Well Said: Public Silence and Secret Action

Though Pius acted discreetly, he did not hide Hitler's attack plan under the proverbial bushel basket. During the second week of January 1940, a general fear gripped Western diplomats in rome as the pope's aides warned them of the German offensive, which Hitler had just rescheduled for the 14th. On the 10th, a Vatican prelate warned the Belgian ambassador at the Holy See, Adrien Nieuwenhuys, that the Germans would soon attack in the West. ...

Pius had in fact already shared the warning, while shielding the source. On 9 January, Cardinal Maglione directed the papal agent in Brussels, Monsignor Clemente Micara, to warn the Belgians about a coming German attack. Six days later, Maglione sent a similar message to his agent in The Hague, Monsignor Paolo Giobbe, asking him to warn the Dutch.

That same month, Pius made a veiled feint toward public protest. He wrote new details on Polish atrocities into Radio Vatican bulletins. But when Polish clergy protested that the broadcasts worsened the persecutions, Pius recommitted to public silence and secret action.

Mark Riebling, Church of Spies

This isn't making great bedtime reading because it is complex enough to require more attention than I can give in a sleepy state. However, it is endlessly fascinating watching the interwoven strands of this previously unknown story of attempts to stop Hitler.

Well Said: Moved by the Seasons, Moved by the Inklings

Humans change when they reflect upon the same truths year after year. Given the unique experiences of the year and their prior experiences with those truths, the ideas morph and take on new significance. Just as repeated activity allows someone to master an action; so also repeated reflection forms a person’s thought processes and heart. Via habituation, people are transformed. The church calendar’s intention is to help Christians meditate on Christ’s life, enabling them to consciously put on virtue and put off vice as they move through the cycle year by year. Its intention is transformation. …

Like the church calendar, I too am moved through the seasons, but they are seasons directed by the thoughts of the Inklings. I move from wrestling with doctrinal conundrums to wondering at the beauty contained within Christianity. Repeated consideration of the Inkling’s curriculum changed me. I found myself understanding my problems and successes through their ideas and stories.

Leilani Mueller, Arriving Where We Started, The Curator

Of course, I know intellectually that I am formed by what I read repeatedly. And what I reread has changed over the years. So who am I formed by now? Years ago I'd have laughed at the idea I'd love and reread Tolkien, Dickens, C.S. Lewis ... and certainly never Dante's Divine Comedy. Yet here I am being formed by them.

It's when the realization moves from intellectual to slapping me in the face that I wake up for an instant to the extent that reading transforms me.

Just the other day I was dealing with a particularly humbling realization and Jack Aubrey from Patrick O'Brian's seafaring series popped into my head. The insights I gained were grounding and, now that I think of it in this context, formational. I am seven books into the 20-book series. Though I am not rereading ... yet ... my slow listening to Patrick Tull's narration is slowly and surely sinking in and helping change me.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Jetty at Feste near Moss

Hans Gude (1825-1903), The Jetty at Feste near Moss
via Arts Everyday Living

This is another one which can be better appreciated by clicking on it to see the details in a larger format.

Double the Number of Books You Read — Without Speed Reading

Anyone who drops by here regularly knows that I am a book nut.

So I'm always surprised to hear that some people read a book a month or, even worse, one or two books a year. I've been blessed to be a naturally fast reader who loves books. But even I have found myself fighting in the last year to shove away distractions that cut into my reading time.

All that is to say that I was thrilled to see Brandon Vogt has developed video course for doubling the number of books you read, without speed reading.

I know he loves reading and I trust him to teach well. Find out more at Read More Books Now, which has a nice summary of all his points. The free offer is open for a week.

What We've Been Watching: Flower Girls, Trains, and ... Zombies

The Station Agent

★★★½

A sweet and quirky film about a dwarf, a refreshment stand operator, and a reclusive artist connecting with one another at an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey.

We watched this highly acclaimed film fairly soon after it originally was released and were not impressed. So slow, so obvious, nothing happens.

However, we were very different movie viewers then than we are now. So we took another run at it and liked it much better. The themes of community, loneliness, and normalcy are nicely interwoven and the acting is quite good. I especially liked the fact that the most outgoing, talkative, friendly person also was very lonely. And that is what makes the ending scene so perfect.

Rose wrote a review of this at Double Exposure which I recommend reading.

Pontypool 

★★★★★

When disc jockey Grant Mazzy reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it's just another day at work. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission.

Genius. Sheer genius. This has been called the thinking man's zombie movie and I can't argue with that. Not that there isn't blood. Because of all those zombies.  But any violence was well telegraphed so I could look away. There are a couple of problems with the third act, but nothing that I couldn't live with. (haha)

3:10 to Yuma (1957) 

★★★★

Dave Evans (Van Heflin), a small time farmer, is hired to escort Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), a dangerous outlaw, to Yuma. As Evans and Wade wait for the 3:10 train to Yuma, Wade's gang is racing to free him.


Glenn Ford, you wicked devil, you! I didn't know you had such a subtle, serpent-like performance in you. Well done!

This was a fascinating encounter between two men who have chosen the opposite ways to approach life. Both have regrets, both wrestle with how to live — all in the context of this lean Western.

I know Roger Ebert said that the 2007 remake was better but I'm hard put to see how.

UPDATE: Having seen someone here say this ending is happy and the new one is not was a worrying sign. So I went to Wikipedia for a more indepth "new Yuma" plot summary. Holy moly, I suppose the skeleton of this movie is there but, in typical modern style, it looks as if it gained about 50 pounds and dyed its hair. No thanks. I'll stick with this one.

My Fair Lady

★★★★

A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

As with many older films, I thought I remembered everything. Rewatching it for a movie discussion group I realized I'd forgotten just how wonderful Hepburn's acting is, how much Harrison makes us love someone who is horribly selfish, and the sharp, sparkling satire of the whole piece.

I certainly hadn't recalled that Eliza is the one who begins the experiment by asking the professor for lessons. Her will is just as strong as his, though it isn't exhibited in as many ways. I did remember the songs and costumes and basic plot, all of which were as wonderful as I recalled.

Worth a Thousand Words: Reading of the 1861 Manifesto

Grigoriy Myasoyedov, Reading of the 1861 Manifesto

Click through to appreciate the details in a larger format. I discovered this artist at Lines and Colors.

Well Said: What Pius XII Did Not Say and What Choices He Made

Judging Pius by what he did not say, one could only damn him. With images of piles of skeletal corpses before his eyes; with women and young children compelled, by torture, to kill each other; with millions of innocents caged like criminals, butchered like cattle, and burned like trash—he should have spoken out. He had this duty, not only as pontiff, but as a person. After his first encyclical, he did reissue general distinctions between race-hatred and Christian love. Yet with the ethical coin of the Church, Pius proved frugal; toward what he privately termed “Satanic forces,” he showed public moderation; where no conscience could stay neutral, the Church seemed to be. During the world’s greatest moral crisis, its greatest moral leader seemed at a loss for words.

But the Vatican did not work by words alone. By 20 October, when Pius put his name to Summi Pontficatus, he was enmeshed in a war behind the war. Those who later explored the maze of his policies, without a clue to his secret actions, wondered why he seemed so hostile toward Nazism, and then fell so silent. But when his secret acts are mapped, and made to overlay his public words, a stark correlation emerges. The last day during the war when Pius publicly said the word “Jew” is also, in fact, the first day history can document his choice to help kill Adolf Hitler.

Mark Riebling, Church of Spies

This book is fascinating.

Genesis Notes: Revelation About the Universe and Man

GENESIS 1:1-31
I am in awe of the amazing amount of information revealed through details, and of the scholars knowledgeable enough to tease this info out and convey it in an understandable way. Here are a few of the "aha" moments; things I never "got" until going studying Genesis. Well, ok, I already knew the "male and female" thing but thought it was cool so I threw it in.

THE SUN AND MOON

In vs. 16, God makes "the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night." Note that the sun and moon are not named. In the ancient world, the very words "sun" and "moon" were synonymous with the names of deities. In contrast, Genesis teaches that the sun and moon are not powers to be feared but created things with a God-given purpose in the universe. They are put in dominion over day and night - but have no jurisdiction over man or the earth. Psalm 19 tells us of another function: to tell the glory of God. When we gaze at them, we should recognize the power and beauty of God in them. The text says these lights (sun, moon, stars) are for "signs" and to mark out time and seasons. What might they be signs of? Think of the star that the magi followed to find the newborn King. Think also of the eclipse of the sun on Good Friday. They are elements used by God to communicate with His creation.

MALE AND FEMALE
God, who is Spirit and thus neither male nor female, is nonetheless reflected in mankind only by male and female together. Man and woman are created "equal as persons -- and complementary as masculine and feminine" (CCC 372). Each has the inherent dignity of being created in God's image. In communion together, and particularly in the context of the family, they fully reflect the image of the Divine Family, which is God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

SHARING IN GOD'S WORK
In asking man to reproduce and fill the earth, God is asking man to help complete that which He began to do in the beginning. In giving man the responsibility to be fruitful, He allows him to participate in the creation of human life. In giving him charge over the earth, God is vesting man with some of His own authority, in effect asking man to share in His work of ruling. Man's two-part vocation is thus a reflection of God Himself. It enables him to be what he was created to be: a creature made in God's image. And it is in fulfilling this vocation that he gives praise and glory to God.

Genesis Part I: God and His Creation

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: The Kingdoms of the World

In the Gospel of Matthew, we find the account of Jesus’ confrontation with the devil in the desert. After tempting Christ with sensual pleasure (“turn these stones into bread”) and with glory (“throw yourself down and the angels will hold you up”), the devil entices him with the allurement of power: “all these kingdoms, I will give you if you but fall down and worship me.” What is most interesting about this final temptation is that the devil couldn’t offer all of the kingdoms of the world to Jesus unless he, the devil, owned them. Indeed, in Luke’s account, this is made explicit. Satan says, “I shall give to you all this power…for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish.” I don’t know a passage in any of the literature of the world that is as critical of political power as that one! All the kingdoms of the world belong to a fallen spiritual force.

Bishop Robert Barron, Vibrant Paradoxes

I added that italic emphasis. This socked me between the eyes when I read it. Of course, I know Jesus said that Satan is the prince of the world, but somehow this application of that idea completely escaped me. As well as the fact that, for it to be a temptation, Satan would have to be able to deliver. Because he owns them.

Once again, I see how paramount it is to carefully pick my way through current politics while keeping my eye on God's kingdom. No wonder there is no one party or plan that fully handles this world's problems well. I mean to say, I knew that already. But this reminds me of one of the root causes of the problem.

Amoris Laetitia: Apostolic Exhortation on the Family by Pope Francis

Amoris Laetitia: Apostolic Exhortation on the Family by Pope Francis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For those who feel this is too long to face, take heart. I didn't actually read the 264 page book formatted by the Vatican and released as a pdf. I was able to copy and paste it into my own document which came down to 50 pages. The pdf's tiny pages, large type, and big margins are what made it so long in published form.

I read it a little each day, finding it a complex, thoughtful, and rich work. It was especially interesting to consider that the Pope kept mentioning the other contributing bishops from the synods on the family. This is not just one person's vision. It is that of many of those who serve families around the world.

I especially liked, as John Allen remarked, that we are seeing some of the inner workings of pastoral care recommended in it.

For Mediterranean cultures, which still shape the thought-world of the Vatican to a significant degree, law is instead more akin to an ideal. It describes a moral aspiration, but realistically it’s understood that many people much of the time will fall short. (If you don’t believe it, come to Italy sometime and watch how the locals approach traffic laws!)

A frustration I’ve long experienced as an American journalist covering the Vatican is that when the pope or some Vatican department issues a new law, it often comes off as terribly draconian and harsh in media coverage and public discussion. It’s difficult to explain that always encoded into the legislation is the common-sense expectation that bishops and pastors will use good judgment in applying it in ways that reflect their local circumstances.

It’s difficult, that is, primarily because the Vatican never says that second part explicitly – perhaps out of fear that it will come off as encouraging hypocrisy, rather than presuming a good-faith effort to live up to the value the law expresses.

They don’t usually say it, that is, until now.

One striking point about Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’ sweeping new apostolic exhortation on the family, which was released in a Vatican news conference on Friday, is that it lifts up this long-standing Catholic capacity for flexibility and nuance in pastoral practice, and sets it squarely alongside the law in full public view.

Allen's whole piece is well worth reading but you get the important points.

It is that, perhaps, which makes Amoris Laetitia feel so timeless and also so relevant. It weaves high spiritual points with the basics of real human families. In fact, I was surprised to see that, in preparation for discussion love in marriage, Pope Francis discusses each line of St. Paul's famous "love is patient, love is kind" passage (1 Cor 13:4-7). I was delighted with Pope Francis's thoughtful and down-to-earth reflections.

I highly recommend it. It's just terrific.

Well Said: "I Believe in One God" is a Subversive Statement

Joseph Ratzinger commented that the opening line of the Nicene Creed, Credo in unum Deum (I believe in one God), is a subversive statement because it automatically rules out any rival claimant to ultimate concern. To say that one accepts only the God of Israel and Jesus Christ is to say that one rejects as ultimate any human being, any culture, any political party, any artistic form, or any set of ideas.”

Bishop Robert Barron, Catholicism

Well, I knew that was true. But I hadn't remembered it lately. Now seems like a good time to keep this in mind, especially the way the political scene is shaking out.

Worth a Thousand Words: Slaking Thirst

Slaking Thirst
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Good heavens, I have no idea how Remo gets such amazing photos. Do check out his site, including this photo which is even more incredible.

Jesus, Pope Francis, and a Protestant Walk into a Bar

Jesus, Pope Francis, and a Protestant Walk into a Bar by Paul Rock

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So Jesus, the pope, and a Protestant walk into a bar. The bartender asks, "What will it be today?" As the pope reaches for his wallet, Jesus winks at his companions and say to the bartender, "Just three glasses—and keep the pitchers of water coming."

Presbyterian Paul Rock is a Pope Francis fanboy and consistently uses examples of papal humility, poverty, and Christlike love as a springboard for promoting Christian dialogue and ecumenism. This author's heart is in the right place but that isn't enough to make this book appeal across denominational lines.

These chapters began life as a sermon series … and it shows both in good and bad ways. The author's enthusiasm and ability to promote religious harmony is evident. It can be very inspiring.

However, Rock's drive to make a point is so rapid that it often only skims the surface, occasionally in a way that may leave various Christians (and certainly this Catholic) confused or indignant. In some cases this is a good opportunity to strive to ignore what divides us, but surely a better way would have been to educate both sides about each other's reasons.

A better way would be the example set by How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice: Civil Responses to Catholic Hot-Button Issues. They are careful to examine what the thinking is on the "opponent's" side before laying out the explanations and reasoning that inform Catholic teachings. The result is that both sides may agree to disagree, but they understand why each thinks what they do and can respect those opinions.

Paul Rock's drive to unity feels forced precisely because he overlooks the many valid reasons people may have for not agreeing with another denomination's teachings. It is fine to promote ecumenism and, indeed, praiseworthy. This effort feels somewhat slapdash and is as likely to raise hackles as to smooth them.

This was a NetGalley review copy which obviously didn't influence my opinion.

Well Said: A Forgotten Fact About the Holocaust

That the Holocaust was initiated by a mostly Protestant nation is sometimes forgotten; that the Catholic Church, by virtue of its stronger institutional identity, did much more than the Protestants did to resist Hitler was revealed to the White House in many secret reports to Roosevelt.

Mark Riebling (Church of Spies author),
interview with Sam Harris, Rethinking Hitler's Pope

This never occurred to me, actually. It was surprising. I've begun Church of Spies, which read like a great spy novel at times, and had gone looking around to see if Riebling is Catholic. Turns out he was raised Catholic, left the Church, and doesn't actually seem like a fan of religion in general. Or perhaps it is fairer to say he seems wary of religion. That, at least is what I gleaned from a quick take on his interview.

It's refreshing to read the book which seems to be doing much to redeem Pius XXII's reputation during WWII and know there seems to be no authorial bias other than a desire to find the truth.

Worth a Thousand Words: Princess Praskovya Yusupova Before Becoming a Nun

Princess Praskovya Yusupova Before Becoming a Nun (1886), Nikolai Vasilyevich Nevrev

Happy Birthday Rose!

Croquembouche

This is what I'd make if you were here with us. (Luckily I know you're going to make your own — can't wait to know how that works out!)

And we'd go to dinner. Maybe Mariano's since you don't have any decent TexMex in L.A.

Most of all, we'd give you many birthday hugs and kisses, since I know a 26 year old is never too old for those!

Happy Birthday! We love you!

Well Said: Our Principles

Our principles are engraved in the history and the law of this land. If the free world is not faithful to its own moral code, there remains no society for which others may hunger.

James B. Donovan, defending Rudolph Abel
(Donovan's story is told in the film Bridge of Spies)

Early Happy Birthday to Me! Vibrant Paradoxes by Robert Barron

Many thanks to Ellen P. for giving me the newest book by Bishop Robert Barron. (Could Ellen tell I'd been repeatedly downloading and reading the Kindle sample ... while determinedly holding myself to my monthly book budget with much agony?)

G.K. Chesterton once said that Catholicism keeps its beliefs "side by side like two strong colors, red and white...It has always had a healthy hatred of pink."

Catholicism is both/and, not either/or. It celebrates the union of contraries--grace and nature, faith and reason, Scripture and tradition, body and soul in a way that the full energy of each opposing element remains in place.

In Vibrant Paradoxes, bestselling author Bishop Robert Barron brings together themes and motifs that many would consider mutually exclusive or, at best, awkward in their juxtaposition. But seen through the Incarnation, these opposites crash together and reflect new light in every direction. This book will train you to see.

The collections of Bishop Barron's essays strike me very much like those which people experienced when G.K. Chesterton was writing during his heyday. They bounce around fascinatingly from topic to topic but always have an underlying anchor of solid Catholicism and truth.

I will be digging into these right away! What a treat!

Well Said: Time Enough for Everything

There is time enough for everything in the course of the day if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time.

Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son, 1747

Worth a Thousand Words: In the Forest

In the Forest, 1905, Arkady Rylov

Blogging Around: Dracula, Fiats, Amoris Laetitia and Bathrooms

Dracula Blogged

Dracula is an epistolary novel, which means the entire text is made up of letters and journal entries. Jonathan Harker's journal begins the story on May 3 and the book ends in November.

Dracula Blogged posts the entries as they happen throughout the year, along with interesting maps and other tidbits of information that may interest the reader. It began again last week so if you've ever wanted to read Dracula this would be a fun way to do it!

Our Franciscan Fiat

Sister Christina wrote to let me know about her community's blog, Our Franciscan Fiat. You can also find out more about their fiat there, which is not ... a car.

The blog began​​ ​last February. Here, we discuss issues connected with our catholic faith (and religious life) and give a glimpse into how religious life is lived in our community on a day-to-day basis. We cover a variety of related topics.

Amoris Laetitia and the Trans-Bathroom Can of Worms

No one wants surprise or horror when they go to the bathroom. No one wants social awkwardness. We just want to go to the bathroom. Quickly, if it can be helped.

Catholics being both/and people can assert with confidence that (a) you can’t change your gender, you get what God gave you and (b) you can’t wait until you get your moral life in order before you run to the restroom.

When Amoris Laetitia talks about pastoral accompaniment, the bathroom problem is right up there. What do you do with someone during the long stretch between “I’d like to be Catholic maybe?” and “Hey, look, I’ve finally got my life together!”

The answer is that you do your best to help the person grow closer to the faith. The only way to do that work is one soul at a time. You have to know the person, be in a relationship with the person, and be working together on this path towards holiness.

This is how, until the recent public drama began, we as a culture have handled the bathroom problem.

Good observations and advice, as always, from Jennifer Fitz at Sticking the Corners. Go read it all.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Joyous Festival

The Joyous Festival, Gaston de La Touche
via Lines and Colors

Well Said: War Makes Death Real to Us

War makes death real to us, and that would have been regarded as one of its blessings by most of the great Christians of the past. They thought it good for us to be always aware of our mortality. I am inclined to think they were right.

C.S. Lewis, Learning in War-Time

It's not a popular attitude, of course, but as time goes by I begin to agree more and more. We are so prone to forget our ultimate end, to get settled and complacent and to think that we can get on with that spiritual stuff tomorrow. At least, that is what happens to me. The unsettled and chaotic times of something like ISIS rampaging through the world are a sharp reminder of the ultimate reality.

Lagniappe: Left-handed Hops

During their growing season, hops are astonishingly vigorous, rising six inches in a single day. The vines stretch away from the central stalk during the day; at night, they wrap themselves around wires or other supports. "You walk through the fields in the late afternoon, and you'll see all these vines reaching out at forty-five degree angles," said Oregon hop farmer Gayle Goschie. "Then you come out the next morning and they're wrapped tightly around the trellis again." They spiral around the trellis in a clockwise direction, which has inspired a couple of botanical urban legends: one is that they grow counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, and the other is that they grow clockwise to follow the sun from east to west. Neither is true. Like left-handedness, they are simply born with a genetic predisposition to grow clockwise, no matter where they are relative to the sun or the equator. (Botanists who study "twining handedness" have discovered that hops are unusual in their proclivity to twine in a clockwise direction; 90 percent of all climbing plants prefer to go counterclockwise.)

Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist

Wouldn't it be fascinating to be in a hopfield and see all those vines at 45° angles? It must be like something from a science fiction movie. I really love how diverse nature is, even in when it shares so many similarities for something like twining up a stick.

Worth a Thousand Words: Peasants Enjoying Beer

François Jaques, Peasants Enjoying Beer at Pub in Fribourg (Switz.), 1923

Ascension Thursday Was Yesterday

I kept seeing it mentioned but never remembering when I was blogging.

So if you'd like to read about it, especially since most of the U.S. will celebrate the Ascension on Sunday, here's the post.

If nothing else, there are some fantastic paintings featured there. I could look at them all day.

What We've Been Watching: Baking, Driving, Immigrating, and Building

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW

Each week, amateur bakers tackle a different specialty (bread, cookies, etc.), the difficulty of which increases as the competition unfolds. Mary Berry, a leading cookbook writer, and Paul Hollywood, a top artisan baker, search for the country’s best amateur baker by testing the competitors’ skills on cakes, breads, pastries and desserts, crowning a winner after 10 weeks of competition.

I'd been told by four separate people how great this show is, including our daughter Rose who is absorbing all their baking wisdom. She is now making her own croissants since getting interested in puff pastry after one episode.

All it took was one episode and I was hooked, watching at least one every evening.

I like that the bakers are all amateurs. In fact, we get to see shots of them in real life with their families, on the job, and baking in their own kitchens. Because each episode is filmed on the weekend and they get to practice the week before at home.

I like that everyone is so nice (that's why the only American cooking competition I watch is MasterChef Junior — even Gordon Ramsay won't be mean to kids). I like that it is, as one newspaper article said, so "aggressively quaint." In fact, I hear that at the end the winner gets ... flowers. Isn't that nice?

I like how there are still national differences between the British and Americans, even in something so small as a cookie. If this show is any guide, British cookies are never to be less than gingersnap crisp while Americans have a wider range of tolerance, depending on the cookie. (Want to start a fight? Ask in a crowded room which is the best chocolate chip cookie, soft or crisp.)

Most of all, I have realized just how much I know about baking. I can tell when the doughs are too wet or dry or not rolled properly, when something is going to rise too much or little, when a glaze is too thick or thin, and so forth. I try not to comment too much and Tom, the most patient of men, has been watching them all with me.

One season is on Netflix and you can also watch it at PBS online. I also hear that you can find it on YouTube. If this raving isn't enough, here's an article that says all I didn't take the time to articulate.

LEARNING TO DRIVE (2014)

As her marriage dissolves, a Manhattan writer takes driving lessons from a Sikh instructor with marriage troubles of his own. In each other's company they find the courage to get back on the road and the strength to take the wheel.

This film is a small gem of quiet "indie-ness" with just enough quietness and just enough content and ... most importantly ... just enough contrast between the two main characters to give us context.

Is it about living in the moment, as Patricia Clarkson said in an interview?

Is it about the woman being sent an unknown but definitely male teacher just when she has sworn "I loathe all men,", as Ben Kingsley said in an interview?

The answer is both and much more as we found when talking it over afterward. You have to be patient and let the story unwind, but it is worth it.

BROOKLYN (2015)

An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.

This was a wonderful film, evoking what it must really feel like to be an immigrant to America. One of my daughter's roommates has an aunt from the Ukraine who saw this and told her that this was exactly what it felt like to immigrate. Coupled with that theme is Eilis's personal growth to maturity, which also captures the idea that often one has arrived (at being an American, at being grown) before one recognizes it.

Overall this is a lovely, quiet story where the people act like real people without having to face manufactured crises to reveal the truths beneath. It was refreshing and we loved it.

LILIES OF THE FIELD (1963)

An unemployed construction worker (Homer Smith) heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior (Mother Maria), who believes that Homer has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert...

I'd never seen this classic and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story behind the movie is as much of a miracle as that the movie depicts. The film was made with the passion and shoestring budget which Mother Superior had for her chapel. Ralph Nelson put up his house to provide half the budget, Sidney Poitier took a small salary with the promise of a percentage of earnings (for which he earned his Academy Award), and the production designer did yeoman work in begging and borrowing props, building the chapel, and organizing the schedule so they could shoot it in 12 days.

The result was a classic which still speaks to us today over 50 years later.

Worth a Thousand Words: Bust of Aristotle

Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos from 330 BC; the alabaster mantle is a modern addition.

Worth a Thousand Words: Maple Sugaring

Maple Sugaring, Currier and Ives

Today's quote about Thomas Jefferson's reasons for switching to maple sugar brought to mind my one of my favorite bits of Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. That sent me looking for "sugaring off" images. Just think how long ago it was that making maple sugar was a regular household activity. And in what a small part of the country. Yet "sugaring off" remains part of the American vocabulary. Or of my vocabulary at least.

Lagniappe: Thomas Jefferson and Maple Sugar

In 1790, Thomas Jefferson bought fifty pounds of maple sugar to sweeten his coffee. This was less a culinary decision than a political one: he'd been pressured by his friend and fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, to advocate for the use of home-grown maple sugar instead of cane sugar, which was dependent upon slave labor.

Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist

Lest people think that modern times are the only ones in which food boycotts were used to protest politics.

John Cleese: Political Correctness Can Lead to an Orwellian Nightmare

This is only a couple of minutes long but Cleese nails it. 

It's showing up everywhere but just in case you haven't seen it, here you go!

"If people can't control their own emotions then they have to start trying to control other people's behavior." ~ Robert Skinner, psychiatrist

"So the idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is what I absolutely do not subscribe to." ~ John Cleese

Via Scott Danielson.

In which wealthy spinster Cornelia Van Gorder discovers a mystery ...

... at her rented summer home. Is it that dreaded criminal The Bat? We're beginning a new book at Forgotten Classics: The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart.

We also try to live up to noble standards already set for this book, which was released in 1933 as one of the earliest talking book recordings. The Bat was also one of Bob Kane's inspirations for Batman. Find out for yourself why this mystery was so popular.

Amazon's Pop-ups Finally Got My Attention: The Vatican Cookbook

Presented by the Pontifical Swiss Guard, y'all. THE SWISS GUARD!

All those wonderful guard photos are on the inside but even without them this looks like a fun cookbook with lots of extra Vatican photography. And some pretty classy sounding papal favorite recipes too, of course.

I'm either gonna get a copy of this from everyone I know for my birthday ... or none. Because that's how these things work.

But I couldn't resist showing you the cover!

Worth a Thousand Words: Le Domino Rose

John Humphreys Johnston (18577-1941), Le Domino Rose, c. 1895
Via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Work and Play

I wish to see our people hardy, vigorous, strong, able to hold their own in whatever test may arise. I wish to seem them able to work and able to play hard. I believe in play, and I like to see people play hard while they play, and when they work I do not want to see them play at all.

Theodore Roosevelt

We seem to have lost that idea but I'm trying to regain it for myself.

Genesis Notes: God Revealed Through Creation

Russian icon of the Trinity by Andrey Rublev, between 1408 and 1425

GENESIS 1:1-31

I like the fact that even though the Trinity is not formally mentioned anywhere in the Bible, we start hearing about it from very beginning of the Bible. Until I read this study I frankly never noticed that God said, "Let us make man in our image." Its amazing what paying attention to the details of the familiar story can teach you.

The use of the plural "us" and "our" in Genesis 1:26 suggests two things about God. First, like the "royal we" it reflects His greatness, His power and majesty. The plural noun Elohiim suggests this as well: there it is a plural of emphasis, not of number. But there is also a longstanding Christian tradition of seeing "us" and "our" as reflecting the Trinity: God the Creator is NOT alone. It gives us an intimation of communion, or community within the godhead, that will be developed further in the New Testament.

The New Testament reveals that Jesus was the "word" that God spoke "in the beginning." He was present as the Creative Word of God. In other words, His role was to create and to sustain the universe and life. "Through him all things were made" (John 1:3); "by him all things were created ... all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (Col 1:16-17) From the very first words of Scripture, we are introduced to the Word of god Who will, throughout all the rest of its pages, slowly but magnificently be revealed. He will be fully manifested when He takes on human flesh in the womb of Mary, becoming the Incarnate Son of God.

Genesis 1:2 tells us that "the Spirit (lit. ruah, or "breath") of God was moving over the face of the waters." God's loving power, symbolized by his breath, was hovering expectantly over the unformed chaos of creation. This completes the description of creation of the natural order as an act of the Blessed Trinity.

Genesis Part I: God and His Creation

Note on the icon above:
I love this art so much, specifically because it is explained so well in Raniero Cantalamessa's book Contemplating the Trinity, which is where I first encountered the icon.

You may read some of his observations here:

• The Trinity, Part I - In Eastern Spirituality
• The Trinity, Part II - Profound Peace and Unity
• The Trinity, Part III - The Understanding of Unity

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

8 Minutes of Thunder - The Ballad of Tommy Bobby

I gave Tom 8 minutes on a NASCAR track for Christmas and the timing worked out so that he drove on his birthday. He had a blast and hit a high of 149 mph.

This turned into a NASCAR theme birthday for Tom. Afterward we watched Talladega Nights (thank you Hannah for that idea!). Pretty good for a family that never watches NASCAR.

Worth a Thousand Words: Pippins and Braeburns

Pippins and Braeburns
by the talented Belinda DelPesco

Well Said: Be not like a horse or mule

I will instruct you and teach you
the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like a horse or mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
else it will not keep with you.

Psalm 32: 8-9

I suppose it must be sadly apparent to those who know me well why I suddenly noticed the "horse or mule" section. You can lead a horse to water, as the old saying goes, but you can't make it drink.

How many times have I had to be curbed with bit and bridle only to finally get the point and realize that God's counsel was what I needed all along? How much easier I could have made my life by listening and considering.

Jesse, Julie, and Maissa wish they looked alike ...

Mark Twain and Dorothy Quick
Who was she and why this photo? Listen to the SFFaudio episode.

... so they could trade lives. Wait. Digging into The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain at SFFaudio might have changed their minds.

Reality Check: Teddy Roosevelt and Current Political Candidates

I didn't plan it this way but I've been listening to the 10-part series on Theodore Roosevelt at Giants of History podcast. He wasn't a perfect man by any means, but there possibly couldn't be a better time to learn about Teddy Roosevelt. He is certainly a great contrast to the current political candidates. And they don't come off well by comparison.

J.T. Fusco does a bang-up job of making historical figures come alive, by the way. He's also got a series about Leonardo Da Vinci and a fair number of stand-alone episodes.

Here at Giants of History, we produce a weekly biographical podcast that explores history’s most fascinating figures from cradle to grave. In each series, we strive to highlight the best stories and most monumental moments in each subject’s respective life. Our goals are to entertain our listeners, as well as provide inspiration through education.

Giants of History: website, iTunes

Genesis Notes: The God Who Creates Out of Nothing

The Creation of the World, Antonio Canova, 1821-22
Photo Gipsoteca, Possagno via WSJ

GENESIS 1:1-31
We just considered the fact that the writers of Genesis retold the creation stories of other nations, correcting them to present the right view of God. So let's look at the biggest way they did this, by pointing out that God, uniquely among other creation stories, creates out of nothing.

This really opened my eyes, from the very beginning of Genesis. For one thing, I don't think we moderns give God enough credit. We just take it for granted because "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" is so familiar. But really stop and think about it. Heavens to Betsy! All this around us, created out of nothing!

Genesis begins not just with the beginning of something, but with the beginning of everything. Its first verse uses a word for which there is no equivalent in any other ancient language. The word is bara'. It means not just to make but to create, not just to re-form something new out of something old, but to create something wholly new that was simply not there before. Only God can create, for creation in the literal sense (out of nothing) requires infinite power, since there is an infinite gap between nothing and something. Startling as it may seem, no other people ever had creation stories in the true sense of the word, only formation stories. The Jewish notion of creation is a radically distinctive notion in the history of human thought. When Jewish theologians like Philo and later Christian theologians (who learned it from the Jews) told the Greeks about it, they were often ridiculed.

You Can Understand the Bible

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Sweet, Sweet Doubletake — Forgotten Classics is "What's Hot" in iTunes

I was looking through What's Hot in Literature podcasts when I did a doubletake. Nice! I guess when you get past 300 episodes you get a nod sometimes.

I'm going to begin The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart this weekend. Swing by and let me read you one of my favorite Forgotten Classics.

Worth a Thousand Words: Portrait of Mary Sartoris

Frederic Leighton, Portrait of Mary Sartoris, c. 1860
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: Jesus' healings

Jesus' healings are not supernatural miracles in a natura world. They are the only truly "natural" things in a world that is unnatural, demonized, and wounded.

Jürgen Moltmann

These Just In — New Books You Don't Want to Miss

Thirteen "little sins" that, if left unconfessed, can have a serious impact on our spiritual lives. Through the author's honest (and sometimes funny) examination of these sins in her own life, as well as Church teaching, she gives us the tools to kick these bad habits before they kick us.

First of all, this is Elizabeth Scalia. That means a honest, humorous Catholic writer. Secondly, it is topic which is hits home. I believe I've mentioned before that my problem with confession is not the actual confessing. It is thinking of something to confess. And that is because, especially with my secular background, a lot of the "little" sins slip my mind or don't seem important or are really just a bad habit. Right?

Scalia ain't a gonna let us get away with that. And because she is also a warm and human writer who admits she is first in line for some of these, we don't feel so bad seeing where she's going. This is one I need to read.

This book narrates the harrowing and life-changing experiences of former abortion clinic workers, including those of the author, who once directed abortion services at a large Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas. These individuals, whose names have been changed to protect their identities, left their jobs in the abortion industry after experiencing a change of heart. They have come forward with their stories, not for fame or notoriety, but to shed light on the reality of abortion. They want their stories to change the lives of others for the better.

I did read chapter 4, "Daddy's Little Girl," because it caught my eye flipping through it. It touched me in a very personal way because I had a niece who was having some routine surgery done in a clinic and she almost died because of blood loss and trouble with getting her to a hospital. This chapter brings up that problem, caused by a completely different angle which had never occurred to me. There is nothing gruesome about the chapter but it hit home hard. This book is worth reading.

When Alison Bernhoft set out to homeschool her six children, her grand plans were constantly derailed by the second law of thermodynamics: Entropy. It enters our houses, spreads toys and dishes around, creates chaos throughout the day, and most importantly steals our time. But Alison discovered that chaos and homeschooling are far from mutually exclusive.

Using alternative education methods, marvel at the specialization of birds feet through your kitchen window. Recognize musical eras as you drive. Use raisins to introduce your kindergartener to algebra. 

Ok, this is a highly unlikely book for me to read or promote. That's just how charming this author is. Her email completely captivated me. As did the book when I received it. Just flipping through it keeps grabbing my attention. So I'm going to read it ... and if I were ever going to homeschool (may the good Lord have mercy on any under my tutelage), the entropy approach would definitely be my best friend.

Prolonged, multiple wars in the Middle East. Waves of immigrants crossing the borders. Ongoing economic recession. Increasing political polarization, often with religious overtones. Conflicts over ideologies that pit the progressive against the traditional. Sound familiar? These conditions not only describe the United States, but the situation of the Roman Empire in the third century. That situation led to religious persecution and the eventual collapse of the empire. In the middle of the third century, the Roman Empire was roughly the same age as the United States is now.

This book examines the practices of the Early Church—a body of Christians living in Rome—and show how the lessons learned from these ancient Christians can apply to Christians living in the United States today. The book moves from the Christian individual, to the family, the church and the world, explaining how the situation of the Early Church is not only familiar to modern Christian readers, but that its values are still relevant.

Ok. First, true confession — I don't have this book. Second — it's Mike Aquilina! It's about a year old but it's new to me and the authors' perspective is one that I espouse all the time. But I do so without their indepth knowledge or examples. Not sure how this slid under my radar but in case it slid under yours also, I thought I'd bring it up!

Worth a Thousand Words: Horse

James Ward, Horse

Well Said: Pope for Both

I have to be pope both of those with their foot on the gas and those with their foot on the brake.

St. John XXIII

I don't think things have changed much since then.

Worth a Thousand Words: Hilye

Hilye, Hafiz Osman

This is calligraphy from the Ottoman Period. Isn't it gorgeous?

Lagniappe: Brown Beer Bottles and the Wedge of Lime

Brewers learned long ago that dark bottles protect beer from the light and prevent it from developing a skunky "lightstruck" taste. But it wasn't until 2001 that scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found out exactly what causes that nasty flavor. Certain compounds in in hops, known as isohumulones, break down into free radicals when exposed to light. Those free radicals are chemically similar to the secretions of skunks. And it doesn't take long for the transformation to happen: some beer drinkers will notice the skunky flavor at the bottom of a pint glass that sat in sunlight while they drank it.

So why are some beers sold in clear bottles? First, it's cheaper. Second, some mass-produced beers are made with a chemically altered hop compound that doesn't break down. But if you see clear-bottled beers sold in a closed box, chances are it's because the brewer knows the taste will degrade quickly in light. And the tradition of adding a wedge of lime to the beer? That's just a marketing ploy to disguise the skunky flavor.

Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist

AHA! I knew about the brown bottles, light, and flavor degradation. But the lime? That's news to me. Those marketing devils!

Genesis Notes: A Hymn of Creation

God the Geometer, The Frontispiece of Bible Moralisee, mid-13th C.

GENESIS 1:1-31
This chapter is the oh-so-familiar story of the creation of the universe. Anyone who has ever done any Bible study or, indeed, ever had their back to the wall when talking to a dedicated believer in science knows that Genesis is not worried about how creation occurred. It is concerned with the fact that God created everything and that God made man in His image. If you read it out loud and listen to the language and cadence you fall into it almost reads like a Psalm.

The problem that I, personally, always had trouble reconciling is the fact that there are a other creation stories out there that seemed to echo Genesis. If that is the case, then is Genesis just another man-made story as I had been told by nay-sayers? The way that The Complete Bible Handbook explains it helped me sort this out.

The major point made in the Bible is that, however Creation is interpreted, and whatever account of Creation one follows, God is the author of the story; and if there is a design, then God is the Designer. All the accounts of Creation in the Bible make this point. In this respect, the stories of the Bible differ hugely from other stories told about Creation in the religions and beliefs of the nations that surrounded Israel, such as Babylon and Assyria. The biblical writers used different stories of Creation, and at least two of these accounts are shared with Israel's neighbors in the ancient Near East. But the Bible retold these stories of other nations and - from its own point of view - corrected them to make its own basic point: the true reading of Creation sees it as the consequence of One who gives it order and sustains it's being.

The biblical account is coherent with many other stories, whether those of the Babylonian accounts of creation, or, much later, the theories of Darwin and his successors, and has translated them into an account that endures, even when Babylon and Darwin have faded into history. These different theories of Creation are not in competition with the Bible. The stories of Creation in the Bible give the reader the opportunity to go deeper into the understanding of the universe and of our place in it, to understand the way in which God brings all things into being and to understand how God is continually in the act of creating.

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: A healthy dose of self-cricitism

We also need to be humble and realistic, acknowledging that at times the way we present our Christian beliefs and treat other people has helped contribute to today’s problematic situation. We need a healthy dose of self-criticism.

Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love)

I'm reading it a little each day and finding it a complex, thoughtful, and rich work. It is especially interesting to consider that the Pope keeps mentioning the other contributing bishops from the synods on the family. This is not just one person's vision. It is that of many of those who serve families around the world.

For those who feel this is too long to face, take heart. I'm not actually reading the 264 page book formatted by the Vatican and released as a pdf. I was able to copy and paste it into my own document which came down to 50 pages. The pdf's tiny pages, large type, and big margins are what made it so long in published form.

Louis CK - Everything is amazing and nobody is happy

Precisely. And I would like a donkey please.

Via Scott Danielson at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Blogging Around

Kobe Bryant is Catholic?

Yet during one of the darkest moments of his life, Kobe Bryant turned to his Catholic faith. In an interview with GQ last year he explained:

“The one thing that really helped me during that process — I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic — was talking to a priest. It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ‘Did you do it?’ And I say, ‘Of course not.’ Then he asks, ‘Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ‘Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ‘Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point.”

Read it all at Aleteia

The Mercy of Shutting Up.

This is one I struggle with, sometimes more successfully than others. Joanne McPortland finds something unexpected in Pope Francis’s recent apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love). I especially liked her specific ideas for applying "hold your peace." The one I mention below seems specifically applicable to Americans (we like to help!) and is one where I am specifically working on improving my own behavior.

Here, then, are just of few of the many situations in which I need to practice mercy by holding my tongue — and atoning for the times I have not.

When I’m just trying to helpful, damn it! This is a trap a lot of us fall into, rushing to meet others’ silence or sadness or need with a flood of unsolicited advice. In almost every such situation, the merciful and truly helpful response is receptive silence, listening presence. Too often, I react instead with links to medical websites, amateur psychoanalysis or (worst of all) anecdotes about how my experience was so much worse.

Work When You Work, Play When You Play

The key to a happier life with more time in it. The problem is that we seem to have forgotten how to do that. Never fear! The Art of Manliness is here ... with ways to combat today's distractions.

Restlessness is one of the acute maladies of our time, and there are many causes of it, from the gap between how fast information moves and the stubborn slowness of “real life”; our increasing distance from nature and lack of physicality; the avalanche of options we have to choose from in all areas of life; and the amount of “shadow work” corporations have outsourced to us consumers.

There’s another obvious factor in our restlessness as well, and that’s the sheer number of distractions that constantly pull at our attention, erode our focus, and keep us from concentrating on the task at hand.

Happily, while the other sources of our restlessness often require comprehensive changes to our culture and our personal lifestyle, this last factor can be attended to with the adoption of a simple principle: work when you work; play when you play.

Well Said: The wood of this cross ...

The wood of this cross that now breaks your back first grew in the soil of your heart.

Staretz Macarius

Worth a Thousand Words: The Neapolitan Girl

The Neapolitan Girl, Hugues Merle

Genesis Notes: Introduction - In the Beginning

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

This is one of the most famous lines in all literature. It begins our journey of discovery of not only one of the oldest pieces of writing in history but about ourselves. Because this book was designed to help us answer the oldest questions of all. Who am I? Who is God? Does He exist? How do I know when I meet Him? How should I live?

The book of Genesis does not merely tell quaint stories about people who lived at the dawn of time. The roots of all that Christians believe are found here. Read properly, Genesis reveals the essence of the nature of God, of creation and man. It shows how man fell from grace and God's friendship. It reveals the nature of sin. In it we see the first hints of God's plan of redemption, and the promises he makes that lay out the blueprint for the rest of salvation history. It is also the beginning of a very important family history: that of the family of God.

Genesis Part I: God and His Creation

I must say that if I took nothing else away from studying Genesis, it is that human nature is the same now as it was 4,000 years ago. The way we live is different, but people are still recognizable as those you might meet anywhere. I was shocked to recognize and often deeply understand these ancient personalities that I met in this book.