Quick Looks at 3 New Books

I haven't had time to read more than a few chapters of each of these books. Those chapters, however, are enough to put them on my "to read" list. I didn't want you to have to wait to find out about them until I'd read them and done a full review.


Transformed by God's Word: Discovering the Power of Lectio and VISIO Divina by Stephen J Binz

Bestselling author and biblical scholar Stephen J. Binz offers the first book to combine the ancient Western practice of lectio divina (sacred reading) with the lesser-known Eastern Orthodox tradition of visio divina (sacred seeing). Binz suggests a life-changing way to pray through twenty gospel readings paired with beautiful, never-before-published contemporary icons.

The book's twenty Bible passages--starting with the Annunciation and ending with Pentecost--are paired with full-color icons of each story. The original, never-before-published icons, written by Ruta and Kaspars Poikans, are displayed in the Unity Chapel at the Mary of Nazareth International Center in Israel.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Stephen Binz's books about lectio divina. I myself have long had an affinity for icons and other art which help me connect with God so you can imagine my delight at receiving this book.

So far it is practically perfect in every way. I especially love the gorgeous icons. Their symbolism tends to be obvious enough to start me contemplating God's mystery, but Binz's notes add to the layers of meaning that I'd otherwise miss.


You Can Share the Faith: Reaching Out One Person at a Time by Karen Edmisten

Sharing the faith doesn't have to be complicated. After all, Jesus himself just started with one person. Here are practical pointers from the author's own story and those of many others to help you share your faith joyfully, casually, confidently and with compassion.

This book resonated with me from page one. I don't know Karen Edmisten has managed to write a book that sounds as if I gave her notes on what I'd write myself, but she did. Her life story is different from mine, but her Catholic way of life is precisely what I answer when people ask me "how to" be a Happy Catholic.

I admit that I read five chapters before getting pulled away. They included engaging the culture, hanging with all kinds of people, being honest about struggles, and (most of all) doing it person-to-person. Get it. Read it.


The Catholic Catalogue: A Field Guide to the Daily Acts That Make Up a Catholic Life by Melissa Musick

This collection of prayers, crafts, devotionals and recipes will help readers make room in their busy lives for mystery and meaning, awe and joy.

This beautifully designed book will help readers celebrate Catholicism throughout the years, across daily practice and milestones. Like the most useful field guides, it is divided into user-friendly sections and covers such topics as the veneration of relics, blessing your house, discovering a vocation, raising teenagers, getting a Catholic tattoo, planting a Mary garden, finding a spiritual director, and exploring your own way in the tradition.

This actually might be the perfect "Easter season" book to read. Remember, we've got 50 days of Easter after Lent is done. It certainly would be a great gift for new Catholics. It's one of those books with the practical stuff about living the Catholic life. I remember I had questions about how to do Eucharistic adoration, what the Triduum is, how to fast and "give things up" for Lent, and much more.

I did not have questions about Catholic tattoos, consecrated virginity, planting a Mary garden or Catholic tattoos, but if you do, this is your book. They cover a lot of ground!

Appointment With Death by Agatha Christie

I discovered that the library has a few of Agatha Christie's books in audio format so I've been enjoying listening to the familiar tales. I read them over and over when growing up but she still manages to fool me time after time. Quite often I recall the set up but listening makes me slow down and enjoy the small details that familiarity can gloss over.  Just as often I find myself really enjoying a book that I previously didn't care about.

What surprises me most of all, listening as a Christian and an adult, is how very moral the stories were, with many mentions of Christianity. There is nothing odd in that, especially for the time in which most of Christie's stories were written. It was an accepted part of the cultural background, for one thing. But it gives one to think, as Poirot would say.

This book is one such example. I recalled the set up and even caught the big toss-off clue, though I got the murderer wrong.

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the story of a family on vacation in the Holy Land, whose matriarch is a sadistic monster. By the time the mother is murdered we are nothing but thankful because this lady, we think, does not deserve to live. In fact, that seems to be the opinion of the Colonel and doctor who bring the possibility of murder up in a halfhearted fashion to Hercule Poirot. On one hand they don't approve of murder but on the other, they feel the family is much better off.

This book comes after Murder on the Orient Express, which case is referred to several times by various characters. Anyone who knows the solution to that famous mystery knows that it contained an interesting moral dilemma which Poirot handled in a very different fashion than he seems prepared to do here. Christie seems to be exploring the question of whether murder is ever justified.

Poirot said, "The moral character of the victim has nothing to do with it. A human being who has exercised the right of private judgment and taken the life of another human being is not safe to exist among the community."

She also presents us with a vivid example of the danger of turning inward, instead of extending oneself for the larger community.

Naturally one needs a moral view in a murder mystery, but these themes were unexpected and added to my enjoyment of the book.

The Reign of God 2: Starting Small

Continuing with the excerpt, which ended in Part 1 with the question of how God could change society at its roots, leaving us still free.

Part 1

It can only be that God "starts out small," beginning at a single place in the world. There must be a place--visible, comprehensible, subject to examination--where liberation and healing begin, that is, where the world can become what it is mean to be according to God's plan. Starting from this place, then, the new thing can spread abroad. But it most certainly cannot happen through indoctrination or violence. Human beings must have the opportunity to view the new thing and test it. Then if they want to they can allow themselves to be drawn into the history of salvation and the story of peace that God is bringing into being. Only in this way can the freedom of the individual and of the nations be preserved. What drives one toward the new thing cannot be compulsion, not even moral pressure, but only the fascination of a world transformed.

So God has to start small, with a small nation. More precisely, God cannot even begin with a nation. God must start with an individual, because only the individual is the point where God can build on change undertaken freely.

Jesus of Nazareth by Gerhard Lohfink

Next Part 3: Something New

Worth a Thousand Words: The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie

Arthur Rackham, The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie, 1910

The Reign of God 1: God the Revolutionary

This excerpt is ridiculously long so I will break it into parts. It gives a good idea of the brilliance contained in Jesus of Nazareth by Gerhard Lohfink. It is the big nonfiction book I'm reading during Lent and it is continually eyeopening.

Why is there this unending fixation on Israel in the Old Testament? Is this the inferiority complex of a little nation that had to fear for its existence all the time and therefore almost of necessity developed a theological megalomania? Most certainly not. If we read the Old Testament from beginning to end--from Abraham to Daniel, so to speak--then looking back, considering the whole of it and at the same time incorporating the great revolutions in world history, we could say: The God of the Bible, like all revolutionaries, desires a complete overturning, the radical alteration of the whole of the world's society. For in this the revolutionaries are right: what is at stake is the whole world, and the change must be radical, simply because the misery of the world cries to heaven and because it begins deep within the human heart. But how can God change society at its roots without taking away its freedom and its humanity?

Next Part 2: Starting Small

Worth a Thousand Words: Portrait of Pola Negri

Portrait of Pola Negri (1922). Tadeusz (Tade) Styka
via Books and Art

Worth a Thousand Words: Waxwing

Waxwing
taken by Remo Savisaar

NARAL's problem with Doritos

I hadn't heard that the NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) complained that the Super Bowl Doritos commercial dangerously “humanized” the fetus.

Well, only if you expect a human being to be born. (eye roll)

I'd never heard of Voluntarism, but Father Barron's got the perfect example in the reaction to this Doritos commercial. Read it all here.

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I listened to Anton Lesser's superb narration has pulled me into a story I frankly feared because of the reputation. None other than G.K. Chesterton succinctly remarked:

Twenty times we have taken Dickens's hand and it has been sometimes hot with revelry and sometimes weak with weariness; but this time we start a little, for it is inhumanly cold; and then we realise that we have touched his gauntlet of steel.

Early on, I was surprised to hear of a school and household where not a drop of fantasy is allowed. Only the facts. Whether they convey the truth is a different matter, of course. This put me in mind of J.R.R. Tolkien's famous essay about why children, and indeed all of us, need fantasy. (On Fairy Stories. Dickens' story makes the point before Tolkien did.

Then I was stunned to see that Dickens shares the poignancy of the sadness, or should we say the tears, of a clown. Dickens strikes first again, beating Motown to the punch.

It is clear that we've got a lean, stripped down, no nonsense Dickens here. And yet, I was still enthralled. A large part of this was due to Anton Lesser's skill which carried me away on the story, breathless to see what would happen next despite the Hard Times which all the characters face. Knowing how Dickens loved theater and gave many of his own public renditions of his stories, straining his health in so doing and contributing to his early death, I believe he would approved.

I was really surprised to like this book as much as I did. It was as if Dickens took a good look at one of the subplots he couldn't cram into Bleak House and decided to just make a novella of it instead. Dickens always has enough alternate subplots in a book that he could easily spare this set of characters to make his point about Utilitarianism.

I called this a "novella" but, of course, that is only because I'm used to Dickens' average high page count. This is a 321 page book, 9 cds long if you go by audiobook, which I did most of the way. Toward the end, as usual, I had to abandon the audio and go for print because I just had to know what happened as soon as possible.

The book was not as "hard" as I expected. I feel Oliver Twist has much more difficult passages. It is just that there is not the usual complement of comic characters to lighten the way for us. When I saw that this was written between Bleak House and Little Dorrit the darker tone made sense also. Those are two of my favorite books but there is no denying that the later novels have a darker edge which fits right in with this book.

I'd have given it 3-1/2 stars but rounded down simply because it is a lesser novel. Definitely recommended. Be not afraid.

Worth a Thousand Words: An Artist in His Studio

John Singer Sargent, An Artist in His Studio, 1904

Via Lines and Colors where there are interesting details about this painting which Sargent did of a friend on vacation.

Worth a Thousand Words: Venezia Carnivale

Venezia Carnivale
taken by Wanlee, CCL3.0

The Carnival of Venice is world famous for elaborate masks which, as you can see, often call for equally elaborate costumes to match.

Just In: A New Book to Consider for Lent

God For Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter

Editors: Greg Pennoyer and Gregory Wolfe

Reflections by Scott Cairns, Kathleen Norris, Richard Rohr, Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, James Schaap, Luci Shaw, Beth Bevis, and Lauren F. Winner. By delving deeply into the Christian tradition they reveal what one theologian has called the “bright sadness” of Lent—that it is not about becoming lost in feelings of brokenness, but about cleansing the palate so that we can taste life more fully. Lent and Easter reveal the God who is for us in all of life—for our liberation, for our healing, for our wholeness. Lent and Easter remind us that even in death there can be found resurrection.

Like its companion volume which focuses on Advent and Christmas (highlighted here), God For Us was originally published in 2007. It is aimed at Christians who don't have a tradition of the liturgical year. For those who already do, you may skip a lot of the introductory material and just go straight to the reflections. The samples I read look very good.

Worth a Thousand Words: Red Chairs

Taken by Brian at the blue hour

Worth a Thousand Words: A Moment of Repose

A Moment of Repose (1890). Wladyslaw Czachórski.
Via Books and Art

The Case for Jesus by Brant Pitre

The Case for Jesus: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ by Brant Pitre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

About ten years ago, while waiting at the Pittsburgh Airport, I met a young biblical scholar named Dr. Brant Pitre. We were both heading to the same biblical conference so we rode together, and in the car we had a lively discussion about biblical interpretation, especially the reliability of the Gospels.

Dr. Pitre shared how annoyed he was by the oft-used comparison between the transmission of the story of Jesus and the “Telephone game” where little children whisper a story to one another, around a group, until the end result is completely garbled and nothing like the original story.

I turned around to Dr. Pitre (I was in the front seat and he in the back) and said, “Yes! Someone needs to write a book dedicated to refuting that stupid comparison.”

Bishop Robert Barron

Brant Pitre went ahead and wrote it himself. And a darned good book it is.

I've never been subjected to that particular comparison. The one that drives me absolutely nuts is that Jesus didn't ever say he was God.

As we will see, the evidence in the Gospels suggests that Jesus did in fact claim to be God. He did so, however, in a very Jewish way. ... I cannot stress enough: just because Jesus did not go around Galilee shouting, "I am God!" does not mean that he didn't claim to be divine.

Thank you!

There is a lot of confusion out there about Jesus and you've probably come across various claims that "prove" Jesus was not God. These range from the idea the Gospels were anonymous, the existence of "lost" Gospels, the Gospels are folklore instead of biographies, a lack of evidence for the Resurrection, and more.

Just as he did in another of his books that I really liked, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, Pitre painstakingly builds his defense of Jesus. For each skeptical claim, there is a meticulous evidence trail examining Jesus, historical evidence, Jewish understanding, 1st century cultural context, and why we can trust what we've been told. This might sound drawn out or difficult, but I found it flowed easily and was easy to understand.

I myself especially appreciated that Pitre never lets us forget the inherently Jewish nature of Jesus' teachings and his listeners' understanding. The parallels he points out, often in very clear charts, can be stunningly revealing.

Here's a fairly lengthy excerpt from the chapter about the crucifixion. It illustrates how carefully the examples are drawn. Speaking about the temple of Jesus' body, Pitre quotes Josephus who says the number of lambs sacrificed during Passover was 256,500, and then tells us:

According to ancient Jewish tradition, before the Temple was destroyed in AS 70, the blood of the sacrifices used to be poured into a drain that flowed down the altar of sacrifice to merge with a spring of water that flowed out from the side of the mountain on which the Temple was built:

At the south-western corner [of the Altar] there were two holes like two narrow nostrils by which the blood that was poured over the western base and the southern base used to run down and mingle in the water-channel and flow out into the brook Kidron. (Mishnah Middoth 3:2)

So at the time Jesus lived, if you were approaching the Temple during the feast of Passover from the vantage point of the Kidron Valley, what might you have seen? A stream of blood and water, flowing out of the side of the Temple Mount.

Once you've got this first-century Jewish context in mind, all of a sudden John's emphasis on the blood and water flowing out of the side of Jesus makes sense. This seemingly small detail about his death actually reveals something deeply significant about who Jesus really is. He is not just the messianic son of God; he is the true Temple. In other words, Jesus is the dwelling place of God on earth. For that's what the Temple was to a first-century Jew. As Jesus himself says elsewhere: "He who swears by the Temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it" (Matthew 23:21).

Woah! If that doesn't give you a thrill of discovery, what will?

Definitely highly recommended.

NOTE: I had both a print galley, which was nicely designed, and the audio version, which was as well read as any material like this can be. I can recommend either or both, depending on your preference.

Worth a Thousand Words: El Pueblo Poster Sketch

Sketch of poster for the newspaper El Pueblo (c.1894). Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida
Via Books and Art

Worth a Thousand Words: Mt. Fuji

Mount Fuji, Yamanashi Prefecture
via Calligraphy in the View

Worth a Thousand Word: Cat in a Snowy Driveway

Taken by Scott Danielson

Just more proof that the weather couldn't be more different between Utah, where Scott is, and Dallas, where we're expecting the thermometer to hit 75 degrees today.

I'd rather have it with all the snow. One of the reasons I love this photo is it takes me back to childhood in Kansas, crunching snow, freezing cold, and walking up the driveway to go into the lovely, warm home.

Thank You, Ellen P.!

Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood is a story I've enjoyed in the past but it never prompted me to explore his other novels. This is, apparently, the time for exploration. It began with noticing The Sea-Hawk which matches the title of my favorite Errol Flynn movie. Turns out the title is about all they have in common.

What makes Sabatini's stories even better than the average swashbuckler is that he evidently was scrupulous in being historically exact. Yes, Lord Oliver existed and did those things. Now, that didn't keep Sabatini from inventing and exaggerating to give us a fuller story. And I'm ok with that. I'm not reading these because of the history. That's just a bonus.

Yesterday, I began downloading Kindle versions of all his free novels. I put ones I've gotta pay for in my Wish List for when I had to begin buying the ones the library doesn't have.

This is a very long introduction to say that I was dumbfounded this morning to see that Ellen P. gave me Bellarion. Amazon doesn't have a way to thank the giver so I'm doing it here! I'm looking forward to reading it! Thank you Ellen!

Well Said: The Church "Interfering" in Politics

The accusation against the Church for being either right or left wing tells you more about the contemporary political assumptions than about the political inclination of Catholicism. The Church will seem both "right wing" (in promoting the traditional family, opposing abortion, euthanasia, embryonic research, etc.) and "left wing" (in advocating the rights of minorities, social justice, active state support for the poorest, etc.), depending on the political bias of the one accusing .The same bias afflicts Catholics. There are pro-life Catholics who think Catholic social teaching is "socialist," and pro-social-justice Catholics who think pro-life causes are right wing.

The Church will always be accused of "interfering" or trying to "impose" its view when the critic disagrees with its stance; but the same critic will say nothing when the Church has intervened politically on a matter with which he or she agrees. And if the Church has stayed silent, the critic will accuse it of "failing to speak out." Put another way, people are against the Church "interfering" in what they would much rather have left alone; and in favor of "interfering" in what they believe should be changed.

Why and when does the Church speak out on political questions? The answer is rarely and cautiously, and almost always because it is a matter which touches on the Gospel, on core freedoms and rights (such as the right to life, or to religious freedom), or on core principles of Catholic social teaching. In these cases, the Church not only needs to speak out; it has a duty to do so.

Austen Ivereigh, How to Defend the Faith without Raising Your Voice

With politics about to get even more prominent in our lives, I think it's time for me to reread this book!

Worth a Thousand Words: Yucca, Cactus and Fog

Yucca and cactus overlooking a foggy valley
on the last day of fall, 2015 in San Saba County, Texas
Taken by Texas landscape photographer, Jason Merlo

Well Said: My Brother's Garden

Some young children sported among the tombs, and hid from each other, with laughing faces. They had an infant with them, and had laid it down asleep upon a child's grave, in a little bed of leaves. It was a new grave — the resting-place, perhaps, of some little creature, who, meek and patient in its illness, had often sat and watched them, and now seemed, to their minds, scarcely changed.

She drew near and asked one of them whose grave it was. The child answered that that was not its name; it was a garden — his brother's. It was greener, he said, than all the other gardens, and the birds loved it better because he had been used to feed them. When he had done speaking, he looked at her with a smile, and kneeling down and nestling for a moment with his cheek against the turf, bounded merrily away.

Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

Lest one think that the child is untouched by his brother's death, later in the book we learn how much this little boy misses him. What I loved about this was the personal way he called it a garden, how it made him think of his brother feeding the birds, and that nestling on the turf like a hug. It was touching and also lifted me up.

Worth a Thousand Words: O'Toole Reads

O'Toole Reads
via Awesome People Reading

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a strangely fascinating tale and you can easily see why it was so popular in its day. The poverty-stricken Nell and her grandfather escaping the villainous dwarf Quilp has all the makings of The Fugitive. Everyone suspects that the grandfather is wealthy and it would be worth while to clap him into the insane asylum while marrying Nell when she comes of age. (A brief note here, Nell is continually called "the child" so I was surprised to find that she is actually 14 years old. This makes much more believable her dual innocence and ingenuity in escaping ill wishers.)

Charles Dickens' early novels often included a road trip, but adding the element of penniless escape from a determined hunt for such innocent figures had me on the edge of my seat. Who would they encounter next? Would chance acquaintances really help Nell and Grandfather or would they try to turn them in for a reward? Adding to that is the grandfather's mysterious problem which leads the fugitives the brink of disaster when it is revealed. This leaves the reader with a gripping sense of peril.

As is always the case, Dickens treats us to a host of memorable characters. Touring the countryside leads to encounters with sideshow type performers, a wax museum, and many other oddities of the time. In this sense The Old Curiosity Shop could be taken to refer to the journey itself, replete with eccentricities that will either move or startle the viewer.

My favorite character was that charming ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller. Thinking it over, I realized that he is the only character in the book who shows growth and moral development. That is unusual for such a minor character, but as we follow Dick's path through the book we see that he has a talent for discerning the truth, treating others considerately, and for taking action when needed. All this is done without ever making him sentimental or annoying. His story is almost always told through behind-the-scenes action such as when we see him playing cards with the Marchioness. This is a foreshadowing of Dickens' talent which will bloom greatly in his later books.

The audiobook was performed by veteran narrator and actor Anton Lesser. Lesser brings his acting background to more than just voice performances. Sometimes a world of meaning is conveyed through a sigh, a pregnant pause, coy delivery, or deliberate pacing. It left me always eager to return to the book even though I'd read it before.

The Old Curiosity Shop is very enjoyable and not just the soppy, sentimental book we all think we "know" because it is common knowledge that Nell dies in the end.

=====

Review copy of audiobook provided by SFFaudio.

Worth a Thousand Words: Gray Seal

Gray Seal
taken by the brilliant Remo Savisaar

Well Said: The quality of someone's life

We never know the quality of someone else's life, though we seldom resist the temptation to assume and pass judgment.

Tami Hoag, Dark Horse

Ain't that the truth!

Worth a Thousand Words: Burnt Matches and a Tree

Burnt Matches and a Tree
by Owen Swain

Well Said: Making heroes of ourselves

Do you think,’ said Tom, with a grave smile, ‘that even if she had never seen him, it is very likely she would have fallen in love with Me?’

‘Why not, dear Tom?’

Tom shook his head, and smiled again.

‘You think of me, Ruth,’ said Tom, ‘and it is very natural that you should, as if I were a character in a book; and you make it a sort of poetical justice that I should, by some impossible means or other, come, at last, to marry the person I love. But there is a much higher justice than poetical justice, my dear, and it does not order events upon the same principle. Accordingly, people who read about heroes in books, and choose to make heroes of themselves out of books, consider it a very fine thing to be discontented and gloomy, and misanthropical, and perhaps a little blasphemous, because they cannot have everything ordered for their individual accommodation. Would you like me to become one of that sort of people?’

Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

This really struck me since it applies just as much in our own time, if not more. How many of us allow ourselves to be discontented because it isn't "ordered for our individual accommodation?" This is heavily influenced by the "way things should be" in books, movies, social media, and more; all without the balance of any sort of grounding in "higher justice."

Worth a Thousand Words: Whimsical Numbers

Whimsical Numbers
by Melissa B. Tubbs

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I didn't expect to like this book very much. It is almost unknown, it is an earlier book, and it has a section savagely satirizing Americans. I was, therefore, quite surprised to find myself really enjoying it and picking it up whenever possible, especially toward the end which had a lot of surprising twists. It really struck me as a bridging work between the "road trip" early novels where the protagonist doesn't change much and the later, greater works which are greatly satisfying as complete stories.

Reading G.K. Chesterton's commentary on it afterward, I thought it was funny that he thought the novel didn't come alive until Martin got to America, while that was the part I most disliked. I could take the attacks on the American character. After all, what are many of Dickens' most well known characters, if not attacks on aspects of the British character? It was that Dickens hit one note and one note only in America, with none of the more complete humor and development that he gives to those like Mrs. Gamp or Mr. Pecksniff. So it became boring. The saving grace for that section was Martin's growth and Mark Tapley, who, as the Sam Weller of the novel, I could read about all day.

There are two Martin Chuzzlewits in this book, the grandfather and the grandson. The question I carried throughout the book was which one the book is named after? By the end, I feel as if I had my answer, though it is left open for the reader to decide.

Definitely recommended. I'd have given it 3-1/2 stars if GoodReads allowed it, but the surprise of having so much more to the book than I expected prompted me to go higher since I was forced to choose.

Well Said: Dealing out death in judgment

Flipping through my first quote journal, this seemed eerily appropriate to this day.

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Worth a Thousand Words: Dogs from Europe

Dogs from Europe, Hashimoto Kansetsu
via Arts Everyday Living

There is something wonderful about these Russian dogs painted Japanese style.

Worth a Thousand Words: Mother Figure

Mother Figure
by Karin Jurick

Karin Jurick's museum series is a favorite of mine and I encourage you to look around at her site to find more. Also, she's got great insights and information about Whistler's Mother, so don't miss those.

The March for Life in Canada, Ireland, Italy, England, Peru, Mexico ...

The March for Life in Washington, D.C. has inspired a worldwide March for Life movement.

I had no idea. We are not alone. Take a look.

Intimate Graces: How Practicing the Works of Mercy Brings Out the Best in Marriage by Teresa Tomeo

Intimate Graces: How Practicing the Works of Mercy Brings Out the Best in Marriage by Teresa Tomeo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Catholic Church encourages believers to perform Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, tangible actions that show charity toward others. In Intimate Graces, Teresa Tomeo and her husband, Dominick Pastore, demonstrate how applying the fourteen traditional virtues of Catholic spirituality can foster deeper intimacy in any marriage. The couple uses personal stories and reflections, as well as the experiences of other Catholic couples, to show how a husband and wife can become, in a real way, a haven of compassion and virtue for each other. Tomeo and Pastore each write in their own voice and include reflection questions, practical suggestions, and a prayer at the end of each chapter.

This is the sort of book that I'd give to any couple experiencing a bit of strain. Actually, I suppose that is everyone as even good marriages are always a balancing act.

It can sound a bit academic or offputting when reading that the basic concept of the book "demonstrates how applying the fourteen traditional virtues of Catholic spirituality" leads to a better marriage. However, Tomeo's warm personal style and the couple's many stories about their marriage take the forefront. The virtues are woven throughout in ways that make a lot of sense and don't club you over the head.

Worth a Thousand Words: On the Heights

Charles Courtney Curran, On the Heights, c. 1909
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Laden with rites and rituals, lousy with saints and scapulars

Another good 'un found by idly paging through my first quote journal.

When I took my first look at you, my church, I fell madly in love. You were creaky with history, rejuvenated by change, laden with rites and rituals, lousy with saints and scapulars. You dressed gaudily with bells and smells, charms and mysteries. You were deep. You had style. I chose you. You were the kind of lover to make a mother say, "Stay away from that one! Trouble!"

Carol Bonomo

Well Said: The droplet of water and God's mercy

Still dipping into my first quote journal.

Suddenly the wave crashed at my feet. … When I looked up, I noticed that a tiny droplet of water had hit the top of my hand. It was so beautiful. It glistened like a diamond in the sun.

The droplet affected me so deeply with its beauty that I felt unworthy of it, and to my own surprise, as I stood there, I threw it back into the ocean.

My odd little peace was broken when I felt the Lord say to me, "Angelica?"

I said, "Yes, Lord?"

"Did you see the drop?"

I said, "Yes, Lord."

"That drop is like all of your sins, your weaknesses, your frailties and your imperfections. And the ocean is like My Mercy. If you looked for that drop, could yu find it?"

I said, "No, Lord."

"If you looked and looked, could you find it?"

I said, "No, Lord."

And then He said to me, ever so quietly. "So why do you keep looking?"

Mother Angelica

Worth a Thousand Words: Just So Stories

Just So frontispiece
by Himmapaan

‘…he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way’

Worth a Thousand Word: Exotic lunch!

Taken by my brother and posted to Facebook. Too good not to share.

Well Said: what we are at this moment, is planned to be like that

I've been dipping into my very first quote journal and have been enjoying it so much that I'm taking y'all with me. After all, that's the point of a quote journal, right? To revisit the quotes because they were so good.

There is one big thing we can do with God's help, that is, we can trust God's plan, we can put aside any quibbling or bitterness about ourselves and what we are.

We can accept and seize upon the fact that what we are at this moment, young or old, strong or weak, mild or passionate, beautiful or ugly, clever or stupid, is planned to be like that. Whatever we are gives form to the emptiness in us which can only be filled by God, and which God is even now waiting to fill.

Caryll Houselander

This not only reassures me about qualities that I perceive as failings, but makes me ponder the nature of God (ineffable as that is). What does it show me about God, that all these variables are part of His plan? And what does it say about me that I am continually surprised by this idea?

Worth a Thousand Words: A Night of Lights

A Night of Lights
by the talented Edward B. Gordon

Well Said: We could never learn

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

Helen Keller

Lenten Reading: Two New Books to Consider

Lent begins early this year — February 10.

We might as well begin thinking about what to read. These two are a good start.


Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide by Sarah Arthur

Between Midnight and Dawn uses your imagination to draw you deeper into God’s presence. Join poets and novelists from across the centuries as you travel through the liturgical seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. This collection of daily and weekly readings from classic and contemporary literature uses both new voices and well-loved classics such as Dostoevsky, Rossetti, and Eliot. 

I really loved Sarah Arthur's first devotional, At the Still Point, which was for ordinary time. It was an unusual devotional with thematically arranged classic and contemporary fiction and poetry. Of course, that was right down my alley and it became a favorite devotional. I can vouch that Arthur does a wonderful job of choosing pieces that speak both to poetic or literary content and to the Christian message.

At the time I reviewed it, I wished for devotionals to cover the rest of the liturgical year. Arthur obliged with  Light Upon Light for Advent. Now with Between Midnight and Dawn for Lent and Easter, my wishes have come true. I'll be using this throughout Lent and Easter.


Seven Last Words: An Invitation to a Deeper Friendship with Jesus by James Martin

Each meditation is dedicated to one of the seven sayings:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“Woman, this is your son” . . . “This is your mother.”


“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


“I thirst.”


“It is finished.”


“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Jesus’s final statements, words that are deeply cherished by his followers, exemplify the depth of his suffering but also provide a key to his empathy and why we can connect with him so deeply.

There can hardly be any better Lenten reading than meditations on the seven last words of Christ. This book originated when James Martin was invited by Cardinal Dolan to give a series of Good Friday reflections last year. Having read several I feel we are lucky to have them for deeper contemplation. I will be using this book during Passion Week this year.

Worth a Thousand Words: Vole Hunting

Vole Hunting
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Well Said: Our Time Machines

We all have our time machines, don't we? Those that take us back are memories ... And those that carry us forward are dreams.

The Time Machine (2012 film)

Worth a Thousand Words: St Mark's Square, Venice

St Mark's Square, Venice; William Logsdail; 1883
via The Athenaeum

Be sure to click through on the link above to see this photo full size. You can't really appreciate its rich complexity otherwise.

Worth a Thousand Words: Zojo-ji in Shiba

Hasui Kawase, Zojo-ji in Shiba, 1925
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Early to Bed, Early to Rise ...

At length it became high time to remember the first clause of that great discovery made by the ancient philosopher, for securing health, riches, and wisdom; the infallibility of which has been for generations verified by the enormous fortunes constantly amassed by chimneysweepers and other persons who get up early and go to bed betimes. The young ladies accordingly rose ...

Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit

Made me laugh at the same time as I was realizing just how many examples we have of that old adage not being true.

Pro-Life March in Dallas: Saturday, Jan. 16

Everything seems to be coming fast this year. Lent begins in a month. Our goddaughter's birthday is in a couple of weeks.

And the Dallas Pro-Life March is this Saturday.

To be fair, the March always takes me by surprise. I think it's because I've just managed to get back out of the holiday calendar and back into regular schedules so I'm not thinking about anything "extra."

This is an "extra" that should just be a matter of course. We've been thrilled to watch attendance grow steadily from 1,000 when we began attending in 2008, to close to 10,000 last year.

The politicians and media only seem to understand numbers. If everyone who believed abortion is wrong took part of a Saturday to stand in person for what they believe, they would have to sit up and take notice.

Here's the website with the Dallas schedule and information.

Join us!

Well Said: Messages from beyond the grave

That's what literature is. It's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death! Listen to them!

Connie Willis, Passage

Preach it, sistah!

Worth a Thousand Words: A Song Sweetly Sung

A Song Sweetly Sung, Jan Frederik Pieter Portielje (Dutch, 1829-1895).
Via Books and Art

7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Rickey asked Jackie if he was up to the job, he wasn't talking only about playing great baseball. He knew Jackie could do that. What he meant, he explained, was that if Jackie were to become major-league baseball's first black player, he would be in for a tremendous amount of abuse, both verbal and physical.

Jackie said he was sure he could face up to whatever came his way. He wasn't afraid of anyone and had been in any number of fistfights over the years when anyone had challenged him.

But Rickey had something else in mind. "I know you're a good ballplayer," Rickey said. "What I don't know is whether you have the guts." Rickey knew he meant something dramatically different from what Robinson was thinking, so he continued. "I'm looking," Rickey said, "for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back."

This was an unexpected wrinkle, to put it mildly.

[...]

Jackie knew that resisting the urge to fight back really would require a superhuman effort, but he was deeply moved by Rickey's vision. He thought of his mother. He thought of all the black people who deserved someone to break this ground for them, even if it was difficult. He believed God had chosen him for this noble purpose. He believed he had to do it--for black kids, for his mother, for his wife, for himself.

Eric Metaxas wrote this book to ask two questions: (1) What is a man? (2)What makes a man great? He answers them by looking at the lives of seven men who are worthy of emulation.

Metaxas initially caught my interest by pointing out that today manhood is often denigrated in popular culture because of a lack of positive role models. These days the news is more likely to have stories about men using their gifts in negative ways than in heroic behavior. For example, a man misuses his strength by being bullying or domineering which is the opposite of what it should be used for, to protect those who are weaker.

He then tells the stories of seven men who lived their lives in ways we can admire. These biographies are short but pack in a lot of information. They cover a diverse group including Jackie Robinson, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Chuck Colson. Even when I thought I knew everything pertinent about someone like George Washington or Eric Liddell, Metaxas was able to show a whole new side to them.

Each story turns on the fact that they surrendered themselves to God and sacrificed themselves in some way for the greater good. Metaxas isn't heavy handed but he doesn't shy away from occasionally raising points that encourage the reader to look deeper within his (or her) own heart.

I came away inspired and with several new heroes. It's early in the year but I already have a book to put on my "2016 Best" list.

Guns, gimlets, gumshoes, and yes, a very long goodbye ...

We talk all about this classic detective story by wordmeister Raymond Chandler. Nobody wrote 'em better.  Join Jesse, Seth, Maissa and me at SFFaudio for some hardboiled fun!

Worth a Thousand Words:

Ballet School. Jules René Hervé (French, 1887-1981).
Via Books and Art

Listen Up: One Podcast and Two Classic Books

These have given me a great deal of listening pleasure, so I wanted to be sure you knew about them.

Lanky Guys

A weekly attempt to draw some meaning and humor out of the sacred treasury of the Scriptures in the context of the liturgy.

Our deacon recommended these to me and I'm hooked.

Fr. Peter Mussett and Scott Powell get us ready for each Sunday by taking us through the scriptures. They read each one aloud and dig deeper into context and background about historical, scriptural and liturgical connections. They combine scholarship, humor, and joy which makes the time fly by.

You can pick them up at their website, Lanky Guys, or on iTunes.

Pride and Prejudice

I loved Pride and Prejudice all through my youth, but never explored any of Austen's other novels. Finally having filled that gap in my education a few years ago, Pride and Prejudice sank from favorite to mid-range enjoyment for me.

I have narrations of all except this one of Austen's novels because Juliet Stephenson inexplicably only did an abridged version of it. When Rosamund Pike's new narration came out it was lauded by so many, including Orson Scott Card, that I thought it might be the fitting reading to match the others I love so much.

It is all that and more. Pike's narration raises Pride and Prejudice to the level of the sparkling, delightful tale I loved so much when I was young. In some ways it is as if I was reading it for the first time. Highly recommended.

Around the World in 80 Days 

When I discovered the talented Jim Dale had narrated a new translation of this classic adventure, I began searching ... and was pleased to see that my faithful library had a copy.

I'm not sure if it is the narration or the translation or both, but it is as if this story has new life in it. No one does it better than Jim Dale or this translator. Also Listening Library added occasional sound effects and appropriate music. At first I found it distracting but later it enhanced sense of travel and adventure.

Worth a Thousand Words: In the Wild North

Ivan Shishkin, In the Wild North, 1891
via Arts Everyday Living

You know, at first glance, I could've sworn this was a photograph. Extraordinary!

Worth a Thousand Words: Exquisite Beauty

Exquisite Beauty
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Worth a Thousand Words: Sun and Moon Flowers

George Dunlop Leslie, Sun and Moon Flowers, 1890
via Arts Everyday Living

Fields of Wrath: A tough, fascinating mystery with spiritual implications

Fields of Wrath by Mark Wheaton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Following his ordination as a priest, Father Luis Chavez returns to the mean streets of his youth, hoping to put his past behind him. But the brutal murder of a worker in Ventura County’s vast farm fields compels Luis to return to his criminal roots in order to unravel a massive conspiracy. Teaming up with Michael Story, an ambitious Los Angeles deputy DA, Chavez goes undercover as a farm laborer to bring down an immense human-trafficking ring tied to one of California’s most prominent and powerful families.

Fighting to stay on the path of the righteous while confronting evil at every turn, Father Chavez finds himself in a battle of good versus evil, with the souls of hundreds hanging in the balance.

I picked this up as a Kindle First free for Amazon Prime. It was a wonderful surprise.

There is a nuanced look at different priests in a large L.A. parish. One of those priests is Luis Chavez, a former gangbanger who found God and wound up back in his home town. There is a Mexican man who was harassed by cops his entire life and took the unusual path of becoming an officer himself to do it the right way. There are desperate illegal immigrants, crooked lawmen, and scheming corporation managers.

They've all got their own problems in real life and on the job. In other words, these are more interesting and complex characters than I often find in a mystery, whether free or otherwise. The mystery is involved and the writing is good to boot.

Most of all I like the way the Catholic faith is represented through Father Luis. We see him in many encounters with various priests, believers, scoffers, and acquaintances from the old life. No one is neutral and many challenge him. Yet Father Luis never seems to hit a false note. He's sincere, honest, and nonjudgmental while somehow never being soft about the things that count. The author never makes the mistake of attributing too much to God or presenting a cynical or overly deferential view of the Church. This is really refreshing.

Come for the mystery. Stay for Father Luis.

Here's hoping there will be a second mystery featuring the good father.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

★★★★★

This was everything we hoped for. A return to the way the first Star Wars movies felt - adventure, excitement, romance (a bit anyway), and fun.

I liked the way the movie paralleled the first one, with little bits of the second two thrown in where needed, providing just enough context to see that one person's story is never quite finished. Also that it's always about families and friends, the people we love and fight while we're trying to accomplish bigger goals. That age old truth works really well here.

And it fixes the problem with the second trilogy. The new Darth's "issues" connect with us in a way that couldn't happen before.

I also like what Mrs. Darwin wrote about Finn and Rey's relationship. It wouldn't have occurred to me to think about it that way but I definitely agree with her. It was also refreshing, for one thing, to see a strong female who wasn't as pushy as Leia or as wishy-washy as Amidala. Rey was just herself, a natural product of her environment. Huzzah!

We were also thrilled to see John Boyega. We loved him in Attack the Block, one of our favorite movies, and it is nice to see his talent appreciated with this choice role. I also thought it was a genius move to show a Stormtrooper's point of view. They might be clones but they are still people and this acknowledges that.

I've seen various people complaining about different things but I think they are looking for something this movie is not meant to be. The Force Awakens made us feel the way we felt when we saw the original Star Wars. As young college students, my friends and I left the theater excited, happy, and thrilled to see an opening for a sequel. This delivered that same feeling.

Here's hoping the next one is as strong as The Empire Strikes Back. Well done, J.J. Abrams!

2016 Book Challenge

You can find my 2015 Book Challenge here, with the results recorded. I went off target about halfway through the year and yet that list prompted me to do some reading I'd never have done otherwise — like poetry — which was very rewarding.

This year, considering the lack of attention I paid last year, I thought about not doing a list. However, I realized I do actually have some goals for this year. They are fewer and more focused, which is all to the good.

1. Dante's Divine Comedy [done]
   I feel as if this is going to be my year of Dante. Last year my interest in Louis Markos' Heaven and Hell put Dante on my mind. I began reading Anthony Esolen's translation. I wanted to read through with as little use of notes as possible this time through.
   
   I read John Ciardi's translation my first time around.
   
   Once I finished the Esolen translation, I began listening to the Benedict Flynn translations which were done specifically for audio and read by Heathcote Williams. They were simply fantastic and added to my understanding of the book (at least on the surface level).
   
   And then I read it a third time for conversations at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. And a FOURTH for my Catholic women's book club! I didn't intend a Year of Dante but it turned out that way!  - Inferno (Good Story #135) - Purgatorio (Good Story #137) - Paradiso (Good Story #139)


2. Finish Dickens' novels: [done]
   
   • Martin Chuzzlewit — liked this despite expecting to hate it because Dickens' savages America in the middle. That part was so one-dimensional that it slid right off of me. 
   • The Old Curiosity Shop — there was more to this than I had been led to expect. And I liked it!
   • Mystery of Edwin Drood — read this one last. Liked it even though it was only half finished upon Dickens' death.
   • Hard Times — the biggest surprise of all was liking this book which I'd heard was dour, dark and ... hard. Loved it!


3. Reread Middlemarch — never did it
   I've been wanting to do this for the last half of 2015. It's time to let it happen.


4. Use my "To Read" list
   I have pages listed of interesting fiction and nonfiction titles that I never get to because something shiny distracts me to the latest new thing. No more! There is a reason I wrote those names down. I need to try them out!


5. Read the Bible in Chronological Order - ADDED IN APRIL
   Now I won't be doing this in a year, but it is a new reading goal, so I'm tossing it in here in case anyone else is interested. I'll keep track of what I've read here (fingers crossed I remember) — I actually have been doing this pretty regularly and enjoying the heck out of it. It has led to some surprising realizations. For example, did you know that when Isaiah was prophesying doom and gloom initially ... there were several other prophets also doing the same thing? And still no one listened. Oy veh! I'll be continuing this in 2017.

1. Use my "To Watch" list
   It's the same problem I have with books. So many reviews have prompted me to keep lists of movies and then I never use the list! No more!