I Just Can't Put This Book Down

Garlic and Sapphires : The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl

I tried Reichl's first two memoirs attracted by the food writing connection but, let's face it, I just don't like the grittiness that comes with some memoirs and Reichl's were of that sort to me. This book, however, is nothing like that as Reichl is telling about her struggles to stay "under cover" as when it is announced she will be the next NY Times food critic her photo is plastered all over restaurant kitchens throughout the city. She also tells about her struggles to change the sorts of restaurants that the Times covers, including a hilarious recounting of her interview where she tried her hardest to be so outrageous that they wouldn't offer her the job. I am only partway through but this book is a great read for anyone interested in food writing ... or any writing.

Defending the Faith and Contentiousness, IV

Previously on Happy Catholic ... part I.

You may ask, "What do you do when your opponent utters nonsense against Christ or the Church?" It is easier to say what you should not do. The general rule the Catholic Evidence Guild followed was never to make a joke at the expense of someone who offers a question or comment, even a hostile or foolish one. The best advice in that regard I ever personally received came from Karl Keating, who said, "Let your opponent's foolishness speak for itself. Your job is to present the truth as winsomely as possible." After all, what do you really accomplish in a battle of wits with a food. If you belittle or make jokes about him, it probably will reflect badly on your and your message...

... When Catholic apologists become contentious, their good sense sometimes disappears and too often with it, any consideration the non-Catholic might have given to the faith. Here the apologist would do well to remember 1 Peter 3:15 and 16. "Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you," Peter writes, adding, perhaps with the contentious apologist in mind, "yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

Global Warming and Volatility

Yesterday's post, which was an excerpt of three bullet points about global warming from the Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, certainly set off some interesting comments. I appreciate everyone's civility in that exchange of ... I can't say ideas ... science beliefs might be the better term.

I think what I find more fascinating than anything else is how three little bullet points with no other details set off negative commentary that spoke as if they knew what the author's support for those points was ... without ever asking questions for further information or reading the book themselves to see if there was, perhaps, evidence that these people hadn't considered.

That, more than anything, showed me what ingrained beliefs we hold about these scientific theories. As I mentioned in my mini-review I know that stunned feeling at seeing "what everybody knows" challenged and I can empathize with the desire to do the best thing that motivates people on both sides.

Previously I was just going to post the provocative bullet points that lead each chapter (yes, I was "poking" to see what happened). However, I believe I will give a few more excerpts than I intended just to give a sample of where the author is coming from. I am not taking any of these theories up as causes to promote, although I do find the author's information to make sense in many cases. This is just because I found the information interesting and thought provoking. I am hoping that people will ask a few more questions and be a little inclined to consider the possibility that "what everybody knows" ain't necessarily so.

Think of health information and how often it changes. For example, I recently saw a study where scientists are now saying that the "glass a day" of wine may not be a good idea after all. This is after we have been told with surety that a glass a day is the way to good health and long life. And before that concept was promoted that we were told the sure way to health and long life was no alcohol at all. So I do not find it mind boggling that scientific theories about other disciplines could easily have led both scientists and the public astray.

If nothing else I certainly now appreciate the scientists who have gone on the record as having a different theory. It shows me how sure they must be of their theories to risk such ridicule from their peers. They are putting their professional reputations on the line. I am doing nothing more than risking becoming known as the "Flat Earth Catholic" or some other clever name.

The question is, are we open minded enough to explore the possibilities ... whether they turn up as dead ends or as valid theories?

Ordinary People in History

... Imagine all the chronologists making their lists and checking them twice. Imagine every single thing that has ever happened falling into place and staying there.

When I began to read about Mary after she left, I turned naturally enough to these chronologies. I already knew that she was reported to have made more than twenty thousand appearances in the past two hundred years. But I found that in these books she made few or no appearances at all. In a chronology of women's history, she was listed only five times, as having given birth to Jesus in 1 A.D., as having given rise to a cult-following by 1100, as having appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, to Catherine Laboure in Paris in 1830, and to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in 1858. She was not mentioned at all in any of the other books.

How can this omission be explained in light of the fact that Marian veneration has flourished around the world ever since her death in the first century? How is it that the most influential, inspirational, and significant woman in the history of the world is not accorded a single mention in most standard history books?

Despite having been thus rendered virtually invisible by most secular historians, Mary has not become a quaint and feeble anachronism. She has remained an important and ongoing part of history. Like most people, she has continued to exist as both a part or and apart from history.

Our Lady of the Lost and Found
by Diane Schoemperlen

Maybe that is why Catholics love Mary so much. In spite of being the Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception (which means that she was born without sin not that she didn't have a human father, by the way) ... in spite of her pure holiness, she was an ordinary woman in an ordinary time in history. She has been largely ignored by the historians just the way we all will be (no doubt). But she shows us how to live a holy life and she shows us her son. The historians don't care about that. It is hard to measure. But we care and that is a big part of why we love her.

Guess What: Global Warming

• Environmentalists not so long ago believed the earth was cooling.
• The earth surface temperature suggests that manmade greenhouse emissions have not been sufficient to increase global temperatures.
• The Kyoto Treaty, which bound signatories to reducing greenhouse emissions, would have caused a depression in the United States.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science

It Ain't Necessarily So

1,500 years ago, everybody "knew" that the earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody "knew" that the earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you "knew" that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll "know" tomorrow.

Men in Black

THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO SCIENCE
This interesting book looks at the effects of scientists becoming more politicized and how it has affected what "everybody knows."

I still remember a few years ago when I read the evolution had a few holes in it (for example that chart with the little horses becoming big horses is conjecture not based on fossil findings) ... it truly rocked my world's foundation because I thought it was rock solid, proven, and settled. The same thing happened a year or so later when reading about global warming. By the time I read an article disputing "common knowledge" about overpopulation I was more prepared.

However, this book takes on more than these subjects. For instance, the chapter about DDT rocked my world again. As well as the chapter about AIDS in Africa. The amount of conjecture that takes place with studies then done to support those findings is staggering. Also, the role of media in refusing to publicize conflicting studies is appalling. Often this happens even when the new studies are done by the original scientists as a follow up and published to refute or clarify earlier findings.

This sounds like a crank book, I admit. However, one of its strengths is that it is written by a journalist, not a scientist with a specific point to prove. It also serves more as an overview of these subjects, leading the reader to more indepth works on the various subjects if they are interested.

I encourage y'all to check this book out, if only to make us more aware that the government and general scientific consensus aren't always based on solid studies. The days when we can blindly accept scientific findings are gone thanks to the way science has abused our trust to get government funding. A healthy skepticism is called for and, if nothing else, this book helps remind us of that fact.

Naturally, I'll be posting interesting bits every so often.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

MEMORIAL

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego on Tepayac hill near Mexico City on the 9th of December 1531 to ask for the construction of a church there in her honour. After the miraculous cure of his uncle, Bernardo, this Indian peasant brought to his Bishop some roses that he received from Our Lady as a sign of her request. As the flowers fell from his cloak to the ground before the astonished Prelate, the image of the blessed virgin, which is venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe to this day, was miraculously impressed on the simple garment before their eyes.

What has always fascinated me is the symbolism of the image that was on the cloak. TSO 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

You can read about this apparition of Our Lady in more depth here.

UPDATE
Some more about conditions in Mexico at the time Our Lady appeared as well as a prayer for abortion victims from Jean at her new blog, Ave Maria. She also provides a link to further symbolic information.

God or the Lottery?

"The funny thing about lottery tickets," Mary mused as we waited in line at the cash register, "is that people keep buying them even if they never win. Week after week, month after month, year after year, still they never give up hope. But if they pray for something two or three times, they expect immediate results, and if it doesn't happen, then they say that God is unfair, disinterested, or dead. Why is it easier to keep believing in the lottery than in God?"

Our Lady of the Lost and Found
by Diane Schoemperlen

See Ya Soon, Raccoon!

I'm going to stay off the computer until Monday. Comments and e-mails will be returned then. Enjoy sunday, y'all!

A Little Useless Information

Words with all the vowels in alphabetical order:

• Abstemious
• Abstentious
• Arsenious
• Caesious
• Facetious
• Fracedinous
  

Schott's Original Miscellany

Want to See One of the Winners in the Great Cookie Swap?

Yes, you're lookin' at her.

Well, you would be if you were over at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen. Go check it out. And they have a real prize for winning. I must say the food blogs know how to have a good time.

I Don't Care Enough

Steven Riddle has been writing about prayer. Go read this.

Bottom line. In my heart of hearts, I know this. Every time I choose something else over "prayer time" (which is all too short as it is), I am telling God that I don't care enough.

This flows perfectly into Fr. O's homily from yesterday when he talked about God walking in the Garden of Eden calling Adam. "Where are you?"

He then went on to say that God is always calling us to him the same way.

It made me think that God has been calling us to him always. God knows where we are. God calls us so that we will think about Him, think about where we are and how to get to Him.

Fr. O. went on to say that we have to get our hearts to a place where we hear Him, where we answer Him, where there is nothing keeping us from Him.

Which, for any good Christian, leads to examination of conscience. And, for any good Catholic, very often leads to the confessional.

God already knows everything we have done, good and bad. For us to take the steps to examine our consciences and see what is keeping us from answering is not telling Him anything He doesn't already know. We aren't telling the priest anything he hasn't heard before. We are the ones who need to say it, who need to hear it.

To do otherwise, is to turn our backs to Him, to refuse to come when He calls us. To not care enough.

Here is what I will be using ... an Advent examination of conscience from Word Among Us.

The following examination of conscience is meant to help you prepare for Confession. Take your time as you answer these questions. Let the Spirit’s still, small voice speak to you words of hope and mercy.

Believe that Jesus didn’t come to condemn but to forgive. So let him wash you clean. Then, you too will be able to say, “We have seen his glory” (John 1:14).

“ ‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (Psalm 27:8)

• Does God hold first place in my life, or have I become the servant of something or someone else?
• Have I given priority to God on Sundays and holy days by attending Mass and making a special effort to seek him?
• Do I safeguard my time of prayer and Scripture reading so that I can open myself to God’s love and direction every day?

“The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me.” (John 17:22-23)

• Have I pursued unity in my relationships with others, or have I eroded it by my words, attitudes, and actions?
• Have I lied or gossiped about other people in a way that tarnished their reputation?
• Do I give appropriate honor and respect to my parents and all legitimate authority?
• Is there anyone I need to forgive? Is there anyone whose forgiveness I need to ask?
• Do I treat my body with respect, or have I abused it through the willful misuse of drugs, alcohol, or food?
• Am I following Jesus’ teachings on sexual morality? Do I indulge in lustful thoughts and sexual fantasies? Have I committed sins of impurity?

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

• How have I shown compassion and concern for the poor, less fortunate, sick, and suffering?
• Am I helping to build a culture of life?
• Have I resisted the Spirit’s invitations to speak the truth or spread the gospel out of fear of what others might think?

What other areas of my life does the Holy Spirit want to cleanse so that I can be transformed into the image of Jesus, “from one degree of glory to another” ?(2 Corinthians 3:18)?

Lord, let your glory be revealed—in the world, in your church, in me!

Heroes, Anti-Heroes, and Underdogs

So, about that school assignment that had Rose watching Payback ...

I thought this was an intriguing way to get the kids to actually think about the role of heroes in movies and in our society today. Rose's English class has just finished reading and discussing The Odyssey. To take it a step further the teacher had them write a paper about one of three categories, each containing five movies, how they are targeted to their audience, and how they handle heroes. They discussed the major themes of the categories in class. The categories were:

Children's Movies
(Rose says that the class never came to a definite conclusion in their discussions of this category but it seems pretty clear that it looks at the underdog who rises above adversity to become heroic ... which would make perfect sense for appealing to children.)

Lady and the Tramp
The Sword in the Stone
Lion King
Hercules
Robin Hood

Teenage Movies
(Examines the anti-hero whose main feature is that they are extremely loyal to their group, not nearly as bad as the people they are overcoming, and there is a high level of coolness.)

Die Another Day
The Italian Job
Payback
The Matrix
Ocean's Eleven

Oscar Winners

(This category focuses on the epic hero.)

Gladiator
Braveheart
The Last Samurai
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Saving Private Ryan

Interesting assignment eh? The only problem with the whole thing is that I think the teacher missed two of the picks for the Teenage category.

Payback is rated "R." That in itself is a disqualification for being aimed at a teenage audience who couldn't get in to see it. Also, although Porter fits the anti-hero category (just squeaking in with one or two good traits), there is very little to admire. Neither he nor the movie exudes the element of style needed to be cool enough for mere looks to attract a teen audience either. The teacher admits this is one of his favorite movies (and I can see why) but I think he forced it into that category.

The Matrix does try to paint Neo with a touch of anti-hero at the very beginning of the movie. But that is so little touched upon and so quickly abandoned in favor of the young hero-in-training that it is soon forgotten. Throughout most of the movie Neo is a Christ-figure and a hero. Period. It's totally cool enough but that alone doesn't justify it's inclusion in this category (rewatching this with Rose I realized I had forgotten just how freakin' cool it was).

Hannah maintains that a better choice than The Matrix would have been Equilibrium and I agree that it's a better movie, though I liked The Matrix better on this second viewing than I did the first time around. However, I am pretty sure few of the kids have watched Equilibrium and Preston also is not an anti-hero because as soon as he realizes the truth he starts righting wrongs.

So what would have been better choices?

Instead of Payback, how about Matchstick Men a similar "flavor?" You don't get much more of an anti-hero than Nicholas Cage's character. As for style, granted it is that of the 60's more than today but that is more than compensated for by the sheer attraction of watching the con go on. Another choice that seems to fit would be O Brother Where Art Thou. Anti-hero and old-time charm carried by wit and ... wait for it ... a story inspired by The Odyssey itself.

Replacing The Matrix is even easier. Going for the sci-fi angle we can see that either X-Men or X-2 has Wolverine who barely even fits into his own group because he is such a rebel. Even better, but not out until Dec. 23 on DVD, would be if the teacher considers Serenity ... the ultimate cool anti-hero sci-fi story. The captain plays by his own set of rules and often is hardly sure what they are. Indeed, he is taken to task by his own first mate at one point for his inhumanity. His loyalty is to his group and that alone. Throw in the action, adventure, and humor and it's a tale of anti-hero triumph that any teen loves ... and all that I know did (ok, I did too but what can I say? Y'all know I'm a little backwards a lot of the time!)

More Holiday Baking

Check it out at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Defending the Faith and Contentiousness, III

Previously on Happy Catholic ... part I.

The core of Catholicism is an affirmation, not a denial. It is the Triune God and God's self-donating love and mercy toward us. It is communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. That, ultimately, is what being a Catholic is all about. We Catholics should defend the Church, because we believe that the Catholic Church is the divinely established sacrament of communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. But we should not be defensive. We must earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 3) without being contentious (cf. Titus 3:9, 1 Pet. 3:15). ...

Defending the faith is not supposed to be about us but about God and his truth. We should not defend Catholicism because our Church is being attacked; that is the attitude of the nationalist or sectarian. Still less should we be defensive because our personal beliefs are challenged -- as if the Catholic faith were merely a matter of our private philosophy of life or personal theology. No, we should defend the Church because we love God and the Church belongs to him, and because we love our neighbors, and the Church -- on the Catholic view -- is the God-given means of bringing people into full communion with Christ, the only Savior. If we truly belief that, then charity compels us to share the truth of the Catholic faith with others.

How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

To be continued ...

Immaculate Conception: In the News

The Holy Father's Immaculate Conception homily. Thanks to Bender for bringing this to my attention. Here's a bit but go read it all.

Yes, we can say Mary is closer to us than any other human being, because Christ is man for mankind and all his being is a “being for us”. Christ, said the Fathers, as Head is inseparable from his Body that is the Church, making a sole living subject together with it, so to speak. The Mother of the Head is also the Mother of all the Church; she is, so to speak, totally expropriated from herself; she gave herself entirely to Christ and with Him she is given as a gift to all of us. In fact, the more a human being gives of himself, the more he finds himself. <>The Council intended to say this: Mary is so interwoven in the great mystery of the Church, that she and the Church are inseparable just as she and Christ are.

The Feast of the Imaculate Conception at Mary's House. I never thought about this but how cool would that be to celebrate this feast day at Mary's house? Wow! Read it here. Thanks to The Anchoress, who has a great post up about this feast day, for calling this to my attention.

IZMIR, Turkey -- Not many pilgrims will be clambering up the slopes of Bulbul Dag (hill of the nightingale) where the "House of the Blessed Virgin Mary" is found. It could be because now summer is over, winter has crept in and groups of foreign tourists have melted away; or it may be because Dec. 8 is just another working day in Turkey; then again, perhaps it is because Orthodox Christians and Protestants do not recognize the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Yet, Dec. 8, precisely because there will be no vast crowd of people, is sure to be a privileged day for the handful of Catholics who will go there to celebrate Mass with the community of Capuchins and sisters who are custodians of the house.

What Is Your Life Worth?

PAYBACK
Porter knows his worth. $70,000. That is the amount that his erstwhile partner, who now works for the syndicate, stole after double crossing and leaving him for dead. And that is the amount Porter wants back. No more, no less. He will do whatever it takes to get it.

So begins the grittiest movie I have ever seen Mel Gibson in. The director said that he wanted to make a movie in which the protagonist was a bad guy who didn't make excuses. He certainly achieved that. Porter is the anti-heroes "hero" so to speak, a guy who has only one goal and only one redeeming quality, which is his love for Rosie, the requisite hooker with a heart of gold. I suppose he actually could have two redeeming qualities, the second being his stubborn determination to take only the money that was stolen from him. One of the elements that becomes a comic refrain is as he works his way up the chain of command at the syndicate people repeatedly say, "You're doing all this for $140,000?" Porter disgustedly corrects them, "$70,000." And the other bad guys have even less to redeem them.

One of the interesting elements of this movie is that the "bad guys" (which would be everyone) all assume that Porter must have a fairly sophisticated approach hidden behind his tough-guy front. No. What you see is what you get. And when they get used to the idea that Porter is very direct then they assume that he isn't smart. Wrong again. Part of the fun is watching them react to those realizations.

This normally is the sort of movie that we never would enjoy. Tom started watching after happening upon Rose watching it for a school assignment (more in a different post about why Rose was watching an extremely violent, "R"-rated movie for school) and got hooked by the old-style detective narration and film noir atmosphere. We watched the whole thing that evening and by the end were amazed that we watched it ... and loved it. The only conclusion that we could come to is that Mel Gibson pulled it off. He somehow invests his character with a touch of lightness without ever breaking out of character.

HC Rating: **** 9 Thumbs Up!

Housekeeping as an Action

... Mary seemed to approach housekeeping as an action, rather than a reaction. As she worked, it was clear that she was involved not in a process of negation (of dirt, dust, and the inevitable debris spawned by every activity of daily life) but of creation (or order, shiny surfaces, perfectly aligned towels, floors to which your feet did not stick). She seemed to have no doubt that what she was doing was important. She had faith, obviously, in the restorative power of domesticity.

Our Lady of the Lost and Found
by Diane Schoemperlen

I hate housekeeping. It is boring and always has to be redone. Maybe that's why this excerpt stuck with me. Housework as a positive. That's what the ubiquitous Fly Lady would say, as a blessing to your home (I hate her writing style but I gotta admit she had some good ideas). And that makes all the difference.

Congratulations to Paul!

I didn't see this until today meandering through the various categories but Thoughts of a Regular Guy is a finalist in the 2005 Weblog Awards for Best Blog Ranked 2501 thru 3500 in the TTLB Ecosystem. Way to go, Paul!

I am voting daily for The Anchoress for Best Conservative Blog, Flos Carmeli for Best Religious Blog, and Thoughts of a Regular Guy ... and also for Manolo's Shoe Blog in Best Culture/Gossip Blog (though it seemed to me that it should have been in the humor category).

Christmas Music Coming Up

I was sent a promo for this CD but I haven't heard it. Usually we buy a new Christmas album every year. I like all varieties of Christmas music from Nat King Cole to Ringo's Christmas to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra ... and this looks as if it has all sorts of variety on it. If anyone has this album let us know how Coming Home for Christmas is.

1. O Holy Night – MercyMe
2. A Christmas To Remember – Amy Grant
3. Little Drummer Boy - Lonestar
4. (There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays – Olivia Newton-John w/ Vince Gill. The London Symphony Orchestra
5. Snowflake – Jim Brickman
6. Jingle Bell Rock – Daryl Hall & John Oates
7. Someone Is Missing At Christmas – Anne Cochran
8. White Christmas – Michael Bolton
9. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Mulberry Lane
10. Christmas Canon – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
11. Celebrate Me Home – Kenny Loggins
12. Silent Night – Take Three
13. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire ) – John Denver
14. Happiest Christmas – Michael W. Smith
15. Coming Home For Christmas – Kristy Starling

Quick Reviews: Light and Fluffy

Neither of these took more than a couple of days to read. Although they are fluff, both were amusing fluff and sufficiently entertaining to keep me reading to see what would happen next.

EATING CROW
Food critic Marc Basset is known for merciless but clever restaurant reviews. Then one day a chef commits suicide after reading Basset's review of his cooking. When Basset apologizes to the widow he has an epiphany. There is a wonderful release from a sincere apology that is sincerely accepted. Soon Basset is apologizing to everyone he can remember ever wronging. This leads him to a job at the United Nation's new apology division where he finds himself apologizing to countries on behalf of his nation. Lots of food talk as well as an endlessly inventive tale that makes you wonder where all this apologizing will end. I never laughed out loud but I was amused the whole way through. Tip: read the copyright page and see the apologies interlace in the legalese. Very clever.

HOME TO HARMONY
I picked this book up after reading in the DMN religion section that the series was enjoyed by real-life pastors. Written by an actual Quaker minister, Home to Harmony is actually a set of short stories connected by the narrator, Quaker minister Sam Gardner. He enjoys nothing more than the peace of his small hometown, Harmony, and is practical enough to see the quirks and foibles of the other town characters for what they are. This is reminiscent in a way of the Mitford books by Jan Karon but is told without the sappy sweetness that can be cloying in that series. Prairie Home Companion listeners will also find these tales to be a familiar style but Gulley writes these in a way that I found much more readable than when Garrison Keillor attempts to jot down his narratives. I don't usually enjoy short stories but these also left me wanting more and pulled me through the book. Sweet, gentle, and with an easy to swallow moral at the end of each chapter.

A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness

Our priest had such a wonderful homily about this ... too bad that he won't let anyone transcribe the tapes to actually write down what he said. He's just as stubborn as I am and that's really saying' somthing.

It's doubly too bad because not only would all of us like the chance to revisit his words, but we sit in the middle of a gaggle of old ladies. They all sit up front but still can't hear what he says. They all ask each other afterward, "What did Fr. L. say that was so funny?" And no one knows ... except us and we can't transcribe from memory, sadly enough. Then they all ask each other why Fr. L. doesn't have these written down. And we all shake our heads at his humility ... which costs them the chance of getting the homily and the rest of us the chance to benefit additionally from his words.

But enough of my complaining ... (finally! I hear y'all saying).

He made a point on Sunday that was vivid enough for me to remember and pass alone.

These are not rhetorical questions!

Who here remembers the first time they saw Star Wars? I want a show of hands.

Remember when we saw all those people moving around in the corridor? And then there was an explosion and the tall man all in black came in? Was there any doubt in anyone's mind that he was the villain? Did anyone think, "Well, maybe he just likes to make a big entrance." No one doubted that he was the arch villain, did they?

Was there any doubt in anyone's mind that the fresh faced young man in white was the hero? We all knew he was the hero.

Now this question is just for you ladies (directed to the Catholic Daughters of America who were all sitting up front and had an average age of 70).

Do you remember the beginning of The Lone Ranger on TV? We saw the man on his white horse. We heard the William Tell Overture in the background. Was there any doubt that he was the good guy? Even though he wore the black mask, we knew he was the good guy, right?

And that is how it was with John the Baptist.

He wore very odd clothes, he ate an unappealing diet of locusts and wild honey. He told the people that they needed to repent. He lived in the desert. The Israelites knew that living in the desert didn't just mean it was a sandy, hot place. They knew that the desert was a place of testing, of trial, of getting closer to God.

All those things were unmistakable. John the Baptist was a prophet. He was there to tell them what God wanted them to hear.

And, darn it, that's all I can remember because Fr. L. made a big entrance into the homily and ... neither Tom or I can remember any more.

However, it does dovetail nicely with Disputation's commentary about the Sunday Gospel reading ... so just duck over there next (if you've hung on this long) and see what he says about prophets in the desert.

In Search of Ecumenism

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”

Mark 9:38-40

For those of my nonCatholic buddies who would like to know a little bit more about the Catholic Church, here is a post written by a Protestant ... the Internet Monk. He first came to my attention soon after the death of Pope John Paul II when, regrettably, some were using that event as an opportunity to attack Catholics for their faith.

After writing this article he, himself, came under a great deal of attack and I've always appreciated his ability to take the big picture instead of nitpicking to death about disagreements in theology, the way some do. I especially applaud his recommendation to read the Catechism to discover what Catholics really believe (which is something that we Catholics should do more ourselves, by the way).

I also recommend this article for Catholics who want to find common ground with Protestants.

Ordinary Time

"This is what is called Ordinary Time," she said, strapping on the watch.

It did not feel ordinary to me. Although it seemed as if two centuries had passed since she arrived, in fact it had only been two days.

"According to the Catholic liturgical calendar," she explained, "all the days of the year that are not Lent, Easter, Advent, or Christmas are called Ordinary Time. So here we are: Easter is over and Christmas is still a long way off. I guess you could say that this is the time in which we're meant to feel that we have all the time in the world."

I could see then what she meant. Ordinary Time is all those days that blend one into the next without exceptional incident, good or bad; all those days unmarked by either tragedy or celebration. Ordinary Time is the spaces between events the parts of a life that do not show up in photo albums or get told in stories. In real life, this is the bulk of most people's lives. But in literature, this is the part that doesn't make it into the book. This is the line space between scenes, the blank half-page at the end of a chapter, and the next one begins with a sentence like: Three years later he was dead.

Ordinary Time is all those days you do not remember when you look back on your life. Unless, of course, the Virgin Mary came to visit in the middle of it and everything was changed: before and after; then and now; past, present, and future.

Our Lady of the Lost and Found
by Diane Schoemperlen

Some people like Advent or Christmas best. I know that Penni really loves Lent. Me? I like ordinary time, that regular time when things are just going along and we can enjoy regular life. The big holidays and events are great also but there is nothing like ordinary time to me.

Remember Me?

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL MEMORY OF YOU AND ME.

It can be anything you want--good or bad--BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you're finished, post this paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON'T ACTUALLY remember about you.

I picked this up from Jules at Faith or Fiction who has had a heckuva fictional life from what I can see from the people dropping memories in her comments box. I am a little afraid of what someone like Rick Lugari is going to come up with but ... here goes nuttin'...

Let's see what you DON'T remember about me!

UPDATE:
Originally posted Sunday evening but I'm moving this to let it have a longer "post life."

Defending the Faith and Contentiousness, II

Previously on Happy Catholic ... part I.

Some religious differences entail real contradictions, on minor or major points. Muslims say Jesus was merely a prophet, inferior to Muhammad. In other words, they claim that Jesus is not God. Christians say he was -- and is -- God incarnate. Muslims and Christians cannot both be right about this, nor is this merely a difference of terminology or emphasis. These beliefs about Jesus cannot both be true: either Jesus is or is not God.

Thus, we can see that to treat all religious differences the same is a grave mistake. The apologist who does so risks unnecessarily alienating people from the Catholic faith by making more of a difference than is necessary or glossing over a difference that is crucial.

But even when he does not treat all differences the same, the contentious apologist can still fixate on them. Instead of understanding Catholicism in terms of the intrinsic structure of Catholic truth, he always places distinctive Catholic tenets at the very top of the "hierarchy of truths." He approaches the faith mainly in terms of what Catholics are against, instead of what we are for. In this way, the contentious Catholic apologist really becomes the anti-Protestant, anti-Orthodox, or anti-non-Christian apologist. As Christopher Derrick points out in his superb apologetical book That Strange Divine Sea, being Catholic means more than screaming, "The Protestants are wrong!" The Catholic faith has positive as well as negative aspects. But contentiousness tends to obscure that fact.

How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

I can definitively say that this is something to be desired that all Christians remember. When I'm not at St. Blog's I hang with a little "gang" of ecumenical Christians ... a few Catholics, a few Protestants. I have always been amazed and delighted at how careful and understanding they are to understand each other and to look at the big picture rather than stabbing each other over variations in understandings of Christianity.

This has led me to try to educate myself better over what various Protestant denominations believe so that I may put their comments in context. It is a slow and imperfect process but already has been very valuable in allowing me to stay in charity with these pals.

To be sure, there are those not of this "gang" who will come into some of those blogs and, under the guise of educating their more ignorant brethren, show such an extreme lack of Christian charity and desire to understand that I have been truly shocked.

This contentiousness has been a good example to me to strive for more charity myself and to remember St. Peter's wise words:

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence...

1 Peter, 3:15-16

Also, whether for better or worse, it has led me to decide to occasionally put up "educational" posts to explain what Catholics believe and why in an effort to foster ecumenism among those of my nonCatholic friends who may drop by.

To be continued ... both the series of excerpts and the "ecumenical, educational" comments ...

Signs Your Cat Has Learned Your Internet Password

Check these out at Catholic Fire. My favorite:

E-mail flames from some guy named "Fluffy.

Christmas Candy, Cranberry Nut Bread ...

... and Hillaire Belloc's thoughts on Latin and tea (yes, you heard me right) can be found at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Defending the Faith and Contentiousness

Heaven only knows that I can get contentious. We probably all go through our ornery, argumentative phases. However, the tendency toward contentiousness is something that I notice a lot around St. Blog's and also other Christian sites. That's probably why this chapter really spoke to me. So I'm going to post in pieces ... it's a little more digestible that way, I think.

When it comes to religious differences, there are three options: we can exaggerate or accentuate them; we can ignore or minimize them; we can recognize them, give them their due, but keep them in their proper place in the scheme of things. The last is the best of course, but taking it requires making distinctions, which some apologists, out of excessive zeal or prejudice, do not always do.

Some religious differences are largely if not purely terminological. The Eastern Orthodox talk about "the Divine Liturgy," while the Latin Catholic refer to "the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." They are referring to the same thing. Other differences are matters of taste or emphasis. Baptists believe Jesus dies on the cross for our sins but usually do not have crucifixes in their churches. For them, an empty cross speaks of Jesus' Resurrection. Catholics, who also believe Christ rose from the dead, put a corpus on the cross to proclaim that he died for our sins. There is no real difference of belief, only of emphasis.

How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

To be continued ...

He Had Me at "Simpson"

I'd think being theologian of Benedict XVI's household would be about like being beer drinker of Homer Simpson's household: you're not going to be asked to do something your boss couldn't do first and probably better.

Disputations

Posting that quote here was inevitable, I think we'd all agree.

Do You Know What You're Missing?

Just a reminder to those who use RSS feed exclusively to read Happy Catholic: every day in the sidebar there is a new quote, trivia, and daily horoscope. Do I need to say that all of these are chosen for entertaiment value? No, y'all know me so well that I'm sure you already picked up on that. I do this for my own amusement (as with everything around here) but just thought I'd mention it. After all, a quote is a terrible thing to waste!

My Terrible Dilemma

I picked up a huge stack of books from the library (hence the overloaded sidebar) and, as is my habit, read the first chapter of most of them to see if they looked worth keeping. Problem is that three of them were so good that I wound up leaving them lying around the house and whenever I pass one I can't resist picking it up (and then I just can't put it down ... until I reach the next book). So I interchanging these three books whenever I come across the next ... a new problem for me. Usually I can pick one and the others can wait. But these all are too riveting.

Eating Crow by Jay Rayner
Travels with My Donkey by Tim Moore
Murder in Belleville by Cara Black

War and Peace

I thought I'd tackle a classic so picked up War and Peace by Tolstoy. Funny, it wasn't nearly as long as everybody always said.

Leo Tolstoy


History controls everything we do,
so there is no point in observing individual actions.
Let's examine the individual actions of over 500 characters at great length.



THE END

Maybe I'll try Anna Karenina next.

Y'all have gotta try these classics.

You Can't Say He Doesn't Know How to Read Between the Lines

Rick Lugari has reinstated his Joke of the Day and, in the process, actually give us two jokes.

Make Disciples of All Nations, Finis

To read from the beginning ... Part I.

Fifth, "Go make disciples of all nations" means all nations -- the whole world and all its peoples. Jesus is not just "an" answer for some people. Or "the" answer for Western culture. He is not just a teacher like Buddha, or a prophet like Mohammed. He is the Son of God. And what that means is this: Jesus is the answer for every person, in every time, in every nation. There is no other God, and no other Savior. Jesus Christ alone is Lord, and the Catholic Church is the Church he founded. If anyone is saved, he is saved only through Jesus Christ and his Church, whether he knows the name of Jesus or not.

Ecumenical and interreligious dialogues are enormously valuable things. They form us in humility; they deepen our understanding of God; and they teach us respect for our brothers and sisters who don't share our faith but who sometimes radiate Christ's love far better than we do. And yet even our sinfulness does not exempt us from preaching and defending the truth. If we really believe the Catholic faith is the right path to God, then we need to share it joyfully, firmly, with all people and in all seasons. We need to defend it with passion, courage -- and also with charity.

The bottom line is this: Our mission is to advance God's work of redeeming and sanctifying the world. Our mission is to bring all people to salvation in Jesus Christ. That is our mission in community as the Catholic Church and individually as Catholic believers. It's a task of both truth-telling and of love.

Archbishop Charles Chaput
from the introduction to
How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

Introducing The Coma Award

SCHULTZE GETS THE BLUES

And to think that I thought The Station Agent was slow.

This movie had such gaps in what little story was communicated about the retired German salt miner who grew to love zydeco and went to America ... that Tom spent what seemed to me to be a remarkable amount of time trying to track down whether or not a German audience would have picked up on cultural markers better and liked it more. Nope. He found countless movie reviewers who didn't even understand the details of the story that was told. He found that the German audiences didn't like it nearly as well as Americans did.

Just which Americans I am at a loss to say. Perhaps those that felt The Station Agent needed to slow down and lose about 3/4 of its story line.

Not to mention that we were generous in allowing "movie magic" to let Schultze pilot his boat along the Guadalupe to the Louisiana bayou country. That question and whether he actually stole the boat occupied a great deal of time in our DVD watching conversation ... but, as I say, it wasn't being taken up with anything like a story line, so no problem.

I don't mind a slow movie that takes its time and doesn't have a big story to tell. Some of those movies that come to mind include Lost in Translation, Mostly Martha, The Story of the Weeping Camel, Bigger Than the Sky, Danny Deckchair or that really charming little movie about the young monks (Indian?) who want to watch the World Cup games. (If anyone knows the name of that movie I'd be most grateful. We'd like to watch it with the girls but can't track it down.)

This movie earns The Coma Award for two distinctions. The aforementioned severe lack of story line and the fact that the director evidently favored setting up a tripod and leaving the camera at one angle for extended periods of time ... such as every scene. Wonder who Schultze is talking to for several minutes when his boat is broken down? Well, keep wondering because the sheriff's boat isn't going to come into the frame for several more minutes and we wouldn't want to ruin the suspense by panning the camera at all.

If you want to see a thoughtful, charming German movie, rent Mostly Martha. Leave Schultze Gets the Blues strictly alone.

HC Rating: * Worse than Godfather III.

Make Disciples of All Nations, Part IV

To read from the beginning ... Part I.

Fourth, Jesus does not ask the impossible. If he tells us to teach all nations, it is because it can be done. Nothing is impossible with God. When Paul began his work, conversion of the Roman world seemed impossible. But it happened. When Mother Teresa began her work in Calcutta, no one had any idea she would touch people of all nations with her example of Christ's love. But it happened. Do not worry about the odds. They do not concern us. Never be afraid to speak up for the truth. God will do the rest.

Archbishop Charles Chaput
from the introduction to
How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

To be continued ...

Pillars of the Earth

Having gotten to page 400 I would say that I have given this book a really fair trial ... and am putting it down with a sigh of relief at not making myself go the full 1,000 pages. I started out liking it fine but as I went on really became dissatisfied with the writing style and picking it up became a chore for which I had to steel myself. Perhaps a little too much of "The Day of the Jackal" remained with Follett on this one for me to like it. There was a tendency for modernism to creep into the way that characters were portrayed. For example, the malicious peeping Tom had thoughts racing through his head that just struck me as too much "here and now" versus the way they would have been framed back in the day. I understand that he may have been motivated in those ways from our point of view but, although human nature remains the same now as it did then, the way that humans understood their own nature and that of others ... and framed that understanding to themselves and others is quite different.

 I know that this book has a lot of fans and that's ok ... but it isn't for me.

For the moment, anyway, I'll have to stick with Kenneth Roberts and Samuel Shellabarger for my historical fiction.

Make Disciples of All Nations, Part III

To read from the beginning ... Part I.

Third, if Jesus speaks to each of us personally, it is because each of us personally makes a difference. God did not create us by accident. He made us to help him sanctify this world, and to share his joy in the next. The biggest lie of our century is that mass culture is so big and so complicated that an individual cannot make a difference.

This is false. This is the Enemy's propaganda, and we should never believe it. We are not powerless. Twelve uneducated Jews turned the Roman world on its head. One Francis Xavier brought tens of thousands of souls to Jesus Christ in the Far East. One Peter Canisius brought tens of thousands of fallen-away Catholics back to the Church.

If Christians were powerless, the world would not feel the need to turn them into martyrs. The gospel has the power to shake the foundations of the world. It has done so many times. It continues to do so today. But it cannot do anything, unless it is lived and preached, taught, explained, and defended. This is why the simplest Christian is the truest and most effective revolutionary. The Christian changes the world by changing one heart at a time.

Archbishop Charles Chaput
from the introduction to
How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

To be continued ...

Advent

I have been looking around for something to put up that expresses my feelings about Advent. It is a time of penitence and a time of hope, a time of reflection and a time of looking forward. Additionally, in America, we have to balance the secular frenzy that Christmas engenders while we still prepare for Christmas ourselves. Quite a balancing act sometimes, especially if you have children.

Imagine my surprise when I found what seemed to be the perfect introduction to the season in a cookbook ... A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year. (By the way Barbara I remember that I owe you a review of this book and fear it never may happen ... that's what happens when I have no specific deadline...perhaps this excerpt will help a little.)

The season of Advent carries a double meaning. On the one hand, people feel a desire to prepare themselves for the coming of Christ into the world, into their lives. And, looking ahead to the Second Coming, the Last Judgment, they attempt to examine their consciences, to repent. Advent, then, has always been, like Lent, a period of prayer and fasting.

But Christians everywhere have felt that there was a great difference between Lent and Advent. Lent is a very somber period, leading to the Cross. Advent is intrinsically more joyful: after all, what it leads up to is Christ's birth. So if Advent is a period of spiritual preparation, of prayer, works of mercy, frequent visits to church, it is nonetheless suffused with Christmas joy.

How are we to observe this season of happy yet prayer-filled anticipation? How can we keep Advent from being swallowed in the worldly Christmas season? Many people find that abstaining from meat, wine, sweets, or other food that they care about for two or three (or more) days a week is most helpful in reminding them that it isn't Christmas yet, that this is a time to prepare the heart. Some focus on the needs of the poor, even greater at this season than usual: not only is it cold out there (just think of the Holy Family, seeking shelter, so long ago), but poor families need money in order to have a Christmas dinner and to give their children gifts. Thinking about poor children can be very important for our children, most of them so amply endowed with possessions. Try letting each child pick out a toy, perhaps even contribute something from his or her allowance, for someone who has no toys. Such an experience can be a great builder of compassion.

Advent has its authentic pleasures. These are anticipatory joys, such as the setting up of a creche, one figure at a time perhaps. Day by day open the windows of an Advent calendar. Play and sing the music of Advent: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

Catholic Culture has some Advent activities listed that you may find enhance the anticipation while helping keep our eyes firmly on the real reason for the season.

Here are two other particularly good Advent reflections:

• A Lesson in Peaceful and Joyful Anticipation by Your Pastoral Coach
• First Sunday of Advent by Recta Ratio

Make Disciples of All Nations, Part II

To read from the beginning ... Part I.

Second, Jesus is not talking to somebody else. He is talking to you and me. "Go and make disciples of all nations" could not be more personal. Jesus wants you. The work of evangelizing -- and its sibling, apologetics -- is not just a job for "professionals." We are the professionals by virtue of our baptism. If the responsibilities of your life prevent you from going to china or Africa, then witness to and defend your faith where you are -- to your neighbors, you coworkers, your friends. Find ways to talk about your faith with the people you know. Work to conform your life to the things you say you believe. Make your actions support your words, and your words, your actions.

Archbishop Charles Chaput
from the introduction to
How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

To be continued ...

Make Disciples of All Nations, Part I

Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Matt. 28:18-20).

Simple, direct, no-nonsense. These words of Jesus are the greatest mission statement ever written. But in hearing this Scripture so many times in daily life, we can easily become dull to its power. So let's examine it.

First, it is not a suggestion or a request. It is a command. If we say we believe in Jesus Christ, we must preach the gospel. We must teach the faith, and we must also explain and defend it. There is no Option B. Jesus does not need our polite approval. He does not want our support from the sidelines. He wants us -- our love, our zeal, our whole being -- because through us he completes the work of salvation, which has never been more urgent for the world than right now.

Archbishop Charles Chaput
from the introduction to
How Not to Share Your Faith:
The Seven Deadly Sins of Apologetics
by Mark Brumley

To be continued ...

Fatherhood, Laughter and Miracles

In The Beginning...There Were No Diapers* by Tim Bete

When I was in kindergarten, I prayed for proof that God existed. I wasn't looking for God to reveal himself through the biggest miracle. I was only five so I was practical. I wanted God to place some graham crackers in a plastic bag in my coat pocket. Every day when I went into the coatroom, I dug my hands down deep into my pockets -- but they were always empty. When I graduated to first grade, I gave up asking God for graham crackers because I was convinced he wasn't going to produce.

Thirty-five years passed. Then one day, I put my hand in my pocket and felt a plastic bag. I pulled it out and there in the bottom of the bag where three graham crackers. Sure, they belonged to one of my kids, but who's to say God didn't just take the slow fulfillment route -- using my daughter as the delivery girl -- to grant my kindergarten prayer?

But that wasn't all. As I dug my hand deeper into my coat pocket, I discovered two rubber bands, a dandelion, some pebbles, and a Happy Meal prize. When God answers prayers, he does it in abundance. I showed these treasures to a friend, who showed me the contents of his pocket -- two licorice sticks, three pennies, and a feather. I didn't have to ask him what he prayed for in kindergarten.

Tim Bete writes a la Erma Bombeck ... if Erma had been a Catholic father. He looks at his life with his family of small children through a lens of laughter and the appreciation of small everyday miracles. Covering such subjects as fending off questions about impending additions to their large family, what happens when the caterpillars from a butterfly garden escape captivity into your household, and watching your five year old's T-ball game, Bete looks for the humor in every side of every situation.

Help wanted: Mother

Seven-day workweek with twenty-four hour shifts. Some vacation time accrues after first eighteen years. Must be able to cook at least ten dishes none of the kids will eat. Ability to tune out crying a must. Should be able to carry infant and three bags of groceries at same time. Must have chauffeur's license and advanced degrees in nursing, veterinary medicine, and education while not too proud to be a seamstress and maid. Must be able to juggle schedules while balancing a checkbook as well as be willing to be spit-up upon. Requires willingness to change dirty diapers, flat tires, and plans at the last minute. No previous experience necessary because no previous experience can prepare you for this job. Children willing to break in new recruits.

I will say that I never could appreciate Erma Bombeck so this is not really my sort of book. Bete seems determined to milk every bit of laughter he can and sometimes went over the top. However, so did Bombeck from my point of view so one must take that into account. I appreciated the fact that he always connected details of his family life with the big picture of God working our lives everyday. I did find some parts of the book quite funny and so did my husband, who got a big laugh from the excerpts featured here.

Bottom line, if you like Erma Bombeck and appreciate having your faith as part of everyday life, then you probably will like this book. I know that I have several friends who will like this book and will be giving this as a Christmas gift to them.

If you imagine yourself on the hillside when Jesus multiplied the five loaves and two fish to feed more than 5,000, I think you'll see my point. There must have been a thousand children present. By my calculation, immediately after the miracle, 400 kids would have said they "didn't like fish." three hundred and fifty children would have complained that their "bread was touching their fish," and therefore they couldn't eat it. One hundred and fifty kids would have whines that the fish was "inedible without tartar sauce." Seventy-five would have asked for "fish sticks instead of the whole fish." Finally, twenty-five children must have dropped their fish on the ground and cried because it was dirty, even though they never would have eaten it in the first place.

I could be wrong, but that's what would have happened if my kids were on that hillside. Because Jesus was in charge, however, two miracles occurred. First, he multiplied the loaves and fish. Second, all the kids ate it. You decide which was the greater miracle.

Simple Ideas

When I read the story about IVF babies possibly developing health problems in later years specifically because of the IVF process, I thought of this passage from Jurassic Park. It is lengthy but I love it and think it speaks to the scientific attitude about many things today so I'm putting the entire thing up.

Hammond sighed, and sat down heavily. "Damn it all," he said, shaking his head. "It must surely not have escaped your notice that at heart what we are attempting here is an extremely simple idea. My colleagues and I determined, several years ago, that it was possible to clone the DNA of an extinct animal, and to grow it. That seemed to us a wonderful idea, it was a kind of time travel -- the only time travel in the world. Bring them back alive, so to speak. And since it was so exciting, and since it was possible to do it, we diced to go forward. We got this island, and we proceeded. It was all very simple."

"Simple?" Malcolm said. Somehow he found the energy to sit up in the bed. "Simple? You're a bigger fool than I thought you were. And I thought you were a very substantial fool."

Ellie said, "Dr. Malcolm," and tried to ease him back down. But Malcolm would have none of it. He pointed toward the radio, the shouts and the cries.

"What is that, going on down there?" He said. "That's your simple idea. Simple. You create new life-forms about which you know nothing at all. Your Dr. Wu does not even know the names of the things he is creating. He cannot be bothered with such details as what the thing is called, let alone what it is. You create many of them in a very short time, you never learn anything about them yet you expect them to do your bidding, because you made them and you therefore think you own them; you forget that they are alive, they have an intelligence of their own, and they may not do your bidding, and your forget how little you know about them, how incompetent to do the things that you so frivolously call simple ... Dear God ..."

He sank back coughing.

"You know what's wrong with scientific power?"Malcolm said. "It's a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are. It never fails."

Hammond said, "What is he talking about?"

Harding made a sign, indicating delirium. Malcolm cocked his eye.

"I will tell you what I am talking about," he said. "Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power. There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years. Whatever kind of power you want. President of the company. Black belt in karate. Spiritual guru. Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the time, the practice, the effort. You must give up a lot to get it. It has to be very important to you. And once you have attained it, it is your power. It can't be given away: it resides in you. It is literally the result of your discipline.

"Now what is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won't use it unwisely. So that kind of power has a built-in control. The discipline of getting the power changes you so that you won't abuse it.

"But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline. You read what others have done, and you take the next step. You can do it very young. You can make progress very fast. There is no discipline lasting many decades. There is no mastery; old scientists are ignored. There is no humility before nature. There is only a get-rich-quick, make-a-name-for-yourself-fast philosophy. Cheat, lie, falsify -- it doesn't matter. Not to you, or to your colleagues. No one will criticize you. No one has any standards. They are all trying to do the same thing: to do something big, and do it fast.

"And because you can stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish something very quickly. You don't even know exactly what you have done, but already you have reported it, patented it, and sold it. And the buyer will have even less discipline than you. The buyer simply purchases power, like any commodity. The buyer doesn't even conceive that any discipline might be necessary."

Hammond said, "Do you know what he is talking about?"

Ellie nodded

"I haven't a clue," Hammond said.

"I'll make it simple," said Malcolm. "A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands. He does not lose his temper and kill his wife. The person who kills is the person who has no discipline, no restraint, and who has purchased his power in the form of a Saturday night special. And that is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits. And that is why you think that to build a place like this is simple."

"It was simple," Hammond insisted.

"Then why did it go wrong?"

Review: The Right to Be Wrong

One side (dubbed "Pilgrims" in the book) wants to legally coerce any religious conscience with which they disagree while the other side (called "Park Rangers") thinks that all religion must be purely private. Both seem prepared to battle to the death over these issues. The rest of us, that vast majority in the middle, duck and cover as best we can while wondering why we must always fight every detail of anything to do with religion. After all, it didn't used to be this way. Did it?

My latest for Spero News is a review of The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America* which, though surprisingly short at 147 pages, packs a powerful punch. Highly recommended reading.

* Shamelessly stealing a page from Disputation's book, I will point out that my copy was sent to me by the author. Will I write about your book if you send me a free copy? Try me!

Don't Give Up

And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.

Galatians 6:9

In "The Screwtape Letters," C. S. Lewis' senior demon, Screwtape, explains to a junior demon, Wormwood, why God sends us "dry times:"

He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs--to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual temptation, because we design them for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot "tempt" them to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there, He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

Catholic Exchange's Word of Encouragement

If you haven't read The Screwtape Letters (and I'm always suprised by just how many people haven't) then it is hard to appreciate just how much good advice we get from C.S. Lewis in living a Christian life on a day-to-day basis. This gives a little sample.

Humor and the Habit

Monks are quick to seize on the humor of their situation with regard to the rest of the world. Their habits, while they symbolize the serious matter of a religious vocation, do have a comical side. I once witnessed monks using their scapulars in an impromptu fly-swatting contest. And the long skirt can be quite a look on a man. Once, when I happened to compliment a monk on his choice of attire -- he'd put a heavy sweater on over his habit -- he struck a model's pose, hand on hip, and said, "Yes ... classic, yet casual." I once witnessed several teenage girls staring moon-eyed at a handsome young monk they'd developed a crush on when they were counselors at a camp for the handicapped. The monk, being kind, had stopped by their table to visit during lunch on the last day at camp. As he walked away, one girl sighed and said, dreamily, "Oh -- he looks so good in black." The monk, overhearing her, said to me, "That's fine, because I'm going to have to wear an awful lot of it."

The Cloister Walk