As the Blog Turns ...

Actually, the show I just was watching is called Blogs of Our Lives ...

Adoro te Devote took the time to introduce us to the characters in her favorite soap opera. I was quite surprised and pleased to show up as the friendly, cookie baking, down home neighbor. (Let me just set this knitting down and pour you another cup of coffee ...) Check it out. She's got quite a turn for story telling and you might find some blogs you haven't run into yet.

Spiritual Attack and St. Michael's Help

Oh yes. I believe in spiritual attacks, and I believe that I have been spiritually attacked.

I do not think such attacks are rare. But I think the devils rarely use the showy stuff. Why shout when whispering will do? And when they bring out the showy stuff they risk calling too much attention to their own existence...

Peony Moss

Peony made that comment over at Et Tu, Jen on a post which was soliciting questions about whether spiritual attacks were real or imaginary. That has always been my experience also, of the small temptations. Sometimes, oddly enough, I actually can step back mentally, look at my feelings and behavior and recognize that I am being "pushed" to think one way or another ... or at least it feels like it. That is enough for me to be able to shove the thoughts and emotions away and move on. Now, if only I could always recognize such times ... or did not contribute myself without any spiritual attacks at all. Oh well ...

As for the quite spectacular spiritual attacks, I have never been privy to those. Thank the Lord! I believe I mentioned Recovering Dissident Catholic's post about a spiritual attack. It linked to a story of attack that I remembered, that of Adoro Te Devote's encounter via tarot cards. They are quite frightening accounts.

Then on Saturday night I had a nightmare that was so vivid, so evil, so completely horrifying that I woke up terrified to even turn my head in case I would see what I had been dreaming about. I am used to bad dreams. I remember many of my dreams and quite a few have to do with stressful situations or even scary things. Everyone in our family is used to hearing that I had another "haunted house" dream. These come out in times of extreme stress.

This was different. I have never been so terrified. Somehow I was both wakeful and also half asleep. Every time I began to sink back into sleep the dream would pick up at the same exact spot that scared me awake in the first place so I would pop awake and away from it instantly. The first thing that flashed across my mind when I woke was "attack" and never has anyone so fervently prayed Hail Mary's, Our Father's, and ... especially ... the St. Michael prayer. This was the prayer that finally did it for me. I could see, in my mind's eye, St. Michael and my guardian angel with large, business-like swords held high in a state of readiness. And when I went back to sleep the dream continued but in a more normal fashion.

Was it a spiritual attack? Or just a very vivid dream? I don't know. However, whatever it was I never have been thrown into the arms of prayer such as I was that night.

I was unsettled and upset the entire day which is also not a normal occurance. I know a dream is just a dream and don't let them bother me later. I was afraid to go to sleep last night. Tom, bless his heart, felt for me (although I didn't mention the "spiritual attack" factor that kept flashing through my mind) and whenever I woke up in the night, he did too, asking, "A bad dream? Are you ok?" What a guy!

Before I went to sleep I said the St. Michael prayer and also put my guardian angel on alert. No problems at all. Normal sleep and dreams resumed.

This is a prayer that it is good to know no matter what sorts of dreams you have. If I can memorize it then so can you, believe me!

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

We Have a Word For It ... And Here's Why

A little brand name info, courtesy of the Word Origin Calendar.

AUDI
The German car company by this name was founded in 1899 by August Horch. Horch, however, was prevented from using his own name in this company because of trademark conflicts with his first company, which he had named after himself. Therefore, he translated the German word horch, which means "to listen," into Latin, yielding "Audi."

CANON
This giant electronics company got its name from its first generation camera. Produced in 1934 in Japan, the camera was called the Kwanon, a Japanese name for a Buddhist goddess. A year later, the name was changed to its modern spelling so that the product would not seem too old fashioned.

As If We Needed Any More Convincing ...

... The Curt Jester reviews Jesus of Nazareth ... ahem ... my birthday is coming up next week ...

Stitch 'N Pitch Nights

Stitch N' Pitch brings together two American traditions — Baseball and the NeedleArts. Come to a ball game and knit, crochet, embroider, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Sit among friends, family and colleagues and cheer on your favorite Baseball Team.

This event is for ANYONE who has an interest in the perfect double play — NeedleArts and Baseball; beginners, intermediate and experts are all welcome.

You can check out the scheduled nights and teams here.

Me? Mmmm, no way. But I know there are tons of baseball fans out there. Now, football ... that would be something I'd consider.

Thanks to Catholic Mom for this heads-up!

8 Random Things About Me

Nick tagged me with this one. I'm not sure how random these will be because y'all already know a lot of my random stuff but here goes:

1. I always preferred real food for breakfast ... soup, sandwiches, leftovers ... and still prefer a quesadilla or bagel with pimiento cheese to cereal or pancakes.
   
2. I read around 700 words per minute ... if I'm pushing it for the test it will go up to around 900.
   
3. You can read while washing dishes ... and knitting ... and brushing your teeth ... and cooking ... I do it all the time.
4. I'm a Jayhawk
5. I have green/brown hazel eyes
6. I had pneumonia for two weeks when I was in 6th grade.
7. I'm afraid of the dark.
8. My favorite color was blue for most of my life but for about three years ago it changed to green.
   

See This Afghan?

Yep, the one on this book cover. This is the one that Rose would like me to make for her. Who can blame her? It looks fantastic.

However, I think I'd better start now because this is likely to be a lengthy project ... in two years I can give it to her to begin her sophomore year in college.

(By the way, I picked Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting up from the library and it looks really good. The author does have a tendency to want to cover every square inch of any sweaters with as many cables as possible which always looks rather crowded to me. Also, there is that tendency to give aas many of the instructions as possible using charts instead of written instructions. Naturally, having learned to read patterns long ago when everything was written out I understand that method much better than those darned charts. However, aside from those little quibbles, it has some nice, simple projects and all the explanations are good. I have never been afraid of cables and enjoy the variety they add to a project, but this book looks as if it would still the fear that I hear lurks in the hearts of beginners ... for expert instruction in mastering the art of cables give this book a try.)

In other afghan knitting news, I finished Hannah's afghan a couple of days ago, washed and dried it ... and it held together! Exciting! I'm trying to remember to take a photo to post ...

Thinking Blogger Award

Much thanks to Jean at Catholic Fire (another favorite "thinking blogger of mine) who graciously gave me a Thinking Blogger award. Now if only she lived close enough that we could actually sit down to that cup of coffee and piece of pie (make mine cherry!).

In turn, here are my thinking bloggers which I carefully compiled earlier. Thanks again Jean!

They Have a Word for It ... And We Don't

Biritululo (Kiriwana, New Guinea)
Comparing yams to settle disputes. In New Guinean culture, the code of behavior is that nobody talks about what everybody knows concerning sensitive subjects. Breaking this code results in violent disputes. They present their yams at these moments. Yams are so important in Kiriwana that people boast about their own supply to the point of violence. Settling the fights with yam displays calms everyone down.

The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information

This puts a new take on "mine is bigger than yours" ... though I never understood that argument either.

Walking With the Dead

Permanent Londoners
Permanent Parisians
Permanent Italians
Permanent Californians
Permanent New Yorkers

Photo Source

Felix Faure (1841-1899), the sixth president of the French Republic who, in true Belle Epoque spirit, dies in the arms of his mistress -- endearing him to the French populace in a way that his policies never did. His bronze figure is raised slightly and turning as if, waking, he can't figure out where his paramour has gone.

Permanent Parisians

There is something that I simply love about wandering through graveyards, reading the headstones and looking at the monuments. I picked up this love from my mother who I remember wandering graveyards with on a vacation trip to New England. Later, when I visited Europe, New Orleans, and Galveston, all of which have a generous sprinkling of fascinating graveyard monuments, I wandered whenever I could through the memorials. Some tell their own sad story of disaster when many family members are buried within days of each other or similar tragedy when a newborn and mother are laid side by side in the same week. However, part of the fascination is wondering about the lives of those who went before us.

Perhaps my lifelong attraction to cemeteries is the reason I dearly love to occasionally reread this series of books. They are illustrated guides to some of the interesting cemeteries of the London, Paris, New York, California, and Italy. Written with charm and verve, the authors guide readers and potential sightseers amongst interesting, unusual, and famous grave memorials of the famous and anonymous. The photographs are in black and white but still retain their appeal.

Before settling down to his arduous labors Darwin set about finalizing his one decisive prescription: "Marry, marry, marry. Q.E.D." His choice was Emma Wedgewood; not surprising since the Darwins and Wedgwoods seemed always to be marrying one another. It was a case where "the perfect nurse had married the perfect patient," for Darwin was frequently ill. With age his complaints grew worse and he spent more time in illness and convalescence. It has never been clear whether Darwin's illness was more or less hypochondriasis. Certainly he loved the attention of his doting Emma as did their many children who were also not loath to be sick.

Darwin's children grew up true Darwinians. They could hardly not, for the house smelled for eight years of the barnacles Charles was busy noting and dissecting, causing one of the young children to inquire about a neighbor, "Then where does he do his barnacles?" ...

Permanent Londoners

Much of the undeniable entertainment of these books is from the prose stylings of the authors who somehow maintain a careful balance between respect for the dead and an irreverent enjoyment of poking holes in any pretensions of those who history has put on a pedestal. In the meanwhile, the reader is absorbing quite a bit of history in a most enjoyable fashion. We discover little tidbits about famous personalities that never would have gotten across otherwise. Especially entertaining is the sometimes incongruous juxtaposition of final resting places for those who were rivals when alive which, of course, the authors lose no time in pointing out. Occasionally, not much is known about the person buried but the memorial is so memorable that it is shown and described in detail. Highly recommended.

Photo source

Behind the Newcastles, in the small Chapel of St. Michael, is hidden one of the more extraordinary monuments of the Abbey. Executed by Louis Francois Roubillac, it is a memorial to Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (1704-1731) who died after a miscarriage. Lady Nightingale languishes while her horrified husband, Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale, supports her and tries to stave off Death's poisoned dart with his upraised hand. Death, attacking from beneath them, is a dramatic enshrouded skeleton. It is said, with perhaps more hope than truth, that a burglar who once broke into Westminster Abbey saw the scene and fled, terrified.

Permanent Londoners

Stardust

I wasn't that fond of the book. It was rather predictable. However, the movie trailer looks really great.

Sacramentum Caritatis: Truth and Freedom

Continuing the series that began last week in our church bulletin, here is the second excerpt. I thought I'd share it again ...

I was particularly struck by this: “Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom: without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to empty caprice. With him, freedom finds itself.” This is true in so many ways in our lives. If we aren't basing what we do on the truth that is Jesus, we are basing everything on a false base ... like the man who built his house on sand.

The Eucharist:
The food of truth

2. In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:27), and becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free (cf. Jn 8:32), Christ becomes for us the food of truth. With deep human insight, Saint Augustine clearly showed how we are moved spontaneously, and not by constraint, whenever we encounter something attractive and desirable. Asking himself what it is that can move us most deeply, the saintly Bishop went on to say: “What does our soul desire more passionately than truth?” (2) Each of us has an innate and irrepressible desire for ultimate and definitive truth. The Lord Jesus, “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6), speaks to our thirsting, pilgrim hearts, our hearts yearning for the source of life, our hearts longing for truth. Jesus Christ is the Truth in person, drawing the world to himself. “Jesus is the lodestar of human freedom: without him, freedom loses its focus, for without the knowledge of truth, freedom becomes debased, alienated and reduced to empty caprice. With him, freedom finds itself.” (3) In the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus shows us in particular the truth about the love which is the very essence of God. It is this evangelical truth which challenges each of us and our whole being. For this reason, the Church, which finds in the Eucharist the very centre of her life, is constantly concerned to proclaim to all, opportune importune (cf. 2 Tim 4:2), that God is love.(4) Precisely because Christ has become for us the food of truth, the Church turns to every man and woman, inviting them freely to accept God’s gift.

-------------------------------------------------------

When we find something wonderful and true, what is the first thing that we do? We rush to tell our friends about it. We can’t wait to share it with others. Indeed, we know from scripture that this is the case quite often when people met Jesus. He is the ultimate truth and word spread quickly everywhere he went. Andrew immediately went to tell his brother, Simon Peter (John 1:40-43). Philip went to tell Nathaniel and bring him to Jesus (John 1: 44-46). Surely, as St. Augustine says above, this is because we all passionately desire the truth. When we actually find truth it is such a revelation to our longing hearts that we want others to know of this treasure also. No wonder the Church constantly proclaims that the Eucharist, the Christ, is there for all to know. The truth, in fact freedom itself, is there in our midst.

There is much food for thought packed into this single paragraph. Reading slowly, phrases leap off the page and demand our thoughtful consideration. Which of us can ignore truth and freedom at such a basic level? As revealed through Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, they become a wellspring of inspiration for contemplating God.
-------------------------------------------------------
(2) Saint Augustine, In Iohannis Evangelium Tractatus, 26,5: PL 35, 1609.

(3) Benedict XVI, Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (10 February 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 255.

(4) Benedict XVI, Address to the Members of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops (1 June 2006): L’Osservatore Romano, 2 June 2006, p. 5.

All Our Questions Answered ...

... in this clever AbeBooks campaign. Check out the other titles. You're sure to find one to tickle your funny bone.

Happy Birthday, Dear Rose!

Source

I can't believe I forgot to put up a cake for Rose's birthday today. My only excuse is that I was busy shopping and I think that we'll all agree remembering birthday gifts is much more important than a photo of a cake!

What would we do without our sweet, smart, funny, clever Rose? I don't want to even think about it. I am simply grateful that God picked us out to be her parents. She is sweet 17 today.

We'll be going to Royal Thai as her choice for a birthday dinner. Mmmm, mmmm, good! She chose a cake I've never made so we'll see how it turns out. Yellow cake, cherry filling, marshmallow frosting. It is a cake designed more for a President's Day celebration but since she's been studying like crazy for her AP History test and we've been talking about presidents all week ... I suppose it seemed like the right choice this year.

We'll let you know how it tastes!

What are those 10 Prayers?

The ones that God always say yes to ... I've been asked and luckily Disputations just put them up so I didn't have to hunt them down.

1. God, show me that You exist.
2. God, make me an instrument.
3. Gos, outdo me in generosity.
4. God, get me through this suffering.
5. God, forgive me.
6. Give me peace.
7. God, give me courage.
8. God, give me wisdom.
9. God, bring good out of this bad situation.
10. God, lead me to my destiny.

Next Up: "R" Rating for Eating a Cheeseburger

Cheeseburgers are so unhealthy, you know. Just like smoking ...

The Motion Picture Association of America announced Thursday that smoking will be considered when rating movies and "depictions that glamorize smoking or movies that feature pervasive smoking outside of an historic or other mitigating context may receive a higher rating."

Smoking will become a factor in decisions by the Classification and Rating Administration, along with sex, violence, language, nudity, drug abuse and other elements.

"There is broad awareness of smoking as a unique public health concern due to nicotine's highly addictive nature, and no parent wants their child to take up the habit," MPAA Chief Executive Dan Glickman said. "The appropriate response of the rating system is to give more information to parents on this issue."

Source

Yeah, yeah, to get the obligatory comments out of the way, I don't approve of teens smoking, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But an "R" rating for smoking? This from the esteemed board that gave Spanglish a PG-13 rating so that when we were watching it with Rose we were treated to an unmistakable scene of Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni having sex.

Give me a freakin' break.

Give Me Peace

... this prayer -- God, give me peace" -- is a little bit different. God will say yes to it all right, but the rapidity and clarity of his response are going to depend a lot more on your relationship with God. ...

Is God still going to say yes to this prayer? You bet he is! But he's going to do it on his terms. He's not in the business of helping people live in denial. His "peace" is not some magical, divine anesthesia administered simply to make you feel good. It's the real thing. It's deep. It's lasting. It's wonderful. That's why when you ask him for peace, he's not just going to give you a Band-Aid when what you really need are stitches. He's not just going to help you cover up the problem, when what you really need is to treat it. God's going to give you peace, but he's going to do it by helping you restructure, rearrange, and rebuild your life so that it fits into hisperfect plan. And that may take some doing.

You see, the kind of peace we're talking about goes way beyond mere emotions. It has to do with being in union with God. Ultimately, that's the definition of true peace. It's the awareness that, no matter what else may be happening around you, everything is going to be okay, because you're doing what God wants you to do. ...

On the other hand, if you're "wrong" with God, it will be impossible for you to have a peaceful life, no matter how hard you try. Why? Because God is the source of peace. If you're in rebellion against him, then you're going to be in rebellion against peace itself. It makes sense that your days are going to be filled with chaos, stress, worry, and anxiety. They have to be. Deliberate sin, by definition, excludes peace. Therefore, eliminating the stress in your life depends, in large part, on how successful you are in eliminating any big conflicts you have with God.

Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems
by Anthony DeStefano

Dear Elliot ...

I have never seen "blessed are they that mourn" so beautifully illustrated as in 99 Balloons, the "diary" of a family's love and joy taken in their baby who proclaimed God's presence without ever uttering a word. (Much thanks to Bridget for pointing to this video.)

This was the perfect counterpoint to the low I felt after reading the jubilant editorials about "progress for women's health" in the Dallas Morning News acclaiming Mexico City's legislation of the right to abortion.

I have a feeling that my First Friday sacrifice will be going on for more than a year, because the U.S. is just one step in a world wide struggle which is going on in the spiritual world as well as through visible legislation and courts. Moloch does not give up easily. You know what? Bring it. St. Michael, defend us and pray for us ...

Gone Haulin'

Haulin' Hannah and her stuff back from A&M. Hard to believe she is done with her freshman year! Strange to think of her being home for months and months. But a GOOD kinda strange!

See y'all on Thursday!

Loving Zeke

An extraordinary story, documented by the Kansas City Star, about a family whose whole goal was to love and welcome the little one who would die soon after birth. Via The Anchoress.

Show Me You Exist

... when we lift our minds and hearts in humility and say to God: "Please show me that you exist. ... Give me some sign that you are really up there somewhere" he is only too happy to respond -- sometimes with a speed that can astound us. ...

No matter how God decides to answer this prayer, your reaction is going to be "How in the world did that happen? How could this possibly have come about? It just doesn't make sense. I didn't plan it. I didn't do any work. I didn't make any phone calls. I didn't do anything." There will be a growing conviction in your mind and in your heart that there must have been some other force at work. And more important, there will be a growing conviction of the presence of this force.

This is a critical point to understand. The wonder that you'll feel when this prayer is answered will not be the same as what you feel when you experience an ordinary, everyday "coincidence." Everyone has experienced coincidences and weird occurrences in their life. This will not be like them. This will be a direct experience of God's grace, and, as such, it will piont directly to the one who is behind it -- God.

Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems
by Anthony DeStefano

Yep. That's pretty much how it was for me.

A Closer Look at Sacramentum Caritatis

I have to admit that when I read Sacramentum Caritatis, I did it as more of a "duty" than anything else. Consequently, I zipped through it, marked it off my list and moved on.

Shame on me.

Our church began something new this week ... the first of a series of weekly excerpts that made me read slowly, think carefully, and realize the beauty and truth-packed goodness of this document. I'm not sure if anyone else read it but I certainly was glad that I was forced to take another look. I am going to put the excerpt up here and share with y'all as well. (And yes I typed this ... that is how much I love y'all!).

Loving Us to “The end”

The sacrament of charity (1), the Holy Eucharist is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God’s infinite love for every man and woman. This wondrous sacrament makes manifest that “greater” love which led him to “lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Jesus did indeed love them “to the end” (Jn 13:1). In those words the Evangelist introduces Christ’s act of immense humility: before dying for us on the Cross, he tied a towel around himself and washed the feet of his disciples. In the same way, Jesus continues, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, to love us “to the end,” even to offering us his body and his blood. What amazement must the Apostles have felt in witnessing what the Lord did and said during that Supper! What wonder must the eucharistic mystery also awaken in our own hearts!

-------------------------------------------------------

The reverent and tender words above call us to reflect on the Eucharist as Jesus’ eternal love for us in this offering of his body and his blood.

We might expect to find this sort of inspirational commentary in a devotional. What a surprise, then, to find that this is the introductory paragraph of Pope Benedict’s recently released report on the bishops’ synod on the Eucharist held in 2005. Or as it is more formally titled:

POST-SYNODAL
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS*
[Sacrament of Charity]
OF THE HOLY FATHER
BENEDICT XVI
TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY,
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON THE EUCHARIST
AS THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT
OF THE CHURCH’S LIFE AND MISSION

As formidable as that title sounds, this introductory paragraph shows us that we are being given an intimate look into how Pope Benedict and the bishops reflect upon the Eucharist itself. As the Holy Father says, further into the exhortation:

... I wish here to endorse the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers (11) by encouraging the Christian people to deepen their understanding of the relationship between the eucharistic mystery, the liturgical action, and the new spiritual worship which derives from the Eucharist as the sacrament of charity. Consequently, I wish to set the present Exhortation alongside my first Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est,** in which I frequently mentioned the sacrament of the Eucharist and stressed its relationship to Christian love, both of God and of neighbour: “God incarnate draws us all to himself. We can thus understand how agape*** also became a term for the Eucharist: there God’s own agape comes to us bodily, in order to continue his work in us and through us” (12).

That is much more what could be expected as an introduction and yet it comes five paragraphs into the exhortation. Clearly Pope Benedict wishes to first plunge us into the heart of the matter which is the complete and self-sacrificing love of Jesus for each of us through the Eucharist. Which is exactly as we should wish also.

(1) Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 73, a. 3.
(11) Cf. Propositio 1.
(12) No. 14: AAS 98 (2006), 229.

* Sacrament of Charity. (Caritatis, meaning “charity,” is from Latin and translates in this case as “Christian love..”)
** God Is Love.
*** Agape is from the Greek and was used by the early Christians to refer to the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which they were committed to reciprocating and practicing towards God and among one another. One example of this is found in Matthew 22:37-41, when Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment and answered “’Love (agape) the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love (agape) your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

This is the first of a series of weekly excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis. You are encouraged to read the entire document. The Vatican link to that document as well as to Pope Benedict’s first encyclical can be found on the website, www.stthomasaquinas.org.

Siggy and the Butterbell

He went a-Googlin' and found ... this!

Red Beans and Ricely Yours*

Louis-Armstrong.com

The New Orleans Jazz Festival is going on right now and that works out thematically with music and conversation in our household over the last couple of weeks. Rose's innovative English teacher (the one that had the movie assignment about Heroes, Anti-Heroes, and Underdogs) wanted them to examine how one thing leads to another. They have been examining that in literature and he wanted them to look at it through music.

There was a list of artists to choose from whether by genre or decade. Each student had to choose one to write a paper about and also work with a group to put together a presentation featuring six artists. Five had to be from the provided list and one could be added by the group. Rose absolutely loves jazz and chose Louis Armstrong for her paper. They wound up discussing Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Glenn Miller (the addition because there was no "big band/swing" artist which was the commercial element of the genre). Admittedly Sinatra and Davis aren't really jazz but the list was deficient in that area (at least from our point of view, but then when are we ever happy with a list?).

So we have been getting a lot about Louis Armstrong's life. I already loved him but now also respect him immensely. As for Sinatra, I had a somewhat tarnished view of his life so it was nice to hear of his devotion to his children, immense charity (he gave away around a million dollars in his life ... when asked why, he said something like, "I keep throwing it out there and God keeps giving it back..."), and so on.

Rose's love of jazz began years ago when she heard the Smithsonian set, The Jazz Singers 1919-1994, that I got for Tom one year. The older and scratchier ... the more authentic ... the more she loved it. She had plenty to draw on for her report and we heard plenty of jazz around the house all week.

Consequently, I can't get Jazzola out of my head; a very early song that is a favorite of ours ... and very catchy too...

Come, jazzers, gather 'round,Photo of Jim Europe
Jazz lovers from every town,
I've got something that I'd like to introduce you to,
It's new!
It's got a funny name
That's sure to win its fame;
With your kind attention
I will mention
Its many charms to you:

They call it "Jazzola!"
Nobody knows its origination,
Jazzola!
It's just a dance full of syncopation,
And if you crave a new sensation,
Come with me,
You will see,
Strange sights from the land of harmony!
Old folks and young folks cry for Jazzola!
It's like a tonic, take it with each meal;
How good you'll feel!
My old granddad heard the news,
Dropped his cane for dancing shoes!
The whole world's going crazy 'bout Jazzola!

Just take your sweetie sweetPhoto of Noble Sissle
Out for a jazzy treat,
And she'll love you like she never did before;
What's more,
No need of fine wine,
You'll have a much better time,
Get those jazz musicians,
Choice positions
To play it o'er and o'er!

Just ask for "Jazzola!"
Nobody knows its origination,
Jazzola!
It's just a dance full of syncopation,
And if you crave a new sensation,
Come with me,
You will see,
Strange sights from the land of harmony!
Old folks and young folks cry for Jazzola!
It's like a tonic, take it with each meal;
How grand you'll feel!
Old men who are out of step
Find Jazzola gives them pep;
The whole world's going crazy 'bout Jazzola!

Jazzola!
Nobody knows its origination,
Jazzola!
It's just a dance full of syncopation,
And if you crave a new sensation,
Come with me,
You will see,
Strange sights from the land of harmony!
Old folks and young folks cry for Jazzola!
It's like a tonic, take it with each meal;
How good you'll feel!
Old men who are out of step
Find Jazzola gives them pep;
The whole world's going crazy 'bout Jazzola!

J-A-Z-Z-O-L-A, Jazzola!

New Orleans Jazz - Art Knowledge News

* How Louis Armstrong signed letters.

"Of course, if you give a beggar a dollar they call you a chump."

Ever since I saw this photo at Barcelona Photoblog I have had the feeling that I'd soon be reposting my soap-box speech about giving to the poor.

Then today I read:

• Internet Monk asks (rhetorically one assumes since he then goes on to answer his own question): “Question: “Should I give money to people on the street who ask for it?” You know it isn't a good sign when someone ends up apologetically with "I know I sound like Scrooge ..."
• Today at the Mission sees his point but does not agree.

As for me, St. John Vianney said it in a nutshell.

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.

For the long version (that would be how I say it), you can read Welcome to My Soap Box.

(Before making any comments contrary to St. John Vianney's, I request that you read my post linked to above to see how I came to my position on this subject. Thanks!)

LOST: When Shamans Can't Perform

Here's what I want to know.

Why is Locke so danged freaked out that when Ben keeps mocking him for not being able to kill his father, that he can't think of the real reason that a perfectly decent man wouldn't do that ... because he's better than The Others, than Ben, and they've devolved into Ben's little cult.

Try throwing that in his face! Whether true or not, at least it gives him a moral superiority edge.

But no ... they didn't do that.

They turned Locke into a wuss.

I also have to say that Rose LOCKED (ha!) it ... she figured out practically instantly that Locke's father was the con artist that ruined his parents' lives and Sawyer's as well.

Also, how stupid Locke's father, the original Sawyer, was. He just couldn't keep his big mouth shut, could he? Just had to show Sawyer how he could keep pushing those buttons. Of course, then his button got pushed ... forever.

It's First Friday!

Time to cowboy up for the littlest victims.

We are three bloggers who also live in the Dallas area. We are deeply committed to ending abortion in this country. To that end, we have committed ourselves to the following: On each First Friday for the next eleven months, we will fast and pray before the Blessed Sacrament for an end to abortion. This will culminate at the annual Dallas March for Life in January of 2008, where we will join our bishop and the faithful of this city in marching to the courthouse where Roe was originally argued.

We ask anyone reading these words to join us. Fast and pray with us each First Friday, no matter how far removed you are from Dallas. Spend some time in Eucharistic adoration, and implore Christ to end this curse. We especially ask other Dallas area bloggers and residents to join us, at least in spirit. If you would rather not fast, then pray for those of us that do.

A Joint Statement

Dorothy Day and the Little Flower

For those who don't know, St. Therese of Lisieux's promise to send roses as a sign of her intercession from heaven led to the affectionate nickname, the "Little Flower." It also reflects her devotion to the little way (that we cannot all do great deeds but all can be holy in the little things in our lives). The flower that she sends most often as a sign are roses.

But the psalmist also says, "In death there is no one that is mindful of thee." So it made me happy that I could be with my mother the last few weeks of her life, and for the last ten days at her bedside daily and hourly. ...

One morning I prayed to the Little Flower, whose picture is over the foot of my bed, that she would especially look after my mother. I reminded her of her own grief at her father's long dying. That night Julia Porcelli brought me some dried blessed roses. The next day, a friend brought a tiny bouquet with lace paper about it made up of roses and carnations, and my mother greeted it with a smile and held it in her hands a few times that afternoon.

A week later, when I went to Poughkeepsie to visit my three aunts, one of whome is a Catholic, and to go with them to offer up a Mass of thanksgiving for my mother's most peaceful death, we came out of St. Peter's Church that misty morning to be greeted by a brilliant roes in the garden next to the church. And when we arrived home for breakfast, there was a bouquet telegraphed to us from Florida, and in the center of the fall flowers were two lovely roses. The Little Flower was prompt and generous indeed in her message.

I wrote the account because I like to show my gratitude by telling others of such favors. Perhaps, too, it may comfort others who have sore and lonely hearts over the approaching death of a near one. "Life is changed, not taken away," and what a glorious change in these sad times, after a long and valiant death.

On Pilgrimage by Dorothy Day

Tornado Sirens Should Only Be Sounded if There is a Tornado.

Not that you'd think this is something we'd need to tell the City. But there you go. High winds, nope. Dark skies and driving rain. Nope. Even hail. Nope.

It is a tornado siren!

That makes two storms in the past three weeks where some idiot has sounded the siren ... with no tornado being sighted within earshot. Last night a tornado wasn't even on the weathermen's minds.

This Kansas gal is mighty tired of bolting for the safest spot in the house when whoever-it-is jumps the gun.

Enough with crying wolf, already!

Reminder: Tomorrow is First Friday

Time to those of us who are joined in this commitment to fast and pray for an end to abortion. Get ready to cowboy up, y'all.

Reading: 5 Practical Skills

As a voracious reader it never occurred to me that a guideline to reading would be necessary. Even when there was that great series of ads about reading that featured tips about reading, I read someone's guidelines about skimming (maybe it was Bill Cosby?) and already was way ahead of them on the technique.

However, for those to whom reading doesn't come quite as easily, there now is a very handy guide from Nick Senger at Literary Compass called ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature. This is a free e-book that can be downloaded as a pdf. It is simply but attractively formatted and has some very good ideas to improve reading habits. (Ok, I will probably never do the outlining idea, but it is an idea worth knowing about should one be doing a more serious study of a book than I tend toward).

He also has set up a blog devoted to ROMAN Reading that is worth checking out.

Here is a bit of one of the tips ... and yes, I already did everything in here but I had to figure it out for myself. You have this handy guide to help you along.

Here are five ways to improve marking in books:

1. Use a pen, not a highlighter. You can't write words or sentences with a highlighter, they're too thick. As I mentioned in ROMAN Reading, my preferred pen is the green Sanford Uniball with the microfine point.
2. Use the white spaces. Those empty spaces on the title pages and at the beginning and end of chapters are perfect for recording notes, outlines, summaries and various thoughts about what you're reading.
3. Use symbols and shortcuts. Try using an exclamation mark (!), asterisk (*) or question mark (?) in the margin to save time.
4. Mark entire paragraphs with brackets. If you want to mark an entire paragraph, don't underline the whole thing, just draw a bracket or a set of vertical lines along the side. That way you can still circle certain words or phrases within the paragraph.
   
5. Don't overmark! One reason to mark a book is to be able to find things again. If the entire book ends up being green, you've defeated the purpose.

Just Because I Love These Two Photos ...

That Jules took.

Math Monday ... on Tuesday

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Surprised by Prayers

Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems
by Anthony DeStefano

... One thing that you learn as you progress in the spiritual life is that God is a God of perfect timing. Since he is able to see the "big picture," he knows just when you should move on and when you should stay where you are. And sometimes before you move on he has to "arrange" a thousand different details in order to make that move possible. That arranging takes time.

People who travel frequently on airplanes know just what I mean, because they have experienced the frustration of "circling." Usually this happens near the end of the flight, just when you're most anxious to get off the plane ... you've gone into the dreaded holding pattern... The point is that, despite the frustration of the passengers, and despite the pilot's ability to freely control his aircraft, another entity -- air-traffic control -- has made an over-riding decision to prevent the plane from landing. And there's just nothing that anyone can do about it.

The very same thing often happens to us in life. We can decide what we want to do and where we want to go, but God is still in charge of "air-traffic control." He sees everything on his omniscient radar screen -- the weather, the airport, all the other planes in the area. Sometimes, for reasons he may or may not disclose, he decides that the best thing for us to do is remain in a "holding pattern." While we're busy circling, he's busy clearing obstacles, solving problems and moving people around until things are just right. Then and only then does he permit us to come in for a safe, smooth landing.

I received Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems by Anthony Destefano in the mail about a week ago. At first glance, the title made me think it was another of those "Gospel of Prosperity" books. You know the sort I mean. The ones that tell us if we only pray this special prayer or act in a certain way that God will reward us with piles of money and riches.

I almost didn't pick it up.

In my insular way, actually my way of protecting myself, I didn't like the fact that it was endorsed by Christians I'd never heard of, except for Cardinal Martini who I had heard of but not for anything that I liked in the way of interpreting scripture.

This raised my alarm level even more.

However, I recalled the many times that I have almost rejected a book that I later found to be full of spiritual riches, so I ventured to read the introduction. Looking in vain for scriptural references in the text (another alarm bell going off), I flipped to the back where I found an entire section of end notes consisting of nothing but one scriptural citation after another. After that was a bibliography. True, it did have a Rick Warren book listed (yet another alarm bell clanging) but many more references were to writings by St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and others who I trusted to be sound spiritual advisers if taken properly in context. Additionally, looking through the acknowledgments section, I saw that Destefano's parish priest who he admired greatly was Fr. Pavone who I also trust to be a sound guide.

Somewhat reassured, I gingerly began reading, fully on alert and ready to toss the book at a moment's notice if my fears of being led astray came true.

What a pleasant surprise to discover that this was not only engagingly written but decidedly on track in terms of leading us to God through what God wants for us instead of the other way around. In fact, by chapter two I was reading with a pen nearby to mark significant sections and telling Tom that, so far, I wanted him to read it ... and the book club ... and everyone I knew.

It takes an extraordinary book to turn my fears into such enthusiasm in a short time. I soon realized that all the things that rang my alarm bells, beginning with the title, were specifically designed to call out to the very people who tended to be attracted by the "Gospel of Prosperity" books. In fact, I could think of two people who this book would be perfect for as it take those "I want" impulses and turns them outward so that we are focusing on what God wants instead of what we might think is best.

I had a couple of things that I thought might be problems for those reading the book and wanted to bounce them off of someone else. Luckily, Tom was interested and began reading it. He is about halfway through and the really interesting thing is that our various objections were things that the other person always thought were not a problem. For instance, I was somewhat amused that the chapter about the prayer "God, outdo me in generosity" talks almost exclusively about ... money. DeStefano does point out that God may repay you in other ways than monetarily but he always comes back to the cold, hard cash in the end. However, Tom didn't have a problem with this as he thought the author had adequately offset possible moneygrubbing with talk about intentions and motives.

Tom, on the other hand, was bothered that he didn't know what authority the author was basing his claims on. This was among the things that had sent me early on to the end notes and bibliography which had greatly reassured me. Furthermore, as I read on with increasing approval I never found anything that went against the Church's teachings. (So, for what it's worth, it has the "Julie D." stamp of approval.) Tom didn't have anything specific to mention on this front, just that he wanted to know where these ideas were coming from (I told you he's Catholic to the bone, haven't i?). By the way, this book was specifically written to be able to be used by Christians in general, not simply Catholics. Any Catholic comments found within are simply in reference to the author's own experiences or some similar situation.

All in all, we could find nothing wrong and a great many things right in this book. Furthermore, Tom also could think of a couple of people right off the top of his head that might benefit from it. (As can The Anchoress; check out her review.)

So often the dreams we have are all about us and our desires and insecurities and vanities. They don't take God's wishes into the slightest account. Everyone has heard stories about unhappy movie stars, drug-addicted rock stars, disgraced public officials, and suicidal authors. All these folks achieved their dreams and yet they all came to the same unfortunate end. Why? One of the reasons is probably that their dreams did not coincide with their real purpose. They wanted something so badly -- maybe it was fame, maybe it was riches, maybe it was power -- but they failed to consider that perhaps this was the last thing they really needed, the last thing God had destined them for. Instead of trying to ascertain God's will through prayer and discernment, they essentially "forced" their key into a lock it was never meant for; they twisted it, struggled with it, pushed and jammed it -- until finally it broke off.

There's no need for that ever to happen to us. God knows the deepest desires of our hearts. He knows what will give us the greatest pleasure and the most profound happiness. Remember, he's the one who created us -- he's the one who crafted the key -- so he knows best what kind of lock it will fit into.

Happy Birthday, Dear Tom!

I'm making a Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Malt Frosting ... are we all seeing the theme here?

First, however, we will go out for fried chicken ... not sure where yet. And, of course, after cake will be gifts, none of them good enough for the most wonderful husband and father ever. But it's what we can do and, luckily, since he is so very wonderful and understanding ... it will be enough.

Movie Night Report

We had a blast. Three other couples made it, laden with appetizers, salads, and dessert. We provided a Chinese noodle main dish, with peanut sauce option for our vegetarian member ... and we had plenty of libations of all sorts.

The movie? Shower, a charming little Chinese movie (my review here) that everyone seemed to like a lot. In fact, we actually had quite a bit of conversation about it later. (Whew!)

I'm really looking forward to the next one and to seeing what sorts of movies people choose to show.

The entire evening format is highly recommended!

As an added bonus, we had to rearrange the living room to move the TV in from the back room where it normally "lives." We moved the TV back the next day but liked the rearranged living room so well that it may stay that way. Tom and I are still playing around with it ... one of us will walk through and find a few things moved around a bit, make our own further adjustments, and move on again. Yes, I'm easily entertained.

For the Students I Know

Catholic Mom has posted a prayer for students, which I am putting here as well. Check out her spot for more info about St. Joseph of Cupertino.

O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino
Who while on earth did obtain from God
The grace to be asked at your examination
Only the questions you knew,
Obtain for me a like favor in the examinations
for which I am now preparing.
In return, I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

Through Christ, our Lord,

St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for Us.

Amen.

Around the House

Quick news for those who have been asking ...

• Hannah comes home in about a week and a half. She has been loving A&M but is so ready to come home that she's trying to figure out when her last final is so that we can be waiting outside with the motor running and the door open when she's done (joking, joking). But she always has been a "home" girl and is ready to have some time off from school.


• Aggie Parent's weekend was fun although due to the complete lack of hotel rooms any closer than 1-1/2 hours away (which would put it 1-1/2 hours away from home) we opted to drive down early Saturday morning and then back late Saturday night. It was all lots of fun. We went to a barbecue held by her Christian women's club and it was great to meet some of the girls that Hannah talks about, then we went to a scrimmage football game (I was so right to back White, y'all!) and did our best to keep up with the cheers, saw the rock wall where she spends most of her out-of-class time, walked through a little museum in the MSC which had some interesting glass collections and Western paintings (reaffirmed there is a reason that acclaimed art "masters" are so named, thanks to the wide variety there), and went to Lane's for chicken fingers. Mmmmm, chicken fingers. Then we hung out at Starbucks for a while and mocked their "contest" which apparently gives the lucky winners 10 days picking coffee beans so they can feel close to the earth (or some such malarkey). Got home at 11:30 ... a very full day but lots of fun, as I said.


• Rose got back her PSAT results and is a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist because she is in the top 3% of those who took the test nationally. Doesn't it just figure that she is so good academically but wants to go to Columbia College and study film editing? Which she would be brilliant at, don't misunderstand me, as she is very creative also ... but they don't give a flip about academics and only give one academic scholarship. Ah well ... we'll have to see how all that falls out ...


• Rob Duncan from Spero News (as well as from Navarre University where he actually is employed) was in town and so we went out for TexMex, meeting up with our lovely and talented Laura H. as well. Rob is soft-spoken, tall, interesting, and funny ... we had a great time albeit too short together.


• Tonight we will be having our first Movie Night with a few couples we know. The idea is that it will rotate to different houses, everyone will bring potluck (a rather coordinated potluck), and we'll watch a movie of the hosts' choice and then talk about it (which is at least half the fun) over dessert. The first movie is a favorite of Tom's and is going to be a surprise to everyone (no, we haven't told them anything about it, wanting no one to form impressions before seeing it). However, as a semi-coordinated theme I'll be making a Chinese noodle dish (and I bet that no one guesses this movie as it is not commonly known). I'll let y'all know how it goes but now must go grocery shopping, movie renting, etc. in preparation. For one thing, we have to move the television into the living room as it "lives" in a back room out of the way (y'all never would have guessed that would you, what with my passion for television?).

So now I'm outta here until Monday. Have a good weekend y'all!

"Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine."

St. George and the dragon from The Roving Medievalist

We most truly serve the common good by having the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ. God gave us a free will, but we need to use it. Discipleship has a cost. Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine. The world doesn’t need affirmation. It needs conversion. It doesn’t need the approval of Christians. It needs their witness. And that work needs to begin with us.

Archbishop Charles Chaput gave a speech in Philadelphia last week about religion and the common good and boy, howdy, what a speech it was. I read it through twice. He ranges from Nietzsche’s Will to Power Bars to Georges Bernanos to Frank Sheed to Flannery O'Connor and yet always stays on target in this powerful speech.

I usually copy the text from long posted pieces and dump them all into a text file that I print out and take home to read at my leisure. It functions like a personalized magazine in a way. Homesick Texan's musings on biscuits will be followed by Orson Scott Card's thoughts on walking everywhere to save gas. At any rate, I was reading along in this piece and by the time I worked my to the statement below I was taken by surprise.

First, I’m tired of the Church and her people being told to be quiet on public issues that urgently concern us. And second, I’m tired of Christians themselves being silent because of some misguided sense of good manners. Self-censorship is an even bigger failure than allowing ourselves to be bullied by outsiders.

I blinked. Who wrote this? I looked back at the beginning. Yep. Archbishop Chaput. That's the spirit I like to see in our bishops. More power to him.

Much of it follows theme developed by Georges Bernanos in his seemingly prophetic "The Last Essays of Georges Bernanos."

As Bernanos explains it, big ideological systems “mechanize” history with high-sounding language like progress and dialectics. But in doing so, they wipe out the importance of both the past—which they describe as primitive, unenlightened, or counterrevolutionary—and the present, which is not yet the paradise of tomorrow. The future is where salvation is to be found for every ideology that tries to eliminate God, whether it’s explicitly atheistic or pays lip service to religious values. Of course, this future never arrives, because progress never stops and the dialectic never ends. ...

Time and freedom are the raw material of life because time is the realm of human choice. Bernanos reminds us that the Antichrist wants us to think that freedom really doesn’t exist, because when we fail to choose, when we slide through life, we in effect choose for him. Time is the Devil’s enemy. He lives neither in the eternity of God nor in the realm of man. Satan has made his choice against God and he is forever fixed in that choice. But as long as man lives in time, which is the realm of change, man may still choose in favor of God. And, of course, God is always offering the help of his grace to do just that. If the Devil can sell us the idea that history is a single, determined mechanism; if humanity’s freedom of will can be forgotten or denied; then man will drift, and the Antichrist will win.

There is much more to ponder in this speech and I encourage everyone to go read it at least once.

Which is Your Favorite Picture of Joy?

Laura H. asks that question for those who watch this really great slideshow from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. You can see my choice ... I love the way these brothers are laughing and clasping hands.

Poetry Thursday

refreshing limeade
dancing over cool ice cubes
nectar of the gods

Monkey

Eifelheim Love Spreading

You may remember that Claw of the Conciliator gave it two thumbs up.

What if the first contact between humanity and an intelligent alien species occurred in the Year of Our Lord 1348?

Some sf authors would have taken this concept and written a cautionary tale in which benighted priests declare the aliens to be demons and whip mobs of superstitious peasants into a killing frenzy. After all, was that not the Age of Faith, an era of theocracy, ignorance, and fear?

What Flynn has done instead is marvelously refreshing. Eifelheim is a carefully researched depiction of Rhineland in the 14th century, showing both the bright and dark aspects of medieval civilization and the small renaissance that was underway before the Black Plague. He illuminates some of the roots of the Scientific Revolution among natural philosophers like William of Ockham, Jean Buridan, and Nicholas Oresme.

Thus when grasshopper-like aliens, the Krenken, crash near the small Black Forest village of Oberhochwald, it is in fact their good fortune to encounter the local priest. Father Dietrich is a thoughtful and discerning man, who studied under Buridan at the University of Paris, and is adept at inquiring into the natural causes of things. His somewhat cool rationality is combined with deep Christian faith, which motivates him to display charity and hospitality to the stranded travelers.

Now The Wine Dark Sea and The Curt Jester add their approving voices to the chorus.

Me?

I'm still waiting for the darned thing to get to the library near me.

Finding Holiness ... in Our Families

Love in the Little Things
by Mike Aquilina

... The family is the great catechism God has given the world. The work of our lifetime is to learn how to read it, and then study it prayerfully.

A couple in love will find many lessons to learn in the everyday events of their life together. Throw into the mix a child or two (or six or twelve), and the lessons increase by orders of magnitude. It’s all serious business, I suppose, but a sense of humor plays no small part in our spiritual development. Monks may learn humility by wearing a hair-shirt. We parents have our own means of mortification. We must, for example, sit helpless while our four-year-old daughter, patiently and with scientific rigor, enlightens a visiting priest — an elderly, saintly Franciscan — about the varieties of panties that Mattel affixes to its Barbie dolls. (I’m not making that one up.)...

Our family life is the sacrifice we offer to God every day. It rises like incense to heaven as we do very ordinary things: as we love our spouses, guide our kids, pay the bills, attend countless, endless scout meetings, and do our work. All this is our share in the common priesthood of the Church. It is our daily sacrifice, our “Mass.” God, for His part, gives back to us abundantly, from the treasury of His own perfect fatherhood.

This is a subject that Tom and I recently were talking about on a long car trip. It is easy to look at the family and see why God made that our basic core of life on earth. It is the means of sanctification for us all, as we learn to gracefully take up the many irritations and pinpricks of daily self-sacrifice. It is only in soldiering through many of these that we then see the other side, that the graces we receive are so much more than any sacrifice we make ... and the "self" that we become is so much holier than we would have been otherwise. (Not perfectly holy, just a little more holy ... and when you're like I am, then that means there is a long way to go on the holiness business ...)

I received this book last Friday and have to admit that I was so happy to see it looked lighter than Mike Aquilina's usual "Church Fathers" fare. He is brilliant at communicating their personalities and works but I had just finished his Fathers of the Church and am deep in the middle of a church history. (Of course, I just read about the new, expanded version of Mass of the Early Christians coming out soon and now am suddenly ready for the "deeper" reading again!) This book of short essays was just the ticket. He talks about something we all can relate to -- how family life and marriage give us endless opportunities to live a holy life and see God's touch everywhere. These essays range from short two-page works beginning with a family story, usually humorous, and then go to a simple reflection about a needed grace or lesson learned that the incident illustrates or sparks. These are the sorts of examples many of us need to see God's hand in the everyday and to remind us that everything we do is an opportunity to grow in a holiness that needn't be stuffy or holier-than-thou. It is all very real and down-t0-earth.

Some chapters are longer essays that are packed full of good reflections, also stemming from family interactions, that take us to deeper reflective depths. A favorite of mine is about the "Spousal Secret." In other words, what is the secret to being a good husband (or wife). As you'd guess, it is self sacrifice but it is examined from every angle in a very readable way.

I will finish by sharing one of my favorite chapters so you can get a feel for this charming and insightful book which would make an excellent Father's Day gift. It is simple but there's something about Grace that I just can't resist.

The State of Grace

A lone blonde in a crowd of brunettes, our Grace Marie early sensed her difference, her distinctiveness.

One October night the family poured out of the van and approached our favorite ice-cream parlor -- now decorated for the harvest season. Suddenly, three-year-old Gracie broke ranks and ran to a pair of scarecrows. "Look, Mom! Look, Mom! Look, Mom!" She jumped repeatedly in front of the flopsy couple. We all looked, but couldn't figure out what was so special. She pointed emphatically to the golden straw peeking out from the scarecrows' hats. "Look! Gracie dolls!"

Our peerless blonde had found her peers, or at least she thought so. I found them entirely too subdued to pass for "Gracie dolls."

Early in Gracie's life I decided that the word "irrepressible" must have been coined for her. From the time she could crawl, she's had boundless energy and an inquisitive mind. She could jump repeatedly while she asked a breathless series of questions: "What are eyelashes for? Why did God make dinosaurs? How do flowers know what colors to turn?"

In exhausted prayer I would suggest to our Lord that perhaps He should have sent Gracie when I was twenty-five rather than thirty-five.

But, if He had, I would now have even less muscle in my abdomen than the little I can claim. Gracie is extremely affectionate, and from toddlerhood onward her preferred display of affection has been the flying leap. (Ballet lessons have only made her more adept at this.) So I've grown accustomed to tensing my abdomen, just in case it should have to absorb a strong and sudden impact. I'd wager that, even as I sleep, my belly stays taut (well, as taut as it can), just in case Gracie should swoop down from the darkened eaves of the master bedroom.

When our family flew to Rome several years ago, Gracie was only five and she could barely contain her excitement. As our jetliner passed over the ocean, she bounced across the aisles, from sibling to sibling in the Aquilina dispersion, before bouncing to her parents, then back through the cycle.

Shortly after landing, through an unpredictable series of events, we found ourselves, jet-lagged, at Pope John Paul II’s regular Wednesday audience -- with passes to greet the pope personally afterward. Everyone in the family was awestruck by the presence of that great man, now stooped and partially paralyzed from age and ailments. One by one, we passed before him. He hugged each of the children. But none of us had the courage or presence of mind to say anything.

Except, of course, Gracie, who hugged him tight and said, "I love you very much." The flashing cameras captured his broad smile forever. And hers.

Later, back at the hotel, my wife and I felt the comedown from the excitement of meeting a pope and a saint. Factor in the time difference between Rome and Pittsburgh, and we were plummeting toward collapse. Everyone headed to one of the rooms and found a place on the beds, the comfy chairs, or the floor. I dropped to a mattress, so utterly exhausted that it never occurred to me that I was leaving my abdomen wide open.

Sure enough, as soon as I closed my eyes – crash, whoosh, and out went the breath from my lungs. And there was Gracie hovering over my face, smiling what her mother calls her "thousand-watt smile."

"Oh, honey," I groaned. "If you'll just let me sleep five minutes, I'll be a new man when I wake up."

And then I saw something I had never seen before. Gracie, looking frightened, jumped off me as suddenly as she'd landed. She turned to Terri: "Mommy, when Daddy's a new man ..."

"Yes?"

"When Daddy's a new man, what will he look like?"

All the kids erupted in laughter. But Terri just hugged our actual Grace and said: "Remember what the pope looked like?"

Gracie nodded.

"He'll look like that."

Gracie accepted this and let me have my forty winks. But no more.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace as our “participation in the life of God” (n. 1997).

What is God's life? Boundless joy. Boundless love. Limitless energy. Unceasing wonder.

God gives us the grace we need, when we need it. He gives us the children we need, just when we need them. He has given me Grace, amazing Grace, abundantly.

You Say Moslem. I Say Muslim. H.W. Crocker III Says BOTH.

The Perpetua & Felicity Book Club is reading Triumph and Susan, a history major and attentive reader, pointed out that the author uses both Muslim and Moslem. Naturally she wondered why and so did we. I can't find anything definitive on why one term would be different from another, least of all from the author himself. I'd ask him, except that I can't find contact info on him either.

Muslim? Moslem? Anyone have more than a guess on this?

UPDATE:
The question is not which word is correct. Or why we might have two spellings. (These things we already knew.)

The question is why H.W. Crocker III uses both spellings throughout Triumph. Obviously he is making some sort of distinction (or has the worst editor known to mankind).

All Things Work for Good ...

In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:26-28

God knows what we need before we do and provides in ways we couldn't imagine. Check out Penni's story from today.

Science Fiction and Faith LInks

It occurred to me that the ongoing listing of great sci-fi and fantasy novels with links to faith was sometime ago (as the blogosphere counts it anyway). Here are some wonderful resources. If anyone has any others I'll add them to the list.

• Speculative Catholic has a very good list of Catholicism in Science Fiction at The Catholic Wiki Project
• Elliott has a great series of discussions about science fiction, fantasy, and faith wherein he discusses different authors. It begins at the link and you can follow it from there.

Want to Know About the Pope in Pavia?

AmericanPapist is on the job. Check out the links there.

Moses: The Most Complete Prefigurement of Christ

Exodus centers on Moses, greatest of all Jewish prophets, the man who spoke with God face to face and lived. Moses is as prominent and primary in Judaism as Mohammed is in Islam or as Confucius is in Confucianism. Yet his deepest significance is beyond Judaism: Moses symbolizes and foreshadows Christ. Let's look at some of the ways he does, some of the parallels between Moses and Christ.

1. Both were outsiders (Ex 3:1-10; Jn 3:13)
2. Both received long training before their public ministry (Ex 2:10; Lk 3:23)
3. Both performed many miracles (Ex 7-14; Jn 3:2 and 21:25)
4. Both were preserved from an evil king's plot to murder them as babies (Ex 2:2-10; Mt 2:14-15; and Rev 12:1-6 and 13-17)
5. Both stood up against masters of evil (Ex 7:11; Mt 4:1)
6. Both fasted for forty days (Ex 34:28; Mt 4:2)
7. Both controlled the sea (Ex 14:21; Mt 8:26)
8. Both fed a multitude of people (Ex 16:15; Mt 14:20-21)
9. Both showed the light of God's glory on their faces (Ex 34:35; Mt 17:2)
10. Both endured rebellion from their people (Ex 15:24; Jn 5:45-47)
11. Both were scorned at home (num 21:1; Jn 7:5)
12. Both saved their people by intercessory prayer (Ex 32:32; Jn 17:9)
13. Both spoke as God's mouthpiece (Deut 18:18; Jn 7:16-17)
14. Both had seventy helpers (Num 11:16-17; Lk 10:1)
15. Both gave law from a mountain (Ex 20; Mt 5-7)
16. Both established memorials (Ex 12:14; Lk 22:19)
17. Both reappeared after death (Mt 17:8; Acts 1:3)
18. Both did the work of prophets, priests, and kings -- the three most important positions of authority in the ancient world
19. Both conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil
20. Both, finally brought their people from slavery tofreedom and to the Promised Land

Moses is the most complete symbol of prefigurement of Christ in the Bible.

You Can Understand the Bible
A Practical And Illuminating Guide To Each Book In The Bible
by Peter Kreeft

A God of Infinite Justice and Infinite Love

It's often said that the Old Testament, especially Genesis, teaches a God of justice, in stark contrast to Jesus, who teaches a God of forgiveness and love. It is a lie, of course. The God of the Old Testament does all that He does out of love; and the Father of Jesus needs to satisfy justice as well as love; that's why Jesus had to die. I used to think that only those who never read the Bible could fall for this fallacy. But experience has taught me otherwise. Why is it so common?

I think it comes partly from misunderstanding the literary style of Genesis. It is not meant to be psychology, either of God or humanity. The modern style of storytelling emphasizes psychological motive and scrutinizes inner consciousness. This is simply not the style of premodern writing. Augustine's Confessions is the only personal introspective autobiography in premodern literature.

Thus the "wrath of God" is not meant as a description of God's own private feelings, but of His public deeds, of how those deeds look to fallen, "wrathful" man. Psychologically, this is "projection." When God gave Lady Julian of Norwich a "showing" of His wrath, she said, "I saw no wrath but on man's part."

God is indeed a God of justice and thus of punishment, which is part of justice. But love is the motive behind all His deeds of discipline. "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves. ... If you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb 12:6-8).

You Can Understand the Bible
A Practical And Illuminating Guide To Each Book In The Bible
by Peter Kreeft

He Had Me At Kelvin ...