are Dalit men who have seen how some Muslim men treat their wives or view women. They don't want that for their wives and daughters."

While Muslim and Christian leaders in India have had fairly cordial relations thus far, there is real concern that if India turns Islamic, they could impose Sharia law on everyone. Given the experience of non-Muslims in other such states, that could mean an entirely new form of oppression.

Vigneri told me that there are a few things Christians in the West can do to help the Untouchables -- both in their fight against their horrific living conditions and in their spiritual journey:

1. Spread the word about what's going on in India. "So many Christians tell us, 'I had no idea this was happening.' The Dalits want us to tell the world what they're going through. This is very humbling. We tend to think people want creature comforts. But the Dalits want their stories told."


2. Pray. "The first thing Christian Dalits ask for is prayer. These people have nothing, but they know the power of prayer."


3. Stay informed. One of the best ways to keep yourself up-to-date on the struggles of the Untouchables is to visit the Dalit Freedom Network.

India is at a religious crossroads. Within one generation, we'll see some kind of radical shift in the spiritual makeup of that rising nation. Will it become the next bright light for Christianity, or might it join other jihadist states in violence and oppression? Time will tell.

We in the United States tend to live in a self-enclosed world. That's the stereotype of Americans, and that stereotype is too often true (and I'm as guilty as anyone). But as Catholics, we have a spiritual obligation to care for all the world's suffering. By adding the plight of the Dalits to your own prayer intentions and by telling their story, you'll help them in this world and the next.

All the best,

Brian

National Clandestine Service? "Jose"? Is This A Joke?

Because these names sound like something that they'd use for a Saturday Night Live skit.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has announced the creation of a new service to oversee human intelligence, meaning information gathered through people rather than electronic sources, among all federal agencies working in that field.

Officials said Thursday that the director of the new National Clandestine Service will be an agent known only as "Jose" because he remains undercover. He is currently head of the CIA's clandestine unit.

Read the whole story here.

An Experience of Angels

Therese Z. shares an experience she had of "hearing" an angel. It is a simple and yet very powerful story.

She then asks if anybody else has had a similar experience. What sprang to mind does not have to do with angels or a direct communication. However, her reaction as "sort of serenely nonplussed" sparked a memory that I share with my dear friend Stevie.

I was in Adoration at the beginning of a CRHP retreat. A woman was there who was praying with others before going in to tell her story to the group. When it was time to go, she walked by me and I felt a "WHOOSH" hit me in the face. It left me disoriented for a few seconds. Oddly enough I simply thought, "That must be the Holy Spirit" and then returned to prayer. I didn't even think about it again until Stevie, who had been in Adoration at the same time, told me that she had "felt" the Holy Spirit go by when the woman left the room. Suddenly I remembered that "WHOOSH." Truly it must have been the Holy Spirit passing by.

Romantic Tip

Yet Two More

There are two kinds of people in the world:

Object People and Experience People

Object People see love symbolized in gifts, in things: Roses, jewelry, socket wrench sets. Experience people see love expressed in time spent together, in experiences: Dinner, movies, bowling. Neither is better than the other, they're just personal preferences. And, interestingly, neither preference is related to gender.

Why do you need to know this? Because if your partner is an Object Person, and you take her to the best restaurant in town and drop $200 on an elegant experience, she'll still be expecting a gift at the end of the evening. She's not being selfish, she's simply being herself.

Object People love items that have special meaning. Experience People love activities that create special memories.

1001 Ways to Be Romantic

I never really have thought about this one (perhaps one reason I need this book?) but believe that we are both experience people. Don't get me wrong, gifts are nice too, but not at all in the same way.

Something Beautiful is Happening

Be sure to read the 6:45 p.m. update at Kobayashi Maru's as they sit in vigil with his brother who is dying. It is very sad but very holy also. KM is sharing a treasure with us.

INTO Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. O Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit. Holy Mary, pray for me. O Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, ...protect me from the enemy, and receive me at the hour of death. St. Joseph, pray for me. St. Joseph, in company with the Blessed Virgin, Your spouse, open to me the [source] of divine mercy.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony [or in my last moment].

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I sleep and rest in peace in your holy company.

Lord hear our prayer.

Prayers Requested for This Family

At various points throughout the day, I've played DJ, putting on various CDs that my brother likes. If there's beauty to be found in dying, we've found enough today to go on one more step... one more hour... one more breath. We hold each other close in love.

Kobayashi Maru's brother is going home. Pray for him and his family, for their peace and strength in this hard time. Lord hear our prayer.

"Offer It Up." What the Heck Does That Mean?

Jennifer asks what the phrase, "offer it up" means (mentioned in this post). I can understand her question entirely because it certainly mystified me when I first heard it my mother-in-law say it many years ago. She was counseling one of our daughters to "offer up" her annoyance at something. I think that her explanation is the simplest, and therefore possibly the best, that I have ever heard.

It means to offer your suffering to God as a sacrifice.

You can do this with a specific intention. This can be done with small things annoyances (as I did with that woman behind me in line last night in the long, long pharmacy line who was talking so loudly on her cell phone that I couldn't hear the pharmacist when I finally had my turn with him) as well as large (my last root canal!). I often am reminded on a fast day that the hunger I am feeling is perhaps the same hunger that my parents' souls feel without any belief in God, so I will offer my hunger to God as a sacrifice for their conversion. You also can offer it up without any intention at all and give it to God to use as He will. Not only does this put our suffering to good use but, from my own point of view, it certainly gives one a better perspective on putting up with that particular suffering or annoyance.

As the excerpt in the previous post mentions, the point of this is not to be a "victim" but to make a joyful offering.

This post, Holy Mass and Personal Self Sacrifice, also sheds some light on the idea of offering suffering to God.

Romantic Tip 497

Two

There are two kinds of people in the world:

Detail People and Overview People

Detail People focus on the little things; they notice everything. Overview People focus on the big picture; they see general trends. Neither is right or wrong, these are simply character tendencies.

It will be much easier for you to pull romantic surprises if you're a Detail Person and your loved one is an Overview Person. Detail People are good at covering their trail, paying attention to the little things, and acting "normal." The overview partner won't even notice any little slips.

If you're the Overview Person, you'll need to be extra careful when planning surprises. Those detail-oriented partners will notice every unusual phone call, every little chance in your schedule, and that mischievous look on your face!

1001 Ways to Be Romantic

Me? Details, details, details. Tom won't even let me nudge a gift box to one side, having learned the hard way that I am a really good guesser.