For You, Darling!

For you, darling! Remo Savisaar

Right hand and left hand

The Texas Quote of the Day:
"Hell, Judge ... I've got that much in my right-hand pocket."

"Then look in your left-hand pocket and see if you can find two years in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth."

----- Exchange between Galveston bootlegger John Nounes and Judge Joseph Hutcheson after the judge fined Nounes $5,000 in May, 1926

Via Traces of Texas

$2.99 Kindle Sale on Thus Sayeth the Lord!

April 27 - May 11, 2020

OSV has a temporary deep discount on the Thus Sayeth the Lord e-book for $2.99 on Amazon!

Get it now! 

And tell your friends!

Lilacs in a Window

Mary Cassatt, Lilacs in a Window

Thank you, Ellen!

I received a lovely gift from Ellen, but there was no way to acknowledge it! There's nothing like a surprise present to brighten your day! I can't thank you enough. :-)

10 novels every Catholic should read (or at least try once)

Source

This article, by yours truly, is the feature article in the April 26 issue of Our Sunday Visitor. Luckily it is available online now! Here's the beginning:

Humans are wired to seek the truth. God created us that way. It helps us in finding God who is Truth itself. While science and math give us measurable facts, the place where we reach real, intangible truth is usually in our stories.

Good fiction helps us recognize who we are, who we want to be and how to live a life of courage, honesty, endurance and compassion. There’s a reason that Jesus told so many parables, after all. If you’ve got the choice between a detailed lecture and an exciting story, which one would you pick?

In today’s world we may come across few parables, but we do have an abundance of novels and short stories. Here are 10 good stories for you to try. Some of the authors are Christian, some are not, but all have truth at the heart of their tales — in a very entertaining package.

Read the rest at Our Sunday Visitor where each book has an overview, food for thought, and a look from a Christian point of view for your consideration.

The Old Bridge

The Old Bridge, France, 1910, Guy Rose

A Movie You Might Have Missed #7 — A New Leaf

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

7. A New Leaf

One of Tom's favorite movies and one that I am glad he insisted I watch. Matthau is a wealthy playboy and confirmed bachelor who has run through all his money. To keep afloat, he decides to marry a wealthy woman and murder her later. Elaine May, who also wrote and directed, plays Matthau's clumsy and adoring bride. He discovers she is being cheated blind by her household staff and, while setting things straight, begins to find a different facet of himself. Not that he gives up on the murder scheme though. Hilarious and perhaps Matthau's best performance.

The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind

We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one.

Dean Koontz, The Darkest Evening of the Year

I never would have thought of it that way but it is perfectly expressed.

I'll be on Meet the Author on Radio Maria - today at 2:00 CST!

Each week Ken Huck talks with Catholic authors on Meet the Author on Radio Maria about their books, both recent publications and older works that have stood the test of time.

And today it is me! We're gonna talk about the prophets in a way that goes down easy!

Listen live at 3 pm ET.

Also, use your Echo or other device to listen. Simply say "Alexa, play Radio Maria USA" and you will be connected in seconds.

The face of a good poker player

"I haven't told you everything about this woman."

"Yes, I am aware."

"Surprised, I said, "You are? How?"

"What do they call the face of a good poker player?"

"A poker face," I said.

"Yes, I believe that is correct. You do not have one. ..."

Dean Koontz, The City

One of the great pleasures of this book is the relationship between the young narrator and his neighbor, Mr. Yoshioka.

Gospel of Matthew: Let the dead bury their own dead

Matthew 8:21-22

Below is a discussion of one of the most puzzling and seemingly hard-hearted comments Jesus ever made. Until you understand the context, of course, in which case Jesus is calling the man's bluff.

Josef von Führich, 1837

But there was another man who wished to follow Jesus. He said he would follow Jesus, if he was first allowed to go and bury his father. Jesus' answer was: "Follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead." At first sight that seems a hard saying. To the Jew it was a sacred duty to ensure decent burial for a dead parent. ...

The true explanation undoubtedly lies in the way in which the Jews used this phrase—"I must bury my father"—and in the way in which it is still used in the east.

Wendt quotes an incident related by a Syrian missionary, M. Waldmeier. This missionary was friendly with an intelligent and rich young Turk. He advised him to make a tour of Europe at the close of his education, so that his education would be completed and his mind broadened. The Turk answered, "I must first of all bury my father." The missionary expressed his sympathy and sorrow that the young man's father had died. But the young Turk explained that his father was still very much alive, and that what he meant was that he must fulfill all his duties to his parents and to his relatives, before he could leave them to go on the suggested tour, that, in fact, he could not leave home until after his father's death, which might not happen for many years.

That is undoubtedly what the man in this gospel incident meant. He meant, "I will follow you some day, when my father is dead, and when I am free to go." He was in fact putting off his following of Jesus for many years to come.

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1 by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

A Friend in Need

A Friend in Need, 1903, by C. M. Coolidge from his Dogs Playing Poker series

Rereading: The City by Dean Koontz

I recommended this book to my mother and then I realized it had been six years since I'd read it and I didn't remember it very well at all. It's been a real pleasure to reread so I'm rerunning the review.

That’s life. Always something, more good than bad, but always interesting if you’re paying attention.

The voice in this book reminds me of another classic Dean Koontz character, Odd Thomas, in its sweetness and innocence. However, this is narrated by a 10 year old instead of a grown man.

The 10-year-old is a skinny, black, musical prodigy named Jonah Kirk. The time is the mid-1960's when chaos reigns in America. The place is a mysterious City which is never named. Unless you want to call it Pearl, after the mysterious woman who appears and disappears mysteriously in Jonah's life and who tells him that she is the soul of the City.

This story looks at how we respond when it seems that the world is an unstable, chaotic place where unexpected evil can drop on you at any moment. Sound like any other time period you know? Such as the one we're living in right now? Koontz's story has a subtle supernatural gloss and doesn't focus on horror nearly as much as other books. Instead it focuses on coming of age, the power of community, the power of kindness, and overcoming adversity. As always, there is a strong theme of good versus evil but it is mostly kept in the real world.

A lot of the charm of this book comes from Koontz's ability to remind us what it is like to interpret the world as a supernatural, magical place because of youth's sheer inexperience. The relationship between Jonah and his upstairs neighbor, Mr. Yoshioka was especially interesting to watch flowering. And if you like jazz, big band, and swing, there are enough references to send you to start up your own soundtrack while you read.

It's not what I think of as typical Dean Koontz fiction, but I greatly enjoyed it.

The First Newspaper

Title page of Carolus' Relation from 1609, the earliest newspaper

The News Isn't All the News

[My mother] turned on the TV but muted the sound. People were looting an electronics store, taking TVs and stereos.

"There's something you need to understand, Jonah. For every person who's stealing and setting fires and turning over police cars, there are three or four others in the same neighborhood who want no part of it, who're more afraid of lawbreakers than they are of the law."

"Doesn't look that way."

"Because the TV only shows you the ones who're doing it. The news isn't all the news, Jonah. Not by a long shot. It's just what reporters want to tell you about. Riots come and go, wars come and go, but under the tumult, day after day, century after century, millions of people are doing nice things for one another, making sacrifices, mostly small things, but it's all those little kindnesses that hold civilization together, all those people who live quiet lives and never make the news."

On the silent TV, as the face of the anchorman replaced the riots, I said, "I don't know about that."

"Well I do."

The anchorman was replaced by a wind-whipped rain-lashed town over which towered a giant funnel cloud that tore a house apart in an instant and sucked the ruins off the face of the Earth.

"When weather's big news," my mother said, "it's a hurricane, a tornado, a tidal wave. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, Mother Nature isn't destroying things, she's nurturing us, but that's not what gets ratings or sells papers."

Dean Koontz, The City

This book is set in the chaotic 1960s and does a good job of showing the uncertainty it brings to Americans' lives, especially if the narrator is a 9 year old black boy. The times we live in are no less chaotic and, if anything, more filled with the bad news people want to tell us about.

Right now it's the pandemic, which is akin to the weather mentioned in the quote above. A lot of the fear being experienced right now is being whipped up by the way it is being reported. I really miss the news professionals like Walter Cronkite. Dean Koontz's words remind us of the reality beneath the chatter of ceaseless news.

One Form of Heroism

After you have suffered great losses and known much pain, it is not cowardice to wish to live henceforth with a minimum of suffering. And one form of heroism, about which few if any films will be made, is having the courage to live without bitterness when bitterness is justified, having the strength to persevere even when perseverance seems unlikely to be rewarded, having the resolution to find profound meaning in life when it seems the most meaningless.

Dean Koontz, The City

Three Strawberries

Three Strawberries, Duane Keiser

Colossians 3:3 by George Herbert

Colossians 3:3
by George Herbert

My words and thoughts do both express this notion,
That Life hath with the sun a double motion.
The first Is straight, and our diurnal friend,
The other Hid, and doth obliquely bend.
One life is wrapped In flesh, & and tends to earth:
The other winds towards Him, whose happy birth
Taught me to live here so, That still one eye
Should aim and shoot at that which Is on high:
Quitting with daily labour all My pleasure,
To gain at harvest an eternal Treasure.

Via Thomas Banks

Great Dane with Sausages: "Caesar, those who are about to die salute you!"

Great Dane with Sausages: "Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant, " Wilhelm Trübner
via J.R.'s Art Place

A Movie You Might Have Missed #6: What's Eating Gilbert Grape

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

6. What's Eating Gilbert Grape

The movie that convinced me Leonardo DiCaprio could act.

Johnny Depp is a teenage boy who loves his 400 pound mother, his mentally retarded brother (DiCaprio), and his restless sister but the weight of their combined needs results in crushing responsibility. Stuck in the backwater of tiny Endora, he sees no way out of his situation. The answer to his problems is not what one would anticipate and is as understated as Depp's performance in many ways. Along the way, we are shown each person in greater depth and as we do the quirkiness becomes less important than the different aspects of humanity. Life affirming and it will stick with you.

The Sad Kitchen by John Paul King

Years after the murder of her son, Helen Sampson has opened an underground, nighttime soup kitchen where people seek refuge when they are kept awake by a guilty conscience. But when one of her customers, Vern, writes a children's book that goes viral, The Sad Kitchen begins to attract public suspicion which calls into question Helen's motives.

This is a simple, yet engaging story. I really enjoyed it and, yet, struggle with how to give more of a description than is on the cover itself.

On one level, it is a meditation on forgiveness and mercy. There are crimes which are considered unforgivable by society, yet the Christian must still practice forgiveness and mercy on the truly penitent.

On another level, it is a meditation on the relationship of art to the artist. Can we judge the art separately from the person who created it? I myself say "yes" and yet there is one person whose movies I refuse to view based on his personal life. I suspect we all have that blind spot somewhere.

On yet a third level, it is a meditation on the power of the good person to change lives - simply by living as a good person.

So The Sad Kitchen is simple but there is plenty to think about.

Cherry Tree in Full Bloom at Mountain Temple

Cherry Tree in Full Bloom at Mountain Temple, Calligraphy in the view

Click through to see many more beautiful photos of cherry trees in blossom.

New Reviews for Thus Sayeth the Lord!

This Book is for Everyone

"I'm not a church-going spiritual kind of person but I am a spiritual person. I wasn't sure what I would find in Thus Sayeth the Lord. If it was all churchy I was outta there. But I was so happily engaged with a description and take on the prophets that I could relate to...that made me stop and think. Reread...think more. How often does that happen in a book? It was such a birds-eye view on big situations and brought into the perspective of today. Pretty interesting how now looking at current events is pretty relatable to what was going on for the prophets to deal with in their day. So buy it and enjoy...you will LOL, I promise!" — Lisa Montgomery

=================

Well worth the small cost for the fresh take.

"This book provides a refreshing down to earth look at some of the most interesting individuals in the Bible. It humanizes them and allows us a glimpse into their mentality and faith. " — John Austin

=================

A Good Introduction

"The Old Testament prophets are often hard to get a grip on, as each is embedded in a particular situation in time that usually isn’t familiar to the reader. They can seem detached, unrelated to anything in our current experience. Davis does an excellent job of making the prophets human for us, putting them in context, and making them relevant. As such, it’s an excellent starting for deeper study, and engaging and entertaining in its own right." — William Duquette

=================

Hear the word of the Lord with different ears

"Julie has a special way of listening to anything she reads or watches. She can't seem to ignore what God may be saying in even the most mundane, everyday things and events around us. That is how she listens to God speaking through his designated prophets, the ones in the Bible that we sometimes skirt in our own reading out of confusion, or sometimes fear of what we might hear. The prophets Julie has heard in writing this book may do and say scary things, and she can still help us hear the mercy and comfort our God wants to give us for our own lives." — Patsy Edinburgh

Many thanks to those who took the time to review my book! Here's where you can get your copy!

Media Bias/Fact Check

If you can't tell how a media is slanting it's reports ... and they all do, even if only from the way they phrase a headline, then this is the spot for you:

Media Bias/Fact Check

Our tests of different media we knew about seemed spot on and it is really interesting to read the criteria upon which they base their judgments of each one. Each isn't the same and they seem to be taking a lot of factors into account such as accuracy of fact checking, emotionally loaded word choices,  credible sources, and factual accuracy.

A cool summer morning in the Texas Panhandle

Taken by Traces of Texas

Daffodils

Daffodils, Edward B. Gordon

Good Friday was the perfect day to finish Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

This is my fourth time through the series - there couldn't possibly be a better day to read the end of this book (of the series) than on Good Friday. Everything about Harry as a Christ figure resonates so strongly against the backdrop of Christ's passion which is so present during the Triduum. Really perfect.

What a series. Rowling wrote a master work. No character is left without motivation, no one is all good or all evil (except Voldemort, and even he is pitiable as seen in the way station).

See Me on a Live Webcast on OSV Today - 1 Central Time

This webcast will be a half-hour interview about - of course - my new book Thus Sayeth the Lord: A Fresh Take on the Prophets.

Here's where you can see it and it will be on-demand about an hour after we finish - so you can really see it any time at your convenience.

It looks as if you have to register to watch.

“God Does His Greatest Work Through Frail People” — My Interview with Tony Rossi

Though these stories are thousands of years old, Julie reiterates that they can apply to our lives today. She says, “These prophets were people just like us. We all are dealing with the Lord. What does He want us to do? Where are we God’s mouth, so to speak? These people were put in extraordinary circumstances and they had to really step it up. They were called to do big things, but in our own everyday lives, we’re called to do extraordinary things. They’re just not against the king. They’re with our next door neighbor, with our in-laws, with our children or our coworkers.”

My interview with Tony Rossi of The Christophers is available for your listening pleasure! :-)

The Kindle version is available at Amazon. The print version is now scheduled for June 1 (thank you coronavirus!).

The Haunted Lady by Mary Roberts Rinehart

It’s enough to stop Eliza Fairbanks’s heart. At least that’s what the elderly widow claims is being done to her. First, someone unleashes a cloud of bats in her locked bedroom. When that doesn’t do the trick, next comes a pack of rats to claw at her toes. Special duty nurse Hilda Adams, aka “Miss Pinkerton” to the Homicide Bureau, believes Eliza’s every rattled fear is true. She may be frail—but she’s not batty.

What Eliza is, is very, very rich. Out of the shady and oddball assortment of relatives swarming the mansion, someone clearly has an eye on the Fairbanks fortune. Now it’s Hilda’s job to keep an eye on Eliza before a potential killer resorts to more definitive means. And considering all the bad blood running through the heart of the Fairbanks family, it might already be too late to save her charge.

I enjoyed the heck out of this mystery from 1942. It is classic in just the way you want when the point of reading is to enter another world.

This is the classic mystery situation of the wealthy family full of disgruntled offspring. You can't tell who is simply calloused and who's up to no good. It's got bats, rats, ghosts, and spooky noises, none of which put Hilda off her sleuthing. The solution was perfect and I couldn't believe I hadn't figured it out. All the clues were there.

A lot of fun for those who like older style mysteries.

Monet in His Studio Boat

Monet in His Studio Boat, Eduoard Manet

Manet painted Claude Monet in his Studio Boat in the summer of 1874 at Gennevilliers.

Partly no doubt because he was more interested in the old masters than the other Impressionists and took a more traditional view of the painter’s role in society, Manet was slow to take up the idea of painting on the spot, in the open air.

But that summer it all changed quite dramatically when he spent some time painting with Monet and Renoir at Argenteuil, a small town just down-river from Paris. There it was Monet’s convictions which especially affected him, and although he never became particularly interested in landscape as such, took to painting people out of doors.

Here he has captured Monet and his wife Camille in the boat which the painter used as a floating studio, rowing it up and down the Seine and stopping whenever he spotted a promising subject. Monet was often desperately poor, but could always rely on a loan from Manet – who was equally unpopular but less dependent on art for his income.

Wikiart article

St. Corona - pray for us anyway

Saint Corona

In the middle of March, Catholic news outlets began to report an extraordinary coincidence: not only is there a saint named Corona, but she happens to be the patroness of epidemics. Suddenly, her cult exploded. The internet was flooded with new prayers and litanies beseeching this obscure Saint Corona to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the end of the month, however, the “fact”-checkers at Snopes (those renowned experts on the Roman martyrology) announced that Saint Corona was not, in fact, a patroness of epidemics. ...

In truth, they’re right. There’s no history of Corona being invoked against plague and pandemic. Traditionally, she’s regarded as the patroness of gamblers and treasure-hunters. In fact, she probably went by the name Stephanie in her mortal existence.

But, then, who cares? Do these wet blankets really think Corona is going to refuse our prayers just because she’s not an officially designated plague saint?

This is a wonderful article which points out that historically it is not the Vatican who chooses what saints are the patrons of, it is the people. And, in the case of St. Corona, the people have spoken! Plus, we can ask any saint we like for intercessory prayer, whether or not it is under their patronage.

I really love this bit of the article, which you should go read in its entirety.

We might imagine the popular patrons all rushing here and there, furiously answering petitions. St. Christopher is dashing between fathers who are setting off on long car trips; St. Anthony is tending to busy mothers who have lost their car keys. And there, amid all this bustle, sweet Corona sits on her little throne. Now and then she hears the plea of an Italian grandmother asking for help with her son’s gambling debt but, otherwise, her days are rather uneventful.

Then, suddenly, a loud roar goes up from the earth. The heavens quake; St. Peter’s book nearly falls from its pedestal. Saint Corona almost takes no notice, expecting St. Michael to fly into battle with his flaming sword or St. Brendan to leap into the sea with his great life-ring. Then she notices St. Anthony and St. Christopher, St. Michael and St. Brendan, have halted in their tracks. All at once, they turn and look at her.

Saint Corona blinks. Then, at last, she hears a hundred thousand voices calling her name. Baffled, she looks up at Our Lord. He smiles. “They’re asking for you, Corona.” So she rises from her throne, puts on her crown of glory, and gets to work.

This vision of Saint Corona suddenly going to her new job brought to mind Jo Walton's wonderful story Joyful and Triumphant: Saint Zenobius and the Aliens.

It is short, maybe three pages so go read it at the link. Walton says she wrote it when meditating upon what life in Heaven would be like. It is a delightful companion piece to the imaginings above.

Note: I hadn't heard of St. Corona. Many thanks to Maria for bringing this article to my attention!

Iris

Frank Vincent DuMond, Iris, c. 1902

My favorite flower. Did you know that different colors of irises have different scents?

Lazarus and the Coronavirus

Beautiful. Ten minutes long, but worth every second.

Considering how heartbreaking it is not to be able to accompany our loved ones who are dying of the Coronavirus, it is striking to note that when told that Lazarus had died, Jesus replied, "I am glad that I was not there." What did He mean? How are we to understand His reply?

A careful look at the numbers for coronavirus in the U.S.

This pandemic, now that it has reached America, has taken 3,173 lives here. This, from a tested population of 164,359 cases. That’s a mortality rate of 1.9%. But immediately, questions must be asked. We record every case of death from the coronavirus, but we have no idea how many people have had the coronavirus. Clearly, there are more than 164,359 cases because not everyone has been tested. That would put the mortality rate at less than 1.9%. That rate could be far, far less. As Eran Bendavid and Jay Bhattacharya, professors of medicine at Stanford, have written, based on their model of over 6 million cases they believe exist: “That’s a mortality rate of 0.01%, assuming a two-week lag between infection and death. This is one-tenth of the flu mortality rate of 0.1%.”

William J. Bennett writing at RealClearPolitics has a good piece that helps us keep perspective. Or it helps me do so anyway. Read it all.

Coronavirus in Counties
This map from USA Facts lets you see the number of virus cases and deaths by county. As my husband reminded me, half the cases in the country are concentrated in a few places.

Just my deep breath moments over keeping the sense of perspective that most of the media lost long ago.

Holmes the busybody!

"I know you, you scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes the meddler."

My friend smiled.

"Holmes the busybody!"

His smile broadened.

"Holmes the Scotland Yard jack-in-office."

Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most entertaining," said he.

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Irises in Evening Shadows

Irises in Evening Shadows, Max Pechstein

Scott Danielson interviewed me about my new book!

Listen here at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast!

AND he just reviewed it, saying:

In "Thus Sayeth the Lord", Julie Davis has given us a book that makes the prophets accessible and personal. She helps us see the prophets as relevant and as living, breathing people in their time, each unique yet each called by God. I come away from this book feeling much closer to them than I did before, and with a new enthusiasm for the Old Testament as a whole.

Thank you, Scott!

The word is more real and more lasting than the entire material world

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away." (Mk 13:31) The word—which seems almost nothing in comparison to the mighty power of the immeasurable material cosmos, like a fleeting breath against the silent grandeur of the universe—the word is more real and more lasting than the entire material world. The word is the true, dependable reality, the solid ground on which we can stand, which holds firm even when the sun goes dark and the firmament disintegrates. ... [The] word of Jesus is the true firmament beneath which we can stand and remain.

Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth—Holy Week

The Lonely Pope

Edward B. Gordon, The Lonely Pope

The artist says:

This time at the moment gives us pictures that we will not forget for a very long time. Pope Francis praying in the rain on the deserted St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

Polish Godzilla Poster

Via J.R.'s Art Place

The Single Most Important Lesson of Mr. Rogers' Life

“If you had one final broadcast,” I asked, “one final opportunity to address your television neighbors, and you could tell them the single most important lesson of your life, what would you say?”

​He paused a moment and then said, ever so slowly: Well, I would want [those] who were listening somehow to know that they had unique value, that there isn’t anybody in the whole world exactly like them and that there never has been and there never will be. And that they are loved by the Person who created them, in a unique way. If they could know that and really know it and have that behind their eyes, they could look with those eyes on their neighbor and realize, “My neighbor has unique value too; there’s never been anybody in the whole world like my neighbor, and there never will be.” If they could value that person—if they could love that person—in ways that we know that the Eternal loves us, then I would be very grateful.

Amy Hollingsworth, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers

Gospel of Matthew: A Lamp in the Hand of God and Stained Glass

Matthew 5:15

Out of order again, but this is worth backing up for. At least I think so ...

In the Lord's saying, "when a lamp is lit, it is not put under the bushel basket...," the word for "lamp" used (Greek word) actually means "portable lamp," and this makes the saying all the more poignant. It makes us, in fact, to be a lamp in the hand of God, a light that must allow itself to be moved about by Christ as he sees fit. The house is not lit up all at once but according to the need of the moment: now the kitchen, now the dining room, now the study or the bedroom requires light. Because it is Christ who has kindled his light, the Christian will also allow his Lord to choose the particular lampstand where he will shine, and when.

[...]

It would be a great mistake, however, for us to look too avidly for the proofs of the effect of our presence in the world. Inevitably, we would lose heart, because in the end we lack the means of measuring and judging things as God sees them. Who knows the true meaning and import of what transpires in a human heart, our own or another's? How can we know whether a negative sign, such as sadness and conflict, is not in fact the middle phase of a process that will culminate in much good? Our real business is to allow God to shed his light through us, and, since the light belongs to him, he will know where to focus it and to what effect. Our endeavor should be to make ourselves transparent so as not to eclipse his brilliance.

Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis

The idea of being a lamp in Christ's hand doesn't get anywhere near the intimacy implied if we just think of a modern idea of a lamp. Reading Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs I was fascinated to see that lamps of the time were palm sized and would have shed light only where the person directed it. This is the lamp Christ would have been speaking of. Think of Him directing our light in the palm of his hand.

Reflecting upon this, I came across Thomas Merton's quote about transparency and God shining through.

Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.

And at about this time I was slowly working my way through Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis' encyclical on the Light of Faith. This passage about the give and take of God's deeds and life stories shone a light on my own mind.

Israel’s confession of faith takes shape as an account of God’s deeds in setting his people free and acting as their guide (cf. Dt 26:5-11), an account passed down from one generation to the next. God’s light shines for Israel through the remembrance of the Lord’s mighty deeds, recalled and celebrated in worship, and passed down from parents to children. Here we see how the light of faith is linked to concrete life-stories, to the grateful remembrance of God’s mighty deeds and the progressive fulfilment of his promises. Gothic architecture gave clear expression to this: in the great cathedrals light comes down from heaven by passing through windows depicting the history of salvation. God’s light comes to us through the account of his self-revelation, and thus becomes capable of illuminating our passage through time by recalling his gifts and demonstrating how he fulfils his promises.

It all came together for me at that moment. Is it original? Unlikely. But it was a moment of blinding reality when I realized that my life is the stained glass window that God shines through to show others His existence, to show them some facet of His face that they need at that moment.

It was part of an opening of my own mind in answer to that question of our lives being lived in the light of God's will and of our own free will. How much is God and how much is us? The stained glass does not turn on the light which illuminates it to others, but it does paint a story that may inspire others in some way.

I can't express this well but the image shines often in my mind's eye. It is a guide for me as I make my way through the day, hoping that God will shine through the stained glass of my life in a way that others will see.

This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

H-E-B - Prepared to handle any emergency, including Covid-19

Craig Boyan: Starting in January, we’ve been in close contact with several retailers and suppliers around the world. As this has started to emerge, we’ve been in close contact with retailers in China, starting with what happened in Wuhan in the early couple of months, and what kind of lessons they learned. Over the last couple of months, [we’ve been] in close contact with some of our Italian retailers and suppliers, understanding how things have evolved in Italy and now in Spain, talking to those countries that are ahead of us in the curve. We’ve been in daily contact, understanding the pace and the change and the need for product, and how things have progressed in each of those countries.

Justen Noakes: We modeled what had been taking place in China from a transmission perspective, as well as impact. As the number of illnesses and the number of deaths were increasing, obviously the Chinese government was taking some steps to protect their citizens, so we basically mirrored what that might look like. We also took an approach to what we saw during H1N1 in 2009, and later got on top of it. Our example was if we were to get an outbreak, specifically in the Houston area, how would we manage that, and how would we respond with our current resources, as well as what resource opportunities would we have.

Texas Monthly

I've mentioned before how much I love the Central Market and their parent grocery H-E-B. This (free) story shows why. They were planning, they were ready, they are considerate of their employees. And they kept my store stocked. Outstanding.

Mother and Son

Mother and Son, Remo Savisaar

I've been seeing lots of photos of fledgling owls emerging from the nest on the North Central Texas Wildlife page on Facebook. Remo Savisaar is in Estonia so it must be the season everywhere.

Christopher Closeup interview about Thus Sayeth the Lord

I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Tony Rossi of The Christopher Closeup.

Our interview will air this Sunday, March 29th, on Sirius-XM's The Catholic Channel (129) at 7:00am and 11:30am Eastern - and on Relevant Radio at 7:00am Eastern.


It will be released as a podcast during Holy Week.

The Church is Never Closed

Some of the initial statements I read from parishes and dioceses were all “WE’RE CLOSED.”

Which is not the message of the Gospel. We are not closed. We are never closed. Even if, God forbid, the physical church building has to be closed, the Church is not closed.

Amy Welborn

Day One - "Shelter at Home" in Dallas and the Grocery Store

Dallas County is now under a "shelter at home" order, which I suppose you could say is a gentle form of lockdown.

We'd already been planning on going to the store on Monday to avoid crowds. When they scheduled the order to begin on Tuesday, we thought we'd try to avoid what we thought might be big crowds on the last day before the order began. So instead we went on the first day of the stay at home order — this morning.

I'd heard from Hannah in line at the Central Market yesterday that entrance was being judiciously spaced out by the store so there was a line — but a fairly quick one. And that's what we experienced also. They made sure that everyone had a chance to get inside, get a freshly disinfected cart, and to disperse in the store before letting the next person in.

No one inside the store practiced the 6-foot rule in general, but no one was talking to each other and everyone did keep a "cone of distance" around them.

Everything was stocked and in select places like the butcher or deli counters there were green mats on the floor indicating six foot distances to maintain. And about 2/3 of us did it.

I have to say I felt a real gratitude for the friendly hospitality and thoughtfulness of how HEB (Central Market's owner) planned things out. You felt welcome, but it was clear they took everything seriously.

I took a picture of the social distancing in place at the checkout so Mom could see how it was. And I share it here with you!

Mapping the COVID-19 outbreak in the US

Remember USA Facts? The Nonpartisan government data site that uses easy to understand graphics to break down the facts as they are reported by government agencies?

Yeah. I'd kind of forgotten about them too. Until my husband told me about a fascinating map that breaks down the outbreak numbers by state ... and by county.

Here's the latest data.

Upcoming - Live Streaming Annunciation Mass and More

On Wednesday, St. Thomas Aquinas will live stream a Mass for the Feast of the Annunciation at 10:00 am.

And, of course it can be watched any time on the Facebook feed.

They have also decided to record weekday daily reflections. More on that later as it develops.

Pray the "Our Father" at noon on the Annunciation

Pope Francis has invited us “to invoke the Almighty, the omnipotent God, to recite at the same time the prayer that Jesus, our Lord, taught us” – the Our Father.

We're invited to join in this prayer at noon on the Annunciation, Wednesday, March 25.

Type Z and Not Freaking Out

At the same time, I want to say: if you're not freaking out right now, it's okay! This is a time that plays to the strengths of us Type-Z people in other ways than it plays to the strengths of the Type-A planners and organizers. The world, the neighborhood, the family needs people who can be cheerful, unafraid, easy-going, roll-with-the-punches. I'm not talking about risk-takers, but about having a balanced outlook even in unprecedented circumstances. We love our families, we take precautions, and then we know: what's going to happen is going to happen.

All shall be well, said Julian of Norwich, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. May all manner of thing be well with you, my friends.

Mrs. Darwin, DarwinCatholic

We are type-A in our household and yet have managed to hold fairly well to the attitude Mrs. Darwin mentions above. In our case, a wide contrarian streak helps a lot.

Occasionally one of us has to stop and ask for a family member to talk us down from becoming anxious. And that works since big doses of common sense and contrariness are liberally and willingly applied by other household members.

We're as prepared as possible and we know "what's going to happen is going to happen."

The End of the Journey

Hugh Thomson, The End of the Journey
via Old Book Illustrations

An early positive comment on Thus Sayeth the Lord

We've been reading this out loud as a family and just finished the Deborah chapter. The kids love it, and everyone has been paying good attention and asking intelligent questions. Thanks for writing such a fun book on a complex topic!

Mrs. Darwin (from DarwinCatholic blog) commented after I announced the e-book is now for sale on Amazon.

I couldn't be more pleased. Will be very interested to hear how they handle Hosea, which I say right up front is not a family friendly prophet!

Pick up your e-book today! You might be surprised how the prophets can help you handle our hard times today!

Suffering and Deeper Realities

It is well to remember that so long as a soul has not suffered, it lives only on the surface; the deeper realities escape its grasp. In the mystery of Christ lie hidden depths of divine reality which only those can reach and penetrate who, like Christ, have each in his own way been crucified. Authentic holiness is always consummated on a cross.

Father M.M. Philipon, O.P.

Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate

Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate, self portrait

I picked this up from J.R.'s Art Place where he had the following information, which is fascinating. For myself, I simply love that hat!

Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate was the daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate and King of Bohemia, and Elizabeth Stuart. Raised in a Protestant household in the Netherlands, she showed great artistic talent. Her family arranged for her to study under one of the greatest artists of the time, Gerard van Honthorst.

The painting shown here is a self-portrait by her circa 1650. It was in 1657 that she, for unknown reasons, fled the Netherlands with the aid of her aunt Henrietta Marie de Bourbon, the widow of Charles I of England. In France she converted to Roman Catholicism and entered the Cistercian Abbey of Maubuisson. In retaliation, she was left out of her mother's will.

In 1664 she became Abbess of Maubuisson. She continued painting after entering the Abbey, mostly of religious subjects.

Shah Rukh Khan on the war against coronavirus

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan does a coronavirus public service announcement using scenes from his movies.

I'm very proud to say that I recognized a lot of the scenes — yes, I'm a SRK fan. I don't know if people who don't know his movies will find this as amusing as we did.

Though no matter who you are, I'm sure you agree that the hat and sunglasses are tragic. Just ignore them.



For those who don't know, here's how SRK really looks. Now you can see what I meant about the hat and glasses.

Chef Yia Medina on Lessons Learned From Hurricanes, Earthquakes and Cleaned-Out Grocery Stores

I found this story inspiring especially since I haven't been through the disasters that Yia Medina has.

STA-Live: Streaming Mass, Faith, and Community

Our priest live streamed the Mass on Facebook this morning. It really won't be a big deal to people who aren't parish members, but his homily was wonderful (as always) and you might like it. It is about 22 minutes in. His closing comments at about 54 minutes are also good.

I found my husband's comments equally inspiring when he shared it on Facebook. He doesn't talk about his faith much (make that "ever") so you know he was moved by watching the Mass and our community:

While I consider myself a faithful Catholic I am certainly no zealot. Watching a Mass online does nothing for me. But this Mass from our parish of 30 years proved how much I see community as my connection to God. It shows me how community is inherently local. Most of you will not get the same feeling from this Mass from our parish. But it is what "church" is to me. I could easily find a Mass online with better production values (multi-camera, mic'd to the hilt) but this is my community.

For me, community is where faith is put into action. You will rarely see most of the acts of support and mercy that are happening. But they are out there. Yesterday, Julie and I raced through two grocery stores to get supplies for a sick friend (and fellow parishioner) who should not be going out into the world right now. To the others in the stores we looked like everyone else getting ready for our "social separation". But I am sure many of the other shoppers were like us.

Here's the Mass video. 22 minutes into this video is a beautiful homily from Father Libone and at 54 minutes he gives an eloquent blessing for the times.

Thus Sayeth the Lord E-book Released TODAY!

Thus Sayeth the Lord had a March 31 release date but right now, as you can imagine, Amazon isn’t sending out orders on anything other than essential items.

SO, the publisher has released the e-book today and the print book will release when shipping loosens up some.

That means this very day you can have the prophets to help you get through hard times ... and everyday life.

Get it at Amazon now!

What I'm Reading: Mirabile by Janet Kagan

I've seen it reported that people are reading and watching movies about contagions.

This mystifies me. Real life isn't enough for them? As always, when faced with stressful circumstances in life I turn to light, entertaining books to get away from it all.

This book is one I'd forgotten I had until browsing through my Kindle library. It's just what the doctor ordered!

That year the Ribeiro's daffodils seeded early and they seeded cockroaches. Now, ecologically speaking, even a cockroach has its place -- but these suckers bit. That didn't sound Earth-authentic to me. Not that I care, mind you, all I ask is useful. I wasn't betting on that either.

A light, enjoyable collection of connected short stories told in a pleasing voice. These strike me as perfect juvenile stories though I can see how they'd be fun if encountered in sf magazines. There is little character development, what you see is what you get. Not that there's anything wrong with that for entertaining reading.

They are largely problem solving tales, wrapped in the intriguing environment of human colonists on Mirabile. Scientists who packed the colony ships with embryos also planned for emergency redundancy with some gene twisting so that each species contains the genes for other species. Which is super until your computer has a glitch that loses how to turn those genes off or on. When the Earth species react to the alien environment they reproduce with different species altogether, or sometimes with unexpected results of genes that mixed to produce monsters. My favorite — the Kangaroo Rex.

The fun is in watching Jason, the planet's genetic/environmental problem solver, evaluate and handle the various mutations along the way.

Hannah & Rose discuss the early 2000s metal scene, the loneliness of the long distance vampire ...

... and the respective merits of vampire versus human blood in bestowing superpowers as they watch Queen of the Damned (2002). Get it at More is More, a bad movie podcast.

Eggplant with Molten Mozzarella

A delicious Friday meatless meal ... the mozzarella is a variation so if you just see eggplant at the store and no mozzarella, we've got you covered! It's also perfect for using the vegetables that others might not be buying. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Well Said: What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world?

The great question that will be with us throughout this entire book: What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought?

The answer is very simple: God.... He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about our origin and destiny: faith, hope and love. It is only because of our hardness of heart that we think this is too little. Yes indeed, God's power works quietly in this world, but it is the true and the lasting power. Again and again, God's cause seems to be in its death throes. Yet over and over again it proves to be the thing that truly endures and saves.

-- Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth

Great Train Robbery

N.C. Wyeth, Great Train Robbery

All In Good Fun: Taskmaster

This is a British comedy show that you can see here on YouTube. It is ostensibly a game show but really is watched for the comedy.

Taskmaster Greg Davies set a series of simple and bizarre challenges to five comedians who are the contestants.  The tasks – usually performed alone, but sometimes in teams – are funny and challenging.

The first season included such things as doing something that will look impressive in reverse, cooking a meal using ingredients representing every letter of the alphabet (this one had us looking up what begins with X), making a huge block of ice disappear, and drawing a picture while riding on the back of a trotting horse.

Part of the fun comes in listening to the contestants justify their methods and results — they are comedians, after all, and can get hilariously creative as they think outside the box.

We just finished season one and I'm delighted to see that there are eight more seasons awaiting us.

Queen of the Court of Carnival Flowers

Helen Guenther, Queen of the Court of Carnival Flowers in San Antonio, 1911
via Traces of Texas

To the Victor Belong the Spoils!

My hero!

I was worried I was going to have to get to know the neighbors over more than a cup of sugar. Going door to door to borrow a roll of toilet paper is more of an ice breaker than I really want. But we'd been searching stores since last Friday without success.

Then Tom returned triumphant! He snagged one of the four packages at the store!

And there was great rejoicing!

Under lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Italians break out in song from rooftops, balconies and windows.

ROME — It started with the national anthem. Then came the piano chords, trumpet blasts, violin serenades and even the clanging of pots and pans — all of it spilling from people’s homes, out of windows and from balconies, and rippling across rooftops.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, a nationwide round of applause broke out for the doctors on the medical front lines fighting the spread of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

“It was from our hearts, to say thanks and show that we can get past this,” said Emma Santachiara, 73, who came out onto the terrace of her apartment in the Monteverde section of Rome to clap with her granddaughters.

Here's a lovely story from the New York Times, which is free (woohoo!) so go read it all. It will lift your spirits! (Thanks to Patsy for pointing it out.)

Inspiration – Daily Mass from Bishop Barron's Chapel

From Word on Fire:

Friends, in an effort to continue the practice of our faith in these trying times, when many parishes have closed due to restrictions around the coronavirus, we invite you to join us online for daily Mass from Bishop Barron's chapel, celebrated either by Bishop Barron himself or by Fr. Steve Grunow, CEO of Word on Fire.

The video will be posted below at 8:15am ET each day.

Finally, please continue to pray for all those affected by the coronavirus.

There's also a link to a virtual tour of the chapel. Get it all here.

We are merely here as pilgrims

We are now at the end of 1761. Today the New Year of 1762 had begun. How many saw the beginning of the year that has just gone but did not live to see its end! We should give thanks to God that we are allowed to see its conclusion. But do we know whether we shall see the end of this year? Certainly, many will not see it. Who knows if we shall not among this number? A year must dawn for us that will be our last.

We should awaken our faith and strive for the remainder of our lives to live according to the maxims of our faith. Why should we wait until death overtakes us and finds us living according to the maxims of the world? Let us awaken our faith to realize that this earth is not our true home but that we are merely here as pilgrims.

Our faith will give us confidence in our difficulties, teaching us that whoever prays will be saved. May our faith make us always live with the thought of eternity. Let's keep ever before our eyes this great thought - everything in this world comes to an end, whether it be prosperity or adversity. Eternity alone never ends.

St. Aphonsus Liguori

This seems just as appropriate for right now as for the beginning of a new year. Faced with a pandemic, appropriately happening during Lent when we repent and turn again toward the Lord, we are nudged (or shoved) into self-reflection. We're not so different from the folks in 1762.

Receiving Line

Belinda Del Pesco, Receiving Line