Sweet Dreams

Marianne Stokes, Sweet Dreams

This Just In — Villains of the Church: And How They Made Us Better Christians by Mike Aquilina

This book just in. Here's why to read it:

The villains of the ancient world proved the mettle of heroes like Peter and Paul, Irenaeus and Athanasius. Treachery and adversity inspired the Fathers' clearest teaching, most entertaining invective, and more than a few memorable jokes.

I'm looking forward to learning some good lessons from this one. A full report after I've read it, but it's Mike Aquilina so I know it's going to be good.

Well Done Basics: Tweeting With God by Michel Remery

Rose is teaching 5th grade Religious Education (Sunday School) which has led to a lot of conversation about how to answer questions about basics/hot button topics. That sent us to this book. It is great for getting a handle on simple, logical explanations that will resonate with secular folks (or can inform someone answering 5th graders' questions). I myself used it when heading a small group for RCIA.

I reviewed this in 2015 here it is again in case you missed it.

Tweeting with God: # Big Bang, Prayer, Bible, Sex, Crusades, Sin, Career . . . 

by Michel Remery

I'm a sucker for books about the basics. Even if I know a lot about something, there's always some new detail to learn. I also often find food for thought when something is expressed in a new, imaginative way. Best of all, it can give me simple ways to explain something I might know so much about that it's hard to remember what it felt like to just need the basic scoop.

That's why I like Tweeting with God.

It has simple explanations to questions young people have asked about the Catholic faith but includes enough detail to show that these aren't just knee-jerk answers. The part I like best is that all questions are welcome and no topic is taboo. I can't stress enough how important that has been to my own faith as well as in answering others' questions.

There are almost 200 questions, grouped into four sections ranging from God to the Church to personal (prayer, etc.) to ethics. It's got a vibrant, inviting design and each spread usually has a box with examples or additional information on a topic.

The book acknowledges that these aren't intended to be absolutely complete answers. They are intended to answer young people's questions. With that in mind, each question has references for further, deeper reading in the Catechism or YouCat.

I was happy to see that every touchy topic I read about was presented charitably, with understanding of outsiders' possible misconceptions, and fully in line with Church teachings. It has an imprimatur so I suppose I didn't need to worry but it never hurts to check up for yourself.

Here are a couple of pdfs you can check out. It should open up so you can look at the spread first but be sure to zoom in to read the pages and get a real feel for the writing.

• 1.3 Evolution or creation?
• 4.23 If the Church wants to protect life, why is it against condoms in Africa?

I picked a couple of controversial questions for samples. Rest assured, there are plenty of basic questions also. Just the other day we grabbed this book to look into exactly who the apostles are.

This is the perfect gift for those with questions, new Catholics, or people like me ... who spend a lot of time answering questions about the faith. In short, just about everyone!

UPDATE
The Curt Jester has a review up which covers some things that I didn't include since my post was getting so long. Check it out also.

Hang up if you hear “Hello. This is St. Mary’s Prayer Center Ministry calling today to see if you need urgent prayer"

“Hello. This is St. Mary’s Prayer Center Ministry calling today to see if you need urgent prayer. If you would like to have someone from our center pray for you, please press 1. If you would no longer like to hear from us, please press 3.”

This is a pay-to-pray scam that has been around for a few years. My husband got a couple of these messages recently and then I saw The Curt Jester mention it on Facebook. So I thought I'd put a brief warning up here. Here's an article about how the scam works.

Harvest Festival "Grass"

Harvest Festival "Grass," Calligraphy in Japan.

"Grass" meaning "rice" in Japan in this context. There are several lovely photographs in the linked post so do go enjoy them at Calligraphy in Japan.

Lady Jim of Curzon Street by Fergus Hume

Lady Jim of Curzon Street 
by Fergus Hume

Lady Jim and her husband are a reprehensible pair. Their extravagance led to continual, mounting debt which turned them into aristocratic swindlers. Lady Jim is intelligent, beautiful, selfish, vain, and greedy. She's practically the perfect antihero except for occasional flashes of conscience, which usually are smothered by her baser instincts. After reading The Moonstone, Lady Jim comes up with a plot to fake her husband's death and claim his life insurance money. As her husband points out, the flaw in her plan is that the Moonstone's author can plan details just how he likes while they are left to the vagaries of real life. The plot soon gets very complicated and the reader is left in awe of the author's ability to twist and twist and twist the story as Lady Jim continually manipulates everyone around her.

I enjoy this sort of old story anyway but this one reached unexpected depths because of the occasional attempts of a minister to get Lady Jim to see spiritual reality. I took this as just part of the social setting and story until the end of the book where the plot takes really surprising turns and this element suddenly became very important.

Lootera

In a village, a young archaeologist falls in love with a landlord’s daughter. Their union seems doomed. But destiny brings them together a year later. Will they live happily ever after?

Loosely based on an O'Henry short story, The Last Leaf, so it is no surprise that this story is full of twists, turns, and reversals. With redemption in the end. I am loathe to say too much lest I reveal the surprises which caught all of us off-guard and filled us with suspense in the last third of the film.

The directing was highly confident and in a more Western style than you usually expect from Bollywood. There were silences creating space for us to think and wonder. Character development was subtle, mature, and believable. And the cinematography was simply beautiful, reinforcing the themes of each act.

Highly recommended and we're going to look for more from this director.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Bajrangi Bhaijaan — a good starting place for trying Bollywood movies

A mute 6-year-old girl from a Pakistani village gets accidentally separated from her mother on their return from a trip to India. Stranded in India, she meets Pawan - an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman - who tries to discover the girl's parents. The obstacles are seemingly insurmountable, beginning with the fact that they are a long way from Pakistan and so no one would ever guess she isn't Indian. However, Pawan is what the girl's parents, unable to get into India to search for her, have prayed for — a "god-sent man" who will protect their daughter. Pawan is simple, innocent, and determined to do the right thing. And therein hangs the tale, including a heckuva road trip.

This was a complete and wonderful surprise. Told with a light touch, this is a heart-warming story that really captivated me. I was especially intrigued by the main puzzle. How does a young child who can't write or talk communicate enough clues to show where she belongs? And, if they can manage to get her back to Pakistan, how do they find her home in a remote mountain village? Each step of the way we were invested in these questions.

We chose it because it was supposed to be Salman Khan's best film and we'd been underwhelmed by his "James Bond" turn in Ek Tha Tiger. In that film he reminded me of a wooden Sylvester Stallone. In this one, he was truly engaging as the honest and direct man who wants to do the task God has given him in helping this child. It could have been a preachy, schmaltzy story but it avoided that route, in part because the whole thing is leavened by solid humor and also the story is more complex than you might expect. My favorite storyline is of a Pakistani freelance reporter who can't get no respect.

In many ways this struck me as a perfect starting point for those who want to try a Bollywood film. Many of the things we have learned from watching a lot of Bollywood movies are touched on briefly here in a way that is easy for newcomers to understand.

• Good song and dance numbers. (Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor dancing like chickens is a memory I will treasure.) 
• Arranged marriage
• Caste
• Common contrasts and conflicts between India's many religions
• Pakistan and India's high level of hostility toward each other
• Unrealistic parental expectations
• India's surprising police approach to interrogations (at least as shown in Indian movies)
• The dark fate of orphans/lost children in India

However, as I mentioned, this is all done with a light touch because they are simply elements of the big story about reuniting a little girl with her family.

It made me happy when I watched it. And again the next day when I was thinking about it.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Scott and I discussed this on Episode 201 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.
Hannah and Rose discussed it on An American's Guide to Bollywood.

Droplets

Droplets, Remo Savisaar

Autumn Maples with Poem Slips

Autumn Maples with Poem Slips, c. 1675, Tosa Mitsuoki
via Chicago Art Institute

Japanese aristocrats engaged in the elegant custom of recollecting classical poetry while viewing spring and autumn foliage. In these delicate screens, premier court painter Tosa Mitsuoki meditated on the inevitable passage of beauty by depicting the melancholy hours after the departure of reveling courtiers. A cherry tree bursts into bloom on the right screen (seen here at top), while its mate displays the brilliant red and gold foliage of maples in autumn. Slips of poetry, called tanzaku, waft from the blossoming limbs, the lingering signs of a human presence.

Click through on the link above to see the screens large enough to appreciate their full beauty.

Om Shanti Om

An aspiring actor from the 1970s is murdered, but is immediately reincarnated into the present day. He attempts to discover the mystery of his demise and find Shanti, the love of his previous life.

As you can tell from the poster, Om Shanti Om is supremely entertaining. Everyone seems to be having a great time, giving it their all, the songs and dances are huge productions, and the director obviously loves movies because it is both an homage and a spoof in many ways.

This is a movie we didn't know enough to fully appreciate when we first saw it. Our first exposure to film star Shah Rukh Khan and director Farah Khan (no relation), we laughed, caught some of the secondary jokes, and enjoyed the singing and dancing. After seeing many more Bollywood movies we realized what a treasure Om Shanti Om really was.

Watching it for a second time with family members who are just joining us in our Bollywood exploration we could appreciate the skill and love that went into this piece of sheer entertainment. It also made me realized how much I love Farah Khan, not only for her choreography but for her sense of humor and the way she moves the story.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast discusses it here.

God made two great lights ... He made the stars also. (Genesis 1:16)

The Veil nebula (NGC 6992) in Cygnus, Thierry Legault

You can see this image much better at Thierry Legault's site. I really appreciate his allowing me to share his wonderful images.

This makes me think of something I heard recently (can't recall where) which pointed out that God's overflowing creativity and generosity goes far beyond our ability to imagine. Because, the speaker said, think of the unbounded universe with all the stars and wonders we are just discovering. Just out there for its own sake, not for anything that we need.

Blew my mind.

There is Nothing Like a Dame: Fun mysteries featuring women

From my recent reading — these books are all about female crime solvers or, in some cases, criminals!


The Big Book of Female Detectives
edited by Otto Penzler

Otto Penzler gathers the most iconic women of the detective canon over the past 150 years, captivating and surprising readers in equal measure. The 74 handpicked stories in this collection introduce us to the most determined of gumshoe gals, from debutant detectives to spinster sleuths to groundbreaking female cops and contemporary crime-fighting P.I.s

This is a first class collection of short stories (mostly) ranging from Victorian times to the present. I liked all the time periods pretty well except, to my surprise, the pulp era stories. However, that is clearly a matter of personal taste. Otto Penzler serves up a wonderful selection and I discovered several new authors to investigate further. There are all sorts of detectives from the young and beautiful to the old and canny. Some have sidekicks (usually male), some have a gang of admirers/assistants, and some work completely alone. There is also a final section of stories featuring female villains which was a lot of fun also.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes this sort of thing as much as I do.


The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings 
by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace

I was led to this via the collection above.

Madame Koluchy is beautiful, charismatic, and able to miraculously heal. Too bad that she is a diabolical master villainess. Only two men know the secret and are trying, behind the scenes, to expose her fiendish plots and bring her to justice. Meanwhile, she is plotting to destroy them.

Interestingly, L.T. Meade was a woman who wrote a ton of books and had several male co-authors who she worked with regularly.

Written in 1899, these are enjoyable, clever stories which take the reader on exciting adventures to try to foil evil. One of my favorite Librivox readers has a good audio version.

The Sorceress of the Strand
by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace

From the moment Madame Sara arrived on the scene, she has taken London society by storm. Madame is both beautiful and mysterious, but it soon becomes clear to both Dixon Druce and his friend, police surgeon Eric Vandeleur, that there is something sinister about the woman and the goings on at her shop on the Strand. They soon become obsessed with proving her guilty of the many crimes that follow in her wake!

Obviously this is similar to the tales of the villainess from The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings by the same authors. It was also quite enjoyable though I liked the other book better as Madame Sara's plans were not quite as involved or diabolical as Madame Koluchy's. Still a lot of fun though! I also listened to these via Librivox.


Constance Dunlap 
by Arthur B. Reeve

I really enjoyed this book about a clever woman who turns forger to help her husband.

This is told as a series of short stories and after the first few Constance is not an anti-hero any more. She uses her skills and interest in new-fangled inventions like fingerprints, blood pressure machines, and audio recorders to help those who have inadvertently wound up on the wrong side of the law. Although the stories are short, each case is interesting and I was drawn into them eagerly to see what Constance would discover. I especially enjoyed seeing her outsmart the corrupt hired detective Drummond with whom she crosses paths repeatedly. Via Librivox.


That Affair at Portstead Manor 
by Gladys Edson Locke

An English country home during a house party becomes the scene of a double mystery. One of the three detectives employed on the case is a woman whose common sense, calm, and plain logic are skillfully employed in straightening the tangle.

Not the greatest from a mysterious point of view but worth reading (or listening to) for watching Mr. Clavering in his humorous detective attempts while Mary Gray is the obviously talented detective. I enjoyed their dynamic in this otherwise rather ordinary manor house murder mystery. Via Librivox.

Like all your birthdays came at once

She turned to face Lamb. "I'm wet," she said.

"Nice to see you too," said Lamb. "But let's not get carried away." He eyed her critically. "You look like all your birthdays came at once."

"I look happy to you?"

"No, old. Am I the only one round here speaks English?"

Mick Herron, London Rules

"My desire to keep adding books I can’t possibly all read, can only be satisfied if my soul is immortal."

On Owning More Books Than You Can Read is a piece that I'm grateful Jeff Miller wrote. So I don't have to.

Because I agree straight down the line. Except for the part about being a completionist. I have run into too many series that have lost their savor partway through.

On the other hand, the part about social media being wonderful for introducing me to new authors and books is especially true. Some of the best have been due to Jeff's reviews. And I tend not to have big stacks of books I haven't read. I guess that is my completionist element. If I own something I want to use it ... or read it, as the case may be.

What the weather should be ...

From my friend and podcast buddy Scott Danielson who lives in Utah. I love these!

Meanwhile here in Dallas it was 78° yesterday and we were digging out our short sleeved shirts. No worries though. I hear it will be in the 40s in a week or so.

The Anchoress: Amidst Our Apocalypse, Advent Asks Us to Stay

The Anchoress (Elizabeth Scalia) at Word on Fire blog makes a heartfelt plea to those who are heartsick, leaving the Church, "taking a break" from Catholicism. What is below is just a bit. Do go read it all.

And so this is what I want to say to my friends who have left, or who are struggling; those who are halfway out the doors, or think they soon will be:

My dear sisters and brothers, Hold on! Hold fast, and don’t run at the revelation!

Don't try to run through the fearsome darkness!

Stay for Advent and stand the watch with me, with your family, with all of us, including the saints.

Be willing, for now, to keep company with Christ, so deeply wounded by his own Bride.

Consent, for now, to share in the hard times before us (they will yet get harder, the darkness will grow deeper, still) and help us to hold, to hold fast!

Because the light is coming; the darkness will never overcome it.

Remember that Isra-el means “struggle with God.” We are all little Isra-els right now, wrestling, wrestling within his house and seeking our Jerusalem, our Abode of Peace.

Hold on! Hold fast!

Because an Advent promise has been made to us, and God is ever-faithful, so we may trust in it: Your light will come Jerusalem; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty.

This is for all of us. It is for you, and for me. It's for every little Isra-el struggling.

Your light will come. Just hold fast.

And, maybe, based on a conversation that my daughter Rose and I had yesterday, we need to read Hosea. It is short but shocking as Hosea grapples with a wife who is a prostitute and children who I always wondered if they were his own. God does not forget Israel even they seem to embrace self-destruction, and teaches us that love is the strongest force of all, even when the sin seems unforgivable.

The Political Lady

The Political Lady, James Tissot

A better title translation might be The Ambitious Lady. Google Arts & Culture comments:

The political arena inhabited by this painting’s subject is a social one. The visual narrative Tissot unfolds throughout the composition implies that this young woman aims to improve her own position by making herself a stylish and vital guest in the ballrooms and salons frequented by the French upper class. As described in an exhibition catalogue published by the Arthur Tooth Gallery in London, where this work was shown in 1886, the central figure’s pink dress, “ . . . is a marvel of the dressmaker’s art, with its multitude of tiny flounces, its black girdle, its pink sash, and the color of her pink ostrich feather fan has been carefully studied and matched.”

And, of course, the dress is what caught my eye. It is a marvelous, frothy bit of fashion.

Flower Store and Dairy Store

Childe Hassam, La Bouquetiere et La Laitiere, c. 1888

I like the contrast of the obvious boredom (or is it complacency?) of the dairy clerk versus the earnest concentration of the kneeling florist. There is something about the way Childe Hassam portrays the scene that makes me feel the cobblestones beneath my feet and the slightly chilly, humid air.

It was great fun writing a book...

It was great fun writing a book. One lived with it. It became a companion. It built an impalpable crystal sphere around one of interests and ideas. In a sense one felt like a goldfish in a bowl; but in this case the goldfish made his own bowl. This came along everywhere with me. It never got knocked about in travelling, and there was never a moment when agreeable occupation was lacking. Either the glass had to be polished, or the structure extended or contracted, or the walls required strengthening. I have noticed in my life deep resemblances between many different kinds of things. Writing a book is not unlike building a house or planning a battle or painting a picture. The technique is different, the materials are different, but the principle is the same. The foundations have to be laid, the data assembled, and the premises must bear the weight of their conclusions. Ornaments or refinements may then be added. The whole when finished is only the successful presentation of a theme.

Winston Churchill, via The Art of Manliness

I love his description of writing the book. And also that he is using the skills which he uses for every thing else ... just differently. That is how life works but we don't often pull back from the details often enough to notice.

Young men are adventurous. It is extraordinary what they will rush upon sometimes.

"Come, come," said Nicholas, "I am all impatience to begin."

Tim Linkinwater shook his head with an air of mild reproof. Mr. Nickleby wass not sufficiently impressed with the deep and awful nature of his undertaking. Suppose there should be any mistake—any scratching out——

Young men are adventurous. It is extraordinary what they will rush upon sometimes. Without even taking the precaution of sitting himself down upon his stool, but standing leisurely at the desk, and with a smile upon his face—actually a smile; (there was no mistake about it; Mr. Linkinwater often mentioned it afterwards;) Nicholas dipped his pen into the inkstand before him, and plunged into the books of Cheeryble Brothers!

Tim Linkinwater turned pale, and tilting up his stool on the two legs nearest Nicholas, looked over his shoulder in breathless anxiety. Brother Charles and brother Ned entered the counting-house together; but Tim Linkinwater, without looking round, impatiently waved his hand as a caution that profound silence must be observed, and followed the nib of the inexperienced pen with strained and eager eyes.

The brothers looked on with smiling faces, but Tim Linkinwater smiled not, nor moved for some minutes. At length he drew a long slow breath, and still maintaining his position on the tilted stool, glanced at brother Charles, secretly pointed with the feather of his pen towards Nicholas, and nodded his head in a grave and resolute manner, plainly signifying "He'll do."

Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby

Somehow this paints such a great scene of tension, despite the relatively low stakes of making entries into an accounting book. And, yet, it also shows how much Tim Linkinwater cares about his life's work. Very sweet.

Shiva as Lord of the Dance

Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja)

You can't watch as many Bollywood movies as we do and not get used to hearing about Shiva ... which just makes me more amused that he is also Lord of the Dance. Perfect for Bollywood!

Starry Night over the Rhone

Starry Night Over the Rhone, 1888. Vincent van Gogh

Out for the Holiday!

Back next week!

Ladder of Divine Ascent

The 12th century Ladder of Divine Ascent icon (St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt).

Via Wikipedia, where you may read much more about this icon, including what each rung of the ladder represents.

For me, I'm just fascinated by the imagery and surrounding elements ... demons pulling people off the ladder, the people on earth and in heaven all praying for those on the ladder. It is not only beautiful but makes us dig deeper, which is the point in the first place.

White-backed Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker, taken by Remo Savisaar

Homage as an act of self-realization

It is "meet and just" to do homage to Him who is the supreme greatness and glory; at the same time this act of homage is an act of self-realization for him who performs it. Man's real world is, as it were, above him. Praising God means ascending into that homeland of our spirit where, it might be said, we truly live.

Therefore we should practice giving praise to God. This discipline widens and edifies the spirit. The whole day assumes a different character. ...

Romano Guardini, The Art of Praying

I love this book and have been reading it (for the 3rd time, maybe?) very slowly as a devotional. The sections are very short so it is perfect, especially when I need that extra push to stop and pray (which is practically always, let's be honest). Taking this bit to heart yesterday changed my day, just as Guardini said.

Devoting life to proving there is no purpose

Those who devote their lives to the purpose of proving that there is no purpose, constitute an interesting subject for study.

A. N. Whitehead, The Function of Reason

Fog

Taken by Scott Danielson

I feel as if this would have been more appropriate for Halloween but I love the atmosphere no matter when it was taken.

Library Cat

Library Cat, Belinda DelPesco

Belinda says:

My trusty studio assistant, Scout. He’s all about being helpful, especially if you need things like fur in the paint, shoe laces untied while carving details on a block, paint brushes scattered to the floor, or a lap warmer.

She's always got interesting information about how each piece was created. Click on the link to go to Belinda's blog.

Camel and Rider

Unglazed camel and Sogdian rider, taken by I, Sailko

I love the realism in this with the camel trying to bite the rider and the rider's arm out to protect the child behind him.

Birch Forest

Gustav Klimt, Birch Forest, 1903
via Arts Everyday Living

The bitterness of boyish distresses lies in the fact that we do not know that they are small.

The bitterness of boyish distresses does not lie in the fact that they are large; it lies in the fact that we do not know that they are small. About any early disaster there is a dreadful finality; a lost child can suffer like a lost soul.

It is currently said that hope goes with youth, and lends to youth its wings of a butterfly; but I fancy that hope is the last gift given to man, and the only gift not given to youth. Youth is pre-eminently the period in which a man can be lyric, fanatical, poetic; but youth is the period in which a man can be hopeless. The end of every episode is the end of the world. But the power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged; God has kept that good wine until now. it is from the backs of the elderly gentlemen that the wings of the butterfly should burst. There is nothing that so much mystifies the young as the consistent frivolity of the old. They have discovered their indestructibility. They are in their second and clearer childhood, and there is a meaning in the merriment of their eyes. They have seen the end of the End of the World.
G.K. Chesterton, Dickens

Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge (Giverny)

Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge, 1897–99, Claude Monet

We can see here what Claude Monet made of the bridge we saw him on yesterday.

Monet in his garden at Giverny

Monet, right, in his garden at Giverny, 1922

You live in an age that is twisted out its true pattern

...you must work to earn your salvation, in anxious fear. Both the will to do it and the accomplishment of that will are something which God accomplishes in you, to carry out his loving purpose. Do all that lies in you, never complaining, never hesitating, to shew yourselves innocent and single-minded, God's children, bringing no reproach on his name. You live in an age that is twisted out of its true pattern, and among such people you shine out, beacons to the world, upholding the message of life.

Philippians 2:12-15, Knox translation

This phrase, You live in an age that is twisted out of its true pattern, really struck me. Because there is nothing new under the sun. Paul lived in those times and so do we. I needed that reminder and also his encouragement, do all that lies in you, never complaining, never hesitating. Good stuff.

I just don't understand — and I probably never will

Once again we face great evil, this time in the slayings at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. I wonder at my own simplicity as each time something horrific like this happens, my first thought is, "What is wrong with this person (perpetrator)?"

I really cannot understand.

Again it leads to serious questions of the sort we have seen throughout the Old Testament in particular as the people tried to make sense of evil, turning to God for answers that often were not forthcoming.

Just like people through the ages, maybe God can see the causes of evil, but we usually can't. Even when we can see an ostensible cause, it is often incomprehensible. The one thing we don't have over these situations is control. Of course, understanding and control are what we'd like because then we could possibly head these things off. Stop the evil, heal the potential perpetrators, save the victims.

But here we are in the imperfect world where we are often buffeted by chaos. Jesus' death on the cross shows he understands our pain and bewilderment and suffering more than we know ... and that he can use it to bring about victory over evil.

But, that's hard to see from our human standpoint.

So what do we do?

We help directly if we can.

We pray, always. For the souls of the victims, for their families and friends in the midst of shock and grief, and even for human soul who did evil's work. (That last is a hard one, but necessary for my own soul. I don't know how God metes out justice but I know that I'd be terrible at it. So that prayer is necessary for me to be able to trust God with it.)

We live our own lives fully and with confidence in Christ and for Christ. Every ripple for good we make in our own bit of the world helps Jesus enter the world with healing, making lives whole again. And it helps defeat evil.

Saint Michael Archangel,
defend us in battle,
be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil;
may God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, cast into hell
Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

Couch on the Porch, Cos Cob

Couch on the Porch, Cos Cob, Frederick Childe Hassam

Doesn't this look heavenly?

At the Seaside

At the Seaside, Edward B. Gordon

"Why me, Lord?"

I remember storming into the chapel one morning. I looked up at the Blessed Sacrament and said, "Today is not the day for problems, Lord. I've got a lot of pain and I can't take any more."

I was silent for a while. The Lord was too.

"Why me, Lord?" I finally cried out. "Why me?"

Then I just stared at Him. My eyes were fixed on the Holy Eucharist as if to say, "Well, answer me!"

There was a strange silence.

Then, after a few moments, a gentle Voice answered.

"Yes, Angelica," He said. "And why Me?"

Mother Angelica's Answers, Not Promises

Bends of the Emajõgi river

Bends of the Emajõgi river, Remo Savisaar

Click through to see the picture larger and drink in the full beauty.

A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament

A solid, up-to-date overview of contemporary scholarship's understanding of the language, literature, history, and culture of the ancient Hebrews; how the Old Testament is seen in the light of the New; and how each book is cited in the modern 3-year lectionary.

This book isn't for beginners, despite the title. This isn't a Bible basics overview for those who have little knowledge of the Bible. It is for those with scholarly interests or needs. I could see it being an excellent class text. As well as literary structure, cultural context, and historical perspectives, we get a look at how each Old Testament book was understood and used by New Testament authors.

Perhaps most valuable, and certainly unexpected by me, was the consideration of modern Biblical scholarship versus traditional teachings of authorship and when the books were written. Granted, these topics will not be of interest to everyone, but having recently come across statements in Wikipedia that David probably didn't exist except as a sort of King Arthur legend and that authorship of his psalms was likewise doubted, I wanted to get an informed opinion from a trustworthy source. The respectful, even-handed look at these questions, as well as that of Moses's authorship of the Pentateuch let me see the scholarly reasoning and counter-arguments and weigh them for myself. And left me admiring this book even more.

I advise looking at Amazon's sample and using the "surprise me" button to get a feel for the writing and thoroughness. You'll get to see large sections from deep within the text to give you a good idea of what's there. That's what made me take the leap and get it.

These two authors have done their readers a real service with this fine work. Definitely recommended as a resource and, if you are like me, for fascinating reading all the way through.

The only way in is on your knees

I never came into the church as a person who was being taught. I came in on my knees. That is the only way in. When people start praying they need truths; that’s all. You don’t come into the Church by ideas and concepts, and you cannot leave by mere disagreement. It has to be a loss of faith, a loss of participation. You can tell when people leave the Church: they have quit praying.

Actively relating to the Church's prayer and sacraments is not done through ideas. Any Catholic today who has an intellectual disagreement with the Church has an illusion. You cannot have an intellectual disagreement with the Church: that's meaningless. The Church is not an intellectual institution. It is a superhuman institution.

Marshall McLuhan, The Medium and the Light

Truer words were never spoken.

Miss Bailey with the African Shawl

Miss Bailey with the African Shawl, Edwin Augustus Harleston, 1930

Mother Angelica's Answers, Not Promises

From the founder of EWTN Global Catholic Network comes this profoundly practical, humorous, and common-sense approach to answering life's most vexing questions.

I was never much interested in EWTN though I knew it did untold good. Likewise, I was never really drawn to Mother Angelica, the nun who founded EWTN. However, I happened to be surrounded by people who sang her praises in 2003 when I was a fairly new Catholic. So I read this book and found that  Mother Angelica's sturdy common sense grounded in faith was good for both instruction and inspiration.

Recently, after passing along a favorite quote from this book, I wondered if it would be good to recommend to new Catholics. It had been so long that I had only a hazy memory of the contents so I picked it up again. It turns out that it is good not only for new Catholics but for those who've practiced the faith for a while. It was good to read Mother Angelica's steady advice and instruction again, a way to ground myself anew in the basics.

Examples from her life and those of people asking for advice alternate to give us real life examples we can relate to. She never discounts the realities of living daily joys, sorrows, and struggles, but also reminds us of the less tangible realities of loving God and of our ultimate goal of getting to heaven. I found it a good reminder of all those realities, a help on my journey, and inspirational overall.

Recommended for everyone.

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?"

A Second-Rate Turner

Because of today's featured art.

Art creates an incomparable and unique effect, and, having done so, passes on to other things. Nature, upon the other hand, forgetting that imitation can be made the sincerest form of insult, keeps on repeating this effect until we all become absolutely wearied of it. Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of a sunset. Sunsets are quite old-fashioned. They belong to the time when Turner was the last note in art. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on. Yesterday evening Mrs. Arundel insisted on my going to the window, and looking at the glorious sky, as she called it. Of course I had to look at it. She is one of those absurdly pretty Philistines to whom one can deny nothing. And what was it? It was simply a very second-rate Turner, a Turner of a bad period, with all the painter's worst faults exaggerated and over-emphasised.

Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying: An Observation

Westminster Sunset

Westminster Sunset, JMW Turner

Russian Balloon Seller

Russian Balloon Seller - streets of Petrograd
1881 Miss Rose Rayner

C.S. Lewis on listening to Hitler

On July 19, Lewis had been listening with Havard to a BBC broadcast of Hitler's "Last Appeal to Great Britain" address before the Reichstag, a litany of threats and promises beginning and ending with a call "to reason and common sense." Lewis was intrigued: "I don't know if I'm weaker than other people," he told Warnie, "but it is a positive revelation to me how while the speech lasts it is impossible not to waver just a little."

Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski, The Fellowship

Two days later Lewis was inspired to write The Screwtape Letters.

America and space

In America there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is — that is what makes America what it is.

Gertrude Stein

That certainly struck me with great force when we were driving on our vacation.

Braniff stewardesses in the 1960s

Braniff stewardesses in the 1960s, via Traces of Texas

Braniff stewardesses in the 1960s. They are wearing uniforms designed by Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci, best known for geometric prints in a kaleidoscope of colors. I kind of wish air travel still had this sense of whimsy about it. It's become such a drudgery. Braniff, of course, was based in Dallas.

That makes any flight more fun!

Butterflies

Sarah Paxton Ball Dodson, Butterflies

Marsh Harrier

Marsh Harrier, Remo Savisaar

I don't know how Remo Savisaar gets such stunning photos, I just know that he does it over and over. It's always hard to choose which to share here.

Do yourself a favor and go to his blog to see all the other gorgeous photos he's taken.

This Diwali — Thugs Of Hindostan (Updated)

As any regular readers are well aware, we're really into Bollywood movies at our house. In addition to the fun of finding a whole new sort of movie experience, we recently realized that we've gradually been educated more about Indian culture and attitudes. (All are reviewed under the Bollywood link above.)

• Ek Tha Tiger taught us that the Indians feel about Pakistan the way we felt about the USSR in James Bond movies.
• Chak De! India taught us that the Indians struggle to put national unity above regional identity.
• English Vinglish showed us how Indians felt about the American immigration experience. And about the importance placed on speaking English in India.
• Aiyyaa (not reviewed) gave us a glimpse of the Hindi ideas of Tamil culture.
• Dhoom 3 showed us that no villain is worse than a bank. Ever.

Recently Rose began looking into top grossing Indian films to supplement her Top 100 Bollywood movies list from which we'd been drawing. This is when we realized that Diwali (the Hindu festival of lights, which is a national holiday) is the time to release your big blockbusters. So many trailers have "This Diwali!" as the release time.

And, luckily, this Diwali (early November) is coming a movie for which I've been waiting. Yes, we've finally come that far. We can eagerly anticipate movie openings.

The director of Tashan and Dhoom 3 teamed with  some of our favorite stars, Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif, to give us what looks like an amazing historical romp set in the time of the Raj. I know I've never seen Aamir Khan looking like this (the rascally scoundrel).

Check out the trailer (it has captions, in case they don't come on automatically).

Thugs Of Hindostan - Official Trailer

Amitabh Bachchan | Aamir Khan | Katrina Kaif

Set in 1795, the film follows a band of Thugs led by Khudabaksh Azaad, who aspires to free Hindostan (the Indian subcontinent) from the rule of the expanding British East India Company. Alarmed, British commander John Clive sends a small-time Thug from Awadh, Firangi Mallah, to infiltrate and counter the threat.

This may wind up being the first Indian movie we actually go to a theater to watch! There are some theaters north of us with a large Indian community where English subtitled films can be seen. Can't wait!

UPDATE
We did go see this at the theater and enjoyed it enormously. It was a big spectacle and we loved it.

 Hannah and Rose discussed it in episode 39 of An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

Café Américain

Café Américain, Edward B. Gordon

One can never wrestle enough with God if one does so out of pure regard for the truth.

It seemed to me certain, and I still think so today, that one can never wrestle enough with God if one does so out of pure regard for the truth. Christ likes us to prefer truth to him because, before being Christ, he is truth. If one turns aside from him to go toward the truth, one will not go far before falling into his arms.

Simone Weil

I love that phrase, "falling into his arms." This resonates with me particularly since I found God by wondering what the truth was. And I fell into his arms thanks to that pursuit.

Night's Bright Darkness by Sally Read

In the spring of 2010 Sally Read was heralded as one of the bright young writers of the British poetry scene. Feminist, atheist and deeply anti-Catholic, she was writing a book about women's reproduction and sexuality when, during her research, she spoke with a Catholic priest. That mysterious encounter led Sally on a dramatic journey of spiritual quest and discovery which ended up at the Vatican itself, where she was received into the Catholic Church in December of that year.

Read confronts head on the burning question for God that every true Christian harbors: What do you want me to do? In an age of increasing secularism, and in the wake of disillusionment with the Catholic Church following disclosures of abuse, the book takes us to the core of what the Church is all about: Christ and the yearning to be near him.

This was my book club's recent selection. About halfway through I was not sure if I liked Read herself very much but I was sure that I liked her unutterable honesty. She was aggressive and argumentative and irrepressibly attached to extreme progressive thinking. We've all either been her or met her. What I loved was her searing honesty about herself and her conversion. I can forgive almost anything of such an honest person. By the end, as happens with us all if we allow God His way, Read has become someone who is both changed and more herself in a way she never was before.

It was interesting being a convert and reading this. I recognized moments so specifically from my own journey and yet, of course, they were completely foreign because they were shaped to Sally Read's soul and not my own. It made them all the more inspiring for me.

Moved me to the point of tears several times and has helped me on my own journey at this point. Definitely recommended.

Gingersnaps

A recipe for classic crisp, spicy gingersnaps truly worthy of the "snap" in their name. These are the ones I make every Christmas. Simple and delicious.

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski

A stirring group biography of the Inklings, the Oxford writing club featuring J.R.R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis is the twentieth century’s most widely read Christian writer and J.R.R. Tolkien its most beloved mythmaker. For three decades, they and their closest associates formed a literary club known as the Inklings, which met weekly in Lewis’s Oxford rooms and in nearby pubs. They discussed literature, religion, and ideas; read aloud from works in progress; took philosophical rambles in woods and fields; gave one another companionship and criticism; and, in the process, rewrote the cultural history of modern times.

Romantics who scorned rebellion, fantasists who prized reality, wartime writers who believed in hope, Christians with cosmic reach, the Inklings sought to revitalize literature and faith in the twentieth century's darkest years--and did so in dazzling style.

I've read enough about Tolkien, Lewis, and the Inklings that I resisted this behemoth of a book until now. What hooked me was that the authors delve into both their faith and their literary works more deeply than the other things I've read. I read slowly, just picking it up here and there, and it was oh so satisfying.

One of the things I especially liked was that it humanized and made likable some of the characters who came off as one dimensional in other biographies. For example, Lewis's father always seemed an unfeeling fellow who continually made Lewis miserable. In this book we see excerpts of letters between the father and Warnie, Lewis's much loved brother, where both are worried about some activity of Lewis's. So we get another angle. The same goes for Edith Tolkien who I've simply seen written about as miserable and unfulfilled as a person. That angle is not ignored, but we also see the Tolkien couple's devotion to each other and the good things she got from her marriage to J.R.R. Lewis's wife Joy and their relationship gets similarly balanced treatment.

I'd say that this is the only book you need if you are interested in biographies of Tolkien and Lewis, or simply interested in the Inklings. It is superb and superior to any other books I've read on these subjects.

We're Back!

And we had a wonderful time exploring the Old and New South in Charleston, Savannah, Muscle Shoals, and points en route.

I will share more later ... am diving back into "real life" today and paddling hard to keep my head above water!

Road Trip — Charleston

Source

I've always heard it is one of America's most beautiful cities. And I love Revolutionary history, which Charleston abounds in. This year we put off traveling, hoping crowds would lessen when school began. We didn't count on hurricane season, but it seems as if Charleston got off fairly easy. So we're going to find out for ourselves.

You know how it is — we love a road trip. So we're driving.

There is something about seeing the land change as you drive by. About meeting the different people on the way, hearing new accents, seeing food specialties change. You understand the country a little differently.

That slow evolution also is reflected on the people traveling, as Tom and I have found. Listening to music or audiobooks, letting silence fill the car, watching miles slip away - these are all conducive to reflections that we just don't have time for in regular life. We may never have the time to develop the thoughts, much less carry them through into conversation. Long hours in the car lend themselves to such things.

So we embrace the simple road trip. I get my knitting, we pick out audiobooks and podcasts, pack up the cocktail kit for our evenings, and hit the road. Plus, you have the chance for side trips which indulge at least one person's special interests. And we've got one of those planned ... Muscle Shoals style. Maybe we'll also swing down to Savannah, Tom being interested in Revolutionary ports (hey any excuse, right?)

More on all that once we return, in about a week. There will be a few planned posts popping up here for some of my favorite feast days.

The Whole Business of Life, The Only Road to Love and Peace

[Obedience] appears to me more and more the whole business of life, the only road to love and peace — the cross and the crown in one ... What indeed can we imagine Heaven to be but unimpeded obedience. I think this is one of the causes of our love of inanimate nature, that in it we see things which unswervingly carry out the will of their Creator, and are therefore wholly beautiful: and through their kind of obedience is infinitely lower than ours, yet the degree is so much more perfect ...

C.S. Lewis, letter to Alan Griffiths

Dunlin

Dunlin, Remo Savisaar

Deviant Rising by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman

The Helix was created to revolutionize the way we communicate. But even the purest of intentions can spawn terrible evil.

This wasn’t what Lithia had in mind when she decided to run away from home. Her ship was not meant to carry a fugitive wanted in two galaxies, or the stowaways running from a war that wasn’t hers. She just wanted to live a quiet, peaceful life alongside her brother. But now she knows too much about The Helix, the secret hidden deep within it, and what it would mean for all humankind if she walked away.

Deviant Rising is a solid space opera with big ideas, likable characters, and plenty of action.

The Helix is a universal communications system which everyone in the future is as addicted to as we are addicted to the internet. And what's not to like? It connects with your brain, feeding all the info you need on demand. At least that's how the people of the United Planets of Earth (UPE) feel about it. Out on the Frontier, well, that's a different story. They're pretty independent and not crazy about the UPE's edict that they hook up to the Helix.

And so a rebellion begins.

There's more to it than that, of course. Star Wars style, this tale is told through the eyes of several people who are unconnected to any big doings of government, politics, or power. Or so they think. I mentioned Star Wars and we do meet some familiar character types with motivations that are similar. But the feel I had more was of Firefly, with stubborn people on the fringes of society doing what they must to scratch along and, if necessary, make things right.

I really enjoyed this future San Francisco with the rich people living high up in full sunlight and the poor stuck at the bottom in the Undercity where no light ever penetrates. What a novel idea for establishing privilege and caste. I also enjoyed the Archer's Agony setting, with the story of how the dead ships docking just became part of the structure. That sounds just about right for a frontier culture without lots of resources.

There's a big cast of characters, including my favorites:  a cyborg-assassin with a conscience (we love to love those bad boys, right?) and a naturally gifted engineer who's never happier than when he gets his hands on an engine to fix (like Kaylee from Firefly). They are part of three different plots that come together (natch) into one fast paced story.

In a lot of ways it made me think of my favorite Robert Heinlein stories, the "juveniles" which didn't dumb it down but gave us plenty of action to go with the ideas.

A lot of fun and I hope there is a sequel though this is a stand alone novel.