Workers, Flowers and the Virgin of San Juan

The Workers, Alfredo Ramos Martinez
Dallas Museum of Art

Continuing last week's Dallas Museum of Art post, we then wandered into an exhibit of Alfredo Ramos Martinez. His style isn't one I'd normally be drawn to, but after just having been immersed in Latin American art, we were primed to take a closer look. I particularly was intrigued by his paintings done on newspaper. All those stripes? Yes. Creative use of newsprint lines in the newspaper. It was really fascinating. Tom especially liked the use of black outline to give a three dimensional aspect to the elements.

Not all his work was like that, of course. I was struck by his floral paintings. These were on loan so we were lucky to see them.

Blue Jar with Flowers, Santa Barbara Museum of Art

La Virgen de San Juan, Santa Barbara Museum

And the Latin American theme continued when we went to lunch afterwards at the San Martin Cafe and Bakery on McKinney Street. It is a Guatemalan restaurant and very trendy, as it turns out. The service and food were excellent. Rose discovered it and she and Mom love going there.

They also had art displayed high up on several walls and the textile art was another link in the chain to the art we'd seen at the DMA. Some it put us in mind of a collection of huipils for putting on statues of the Virgin Mary.

Huipil for a figure of the Virgin of the Rosary, Maya -- Kaqchikel, c. 1905–1925
Dallas Museum of Art

I'll be featuring other paintings soon. No themes, just the stuff that I like a lot.

A drowning man prayed for help. God sent a floating tiki bar filled with priests.

Despite the rough waters, he still thought he could make it back to shore, and so he waved on several boats that had stopped to offer help.


But when his kayak tipped and his hastily-donned lifejacket came up to his ears, Macdonald knew he was in real trouble.

“I thought I was going to die. I was absolutely powerless and wished I had asked for help earlier. I was waving my hand and asked God to please help me,” he said.

God answered his prayers - but not in the form of Jesus walking on water.

“And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the tiki boat.”

A tiki boat full of priests.

From Catholic News Agency comes the real life story that reads like God took the old joke about the man trying to escape the flood and gave it a modern twist.

With an inspiring and ironic twist at the end. Just the way God likes to play it. Go read the whole thing.

Lime Crinkle Cookies

These are from Taste of the South magazine which we've found to be a great source for simple, tasty recipes. Rose says these remind her of Fruit Loops. They are just plain good. Get them at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Find yourself a cup of tea ...

Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things.

Saki

Hummingbirds, Armadillos, and Fish - Oh My!

Hummingbird pendant, Olmec, 800–400 BC
Dallas Museum of Art

To our delight, we discovered that the Dallas Museum of Art is open again and immediately reserved tickets for the next available time — which was last Sunday.

There's never been a better time to see the art, what with limited numbers admitted for social distancing.

We headed up the stairs near the entrance and found ourselves in a spot we'd never come across — Arts of the Americas. This wound up being ancient art from South America, Central America, and Mexico. There were even a few things from North America, but not many.

We found it surprisingly absorbing, especially when I came across several hummingbird depictions that were thousands of years old. I look at the fierce little hummer who is keeping all the others away from our nectar and love the idea that he's the latest in a migration that has been going on so long.

And there was another familiar figure.

Armadillo ornament, Veraguas, 800–1200 AD
Dallas Museum of Art

And, of course, ear ornaments so large that I'd rather wear one as a necklace.

Ear ornament, Zenú (Sinú), 600–1200 AD
Dallas Museum of Art

There also were large, elaborate panels from buildings and a lot of things that only really impress if you see them in person. We realized that a lot of the oldest pieces were contemporaneous with ancient Egypt and that helped put the art in perspective too.

This bit of the visit began our theme day, though we didn't realize it at the time. More on that later ...

Tenet

A secret agent embarks on a dangerous, time-bending mission to prevent the start of World War III.

It seems clear that Christopher Nolan's got James Bond and Mission Impossible on the mind. His latest action thriller clearly pulls from those franchises as we follow his protagonist forwards and backwards in time and around the world on his dangerous mission.

I was excited about going to this movie because (a) Christopher Nolan, (b) back to a more normal life, (c) support the theater/movie industry. Unfortunately it wound up being another 2020 disappointment.

It pains me to admit this is not a great film. The performances are top notch. The action sequences are good, especially ones with the airplane and highway heist. However, this was offset by a very difficult sci-fi concept that wasn't explained well enough and was really hard to understand visually even once I did have a fairly firm grasp of the idea. (I felt like telling Nolan to rewatch Inception for "how to do it").

Also, the plot itself was confusing and with very little cohesive story itself, other than finding the MacGuffin. Alfred Hitchcock made many wonderful movies with nothing more than that pushing the plot but he always gave us something to care about in the character's life or situation. James Bond and Mission Impossible movies give us fairly little personal motivation but they are always very clear in explaining the villain's evil plan and what the heck is going on.

Nolan gives us nothing more than "the cleverness of me." It felt as if he was so enchanted by his sci-fi concept that it was all he could focus on. And guess what — that wasn't enough for me. Or my viewing companions.

Most egregious was that the sound mixing made a lot of the dialogue incomprehensible. When you've got a really hard concept to get across it is always so much easier if the audience can the dialogue at all. Or even if all you want to do is to help them understand why you are flinging yourself around the world for dangerous missions.

There is a wonderful exchange in Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Tenet, between Robert Pattinson and John David Washington. “Hngmmhmmh,” says Pattinson. “Mmghh nmmhhmmmm nghhh,” replies Washington. Marvellous.

This is how much of Tenet sounded to viewers in cinemas. The film’s dialogue has been criticised by reviewers and audience members for often being impossible to make out. Given how hard Nolan’s blockbuster would be to understand even if all the dialogue was crystal-clear, it is curious that the director has made it doubly difficult to hear the story of a screenplay he supposedly spent five years writing.

The Guardian

I'd think the one thing you don't want the people leaving your movie to talk about for five minutes is how none of them could understand the dialogue. But sound mixing was our topic all the way to the parking lot.

On the bright side, the movie theater was bending over backwards to welcome everyone back, although there were only a few other people at our Saturday matinee. Of course, it was showing in at least 10 other theaters in the same complex so maybe everyone was spread out.

Walking by the Lord's house

I often ask children to imagine walking by the house of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Children who love the Lord might remember that Jesus lives there, and make a gesture of reverence, or say a short prayer. But if we walked by the Lord’s house, and he was out on the porch, and we could look directly at him, we would stop, and talk to him, and know that he was hearing us, and talking to us. So it is with adoring Christ in the Eucharist, visible to us in the monstrance. We see him, and we know that he sees us. We speak to him, and we know that he hears us. When we adore Christ in the Eucharist, exposed in the monstrance, the Lord engages all of our senses, through the ministry of the Church, to awaken us to the power of encountering him—love made visible.

Pope St. John Paul II wrote that through adoration of the Eucharist, “we can say not only that each of us receives Christ, but also that Christ receives each of us. He enters into friendship with us: ‘You are my friends.’”

In friendship, in the dialogue of Eucharistic adoration, God transforms us, so that, in love, we can make gifts of our ourselves to the world, just as Christ has made a gift of himself in the Eucharist.

Bishop James Conley, Holy Thursday Letter, 2017

via A Year with the Eucharist, Paul Jerome Keller

It isn't only children who need these sorts of prompts. I love the mental image of seeing Jesus on his porch and stopping for a chat.

But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject

Thus ended our little talk: yet it left a pleasant impression. True, the subject was strange enough; my sisters might have been shocked at it; and at my freedom in asking and giving opinions. But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort—the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person—having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

Somebody must have done a good deal of the winnowing business this afternoon; for in the course of it I gave him as much nonsense as any reasonable man could stand ...

Dinah Maria (Mulock) Craik, A Life for a Life

Often misattributed to George Eliot. You may find out more about that and the book which this quote is from here.

We need the humanity of Christ.

We need the humanity of Christ. In the many wearinesses of life which come to all, it is not only permissible but often necessary to direct our devotion to the sacred human in the Eucharist. God gave us the sacred humanity of His Son because in his divine wisdom He understood man's need of a God-man. ... We who are so dependent on the sense in order to grasp something of the nonsensible, can understand Christ because He "was made flesh and dwelt among us." We feel that having walked in the flesh, Christ knows both from the experience of many and the omniscience of God all the miseries to which our mortal flesh is heir.

We need the human Christ ... in our sacramental devotion to Him. The humanity of Christ, perhaps more than we realize, serves as the lodestone that brings the suffering and weary and sinful to the Eucharistic God. ...

A Year with the Eucharist, Paul Jerome Keller

quoted - True Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

A Movie You Might Have Missed #20 — The Dish

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.

This is a favorite of Tom's and the combination of gentle humor with realism is a winning combination.

In  1969, viewing the Apollo moon landing depends on a satellite dish in  Australia that is smack dab in the middle of a sheep pasture. Along with  everything else, the local technicians must deal with their natural  annoyance at having a NASA man foisted upon them to make sure everything goes ok while the locals feel understandable pride at being in the  center of an international spotlight.

Based on a true story, The Dish brims with understated wit that shows the differing cultural attitudes  between Australia and the U.S. while taking us back to the true wonder  of what it meant to watch a man walk upon the moon.

Pavonia

Pavonia (1859). Lord Frederic Leighton (English, 1830-1896).

Isn't she stunning? I could look at this all day.

Summer Corn Salad

a good, different summer salad that it isn't too late to make for Labor Day! Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

A less than perfect democracy that is still a great success story

We must remember that America is still a great success story. When we criticize—as criticize we must—we should play the part of what James Madison called a "loving critic." Former Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan put it best: "Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one. Do Is suppose there are societies that are free of sin? No, I don't. Do I think ours is on balance incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do. Have we done obscene things? Yes we have. How did our people learn about them? They learned about them on television and in the newspapers.

William J. Bennett, America: The Last Best Hope (Vol. I)

Max

Max
by the brilliant Edward B. Gordon

Blogging Around: Andy Serkis Reads The Hobbit, Gregory the Great, Chinese Persecution of Muslims, Black Leaders Blast Planned Parenthood

ANDY SERKIS READS THE HOBBIT
Later this month Andy Serkis (aka Gollum in the Lord of the Ring movies) has an audiobook recording of The Hobbit coming out. Needless to say I am thrilled. The Rob Inglis reading was never a favorite of mine and listening to Serkis's sample shows how good his narration is.

You can hear it a bit of Riddles in the Dark at YouTube.

GREGORY THE GREAT AND THE GHOST
Via Weird Catholic comes this great story from Pope St. Gregory the Great’s The Dialogues:

Source

"[A] priest used to bathe in the hot springs of Tauriana whenever his health required. One day, as he entered the baths, he found a stranger there who showed himself most helpful in every way possible, by unlatching his shoes, taking care of his clothes, and furnishing him towels after the hot bath.

"After several experiences of this kind, to priest said the himself: ‘It would not do for me to appear ungrateful to this man who is so devoted in his kind services to me. I must reward him in some way.’ So one day he took along two crown-shaped loaves of bread to give him.

"When he arrived at the place, the man was already waiting for him and rendered the same services he had before. After the bath, when the priest was again fully dressed and ready to leave, he offered the man the present of bread, asking him kindly to accept it as a blessing, for it was offered a token of charity.

But the man sighed mournfully and said, ‘Why do you give it to me, Father? That bread is holy and I cannot eat it. I who stand before you was once the owner of this place. It is because of my sins that I was sent back here as a servant. If you wish to do something for me, then offer this bread to almighty God, and so make intercession for me, a sinner. When you come back and do not find me here, you will know that your prayers have been heard.’

"With these words he disappeared, thus showing that he was a spirit disguised as a man. The priest spent the entire week in prayer and tearful supplications, offering Mass for him daily. When he returned to the bath, the man was no longer to be found. This incident points out the great benefits souls derive from the Sacrifice of the Mass. Because of these benefits the dead ask us, the living, to have Masses offered for them, and even show us by signs that it was through the Mass that they were pardoned."

CHINA'S GENOCIDE OF ITS UIGHUR MUSLIMS

In the most extensive investigation of China’s internment camp system ever done using publicly available satellite images, coupled with dozens of interviews with former detainees, BuzzFeed News identified more than 260 structures built since 2017 and bearing the hallmarks of fortified detention compounds. There is at least one in nearly every county in the far-west region of Xinjiang. During that time, the investigation shows, China has established a sprawling system to detain and incarcerate hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities, in what is already the largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II.

GetReligion has a wonderful guide to BuzzFeed's story. Every time we think China's not that Communist, remember this type of thing is going on all the time. Hong Kong is nothing new, just more public than a lot of the hijinks China has going on.

BLACK LEADERS BLAST "SYSTEMIC RACISM" OF ABORTION IN LETTER TO PLANNED PARENTHOOD

A coalition of Black leaders is calling out Planned Parenthood for “targeting” Black communities for abortions while professing to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

[...]

“This effort demonstrates the outrage among the Black community that we have been strategically and consistently targeted by the abortion industry ever since the practice was legalized almost 50 years ago,” said Human Coalition Action executive director Rev. Dean Nelson, whose organization coordinated the letter.

The letter noted that 36% of abortions in the U.S. are performed on Black women, who represent only 13% of the country’s female population.

“Black women are five times more likely than white women to receive an abortion,” the letter stated. “In some cities, like New York, more Black children are aborted every year than are born alive.”

“This is no accident,” the letter stated, noting that “79 percent of Planned Parenthood’s surgical abortion facilities are located in or near communities of color.”

About time. Read more at CNA.

The Bridge at Argenteuil

Claude Monet, The Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874

It is so glorious looking. I want to go to there.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #19 — Howl's Moving Castle

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.

19. Howl's Moving Castle

19-year-old Sophie has resigned herself to a drab life in her family's hat shop ... until she is cursed by an evil witch to have an 90-year-old body. She leaves home and goes searching for a way to break the spell. In the countryside she comes upon Howl's strange moving castle which walks about on large chicken legs.

Howl is the young wizard who owns the castle and Sophie soon becomes part of the household as the housekeeper. As she gets to know the members of the little household, we also see that their land is under attack from flying ships dropping bombs. Not only must Sophie find a way to break the curse upon her, but she soon wants to help the others that she has met along the way.

Naturally, Sophie eventually discovers her hidden potential in the magical castle through her honesty, determination, and bravery. This is a complicated story and my summary is extremely simple. It is a pure delight but be prepared to pay attention.

Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind

Watching the Spring and Listening to the Wind, Tang Yin

Gospel of Matthew — Get behind me, Satan! Continued.

Matthew 16:20-23

Let's continue from the thoughts last time which connect this moment of temptation with Christ's temptation in the wilderness by Satan. Looking at Jesus' words to Peter, William Barclay points out interesting language uses ... and what they mean.

James Tissot, Get Thee Behind Me, Satan (Rétire-toi, Satan), Brooklyn Museum</td>

A further development comes when we closely examine this saying of Jesus in the light of his saying to Satan at the end of the temptations as Matthew records it in Matthew 4:10. Although in the English translations the two passages sound different they are almost, but not quite, the same. ...

The point is that Jesus' command to Satan is simply: "Begone!" while his command to Peter is: "Begone behind me!" that is to say "Become my follower again. Satan is banished from the presence of Christ; Peter is recalled to be Christ's follower. The one thing that Satan could never become is a follower of Christ; in his diabolical pride he could never submit to that; that is why he is Satan. On the other hand, Peter might be mistaken and might fall and might sin, but for him there was always the challenge and the chance to become a follower again. It is as if Jesus said to Peter: "At the moment you have spoken as Satan would. But that is not the real Peter speaking. You can redeem yourself. Come behind me, and be my follower again and even yet, all will be well." ... So long as a man is prepared to try to follow, even after he has fallen, there is still for him the hope of glory here and hereafter.

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Holiday at the Pier

Alexander Rossi - Holiday at the Pier
via Gandalf's Gallery

You say your life is your own. But ...

You say your life is your own. But can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer? Your cue may not come till the end of the play – it may be totally unimportant, a mere walking-on part, but upon it may hang the issues of the play, if you do not give the cue to another player. The whole edifice may crumble. You, as you, may not matter to any- one in the world, but you as a person in a particular place may matter unimaginably.

Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Mr. Quin

Listen Up: David Suchet Audio Bible - New International Version: Complete Bible

This is 83 hours (and 14 minutes) of wonderfully narrated Biblical audio goodness.

I'm here for David Suchet who, 17 chapters into Genesis, is helping me hear details I hadn't noticed before. Part of that is doubtless because I've not read the NIV translation before. However, it is equally due to the fact that listening to a book makes you notice new details.

As a sidenote, I only discovered this narration after learning that Suchet (who definitively played Hercule Poirot in BBC productions) became a Christian at 40 and then wanted to record the Bible. He did it in between shooting schedules and in his off time for over 200 hours of personal dedication. So inspirational!

Right now I'm thinking that I may use this for another reread of the entire Bible in chronological order. Except, of course, for the books the Protestants took out. Those aren't included in this so I'll read them the old fashioned way from one of my Catholic Bibles.

From the River's Edge

Henri Biva (French, 1848-1929), From the River’s Edge

Chocolate Mousse

Hannah asked for Chocolate Mousse for her birthday and I automatically pulled down The Silver Palate Cookbook which has a whole section of them.

It was the deepest, darkest, most luscious mousse ever. It was really easy, worked like a charm, and utterly delicious. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon, Maxfield Parrish, 1902

Window View

Edward Okuń, Window View

Gospel of Matthew — Get behind me Satan!

Matthew 16:20-23

This is the passage in which Jesus begins to tell the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, and be killed. Peter rebukes him — shocking in itself for a disciple to rebuke his master — and Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan."

This has always seemed fairly straight forward to me — a real "stop tempting me" moment. I liked what William Barclay says, in this speculative lectio divina thinking about what may have come to Jesus' mind, connecting it to when he was tempted by Satan himself.

Source

We must try to catch the tone of voice in which Jesus speaks. He certainly did not say it with a snarl of anger in his voice and a blaze of indignant passion in his eyes. He said it like a man wounded to the heart, with poignant grief and a kind of shuddering horror. Why should he react like that?

He did so because in that moment there came back to him with cruel force the temptations which he had faced in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. There he had been tempted to take the way of power. ... It was precisely these same temptations with which Peter was confronting Jesus all over again.

Nor were these temptations ever wholly absent from the mind of Jesus. Luke sees far into the heart of the Master. At the end of the temptation story, Luke writes: "And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13). Again and again the tempter launched this attack. No one wants a cross; no one wants to die in agony; even in the Garden that same temptation came to Jesus, the temptation to take another way.

And here Peter is offering it to him now. ... Peter was confronting Jesus with that way of escape from the Cross which to the end beckoned to him.

That is why Peter was Satan. Satan literally, means the Adversary. That is why Peter's ideas were not God's but men's. ...

What made the temptation more acute was the fact that it came from one who loved him. Peter spoke as he did only because he loved Jesus so much that he could not bear to think of him treading that dreadful path and dying that awful death. The hardest temptation of all is the one which comes from protecting love. there are times when fond love seeks to deflect us from the perils of the path of God; but the real love is not the love which holds the knight at home, but the love which sends him out to obey the commandments of the chivalry which is given, not to make life easy but to make life great. ... What really wounded Jesus' heart and what really made him speak as he did, was that the tempter spoke to him that day through the fond but mistaken love of Peter's hot heart.

I have often recalled that bit of Luke's gospel which Barclay mentions — "he departed from him until an opportune time" — and wondered when Jesus felt the sting of temptation at times when it wasn't mentioned in the gospels. For that reason, perhaps, Barclay's thoughts here resonate with me.

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

Bright-eyed Julie and cunning Scott visit the underworld ...

... to find out answers to important questions, like who makes the best biscuits and gravy in the universe. They stop to pet a dog on the way. Good Story 239: The Odyssey, Part 2 of 2.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

When Erik Larson moved to New York City he began musing on the experiences of those who lived through the September 11 terrorist attacks as well as the aftermath. Thinking of similar situations he focused on Londoners during the Blitz and Battle of Britain in WWII. The resulting book looks at Churchill's ability to lead and inspire when things seemed hopeless, which is to say during the time before the Americans finally entered the war.

Larson does a fantastic job of making you feel you understood those struggles, those times, and those people. By the last third of the book I was fully invested in the people and the story. In fact, I had tears of joy about the victory celebrations.

This one's a keeper and I know I'll be reading it again.

The God Who Performs Daily Miracles

St. Augustine hits the nail on the head, as usual. We live in a world of miracles, so deeply embedded that we no longer recognize they are miracles at all.

This is the God, after all, who performs daily miracles through the whole of creation. These, though have grown cheap in people's eyes, not because they are easy, but because they happen all the time; while the rare things done by the same Lord, that is, by the Word who was made Flesh on our account, have struck people with greater amazement, not because they were indeed greater than what he does every day in creation, but because the things that are done every day occur, so it seems, in the natural course of events; while the others seem in people's eyes to be manifesting the activity of a power actually present here and now.

I said, you remember, that one dead man rose again, and people were struck dumb with amazement, while nobody marvels at those — who did not exist — being born every day. In the same way, who is not astonished at water being turned into wine, while God is doing the same thing every year in the vines?

St. Augustine,

Homily 9 on John 2:1-11

Coromants' Boulder

Cormorants' Boulder, Remo Savisaar

We won't "remote everything" because there's no "energy."

There’s some other stupid thing in the article about “bandwidth” and how New York is over because everybody will “remote everything.” Guess what: Everyone hates to do this. Everyone. Hates.

You know why? There’s no energy.

Energy, attitude and personality cannot be “remoted” through even the best fiber optic lines. That’s the whole reason many of us moved to New York in the first place.

You ever wonder why Silicon Valley even exists? I have always wondered, why do these people all live and work in that location? They have all this insane technology; why don’t they all just spread out wherever they want to be and connect with their devices? Because it doesn’t work, that’s why.

Real, live, inspiring human energy exists when we coagulate together in crazy places like New York City.

Jerry Seinfeld: So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’(It’s not.)

The New York Times

Exactly. People've got to be together to really connect. We'll make do with Zoom and Google Hangouts and so forth until this pandemic is over and then we'll be back to connecting as usual — with energy.

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Scout, the most patient dog in the world

What with the pandemic and all, we're having Hannah's birthday catered. As you can see!

Hannah actually chose Chocolate Mousse for her celebration so I'm breaking out The Silver Palate Cookbook which has stood me in good stead for Lime Mousse and Pavlovas.

Hannah's our tree loving, animal loving, sweet girl who is smart as a whip, funny, generous, and thoughtful. No wonder we love her so much. We just can't help ourselves! Though how she got to be a married lady expecting her first baby in November ... well, I do remember how but somehow those years just breezed by. She's been a blessing and a treasure through all of them.

Happy birthday, dear Hannah.

Cake by Cake Couture by Tina
Do you live near Cebu City? That's where Tina is. Get one of her cakes!

Gospel of Matthew: Who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:13-18

I feel as if there has been a resurgence in people focusing on this question in homilies and writing lately. I seem to see it everywhere and it is a good question to ask oneself about Jesus. Peter's answer leads Christ to high praise and revelation about his church.

Reading Bishop Barron's commentary gave me my own sort of revelation.

Jesus responded to this confession of Peter with some of the most extraordinary language in the New Testament: "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Neither the crowds nor the aristocratic circle around Jesus knew who he was—only Peter knew. And this knowledge did not come from Peter's intelligence or from an extraordinary education (he didn't have one) or from his skill at assessing popular opinion. It came as a gift from God, a special charism of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift, given only to the head of the Twelve, Jesus called Simon by a new name: in Aramic Cephas (rock or rocky), rendered in Greek as Petros and in English as Peter.

Reading this my mind's eye was seized with the idea that this is one of those moments when Jesus' perfect humanity and perfect divinity intersect. He knows that Peter will lead the church because Peter was given this revelation by the Father. We are seeing Christ himself take guidance from the Father's working in the moment through Peter. Kind of a give-and-take of these two members of the Trinity in the workings of time. At least — that's how it felt to me.

I also like this further point which Bishop Barron goes on to make. We are not to hunker down because we're safe from the gates of Hell. We're to take the battle to the gates of Hell themselves. Now those are marching orders!

On the foundation of this rock, Jesus declared that he would build his ekklesia, his Church. ... And Jesus insists that this society, grounded in Peter's confession, would constitute an army so powerful that not even the fortified capital of the dark kingdom itself could withstand it. It is fascinating to me how often we construe this saying of Jesus in precisely the opposite direction, as though the Church is guaranteed safety against the onslaughts of hell. In point of fact, Jesus is suggesting a much more aggressive image: his Church will lay successful siege upon the kingdom of evil, knocking down its gate and breaching its walls.

Quote is from The Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning

I am used to the image (probably from movies) of a WWII soldier pulling out a book to read in a spare moment, any time, anywhere. However, I didn't realize the huge effort that went into helping our soldiers' morale stay high by providing those very books. The program was begun as book drives by librarians who were outraged by German book burnings and wanted to provide ammo in the war of ideas. It was later taken over by a council who coordinated between the War Department and publishers to began printing special lightweight editions.

A wide variety of books — everything from Tarzan to Plato — were supplied throughout the war, with millions being printed and distributed regularly. These provided comfort, distraction, and much needed entertainment while inadvertently teaching an entire generation of military the pleasures of reading in an age where many would not have picked up a book except in school. They were considered so important to morale that over a million copies were stockpiled before D-Day so that each soldier would have one when boarding the transports. I was surprised to find that paperbacks were normalized for society by this process and that the standard paperback sizes of old (6x4 and 5x3) were the sizes that would fit in uniform pockets.

All of this took me through WWII with an entirely new focus and gave me a feeling of what the soldiers went through in a way I've not felt before. My favorite bits were the letters from soldiers to authors or publishers describing just how a favorite book changed their life. I especially liked the one about the officer who began reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (a favorite among the troops) right when a battle was beginning and kept thinking about the plot all during the intense fighting and maneuvering that followed all night long. However, here is one of the most powerful stories of a soldier, expressed to author Betty Smith:

"Ever since the first time I struggled through knee deep mud ... carrying a stretcher from which my buddie's life dripped away in precious blood and I was powerless to help him, I have felt hard and cynical against this world and have felt sure that I was no longer capable of loving anything or anybody," he wrote. He went through the war with a "dead heart ... and dulled mind," believing he had lost the ability to feel.

It was only as he read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn that something inside him began to stir. "I can't explain the emotional reaction that took place, I only know that it happened and that this heart of mine turned over and became alive again. A surge of confidence has swept through me and I feel that maybe a fellow has a fighting chance in this world after all. I'll never be able to explain to you the gratitude and love that fill my heart in appreciation of what your book means to me." It brought laughter and joy, and also tears. Although it "was unusual for a supposedly battle-hardened marine to do such an effeminate thing as weep over a piece of fiction, ... I'm not ashamed," he said. His tears proved he was human.

Highly recommended.

More positive reviews for Thus Sayeth the Lord

I'm delighted to see these good reviews and wanted to share a bit with you:

She starts each chapter with passages to read from the Bible, kind of a "highlights reel," which is especially handy for those prophets who don't get their own named books (like Samuel or Miriam). Davis also points out that the best place to hear the messages of the prophets is the Catholic liturgy, where the readings are often paired up with their fulfillment in the Gospels. Best of all, she connects the prophets' messages and life examples to contemporary problems. Everyone has dealt with issues like when to speak up or how to be patient in adverse circumstances. She's honest and heartfelt, even using examples from her own life.

Joseph

========

his would make an excellent Bible study for adults or teens. There is much to be gleaned by longtime disciples, but Julie's down-to-earth, friendly, welcoming, and understanding point of view make this book suitable for those who are just learning about the Catholic faith for the first time, or who have serious reservations about certain aspects of the faith.

Jon

======

I was happy to find that this book is very accessible, with an incredibly conversational, colloquial style (Galaxy Quest and MCU references, anyone?) that makes these ancient stories feel timeless and relatable. At the same time, it's extremely informative and provides copious citations and annotations for further reference, and I learned a lot about the minor prophets and gained deeper understanding of the major prophets.

Oftentimes I find that I don't get as much out of the "further reflections" or "how does this relate to us" sections of modern prayer or scriptural study books as I am meant to. In this book, however, Julie Davis's discreet personal reflections (no over-sharing here), insightful analysis, and gentle questions really made me stop and think - and develop a greater reverence for the wisdom and example of the prophets. Definitely recommended!

Kimberly

If you haven't tried Thus Sayeth the Lord, it is available in both Kindle and print.

If you've found the book helpful and haven't left a review, please consider doing so. They really do help people find the book.

Quiet Pleasures

Quiet Pleasures (1898). Gustav Max Stevens
via Books and Art

Adam sleeps and Christ dies ...

Adam sleeps so that Eve may be made; Christ dies so that the Church may be made. While Adam is asleep Eve is made from his side; when Christ is dead his side is pierced with a lance, so that the sacraments, from which the Church is to be forme, might pour out.

St. Augustine, Homily 9 on John 2:1-11

A Movie You Might Have Missed #18 — Reign Over Me

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.

18. Reign Over Me

Don Cheadle is dissatisfied with his life. His marriage could be better, as could his dental practice in which he is being stalked by a patient. Trudging along through his routine he is surprised to see his college roommate (Adam Sandler) who he lost touch with long ago. Cheadle had heard that his roommate lost his family in the September 11 attacks and it is soon clear that Sandler welcomes his old roommate's friendship precisely because Cheadle never knew his family.

Although this movie has the potential to be a real downer as it examines grief from several angles, it does not fall into that trap. Thanks to the strength of friendships and comedy the movie wound up being uplifting.

Aiming at the Target

Aiming at the Target by Soyama Sachihiko, 1890
via J.R.'s Art Place

Having just finished The Odyssey in preparation for an upcoming podcast, this couldn't help but speak to me.

A man might eat bread forever and ever

Jerry took a large slice of wheaten bread, spread with golden butter, and bit into it with her small white teeth. It was a natural gesture—she was very hungry indeed—but to Sam there was something symbolic about it. Jerry was like bread, he thought. She was like good wholesome wheaten bread spread thickly with honest farm butter; and the thought crossed his mind that a man might eat bread forever and ever and not tire of it, and that it would never clog his palate like sweet cakes of pastries or chocolate éclairs.

D.E. Stevenson, Miss Buncle Marries

The stars at night are big and bright. Deep in the heart of Texas.

Via Traces of Texas

Identity — When you're mixed race but your name and looks mean you're "yet another white guy."

There is a frustrating aspect to the fact that in the US these days, discussions of background are so frequently tied up with discussions of discrimination and oppression. It means that someone like me, who doesn't look Hispanic enough to have someone making negative assumptions about me, and who doesn't have a Hispanic last name, ends up seeming like he'd be somehow faking to talk about coming from a Hispanic background.

As racial problems go, being dismissed as "yet another white guy" by politically active online warriors is the most first world of problems, so I'm not exactly here to complain. But it is a rather cut-off feeling at times. I'm proud of the stories of my ancestors who walked across the US/Mexican boarder around 1900. I'm proud of my grandfather who excelled at his studies despite having to go to the schools for Mexican kids rather than the ones for white kids in the little mining town in New Mexico where he grew up. And I'm proud of the American identity that he built for himself and his children, through a career in the Navy starting in 1945 when he has seventeen. I wish that the way that the US talked about race didn't mean that if you weren't oppressed because of your background, you can't claim it without seeming like a poser.

This is a good piece by Darwin over at Darwin Catholic.

I don't have this problem but was bemused once by a friend lamenting the fact that our parish was so white. I told her that over half the people I knew during the Mass time we both attended were Hispanic but didn't stand out particularly in any way. They looked like middle class Americans, that's all.

And then it occurred to me. "Hey, wait. You're part Hispanic. And so is your husband."

True enough. Their family name is Irish and if I hadn't heard many stories of their families I'd have thought they both came from Anglo-Irish backgrounds simply going on looks. She looked embarrassed and said, "Oh! I guess I was judging by class instead of ethnicity." It was an interesting moment for me. And, I think, possibly for my friend too.

Gospel of Matthew: Rowing into a Headwind in the Darkness

Matthew 14:22-23

I have heard many homilies about Matthew 14:22-33, when Jesus comes walking on the water in the night across the sea to the disciples in the boat where they have been battling the storm. Go read it for yourself. There are many details that I never considered about the timing which George Martin brings to our attention. Very, very interesting when we consider our own discipleship.

Also, when I look at this painting I realize that I'd forgotten just how dark it would have been. No wonder the disciples were creeped out!

Christ walking on the sea, Amédée Varint

... The wind-and-wave-battered boat bearing the disciples has long been taken as a symbol of the church (see also 8:213-27). Those in the boat have been sent forth by Jesus but face opposition and danger. Jesus is not bodily present; he is at prayer, at the right hand of his Father (26:64; Rom. 8:34). The church might seem to be making little headway despite hard rowing, but it has been so for disciples of Jesus from the very first. ...

We must presume that Jesus, atop the hill by the lake, is aware of the strong wind and of the struggle his disciples re enduring. Yet he does not cut short his prayer to come to his disciples; it is only during the fourth watch of the night that he came toward them, walking on the sea. The Roman way of reckoning divided the period from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. into four watches; the fourth watch of the night ran from 3:00 to 6:00 a.m. The disciples have been battling strong headwinds from evening until almost dawn. Jesus sent his disciples off to row into a headwind and let them contend with it through the night.

[...]

Jesus does not calm the wind and waves; he tells his disciples to have courage and not be afraid, despite the wind and waves, because it is I. In its simplest meaning, it is I identifies the one walking on the water as Jesus: it is I, Jesus, who have come to you and tell you to have courage and not be afraid. Even if you are battered by wind and waves far from shore in darkness, you have nothing to fear, because it is I. I will take care of you.

Quote is from Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

The best thing that can happen to anyone who is doing wrong is to be found out.

"If one of them is guilty—are you a religious woman, Miss Treherne?"

Rachel said, "Yes."

Miss Silver nodded approvingly.

"Then you will agree with me that the best thing that can happen to anyone who is doing wrong is to be found out. If he is not found out he will do more wrong and earn a heavier punishment."

Patricia Wentworth, The Lonesome Road

Madrid - near the Palace Gardens

Madrid - Near the Palace Gardens, Elizabeth Scalia

A Movie You Might Have Missed #17 — Pan's Labyrinth

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.




This definitely is a fairytale for adults. Do not let the kids watch this one.

During the Spanish civil war in 1944, a young girl and her mother move to their new home with the mother's new husband, cruel Captain Vidal. In the midst of a risky pregnancy, the mother can't do much more than rest in bed while the girl, Ofelia, wanders the grounds and countryside. She soon discovers an entire underground world and is guided by the persuasive Faun in his labyrinth. He offers to help her if she'll complete three treacherous tasks. As Ofelia begins her tasks the viewer is left with the question of whether this alternate reality really exists or is imaginary. Del Toro leaves that up to the viewer. I know what I think ... but I've seen the movie!

(Warning: the Captain is a extremely violent and cruel character. If you think that he is going to do something terrible, just figure that he will. I didn't watch when violence threatened and didn't miss any important dialogue in the subtitles.)

Scott and I discussed this at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast, episode 70.

Piano Poster

Piano poster for Club. Mads Berg.
via Books and Art

Chesterton and American Idealism

There is one thing, at any rate, that must strike all Englishmen who have the good fortune to have American friends; that is, that while there is no materialism so crude or material as American materialism, there is also no idealism so crude or so ideal as American idealism.

G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens

He hit that nail squarely on the head!

Tea in the Studio

Tea in the Studio by Bertha Wegmann, c. late 1800s
via J.R.'s Art Place

Lagniappe - Delicate Enjoyment

Another novelty is the tea-party, an extraordinary meal in that, being offered to persons that have already dined well, it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, no basis but delicate enjoyment.

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

If the fact of O’Connor’s racism, and Dickens’s, has any importance, it is because they were both capable of transcending it in astonishingly beautiful and lasting ways.

It is futile to deny that both O’Connor and Dickens “lacked comprehension” in many ways. You won’t find one person anywhere, at any time, about whom that’s not true. If the fact of O’Connor’s racism, and Dickens’s, has any importance, it is because they were both capable of transcending it in astonishingly beautiful and lasting ways. What’s remarkable about O’Connor’s racism, and Dickens’s, is how inconsistent it is with their fiction. By now, the sins of both of them have been burned away. Their art is a far more fitting monument to their largeness and ability to defend the inherent worth of human persons.

Scott Eric Alt,
Racism and transcendence in Charles Dickens & Flannery O’Connor

On the heels of yesterday's letter defending Flannery O'Connor, warts and all, comes this very good piece about Flannery O'Connor and Charles Dickens. I'd long known about charges of anti-Semitism against Dickens and how he corrected himself once he understood what he'd been doing. However, I guess the fault has been resurrected as something new. Anyway, I liked the examples and comparison in this piece — do go read it all.

Gospel of Matthew: The Cockle of False Doctrine

Matthew 13:9-11, 15-22

I love the fact that the cockle and the wheat looked so much alike and that this would have been a common form of revenge so everyone knew what Jesus was talking about. Context that is much needed for our lives which are far from that sort of agriculture or even from agriculture at all.

And, of course, it is applicable to our times no matter the context.

The enemy sowing weeds, Heinrich Füllmaurer

In the Gospel of today's Mass or Lord teaches us the parable of the wheat and the cockle. The world is like a field where God is continually sowing the seed of his grace; this divine seed takes root in the soul an produces fruits of holiness ... But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

The weed in question -- cockle-seed -- is a plant that is often found growing in cereal crops in the Middle East. It resembles wheat so closely that even to the farmer's practised eye it is impossible to tell the two plants apart until the stalks begin to mature, at which stage the cockle can be recognized by its slender ear and emaciated grain; it is quite toxic to humans, and if mixed with flour will ruin bread. Sowing cockle among the wheat was a form of revenge not unheard of in those countries. Periodic plagues of cockle were very much feared by the peasants, because they could cause them to lose their entire harvest.

The Fathers of the Church have understood the cockle to be a metaphor for false doctrine, which is not easy to distinguish from the truth, above all at the beginning, because it is proper to the devil to mix falsehood with truth; (St. John Chrysostom) and if error is allowed to flourish it always has catastrophic effects on the people of God.

This parable has lost none of its relevance nowadays; we can see that many Christians have fallen asleep and have allowed the enemy to sow bad seed with total impunity. There is practically no truth of the Catholic Faith which hasn't been called into question. We have to be very careful indeed, both with ourselves and with anybody we are responsible for, in the whole area of magazines, television, books, and newspapers, all of which can be a real source of false doctrine and which required us to make a special effort to look after our on-going formation in the doctrinal area.

If we are to be faithful to all the requirements of the Christian vocation we have to be constantly watchful and not let ourselves be taken off guard, because once false doctrine manages to take root in the soul it quickly gives rise to sterility and to estrangement from God. We need to be watchful too in the area of our affections, and not fool ourselves with excuses about how at our time of life "things don't affect us"; and we should be careful also about the effect of such false ideas on those whom God has entrusted to our care.

Francis Fernandez
In Conversation with God: Daily Meditations, Vol. 4

From my friend Patsy come these wonderful insights into the painting.

The picture, labeled "Math. 13," shows the fence of the field broken, and the awful demon with chicken feet sowing cockles, very scary and terrible. The poor woman in the shabby house is faithfully kneading her bread, unaware of how threatened the bread could become as the wheat grows.

The worst part of the picture is the very rich house where the guardians of the field are asleep. The pope is lying down, fully asleep (his responsibility abdicated?), with a cleric in the background who should be watching over him (inadequate protection for his holiness?). The King is sleeping, more or less sitting up (thinking he is still in charge?). On the floor there seems to be a misused chalice almost covered with a black cloth (lack of providing the True Bread). Then there are the priest and the two bishops, who seem to have fallen asleep over what they should be preaching from that podium (from boredom, disinterest, giving up?).

Up in the sky we can barely make out the Lord God coming on the clouds of heaven, with all his angels, but a long way off. It is the time for getting ready for the final separation of the weeds from the wheat. The chimney of the woman's house is sending up smoke which seems to merge with the clouds around the Lord God. Maybe her life of faith and duty are calling for his mercy. There is a very large bee hive beside her house, whose honey is a symbol of wisdom and preaching the Word of God.

This series first ran in 2008. Quote source info is here. I'm refreshing it as I go.

We must honor Flannery for growing. Hide nothing of what she was, and use that to teach.—Alice Walker, statement issued to Loyola University Maryland, July 27, 2020

I'm sharing this since Loyola University's decision to take Flannery O'Connor's name off of a building with very little thought and very great haste dismayed me a lot. A lot of this is the result of at least one article about her being racist. First Things has been commenting on this really well.

However, I was delighted to see this letter sent in Flannery's defense to Loyola, signed by 200 noted writers, literary scholars, theologians, professors, religious leaders. Scroll down at the link for the letter itself. A little excerpt:

Walker praises O’Connor “for growing,” for having the courage and humility to confront, through her writings, her own shortcomings and prejudices and to critique them, via the characters she invented in her stories. Finally, Walker, consummate teacher that she is, urges us to use this as a teachable moment. We are all desperately in need of conversion and transformation. O’Connor died young, 39 years old, in 1964 at the height of the Civil Rights movement. As she lay on her death bed, she was writing story after story about white racists who arrive at the difficult knowledge of their sin. Reading these stories, we watch her coming to a painful but necessary understanding of herself.

For anyone who is interested, Scott and I have several episodes of A Good Story is Hard to find where we discuss some of her short stories.

Victorious even when we are defeated

With him [Christ] we can do anything. We are victorious even whnen we are defeated. This is the optimism so characteristic of the saints. ... Cast away that despair produced by the realization of your weakness. It's true: financially you are a zero, and socially another zero, and another in virtues, and another in talents ... But to the left of these zeros is Christ. And what an immeasurable figure it turns out to be. (Josemaria Escriva)

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God, vol. 4

A Movie You Might Have Missed #16: Regarding Henry

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.

One of Harrison Ford's attempts to avoid typecasting shows just what a good actor he is, in this, our next stop. 

16. Regarding Henry

In one of his best performances, Harrison Ford plays Henry Turner, a top notch lawyer who is selfish and cold in his personal life with his wife and daughter. He goes out for some cigarettes and when displaying his trademark self-centeredness to a convenience store thief, Henry gets shot in the head. As Henry begins to struggle through recovery we see that his personality has undergone a distinct change. He is now human and humane although also slow mentally. Watching him unravel the mystery of why he always paints Ritz crackers as well as adjust to where he does and doesn't fit in at home and at the office are the heart of the story as we also reflect upon true humanity and how the truth often comes in ways we don't expect.

When I write of hunger ...

When I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and it is all one.

M. F. K. Fisher

It's Pouring

It's Pouring, Remo Savisaar

Who has taught you to live well?

The Lord sends us out to proclaim his message to the ends of the earth. We are to bring it to those who do not know him personally, on a one-to-one basis, just as the first Christians did with their families, their colleagues and their neighbors. To do this apostolate, we need not resort to strange behavior. And when they see that we live the same life as they do, they will ask us, "Why are you so happy? How do you manage to overcome selfishness and comfort-seeking? Who has taught you to understand others, to live well and to spend yourself in the service of others?" Then we must disclose to them the divine secret of Christian existence. We must speak to them about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Mary The time has come for us to use our poor words to communicate the depth of God's love which grace has poured into our souls (Christ is passing by, J. Escriva). ...

We should also consider the fact that the leaven has an effect only when it is in contact with the dough. Without being indistinguishable from the dough, but working from within, the leaven does the work of transformation. The woman not only inserts the leaven, but she also kneads it into the mass and hides its presence. In like manner, you have to mix in with other people and become identified with them... Just as the leaven is hidden but does not disappear, so, little by little, all of the mass is transformed to the proper degree (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on St. Matthew's Gospel). Only in the middle of the world can we bring all things to be renewed by God. it is for this task that we have been called by divine vocation.

Francis Fernandez,

In Conversation with God

Volume Four: Ordinary Time: Weeks 13-23

Woman Seated

Woman seated, Gaston Lachaise

I tend to think of the Amon Carter Museum as having mostly western art, especially since it originally was built around Carter's Remington collection of paintings and sculpture. It's always a pleasure to be reminded that there is a lot of other art ranging through America's history and with some playful modern pieces like this one. I feel as if it should really be titled "Woman with attitude."