Heavenly Habits: Justice

After learning about Prudence, we proceed to the virtue of Justice. This is another of the bulletin inserts I wrote for our church.

Heavenly Habits: Justice

1807 Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.”68 “Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”69

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Justice is rather the activity of truth, than a virtue in itself. Truth tells us what is due to others, and justice renders that due. Injustice is acting a lie.

Horace Walpole

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Justice is the virtue that ensures we treat others fairly. It is this which helps us desire that goodness is rewarded and evil punished.

Catholic teaching defines justice as one of three types:

• Commutative justice calls for fundamental fairness between individuals. If the grocery store clerk hands you too much change, you are practicing commutative justice when you give back the overpayment.
• Distributive justice is found in the relationship between an individual and a group. Largely speaking it is concerned with the fair distribution of resources to those who need them. We see an obvious example of this as citizens. The government should levy only the taxes necessary to provide services while we should pay our fair share.
• Social justice is perhaps the term mentioned the most in Catholic circles as it involves ensuring fair treatment for all in society. Welfare, right to life, feeding the poor, the environment, and many other social issues fall under this category.

Regardless of categories and definitions, justice toward our fellow man is an easy concept to grasp. Even small children have an innate sense of what is fair and what isn’t. It all boils down to Jesus’ words, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). This helps us keep in mind that justice practiced as a cardinal virtue is not defined strictly by civil legality. For example, abortion, legal though it may be, is a grave violation of justice as well as love. Additionally, strict legality must always be tempered by equity so that the precise appreciation of even a just law does not de facto produce an injustice.

Another application of justice may be a new idea to us. The virtue of religion requires that we practice justice toward God. We owe to God, our Creator, worship, praise, and gratitude. Though they should be motivated by love and not fear, these are nonetheless not optional or favors we do for God. They are instead owed to God by the virtue of our creaturely relationship to Him. Even creatures without reason praise God by living according to their natures. We, whose nature is so like to God’s, owe to Him the proper fulfillment of His plan of love for us.

Thus, when we take time for prayer to further our relationship with Him and not merely to ask for things, though that asking may be perfectly appropriate, that is a form of justice. When we obey God’s will, whether it is practicing the virtues or the many other ways we live our faith, that also is a form of justice as we respond to His right that we submit to His laws. We are giving Him what He truly is due as our creator and as the one who loves us more than any other.

If we reflect on all these manifestations of justice it becomes clear that justice forms a network, a web if you will, that defines our relationships to God and to each other. It puts a whole new spin on the motivation for playing fair in all aspects of our lives.

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Footnotes

68 Lev 19:15.
69 Col 4:1.

References

• Catechism of the Catholic Church. This may be found online
• Catholicism for Dummies by Revs. Trigilio and Brighenti
• The Virtues by Fr. John Hardon. This may be read online.
  

Next up, to help us stay on an even keel: Temperance.

Not Just for Moms: Reviewing "A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms" by Lisa Hendey

Lessons from John Paul II

Pope John Paul II is one of my favorite intercessors when I struggle with the body issues that crop up in my vocation as a mom. His prolife writings speak so eloquently about his belief in the sanctity of all human life, but for me it is the way in which he lived out his vocation that offers the most telling life lessons.

From his childhood, Karol Wojtyla loved to glorify God with his physical body. Friends from his youth describe his love for soccer and games played between rival Catholic and Jewish community teams, and his voluntary desire to "sub in" as goalkeeper for the opposing Jewish team when they found themselves short of players. This man, once described as the "Keep Fit Pope," loved kayaking, camping, hiking, and swimming. ...

Perhaps this is why my heart hurt all the more as we watched him quietly, and with tremendous dignity, accept the crosses of physical, pain, aging, and disability. For his entire papacy, John Paul II wrote and spoke about the dignity of all human life. The grace with which he accepted his physical decline in his final years gave us an eloquent lesson that encouraged me to look at the elderly and physically infirm in my own life with new, more loving eyes.

But as a wife and mom perhaps the greatest lessons I have learned from John Paul II have come from his teachings known as the "Theology of the Body." Honestly, after so many years of hearing the pontiff vilified by a society that bemoaned his commitment to thousands of years of Church teachings on the dignity of all human life, a light turned on in my heart when I read his writings and teachings for myself. ...

This wonderful collection guides readers through fifty-two saints. Some are famous, like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and some are virtually unknown, like Chiara Badano. Each entry discusses a saint's life, how their experiences give special insights for living a holy family life, a pertinent quote by that saint, devotional suggestions for individual and family use, and daily scripture meditations and prayers. I have been using this for weeks and it is a real treasure. I especially appreciate the section where Hendey shares how she applies a saint's lesson to her life.

The excerpt above shows a bit of how Lisa Hendey surprises me when I open A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms. Choosing John Paul II for inclusion is not surprising, but noting the way he glorified God with his physical body definitely was. This great pope did so many wonderful things that it is difficult to say which I'd choose to discuss but Hendey, with this emphasis reminds us of how those wonderful things often keyed off of a big message in a way that we truly needed to hear in our day and age. God sends us the saints we need and Hendey's week spent with John Paul II reminds us of how women, spouses, parents, and families can learn so much from him, often in surprising ways.

This isn't the only saint which Hendey shows us from a new angle. Time and again I'd come upon a saint and think that I knew all about their main ministry only to have Hendey pick up a thread that I hadn't thought of in terms of my own life. A few examples:

• St. Thomas More: loving, wise parenthood and blended families
• St. Matthew: good money management and a proper perspective on money's place in the overall scheme of things
• Elizabeth Ann Seton: the difference a housewife makes in daily routines and steadfast witness

Hendey also infuses the book with her gentle way of living her faith. This is something that I welcome more often than I care to admit when I open the book every day to see the daily scripture and prayer for the week's saint. Hendey's prayers avoid the too frequent modern tendency for long, explanatory prayers while simply and elegantly stating just what we ask for help with. So often, I would open this book and literally feel myself relaxing as I focused on the scripture and prayer which were just what I needed to refocus myself on God's will rather than the challenges or frustrations of the day.

I'm just going to say, you need a copy. Don't let the "Moms" on the cover fool you. This is for anyone in a family ... wives, husbands, grown children ... it is simply fantastic. Trust me on this.

Lisa Hendey: Blessed John Paul II and Me

Lisa's promoting her book, A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms, which you already know that I love. I asked her to write something extra about a saint for us (an author's work is never done, y'all, and I'm proud to help her keep her writing credentials).  The result? This great personal reflection.


Thank you, Lisa, and welcome to Happy Catholic on your tour of the Catholic blog world. (Hey, if you need extra towels, just look in that cabinet behind the sink!)

When I set out to write a book about the lives of the saints at the request of my publisher in the early weeks of September 2010, I could never have anticipated the way in which my life would be touched personally by the project. With a blank slate and a lot of leash from Ave Maria Press and my editor Eileen Ponder, I set out to create a “dream team” of 52 saints, reflecting for several weeks upon their individual charisms and qualities. One definite on my “must include” list was – as we knew him at that time – Pope Venerable John Paul II.

As with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the man so many of us lovingly knew as “JPII” was a saint we were able to watch, learn from and love during our own lifetimes. In many ways, his call to the New Evangelization and the celebration of the Great Jubilee in the year 2000 led me to what has now become my own life’s work. How audacious is it that one little mom, living in a suburb with a then non-Catholic spouse, two young sons, and no technical capabilities, could launch a little website that eleven years later would be welcoming millions of visitors each year to know, to love, and to celebrate our Catholic faith? And yet when he called each of us, I did my best to answer.

I put the finishing touches on my then “Pope Venerable John Paul II” chapter for A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms in late December 2010. At that time, I dwelt upon the role of his writings on the Theology of the Body had in my life, doing my best to celebrate the dignity with which he taught us to see and to treasure all human life. Little did I know that a few months later, I would be invited to attend the Vatican Blogger Meeting being held in conjunction with the Beatification of Blessed John Paul II.

Like a dream that just kept getting better, my trip to the Vatican in May 2011 found me nestled amidst a million and a half of my closest Catholic friends on Divine Mercy Sunday as Pope Benedict XVI beatified this man who had beckoned me into an ever deepening relationship with Christ, with our Church and with my spouse. When I filed past his coffin the next day, kneeling amidst a group of priests for an impromptu decade of the Rosary before the Swiss Guards moved us along to make way for the throngs of pilgrims who had come to pay their respects, I gave silent thanks.

I never met Blessed John Paul II personally in life, and yet in so many moments since his death he has been a spiritual companion, and intercessor, and a model of virtue for me. God willing, I hope to be present at his canonization. But in truth, my trip to Rome and my time spent studying the dignity of the life of this man has taught me to look around me at the everyday saints in my own life with greater awareness. Like this humble man from Poland who went on to bring peace to our world and transformation to our Church, each of us are called to the path of sainthood. My path plays out one step at a time, in simple, joyous fashion. I’ll be forever grateful for the companionship of Blessed John Paul II along that journey – wherever it may lead.

Mr. Dark wouldn't let Julie in the mirror maze after he saw her trip over her own feet ... talk about dumb luck!

Scott and I talk about the classic book of carnivals, Halloween, and how our choices shape us: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

Is it a trick or a treat?

Find out at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Heavenly Habits: Prudence

Now for a closer look at the cardinal or moral virtues. I  originally wrote this as a bulletin insert for our church our church but I think it works here just as well.

Heavenly Habits: Prudence

1805 Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called “cardinal”; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. “If anyone loves righteousness, [Wisdom’s] labors are virtues; for she teaches temperance and prudence, justice, and courage.”64 These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.

1806 Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.”65 “Keep sane and sober for your prayers.”66 Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle.67 It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

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As mentioned previously, a virtue is a good habit that helps us to behave rightly and not to give in to our own contrary impulses. The Church teaches that the “theological” virtues of faith, hope, and charity are given to us by God as gifts. We cannot acquire them by effort. He fills us with them to help us participate in the spiritual life.

On the other hand, the “cardinal” virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude are those which we can achieve through both God’s grace and our efforts. They are known as the “cardinal” virtues because the Latin root cardo means “hinge.” Prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude are the “hinges” on which other human virtues depend. All human virtues are in some way an extension of a cardinal virtue.

If God is giving us the grace already, why would we care about “practicing” virtue? Obviously, we receive God’s grace regardless but certainly it is easier to recognize and take full advantage of it if we’ve been practicing these virtues to get our souls “in shape,” so to speak. Living virtuously also gives us the daily blessings of living a joyful moral life because we are able to exert self-control more easily.

Prudence, the first of the cardinal virtues, is called the “charioteer” of the other virtues because it drives or guides them. The Catechism definition above states that prudence “disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.” Another way of saying this is that prudence allows us to use solid common sense in everyday life. A prudent person has the ability to judge when to kindly temper a potentially harsh comment, how best to avoid a volatile situation, or when it is necessary to take action to resolve a conflict. In short, prudence allows us to judge best how to act decisively but charitably.

Practicing prudence means that we must consider situations carefully before acting. We may need to consult authorities such as trusted advisers, the Catechism, or the Bible. Sometimes, we may need to take extra time to determine the right course of action. It doesn’t mean that we avoid acting, merely that the course is considered sensibly first.

Practicing prudence also helps us to overcome the modern tendencies to sit back and do nothing for fear of offending or to jump in with both feet and trample everyone with brash action. We can steer the right course both for ourselves and in influencing others’ right actions and attitudes. For some of us, acquiring the habit of prudence will seem like a super-human feat, and of course it is. We need God’s grace to perfect this virtue in ourselves. However, if we give it a helping hand by trying to acquire it through regular repetition, it will come all the easier when we need it in a pinch.

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Footnotes

64 Wis 8:7.
65 Prov 14:15.
66 1 Pet 4:7.
67 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 47, 2.

References

• Catechism of the Catholic Church. This may be found online
• Catholicism for Dummies by Revs. Trigilio and Brighenti
• The Virtues by Fr. John Hardon. This may be read online.
  

Next up: the virtue of Justice.

On Monster Patrol: Reviewing "Night of the Living Dead Christian" by Matt Mikalatos

... I had that sudden creepy feeling that something truly horrible stood drooling over my shoulder, and with a fear-fueled shout I spun around only to discover my neighbor Lara.

Lara and I had gone to high school together, so it was this weird thing that she lived across the street now. Weird in the sense that I couldn't help but feel a little bit less like an adult when she was around. She had her long, dark hair swept down, and a tight pair of dress slacks on, and a white collared shirt, and a black cape. Her skin looked pale, I assume because she was frightened of zombies.

"Oh, hey, Lara."

"What's all the racket?" she asked. "I heard this horrible noise in the neighborhood, and then when I looked outside I saw all those people dressed like zombies."

I laughed. "Nothing to worry about. I scared them away by pretending to be a vampire."

Now Lara was laughing too, and I noticed her thin, sharp canine teeth. It seemed a little sad to me that Lara had tried on her Halloween costume a week early, but she was single again and I knew she was lonely and bored sometimes. You going to be a vampire for Halloween?"

She grinned. "Nah. I'm going to be a pirate."

"What's with the teeth then?"

She blushed. "A vampire pirate."

Matt Mikalatos has a problem. His neighborhood is overrun with monsters and he's the captain of the neighborhood watch. He meets zombies, a mad scientist and his robot, vampires, werewolves, and more. Eventually he even befriends a few of them and discovers a secret. They were all human once. In fact, they are all human now. Underneath their monstrous forms, there are humans waiting to be transformed into their true selves.

More serious are the interludes where Luther the werewolf records his innermost thoughts. These are the sections where Mikalatos is challenging readers to dig deeper and take a good, hard look at their lives, their actions, and their faith.

The quest undertaken by  Matt and his friends is an entertaining journey that leads to sacrifice, redemption, and ultimately the savior who transforms us all, Christ.

Monsters have long been the storyteller's device for examining the problems that we all face when, as St. Paul says in Romans 7:15, "What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate." Mikalatos uses this metaphor to good effect to show Christians new ways to look at their own behavior and where they are denying that they need Christ's help to die to self.

The author doesn't just look at how people live their lives. He also examines types of worship and churches as well. I admit that made me rather wary, knowing that Mikalatos was writing primarily for nondenominational Protestants. However, the two times that Catholics were briefly mentioned, Mikalatos made sure that they were properly understood, as far as he himself understands the Catholic faith (more on that below in the Comments for Catholics). He also took the stance which Catholics believe and affirm, that people are good underneath everything. As Peter Kreeft puts it, we are like masterpieces with big scratches on them.

The ground that is covered isn't necessarily new. Anyone who regularly practices self-examination of conscience will recognize many of the points made. However, trying to rid the neighborhood of monsters is a device that may make the most self-aware Christian realize there is something that is not reflecting properly in the mirror ... and take another look.

Mikalatos wrote a book that is laugh-out-loud funny and that had me pestering family members to read amusing passages. He also has an engaging way of shaking up readers to look at their own lives with fresh eyes. I enjoyed the book very much and feel it can offer a lot to Christians when used for personal discernment about their walk with the Lord.

There were a couple of things that Catholics would need to be open-minded about which I address below.

COMMENTS FOR CATHOLICS ... contains a couple of spoilers
1.
In one spot, the mad scientist is trying to clone Jesus using a chewed communion wafer and wine stolen from a Catholic Church. Mikalatos points out that this is a misunderstanding of transubstantiation to think that Jesus could be cloned from these. It is never stated whether the wafers and wine were consecrated before they were stolen, the theft of which would have constituted one of the gravest of mortal sins. In fact, it is a supreme desecration that gave me a nasty jolt when I read it because the host was somewhat chewed  ... so I couldn't assume that consecration hadn't taken place. However, it is clear from the way that the story is written that the author is not trying to upset anyone and it is actually a logical leap for a scientist to make. Especially a "mad" one.

2.
In the end, every church the group of friends tries winds up having a serious problem. There is no church that doesn't have some sort of doctrinal error, whether real or misunderstood by one character or another. Eventually, "church" seems to be a gathering of friends and family by a river for baptism.

Now, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that scenario for a lot of Protestants, but for Catholics the Church can't be cast aside so easily. Even Catholics who regularly criticize the Church recognize that there is great good that comes from her ... or they would leave. The Catholic point of view is that your family isn't your church, your Church is your family.

Catholics' love for their Church and her teachings goes far beyond the book's "zombie" church where everyone blindly obeys what the founder/pastor has written in his study Bible. Again, it is made pretty clear that the author isn't taking shots at any one group, at least as far as I can tell. He is just addressing believers who turn off their brains at the church door and blindly follow whatever they are told. That's a definite no-no in the Catholic faith where we are called on to be sure we understand the Church's teachings. I'd bet that every Catholic priest and bishop would laugh at the idea of parishioners who blindly do what the Church teaches without questioning it, even as they obey.

Although the author seems to cast off any sort of organized religion, in the end this story is the quest of a group of friends for individual transformation and that is how I chose to read it. Your milage may vary.

So You Stopped The Apocalypse. What Are You Going to Do Now? Reviewing "Mercury Rises" by Robert Kroese

Finch went on, "If these people spent as much time trying to develop a written language as they did making up deities, they wouldn't be in this jam. they've got rain gods, cloud gods, sun gods...I've documented three hundred different deities so far, and I'm not even close to covering them all. At this point there are probably more Tawani deities than there are Tawanies."

In fact, the Tawani only had seven gods and goddesses in their pantheon; the remainder they had made up just to screw with Horace Finch. Finch had made it his mission to debunk their mythology, one deity at a time, and the Tawani had cleverly responded by manufacturing an unlimited number of deities. At first it had been an enjoyable diversion, but as Finch showed no sign of tiring his debunking, it had become something of a chore. More worrying, they were on the verge of running out of natural phenomena that could be used as an excuse for supernatural intervention. Lately they had devised gods of acid indigestion, night sweats, and chafing, respectively. ...

In truth, they had started inventing deities in an attempt to determine whether Finch could tell the difference between a real god and a fake god, a test that he decisively failed in their eyes. ...

The Tawani had also concluded that anyone who wanted so badly to believe that the gods did not exist must have done something very evil in their sight.

This sequel to Mercury Falls picks up after journalist Christine and rogue angel Mercury have stopped Armageddon from happening. And it picks up in Babylon around the time of Noah where we see just what Mercury's relationship with Tiamet was and why she's so interested in ziggurats. Following a dual timeline, we get the long ago backstory and the ongoing new attempt to destroy the world, where a few new characters get added to the mix.

This is clearly a transitional novel and Kroese is working toward a third book that will pull everything together where we eventually will see who is really running things in Heaven, whether free will is integral or a mistake, and if there is an ineffable plan that will leave Earth in one piece. I sped through this book which was almost as entertaining as Mercury Falls. Sometimes though, as Stephen Tobolowsky termed his role in Heroes, we feel as if we are still stuck in Act I. We've seen everyone try to stop the end of the world before. The dual timelines do not always transition gracefully and the number of characters left me sometimes feeling that the story was choppy.

Make no mistake, I still enjoyed reading this book. Kroese is clever, witty, and makes many good points about the people on both sides of religious belief (as we see in the excerpt above). I'm looking forward to seeing what the third book in the trilogy brings as Christine, Mercury, and the gang hopefully can finish their task of putting the kibosh on an immediate apocalypse.

This book was provided through the Amazon Vine program.

Heavenly Habits: Cardinal Virtues

I'm going to rerun this look at the virtues mostly for myself, but also for anyone else interested. I see that I had two separate series which ran in 2006 and 2008. Yes, it's time to get back to basics on these.

Despite God’s help and our best intentions we often fall. We often turn down the wrong road, whether accidentally or deliberately. There is, however, a frequently overlooked way that we can strengthen ourselves and increase our odds of success in following Jesus. Of course, we cannot do this without God’s grace, but just as athletes train for both strength and muscle-memory, we can do the same for our souls. We can train ourselves by striving to acquire the virtues.

A virtue is a habit that perfects the powers of the soul and disposes you to do good. Catholics believe that divine grace is offered to the soul, because without God's help, humans can't do good on their own. Grace, which is God's intervention, bolsters a person's soul. providing the necessary oomph to do the right thing, that is, if the recipient recognizes its value. Catholics believe that virtues prepare and dispose people so that when the grace is offered, people readily recognize, accept, and cooperate with it. In other words, God's grace is necessary, but virtues make it easier to work with.

Traditionally, the cardinal virtues number four ... The root meaning of cardinal is cardio, which is Latin for hinge. These four virtues are the hinges on which the rest of the moral life swings:

• Prudence
• Justice
• Temperance
• Fortitude

The four cardinal virtues are also called moral virtues to distinguish them from the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love (charity), which are given to the soul at Baptism.

Catholicism For Dummies by John Trigilio

Now there's a way of looking at it that isn't common, at least to me. What habits can I cultivate to make it easier for me to recognize and receive God's grace? I like that.

A great book to read on this subject, and on that I should reread is Back to Virtue by Peter Kreeft. Along with talking about virtues, Kreeft lines up specific virtues and Beatitudes as antidotes to each of the seven deadly sins.

Next we'll look at the four virtues separately. First up: Prudence.

Satan's Whiskers

What happens when you choose cocktails for their seasonal names?

Find out at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Reviewing "Jesus & Muhammad: Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives" by F.E. Peters

Afterthoughts: The New Testament and the Quran

There are two different epistemic systems at work in the New Testament and the Quran. With the Quran the secular historian starts with the investigative premise that it is the voice of Muhammad he is hearing through the received text. The Muslims who were responsible for transmitting that received text, and perhaps the very earliest believers who created the Quran as a text, believed no such thing. They heard the all but immediate voice of God. The sounds may have come forth from the lips of Muhammad but he was merely enunciating and not creating them.

In the case of Jesus, the historian, whether Christian or not, recognizes from the outset that he is dealing with texts that had human authors, whose very names stand in fact at the heads of the texts that constitute the New Testament as certainly as no one's does at the head of the Quran. The investigative premise is that the texts, particularly the Gospels, report the teachings (and describe the acts) of another human personage, namely, Jesus of Nazareth. The Christian immediately adds that this same Jesus was also the Son of God and so what was proceeding from his lips was the reported speech of God. It was not, however, The words of Yahweh heard and reported by Moses from Sinai or the words of Allah pronounced by Muhammad in Mecca and Medina were God's reported words; what proceeded from Jesus' lips was a revolutionary new discourse, the words of a man-God, a human voice with the gravity of the Divine.

I received this book just about a year ago and, what with one thing and another, it took me a long time to read it. However, I always came back to it because the premise was so interesting and the facts so engrossing.

F. E. Peters examines and compares the historical profiles of Jesus and Muhammed to show us, from a historian's viewpoint, what we do and do not know about them. I actually am not exactly sure why the author wrote the book because he does not really draw any conclusions. However, I'm ok with that, as will be revealed at the end of this review.

What Peters does is directly compare pieces of Jesus' and Muhammad's lives and ministries. The reader learns what historical context Jesus was born into and then the context for Muhammad, the infancy narratives for Jesus and then Muhammad, the words of Jesus and then Muhammad, and so forth. In each case, Peters considered sources, the historian's point of view, and the believer's point of view.

The book jacket says that Peters finds surprising similarities between Jesus and Muhammad. I was disinterested in "surprising similarities" and more interested in learning facts. Specifically, I was interested in learning about Muhammad from an unbiased source, if such a thing exists.

I already am familiar, of course, with Jesus' life and identity from both a secular and Catholic point of view. Part of the test for Peters, naturally, was to see how his presentation of Jesus matched my own expectations. Since I knew next to nothing about Muhammad, I couldn't judge the truth of what I was being told other than to judge the truth of what Peters said about Christ. If he proved trustworthy there, then I felt he'd be equally trustworthy on Muhammad's behalf.

I was impressed because the author was dispassionate in delineating history versus belief, while always being quite respectful of believers. This is not a quality we often see in historians speaking about religion. Usually they are rooting for one side or another. I commend Peters for doing such a clear job of research and writing.

The painstakingly objective way he wrote about what Christians believe about Christ,  led me to believe that I was being allowed as unbiased a look as I have ever been shown of Muhammad and how his followers have developed his words into the Quran and the Sira. And that was precisely what I was after. Highly recommended for those who would like similar enlightenment.

Blogging Around: Another Random Edition

6 Inspiring Tales of Friendship in the Middle of Brutal Wars: "right in the heat of battle, sympathy and simple human kindness breaks through." I knew most of these but not all. Each is inspiring and worth remembering. (Language warning, this is a Cracked.com story.)

The Year of Faith: "The Holy Father has written a new apostolic letter for the induction of the Year of Faith. The Year of Faith will start on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. As always this is well-worth reading as is everything from our catechist-Pope." Via The Curt Jester.

12 Year Olds Embodying Something Greater: "And you know what? Instead of making the scared newly 12-year-old boy walk a block home in the dark, imagining flesh-eating zombies in shadows, every single boy offered to walk him back to his house.

Together." A wonderful story from Rambling Follower.

Toast: A Coming of Age Story - the movie. A review that makes it sound much more interesting than the book ever did ... and I love Nigel Slater's cookbooks.

Robert Downey, Jr. Asks Hollywood to Forgive Mel Gibson: “I asked Mel to present this award for me for a reason,” he said. “When I couldn’t get sober, he told me not to give up hope and encouraged me to find my faith. It didn’t have to be his or anyone else’s as long as it was rooted in forgiveness. And I couldn’t get hired, so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him. He kept a roof over my head and food on the table and most importantly he said if I accepted responsibility for my wrongdoing and embraced that part of my soul that was ugly – hugging the cactus he calls it — he said that if I hugged the cactus long enough, I’d become a man.”

An astounding story of mutual good will and forgiveness. It is so unlikely that I had to click around and make sure it wasn't a spoof when I read about it at Why I Am Catholic. Frank not only provides links to stories but his own take on this remarkable tale, which is one for all Christians.

Worth a Thousand Words: Trick or Treat

The fabulous Virginia on a Halloween past

from Amy H. Sturgis, whose parents own Virgina

Click through to see other costumes including this year's.

Who knew Armageddon Could Be So Funny? Reviewing "Mercury Falls" by Robert Kroese

He carried the ketchup bottle to the breakfast nook and popped open the lid. Time to do some serious damage, he thought. But there was only about half a bottle of ketchup and, and he wanted to make it count. He didn't want to just make random blotches of ketchup. It should be something meaningful, someting offensive. Something that would make the owner really want to get rid of the carpet. A satanic symbol, he thought. Yes, that's it.

[...]

... As a new transfer, however, Nisroc hadn't yet attended Lucifer's seminar on Branding for the New Millennium, and was thus starting from scratch.

He had heard that an upside-down cross was sometimes used, so he started with that, carefully drawing perpendicular ketchup lines on the carpet. He was rather satisfied with the result until he realized that he had drawn it upside down from the perspective of someone in the kitchen -- when viewed from the front door, it was a normally oriented cross. Now what?

Actually, anyone who's read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett knows that Armageddon can be extremely amusing. What's truly wonderful is that Robert Kroese takes the concept to California and makes it funny all over again, in a completely different way.

Christine reports on end-of-time cults for a Christian newspaper. And she's having new linoleum installed in her breakfast nook. Her boss's obsession with the apocalypse results in her being entrusted with a locked briefcase about which she was told, "take it to Mercury." (Her boss is putting off new flooring.)

Mercury is a cult leading, ping-pong playing, Rice Krispy treat eating ... angel. He is maddeningly blase about the rapidly approaching apocalypse, although he is happy to be friends with Christine. After Christine encounters a very sulky Antichrist -- who lives in his mother's basement playing computer games -- she becomes determined to save the world. With hilarious results. And flooring.

Kroese's plot pulls together a varied cast of characters and scenarios with wonderful pacing for excellent comic effect and a story that had me staying up late and reading at breakneck speed. I laughed out loud more than once and pestered family members by reading funny sections aloud (which happened a lot). Kroese liberally skewers both religious and nonreligious, but is always solidly on the side of common sense, humor, and a good story. And flooring.

Harry's belief that he was guided by the voices of angels that only he could hear was, surprisingly, one of the least unreasonable of his many absurd beliefs. For example, he also believed that God created photosynthesis before He created the sun and that all of the world's animals had once taken a Mediterranean cruise together. Having convinced oneself of those unlikely propositions, accepting the notion that one is hearing the voices of angels is pretty much a cakewalk. 5

5 People of a "scientific" bent have been known to ridicule those, like Harry, who believe unlikely notions such as the idea that the Universe was created in six days and that the first human being was formed by God breathing into a lump of clay. It should be noted that the latest scientific theories entail that (1) all of the matter in the Universe was once compressed into an area smaller than the point of a pin; and (2) life came about when a chance collision of molecules accidentally lined up three million nucleic acids in exactly the right order to form a self-replicating protein.

Weekend Joke: The Ultimate Cat Tree

From the brilliantly funny Doug Savage

Reviewing "At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time"

A Prayer That Will Be Answered

Anna Kamienska (Polish, 1920-1986)

Lord let me suffer a lot
and then let me die

Allow me to walk through silence
Let nothing not even fear linger after me

Make the world go on as it always has
let the sea continue to kiss the short

Let grass still remain green
so a little frog could find shelter in it

and someone could bury his face
and weep his heart out

Make a day dawn so bright
it seems there is no more suffering

And let my poem be transparent as a windowpane
against which a straying bee hits its head

This unusual devotional is a book after my own heart. Sarah Arthur has thematically arranged classic and contemporary fiction and poetry to look a little deeper at the worship inherent in the words.

Designed for use in Ordinary Time, themes range from "Seeking God's Face" to "Quarrels with Heaven" to "Rending the Veil." Readings are taken from such diverse fiction sources as The Wind in the Willows and Mansfield Park, and from poets spanning the Italian Christina Rossetti to Enuma Okoro, a contemporary Nigerian-American.

I must admit I've had this book since the beginning of Ordinary Time and now we are approaching the end of it. I haven't written a review until now because, to tell the truth, I do not know how to do it justice. However, I will try.

The daily readings pull one into an almost inadvertent practice of Lectio Divina*. It makes me slow down, look outward for God and inward for my self, and brings me to a place I haven't been before.

I usually am not drawn to poetry and the daily immersion leaves me feeling as if I've stepped out of real time when I'm done reading it. It shakes me up mentally in the best possible way. It is transformative, even if I can't label the transformation ... which, now that I think of it, may actually speak to the authenticity of the "shaking up" that these meditations carry for me.

I do wish that the publisher had provided room for the daily scripture readings instead of simply putting the reference. I, for one, am too lazy (yes, I said it and it's true) to go look up the references. It may have taken a few more pages but would have made At the Still Point a complete devotional. However, that is a small point and certainly one that is easy to remedy, if only I overcome my laziness with a bit of forethought in having a Bible to hand.

I hope that this book does well because I would really love it if Arthur did volumes for Advent, Lent, and Easter. Definitely recommended and not just for Catholics or Christians but for all spiritual seekers who love transformation through words.

Called to Be Saints

Christina Rossetti (English, 1830-1894)

The lowest place. Ah, Lord, how steep and high
That lowest place whereon a saint shall sit!
Which of us halting, trembling, pressing night,
Shall quite attain to it?

Yet, Lord, Thou pressest nigh to hail and grace
Some happy soul, it may be still unfit
For Right Hand or for Left Hand, but whose place
Waits there prepared for it.

Lectio Divina is Latin for divine reading, spiritual reading, or "holy reading," and represents a traditional Catholic practice of prayer and scriptural reading intended to promote communion with God and to increase in the knowledge of God's Word. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and, finally, pray and even sing and rejoice from God's Word, within the soul.

Flannery O'Connor's "Awe-ful" Stories

I wrote this biography for all those people who have heard they’re supposed to be getting some spiritual meaning out of O’Connor’s stories but just can’t get there. Your remarks get close to the heart of what O’Connor is doing in these awful stories (awful, you’ll remember, meant ‘filled with awe’ or ‘awe-inspiring’ before it meant ‘terrible’; I’m drawing on all those meanings here).

Author Jonathan Roger's post makes me really, really want to read this book. Via Brandywine Books.

Chocolate Marshmallows

Rose and a friend got busy last weekend and made an unusual treat for us ... which you can read about at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

World's Longest Book Meme? 48-55

Part 6 and the final piece! Picking up from before ...

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Mrs. Darwin said it well:usually the rare case of my coming to the conclusion that reading the book is itself morally culpable. I have a pretty broad leeway on this, especially where science fiction is involved, so it doesn't come up much.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
I have different bookshelves and bookcases devoted to genres and within those try to keep an authors' books together as much as possible. Other than that I don't alphabetize or organize. I like to have a random factor so that I am surprised by books I wasn't looking for. That leads to some of my most pleasurable rereading.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I keep 'em.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Confessions by St. Augustine. (To be fair, I've tried to read it three times and hated it. So now I just avoid it.)

52. Name a book that made you angry.
The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Silence by Shusako Endo. Also The Silence of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
Changes by Jim Butcher.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
The Dresden Files ... right up to the aforementioned Changes.

Want to Help Change a Life?

Ironic Catholic's putting out the call ... to help them answer their call to adopt adorable Alex from Eastern Europe.

Click through to see Alex and donate to the adoption fund. Prayers are always good, but prayers accompanied by $5 or more are even better.

Friends, you know from a previous post that we are thick in the middle of living out a call to adopt Alex, a beautiful 5 yr old child of God who lives in Eastern Europe and is stuck in a (VERY) basic care institution simply because he has CP. Some people have asked what they can do to help change Alex's life. And the first thing we always say is pray for Alex's protection. Children with special needs are in pretty dire straits if they are orphaned in this country: no school ever, primitive care, limited treatment for their diseases or disabilities. While we have recent information that he is doing OK, considering, we'd very much like it to stay that way and pray for his protection every morning and evening.

But the second reality is that international adoption is not cheap at all. No one I know has $25,000 cash lying around. While we are in a better situation than we could have expected financially, we could really use help with the pre-travel expenses associated with this adoption. For example, sic needs to renew his passport ($110). We need to pay for all these documents to get apostilled ($3-10 a document, and there are what, 20 documents?). Paying to Fed Ex materials to this country so that they will actually GET there in less than three months ($200-300?). Paying for super special fingerprints for the USCIS ($720--yes, you read that right). We will make it happen. We've nearly paid for the home study and promise trust (that's over $4000). But could we use help? Oh yes, we can, trust me. We're pretty frugal folks--one older minivan for the family, lots of clearance back rack clothes shopping, well-versed in bean-based dishes, and vacations involve camping because it's cheap--but pinching pennies only goes so far.

Blogging Around: The Random Edition

The Zombie Preparedness Center ... only Ace Hardware takes zombies seriously. Via Strange Herring.

6 B.S. Myths You Probably Believe About America's "Enemies" ... from Cracked (do I need to put the language warning in here? Ok, I'll put it ...)

14 Wonderful Words with No English Equivalent ... from Mental Floss blog. Via ten thousand words.

World's Longest Book Meme? 41-47

Part 5 comin' atcha! Picking up from where we left off ...

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
I must have had times when I haven't read, but I can't think of one. Ever.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I just lost interest after reading about a third of the book.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Lately I've had more trouble with that. Could it be the famous lack of concentration we've been told is fostered by too much internet/social media distraction? I think it might be. However, when I'm immersed in a great story I find that I sacrifice all sorts of usual distractions in order to read as exclusively as possible. So in those circumstances, practically nothing distracts me easily.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Thank you Peter Jackson! It wasn't perfect but it was probably closer than anyone else would have gotten.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
I am terrified it is going to be World War Z. For movies already made: Ron Howard's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Never have I hated a movie more. What a travesty.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I suppose it is the last set of books I bought for the Elements of Faith book club where a lot of people like me to pick up the next few months' worth of books for them. Gosh, that was over $300. I tend not to spend too much on myself for books at one time. You can hide the amount you're spending if you do it in dribs and drabs. Mostly because I'm spending so much time trying to NOT buy books ... I buy books the way some people hit bars. They're an addiction.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Almost always. Mostly because I pick up most of my books from the library and I hate to put them to the trouble of tranfering a book

Finally someone is thinking about the real victims ... the poor zombies.

8 Zombie Apocalypse Survival Strategies (For Zombies)

At Cracked ... language warning.

Netflix Changes Their Mind ... Again.

Netflix Writes Me Again. I May Have to Change My Email Address.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle ... at SFFaudio

We read, we discuss ... and this time, it seems, we even kinda almost argue ... of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings-- ... or to be more precise of the yellow peril, the cold war, cows and Moties and evolution ... and whether pigs have wings.

Come by and listen to the conversation.

10 Funniest Movies

I'm reading Between Heaven and Mirth by James Martin where the author assures us that God wants us to experience joy, to cultivate a sense of holy humor, and to laugh at life’s absurdities—not to mention our own humanity.

Hey, I'm already there. Which is why this is a book-and-reader match made in heaven, right?

He's got a blog tour going on and I'm up for October 24th, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to take me that long to read it. As with all things Martin writes it just flows ... plus there are jokes on practically every page.

He just put his top 10 funniest movies in a footnote, which naturally made me ponder what list I'd give. Mine is in no particular order because I'm not sure I could choose between these. Though they are in the order in which they came to mind ... which must say something about my preferences. Except for Life of Brian which came to mind because Martin's list begins with his favorite, Monty Python and The Holy Grail (which I also like very much ... but not as much as these).

1. Life of Brian
2. Shaun of the Dead
3. Young Frankenstein
4. The Castle
5. Ghostbusters
6. Tootsie
7. It Happened One Night
8. Victor/Victoria
9. A New Leaf
10. Singin' in the Rain

Runners up (because I can't bear not to mention them):

1. To Be or Not to Be (original)
2. Some Like It Hot
3. School of Rock
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Gil Chesterton, Herb Wells, and a Whole Lotta Steampunk: Reviewing "The Emperor of North America" by John McNichol

The Emperor of North America by John McNichol

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If Gilbert Chesterton and Herb Wells were best friends in a steampunk universe when they were 17 and had a crazy adventure involving airships, robots, flying cities, Pinkerton men, a mysterious female nemesis, Gil's true love, a couple of courageous young lads who double as inventors, and much more ... then you would have this book.

It grabbed me in a most unexpected way as you may be able to tell from the fact that I picked it up yesterday morning to read something different and early that evening found myself on page 300. I polished it off this morning. It's an adventure a minute but with time here and there to consider a few deeper things in life ... before being whisked off to another phase of the adventure.

Who is it that is after Gil and never quits trying, using all the forces that money can buy, to get their hands on him? And why would anyone be interested in a young journalist?

What a great time this book is ... all those disparate ingredients may make it sound chaotic but the author just keeps sending you further on the adventure and it all makes perfect sense at the time it is happening.

In the final analysis, I really enjoyed this and definitely recommend it. There are strains of Catholic worldview that are shown as part of various characters' moral fiber and others are shown espousing different views that are set in opposition. I didn't find these to be preachy or moralistic, and they were not the main focus of the action, though they definitely motivated actions. As with all things of this nature, your milage may vary.

I would say that although I enjoyed the mash-up of real and fictional characters, toward the end it did become a bit wearying to have every single major character be referential. It would have been nice to have a few main characters be solely of the author's creation. Perhaps in the next adventure he will venture into that new world. He has it in him and must merely be not afraid. I, personally, also did not like the back story for Gilbert's parents. It would have been nice to have something be what it appeared on the surface and see how that affected a character as well. To have those sorts of simpler characters encounter the over-arching conspiracy would have been refreshing.

However, as I say, I really enjoyed the book. It is those few problems above that kept it from being a five-star review for me. But they are small things indeed. It's a fun ride and one that left me interested in the first book of the series which I haven't encountered yet and whatever adventures McNichol sends Gil and Herb on in the future.

Weekend Joke: On This Day in History

From Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine.

ON THIS DAY in 1871, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow discovered fire. Unfortunately, she was unprepared to handle such advanced technology, setting bovine civilization back hundreds if not thousands of years.

Adorkable - My New Favorite Word

Thank you, Cracked, for this!

 (language warning because it is Cracked.com)

4 Reasons Zooey Deschanel Can Stop Pretending She's a Dork

Fillion Friday ... Updated

Another reason I love The Crescat. She'll say what the rest of us are thinking.

For instance, she's got a category for: I desperately love Nathan Fillion so much it makes others uncomfortable

And can any of us blame her?

I think we know the answer to that.

I ain't watching Castle for the plots.

Update:

Troy: Me and Abed have an agreement. If one of us dies, we stage it to look like a suicide caused by the unjust cancellation of Firefly. We're gonna get that show back on the air buddy!

Community

The Things Saints Leave Behind: Reviewing "Saints Preserved" by Thomas J. Craughwell

One thing we can count on Thomas J. Craughwell for is looking at a well-worn subject with an unpredictable eye. His previous book, Saints Behaving Badly, told shocking stories of people who later became saints. And he actually managed to shock me, which was quite an accomplishment since I thought myself unshockable.

Now he brings us Saints Preserved: An Encyclopedia of Relics. That's not such a big deal, right? A finger bone here, a lock of hair there, or perhaps a scrap of tunic, all carefully preserved in churches around the world.

Ummm, not exactly. Oh, the fingers, hair, and tunics are included. But I think we can all agree that is just perverse that every time I picked up this book to find a sample to include here, the book naturally opened to the Holy Prepuce, or Foreskin, of Jesus Christ.

Yes.

You read that right.

Again, I thought myself unshockable. Again I was wrong.

Some people, including Catholics I know, find the idea of relics morbid or unnatural. Craughwell, however, points out that Catholics aren't the only ones who value relics.

Even secular society prizes relics: at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, I saw crowds press around a display case that contained the gloves Mary Todd Lincoln wore to Ford's Theatre, stained with the blood of her assassinated husband. No doubt morbid curiosity plays a part, but I believe the desire to see Mary Lincoln's bloodstained gloves represents something deeper—the longing to have a physical connection with one of the greatest men, and one of the most tragic moments, in American history. It is that same longing to connect on a physical and not just a spiritual level that draws the faithful to the tombs of the saints, the houses where they lived, the altars before which they prayed, even the prisons where they were tortured.

I found myself entertained, informed, and inspired by this encyclopedia of relics. It made me think of Butler's Lives of the Saints as I read the brief biographies which covered major events, feast days, and patronage, while telling us where to find relics.

The only thing this book is missing is a patronage index to the saints contained in the book, which would have been very handy. There are occasional photos which were interesting although there were so few that I wondered why there were not more photos or no photos at all.

A great resource that can serve as a quick guide to a saint's biography, a tourist destination choice for those who want to mix relics and relaxation, or personal inspiration ... which was the case for me as I pondered all the varied ways that saints have done God's will over the last two thousand years. Definitely recommended.

I leave you with a sample entry; that of a saint who appeals to me on several levels.

Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636). The relics of Saint Isidore are preserved in the Cathedral of Murcia, Spain, along with the relics of his brother Saint Fulgentius and his Sister Saint Florentina.

For many generations Isidore's family had served as administrators of the Roman Empire in Spain. By the sixth century, the empire had collapsed, the provinces were i the hands of barbarian tribes, and the entire infrastructure of Roman society was vanishing—its libraries, its roads, its aqueducts, its laws and literature. In a desperate effort to halt the decay, Isidore began to write a massive twenty-volume encyclopedia of all existing knowledge. He included all the arts and sciences; the engineering that made aqueducts and the arch possible; medicine, metallurgy, and agriculture; even how to build furniture. And he urged his people to learn to read. "When we pray," he said, "we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us."

Saint Isidore of Seville is the patron saint of the Internet. Feast day: April 4.

World's Longest Book Meme? 31-40

It still has my interest ... and hopefully y'all's too. Part 4 picks up where we left off yesterday:

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
I don't mind it at all. Although if it is a review book I tend to just not mention the book at all, especially if I requested it.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Chinese. Once upon a time, long ago, I could read a bit, but never enough to read novels.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Dante's Divine Comedy.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Nervous? Hmmm ... can't think of any.

35. Favorite Poet?
Shel Silverstein, which tells you a lot about my love of clever word use and lack of appreciation for most other sorts of poetry.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Four or five.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Plenty, because if they don't pass my 50-100 page samples then I have no qualms about not reading them. Though lately I try the Kindle samples instead of bothering the library for their books ... that way I am more likely to want to read the book when I get it.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Again, this is like trying to pick my favorite child. Lately though ... Doan and Carstairs (Norbert Davis, author) have won my heart. Doan the mild-mannered, toughest private detective ever. And Carstairs, his Great Dane who is more than a mere dog but not at all like Scooby Doo.

39. Favorite fictional villain?
I'm fond of Professor Snape in the Harry Potter books. He is so unwavering in his disdain.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Fiction, probably science fiction ... and lots of it.

"The Way" Opens Today

Steven G. Greydanus reviews it at National Catholic Register.

Amy Welborn reviews it and offers a good book recommendation about the Camino pilgrimage.

I agree with them ... and reviewed it here.

Short take? Get a ticket and see it.

Reviewing Centurion's Daughter by Justin Swanton

Her Frankish mother dead, 17-year-old Aemilia arrives at Soissons in Roman Gaul in search of her Roman father whom she has never met. She knows only that his name is Tarunculus and that he is a former centurion. She finds an old man fixed on the past, attempting in vain to kindle a spark of patriotism in his dispirited countrymen. Soon, Aemilia is caught up in her father's schemes to save the Empire and the intrigues of the Roman nobility in Soissons. In the war between Franks and Romans to decide the fate of the last imperial province, Providence will lead her down a path she could never have imagined.

Centurion's Daughter is a well written piece of historical fiction set in Gaul (France) when the Roman Empire was in its last gasps.

It is a time period I know little about but was soon more educated in as Aemilia's story was told. Aemilia herself was an interesting character, reminding me more of Saint Monica than of the more common spirited, assertive female usually seen in today's historical fiction. Aemilia was completely dependent, in turn, on her father, a local member of nobility, Soisson's bishop, and various other authorities. She usually had no choice but to do what she was told if she wanted to have clothing, food, and housing. However, as happens in real life, her natural character shone through and impulsive comments or acts of kindness would draw different influential characters' attention to her. They may have used her abilities for their own purposes but Aemilia's own goals were often served in the process. I found Aemilia a most appealing character and the way of telling her story to be refreshingly subtle.

In addition, the story seems carefully researched and the author brought this time period alive. Other characters in the book are equally well sketched with minimal description so that readers see the full gamut of personalities scheming to achieve their own goals while saving the little town of Soissons.

I suppose one could call this a YA book but it held my interest the entire time, as any well written book would regardless of intended age group. Highly recommended and I look forward with interest to seeing what Justin Swanton writes in the future.

World's Longest Book Meme? 21-30

Part 3, continuing from yesterday ...

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I'm super-excited about it or if I think someone will like it.

22. Favorite genre?
Science fiction.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
I'm actually happy with what I read and don't have genre envy. If I wanted to read a genre more ... I would!

24. Favorite biography?
Agatha Christie's autobiography. Not only do you learn about her life, but it is like a trip to Victorian times.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Not that I can think of though, of course, anything is possible and I simply may not remember.

26. Favorite cookbook?
Isn't that like asking if I have a favorite child? Favorite cookbook authors: James Beard, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, Mark Bittman (for How to Cook Everything, not for his others), Nigel Slater, Nigella Lawson (How to Eat, How to Be a Domestic Goddess, Feast ... haven't read others) ... off the top of my head.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.

28. Favorite reading snack?
I don't really snack while I read. No particular reason but I just don't.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I can't think of any but if I think I'll be reading something I try to avoid hype so I don't get spoilers or inflated expectations.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
It really depends on the critic and the book. I don't count on it but am not surprised if I do. Critics have very little to do with whether I read a book or not. I trust friends' recommendations more than anything.

Scott wanted to keep the Batman soundtrack and I've got red on me.

Yes, the long-awaited Shaun of the Dead conversation is ready to go at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Shamble like a zombie to get there without being attacked...

O Lord, Grant Steve Jobs the Joy of Your Presence ...

... and us who are living the happiness of knowing this.

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011 ... he changed the world we live in and died too soon.

Urgent Prayer Request for a Dying Atheist

I have an urgent prayer for my elderly atheist friend. He is to all appearances close to death now. Two years ago I e-mailed to ask for prayer for him, and his health improved. After reading about you asking your dad to reach out and take Jesus' hand at the moment of death, I asked my friend do do the same. His face softened and he said"Of course. I'm not too proud to admit if I've made a mistake." I am hoping, in your phrase, that this gets his toes across the line.

Please join me in prayer for this elderly atheist ... not my friend but that of an anonymous reader who occasionally emails.

Dad? You there? I'm asking for your prayers for this fellow ... and calling on St. Monica and St. Augustine to join us as well.

God of power and mercy, you have made death itself the gateway to eternal life. Look with love on our dying brother, and make him one with Your Son in His suffering and death, that, sealed with the blood of Christ, he may come before you free from sin. Amen.

It's Funny What You Learn About Yourself from Memes ...

4. Bad book habit?
Reading so quickly that I don't pick up on the details others do, and then I don't remember much later. 

Jenny from Reading Envy (who I met through SFFaudio ... all the best people read science fiction, right?) picked up the world's longest book meme. I was excited to see we have two favorite childhood books in common.

But I also saw that interpretation is a funny thing. What Jenny sees as a bad reading habit is one that I suppose I would also call a bad habit. Except that very habit is what allows me to reread books and enjoy them all over again as I discover "new" details that I didn't catch the first time around.

Of course, sometimes, as in my rereading (via audiobook) of the last Harry Potter books I discover, as Jenny points out, that I don't remember much. But that is generally not the case for me. I usually remember the big pieces and when the excitement of the initial story is out of the way, then I can settle in to reread for those lovely details.

Anyway, all that aside, if you haven't looked around Reading Envy, you definitely should stop by. For one thing Jenny is an adventurous reader (by my standards) and not only glances over things like the 2011 Scotia Bank Giller Prize Shortlist but actually gets all the books and reads them to see which she likes best!

I know, right?

No wonder I stand in some awe of her.

World's Longest Book Meme? 11-20

Continuing where we left off yesterday ...

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
When forced to do so by book clubs or podcasts ... maybe every two or three months?

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Mysteries, science fiction, cookbooks.

13. Can you read on the bus?
Alas, my severe motion sickness makes that impossible.

14. Favorite place to read?
Anywhere I happen to be. Places I read most often: living room and bed.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
If I lend you a book that is a measure of how much I trust you ... which is to say that I rarely lend out books because they are like my children. The exception is books about religion. I never know if someone might really need it (we're talking about souls, people!) and not be able to find it otherwise so I lend them freely ... I'm prepared to replace those for my own library.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Never.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Fiction, never. Nonfiction, constantly. And underline. And highlight.

18. Not even with text books?
Hah! See above.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English.

20. What makes you love a book?
A great story. Or in the case of nonfiction ... I dunno. Any book I love lit a spark of excitement somehow.

Reviewing "Mass Revision" by Jimmy Akin

Any time one makes a big change, it can have unforeseen consequences, and not all of them good. That's why newly built boats have shakedown voyages, newly designed computer programs have bug releases, and so forth. It takes a while for a new or changed system to show how it works in practice, and often a little experience with it shows that some tweaking is necessary.

That is essentially what has happened with the liturgy. A big change was made in the 1970s, and from the decades of pastoral experience that followed, Pope John Paul II became convinced that the liturgy could be improved.  ...

... The translation that had been prepared in the 1970s was put together somewhat hastily, and it used a trendy philosophy of translation known as "dynamic equivalence." In this method, a translator tries to take the thoughts expressed on one language (in this case Latin) and bring them into another language without carefully mirroring the vocabulary, word order, or style of the original. ...

Although dynamic translations have some advantages, they also have drawbacks. One potential one is the "dumbing down" or "flattening out" of language that is meant to be noble and elevating. That is one of the concerns of the Missal that was produced in the 1970s. ...

Jimmy Akin's blog is one that I have long counted on for straight answers about Church teachings when I couldn't easily find the answer elsewhere. Soon after I entered the Church, the U.S. bishops issued a General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), designed to set up norms of worship around the U.S. The actual result was hotly disputed issues about things like taking communion on the tongue or in the hand, taking communion kneeling or standing, and having to stand and sing after communion instead of being allowed to kneel and pray. I always appreciated Akin's straight forward answers, supported by canon law, Church teachings, and other documentation. I never read it, but I knew that Akin even wrote a book, Mass Confusion, to instruct laypeople about liturgical law so they could see for themselves what was allowed and what wasn't.

Over time those questions seem to have have settled down. However, with the upcoming changes to the liturgy there is great potential for people to resent the revised liturgy replacing the one they love. My interest was piqued when I saw that Akin has a new book covering the changes, Mass Revision: How the Liturgy is Changing and What It Means for You.

It turns out that Mass Revision is a hugely revised version of Akin's previous book, Mass Confusion, but now focused more on the liturgical revisions than on abuses. I worried that the tone of the book might be strident, considering the previous focus on abuses, but nothing could be further from the case.

Akin calmly and clearly takes readers through the Mass step by step, detailing on the way where changes are being made and the logic behind them. I was pleased to see that his commentary actually serves as a thread binding together excerpts from various Church documents which are the genesis for the liturgical instructions. It was fascinating to see how many documents supported each other each step of the way. Also, in reading the actual excerpts I was often touched by the care shown to the faithful, the reverence for the Eucharist, and the practicality of the result.

Akin's comments serve as a guide, clarify possibly contentious points, and also give us helpful reasons as to why something may be misunderstood, as we can see in this excerpt.

Final Prayer over the Gifts

Following the lavabo, the priest directs the people to pray. The rubrics of the Mass state:

Standing at the middle of the altar, facing the people, extending and then joining his hands, he says:

Pray, brethren (brothers and sisters),
That my sacrifice and yours
May be acceptable to God,
The almighty Father.

The people rise and reply:

May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands
For the praise and glory of his name,
For our good
And the good of all his holy Church.

There is something interesting to note here, because the release of the full Roman Missal clarifies something from the General Instruction that proved to be misleading in practice. According to the General Instruction:

The faithful should stand ... from the invitation, Orate, frates ("Pray, brethren"), before the prayer over the offerings until the end of Mass, except at the places indicated below. (GIRM 43)

When the General Introduction was first released, people read this passage and assumed it meant that the congregation was to stand from the beginning of the invitation "Pray, brethren." Instead, as the rubrics of the Roman Missal (quoted above) make clear, they are to stand at the end of this invitation to pray. It is only after the priest has said "the almighty Fahter" that the people "rise and reply."

This sequence is also indicated later in the General Instruction itself:

Upon returning to the middle of the altar, the priest, facing the people and extending and then joining his hands, invites the people to pray, saying, Orate, frates ("Pray, brethren"). The people rise and make their response: Siscipiat Dominus ("May the Lord accept"). Then the priest, with hands extended, says the prayer over the offerings. At the end the people make the accalamation, "Amen." (GIRM 146)

However, this passage was overlooked as people focused on the previous passage. Because the first passage is found in the section of the General Instruction dealing specifically with posture, it is understandable that people would focus on that one and miss the implication of the later one. Nevertheless, it caused substantial discomfort as the faithful tried to guess when the priest was about to start the invitation so they could stand immediately beforehand.

The copious bonus materials comprise the final hundred pages of the book and cover everything from the Outline of the Mass to Low-Gluten Hosts and Mustum to Table of Postures During Mass. This is going to be my go-to resource when a specific question comes up for clarification.

The promotional materials and the back of the book seem to focus on liturgical abuse before pointing out that Mass Revisions above all describes and clarifies the liturgical revisions. I know this may be Akin's reputation but don't allow it to put you off as it almost did me. This book really does exactly what the subtitle says: how the liturgy is changing and what it means for you.

Get yourself a copy. You won't be sorry.

World's Longest Book Meme? 1-10

Well this may not actually be the longest, but I don't think I've ever seen one longer. I picked it up from the extremely literate Darwin Catholics, where Mrs. Darwin did the honors.

We'll take it in stages, shall we? A little every day ...

1. Favorite childhood book?
A Little Princess (also the Little House books, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Wonder Stick)

2. What are you reading right now?
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (audio), The Centurion's Daughter by Justin Swanton (review book), A Mended and Broken Heart by Wendy Murray (for Catholic women's book club)

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (audio and print versions for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast), The catechist's toolbox by Paprocki, Joe (looking for any good tips for RCIA small group), The color of magic : a Discworld novel by Pratchett, Terry (Rose's request), Essential Pepin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food by Pepin, Jacques (not even at the library yet but I wanted to get in line early), The accidental sorcerer by Mills, K. E. (Jeff Miller liked this and I liked the Kindle sample ... but the library has it for free ...)

4. Bad book habit?
Reading too many books at a time. I just keep beginning interesting new ones and I wind up with 6 - 8 books underway. Then I have to get very stern with myself and not let myself request any new books until I'm done with some of the ongoing ones.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Declare by Tim Powers (for Good Story podcast), The light fantastic : a Discworld novel (Rose), The man in the high castle (Rose), Middlemarch (Rose), Nightwatch (Rose) ... can you tell that Rose isn't working right now? I want to read Nightwatch when she's done and someday I will tackle Middlemarch which she highly recommends.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Yep. Very handy though I prefer real books.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
We all know it is several.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I have less time to read and now must force myself to spend an hour each evening reading ... not that I don't slip in reading the rest of the time anyway (brushing teeth, getting dressed, feeding the dogs...all excellent quick reading opportunities)

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont. I never finished it but so much explanation with so little story was a deadly combination.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Of the 125 books I've read so far ... East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I know, right? Color me surprised (and grateful that Scott picked it for Good Story). A close second is Declare  by Tim Powers (again, surprised and grateful ... this time to Jeff Miller)