Psalm 24 — Who is This King of Glory?

As you wonder at the order of creation, the grace of providence and the sacred prescriptions of the Law, sing ... Psalm 24.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

I have grown to love this psalm as I encounter it in the morning prayers of the Liturgy of the Hours. I especially love "Lift up your heads, O gates! ... Who is this King of glory?" It evokes Palm Sunday with Jesus riding into Jerusalem saying that if the people were quiet then the very stones themselves would shout out. Knowing that the psalms were sung in the Temple, I also like to think of that sequence being sung as a call and response, triumphant as the people welcome their Lord.

Dome of the Rock viewed through the Cotton Merchants' Gate

 Here are a few remarks that John Paul II made when he did a series on the psalms and canticles in the Liturgy of the Hours. Read the whole commentary here.

So we reach the third scene of our triptych which describes indirectly the joyful entry of the faithful into the temple to meet the Lord (vv. 7-10). With a thought-provoking exchange of appeals, questions and answers, God reveals himself progressively with three of his solemn titles: "the King of Glory, the Lord Mighty and Valiant, the Lord of Armies". The gates of the temple of Zion are personified and invited to lift up their lintels to welcome the Lord who takes possession of his home.

The triumphal scene, described by the Psalm in the third poetic picture, has been applied by the Christian liturgy of the East and of the West to the victorious Descent of Christ to the Limbo of the fathers, spoken of in the First Letter of Peter (cf. I Pet 3,19), and to the Risen Lord's Ascension into heaven (cf. Acts 1,9-10). Even today, in the Byzantine Liturgy, the Psalm is sung by alternating choirs on Holy Saturday night at the Easter Vigil, and in the Roman Liturgy it is used on the second Sunday of the Passion at the end of the procession of palms. The Solemn Liturgy of the opening of the Holy Door at the beginning of the Jubilee Year allowed us to relive with great interior emotion the same sentiments the Psalmist felt as he crossed the threshold of the ancient temple of Zion.

6. The last title, "Lord of Armies", is not really a military title as may appear at first sight even if it does not exclude a reference to Israel's ranks. Instead, it has a cosmic value: the Lord, who now comes to meet humanity within the restricted space of the sanctuary of Zion, is the Creator who has all the stars of heaven as his army, that is, the creatures of the universe who obey him. In the book of the prophet Baruch we read: "Before whom the stars at their posts shine and rejoice; when he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!' shining with joy for their Creator" (Bar 3,34-35). The infinite, almighty and eternal God adapts himself to the human creature, draws near to meet, listen and enter into communion with him. The liturgy is the expression of this coming together in faith, dialogue and love.

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #51: Caesar Must Die (2012, Italian)

It's been 11 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.

"To think, at school I found this so boring."

Convicts in an Italian high security prison practice and perform Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In the process, we see how the play holds up as a real life reflection of not only the prisoners' experiences but of life in general. The prison theater is being redone so practices are held all over the prison which not only gets us out of the "stage performance" aspect but connects the play more fully to the prisoners' reality.

It was sheer genius for the directors to use real prisoners as the actors while filming in the real prison. Most of them are simply fantastic. Everything except the actual performance is in black and white which, as shot here, adds a rich textural depth.

I didn't expect the film to take us through the substance of the play but that was all to the good also. I'm not likely to voluntarily watch Julius Caesar but I thoroughly enjoyed recognizing key scenes and realizing I knew more of it than I thought. I also was fascinated to realize that the Italian translation was much more colloquial than most Shakespeare we native English speakers ever hear. That also made it easier to connect with in the prison setting.

I've seen people kicking this movie because it doesn't measure up to their standards of a documentary. I think that one can't really bring the documentary label to bear on it because it is an interesting hybrid of staged fiction and documentary.

Simply judging it on its own merits, as a piece of art, as a movie, as a story, as entertainment, Caesar Must Die is terrific.

Evening Glow

John Atkinson Grimshaw, Evening Glow

Our trees still have all their leaves (and will for a month or two), but that golden glow tells us it is autumn anyway.

How a Christian must follow Christ even though he does not shed his blood for him

I tell you again and again, my brethren, that in the Lord's garden are to be found not only the roses of his martyrs. In it there are also the lilies of the virgins, the ivy of wedded couples, and the violets of widows. On no account may any class of people despair, thinking that God has not called them. Christ suffered for all. What the Scriptures say of him is true: He desires all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.

Let us understand, then, how a Christian must follow Christ even though he does not shed his blood for him, and his faith is not called upon to undergo the great test of the martyr's sufferings. The apostle Paul says of Christ our Lord: Though he was in the form of God he did not consider equality with God a prize to be clung to. How unrivaled his majesty! But he emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, made in the likeness of men, and presenting himself in human form. How deep his humility!

Christ humbled himself. Christian, that is what you must make your own. Christ became obedient. How is it that you are proud? When this humbling experience was completed and death itself lay conquered, Christ ascended into heaven. Let us follow him there, for we hear Paul saying: If you have been raised with Christ, you must lift your thoughts on high, where Christ now sits at the right hand of God.

St. Augustine, Sermo 304

The Prayer

Stanislaus Chlebowski, The Prayer

Psalm 23 — Trusting the Shepherd

When you see yourself shepherded and guided safely by the Lord, rejoice in the words of Psalm 23.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

I've become very fond of this psalm in the last year. It has the dual effects of being very peaceful and trusting, combined with acting as a promise for believers, no matter how hard times may get.

Everyone from the Church Fathers to us modern folk love this psalm and there is a wealth of commentary to dive into. I am going to share just a few comments that struck me.

An image of Psalm 23 (King James' Version),
frontispiece to the 1880 omnibus printing of The Sunday at Home.

This simple observation cracks me up. It is so funny because it is so true.

23.1 The Lord is My Shepherd

Complete Dependence. Augustine. When you say, "The Lord is my shepherd," no proper grounds are left for you to trust in yourself. Sermon.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

I like the reminder from both St. Augustine and Pope Benedict XVI that being in God's company radically transforms reality.

23.4 The Valley of the Shadow of Death, You are with Me

A Lamp in a Dark Place. Augustine. As long as you remain in this present life, you are walking in the midst of vices, of worldly pressures, which are the shadow of death. Let Christ shine in your heart, who lights the lamp of our minds with the love of God and neighbor; and you will not fear any evils, since he is with you. Sermon.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

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

To speak of the "dark" valley, the Psalmist uses a Hebrew phrase that calls to mind the shadows of death, which is why the valley to be passed through is a place of anguish, terrible threats, the danger of death. Yet the person praying walks on in safety undaunted sine he knows that the Lord is with him. "You are with me" is a proclamation of steadfast faith and sums up the radical experience of faith; God's closeness transforms the reality, the dark valley loses all danger, it is emptied of every threat. Now the flock can walk in tranquility, accompanied by the familiar rhythmical beat of the staff into the ground, marking the shepherd's reassuring presence.

Pope Benedict XVI, Prayer

I always think of how I feel about being invited to the feast in the presence of enemies but not about what it means that God offers us that hospitality.

23.5 You Prepare a Table Before Me

To accept another as a guest at one's table was to set aside enmity and to assume responsibility for the safety of the guest while in your dwelling. To sit at Yahweh's table is to enjoy fellowship and communion with him. To do so "in the presence of my enemies" is to have one's special relationship to God declared publicly in a context of divine blessing and security.

Psalms vol. 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

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

The Psalmist becomes the object of much attention for which reason he sees himself as a wayfarer who finds shelter in a hospitable tent, whereas his enemies have to stop and watch, unable to intervene, since the one whom they considered their prey has been led to safety and has become a sacred guest who cannot be touched. And the Psalmist is us, if we truly are believers in communion with Christ. When God opens his tent to receive us, nothing can harm us. Then when the traveler sets out afresh, the divine protection is extended and accompanies him on his journey.

Pope Benedict XVI, Prayer

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

Nate Bargatze — a stand-up comedian who is both nice and hilariously funny

Bargatze broke out during Donald Trump’s presidency with the first of two hour-long Netflix specials. A college dropout who insists he’s too dumb to make informed decisions for himself, let alone lecture anyone else, he never talks about politics. He goes nowhere near race or identity issues. He maneuvers so gingerly around other subjects—religion, gender roles, the fracturing of America—that they feel untouched.

After reading this article in The Atlantic, I was intrigued. Bargatze sounded like the comedians I enjoyed most — Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, David Brynner — doing observational comedy without trying to skewer people.

After watching both his Netflix specials we agreed, this guy was somehow hilarious without being mean. We were all laughing out loud at things like ordering coffee and coughing in public. It was a refreshing change of pace. We may be the last people to hear about him, but in case you hadn't watched him yet, give Nate Bargatze a try. 

 I found the article via The Dispatch's daily newsletter. They're good too and not mean. Give them a try.

Dying is nothing ...

Jean Valjean, almost without ceasing to gaze at Cosette, considered Marius and the doctor with serenity. They heard these words, barely audible, come from his lips: "Dying is nothing; what's terrible is not to live."

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

The Woman in White

The Woman in White, Frederick Walker
Via Books and Art

Vikram Vedha — "Let me tell you a story."

Vikram is a brave and honest police inspector who is decisive about right and wrong. Vedha is a criminal who understands the grey shades between good and evil. Vikram leads an encounter* unit formed to eliminate Vedha. In the course of the manhunt, Vedha tells Vikram three stories which change his perceptions of good and evil.

This neo-noir film is a classic story of cat-and-mouse between criminal and policeman which kept us guessing, especially when Vedha's moral questions kept throwing new light on the investigation. It's an exciting thriller that also makes us think as each time Vedha says "let me tell you a story" with a wicked twinkle in his eye. We see new light shed on our judgment of the characters as Vikram is forced to reassess himself and the situation.

The movie's framework of using stories to engage two protagonists to a meeting of minds is inspired by the Indian folktale Baital Pachisi. They are also known as internationally Vikram-Betaal and are often called the vetala tales. So we can see whence the names of the film protagonasts are derived. These are ancient Sanskrit stories which made us think of the Scheherazade stories in that a framing story encapsulates a lot of other tales.  Knowing just the basic outline of the stories gave us context adding another layer of understanding and enjoyment to the movie. We could only imagine how much fun watching this must have been for Indians knowing the Baital Pachisi.

We were really impressed with the storytelling and directing from the husband and wife team Pushkar · Gayatri. We weren't the only ones. This was a really popular film and is going to be remade in Hindi, using the same directors. The cast were all good but the main stars made the film. We'd never seen Vijay Sethupathi before but his intelligent, self assured gangster with a twinkle in his eye captured our hearts at once. It is easy to see why he is so popular that his nickname from fans is "People's Treasure." (I love the way that the Indian fans love their movie stars.) We've seen Madhavan (Vikram) in other movies but he is something of a chameleon and can be hard to pick out as he ranges from a crazy college kid in 3 Idiots to the hapless love in Tanu Weds Manu to the self assured detective Vikram.

Rating — for viewers with medium to difficult Indian film experience. (It's not rocket science, but without any cultural background at all you might feel kind of lost.)

* Encounter killings are something we have been shocked to find are an accepted feature of Indian society and often featured in films as heroic. Wikipedia explains:

Encounter killing is a term used in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka since the late 20th century to describe extrajudicial killings by the police or the armed forces, supposedly in self-defence, when they encounter suspected gangsters or terrorists. In the 1990s and the mid-2000s, the Mumbai Police used encounter killings to attack the city's underworld, and the practice spread to other large cities.

There was a door to which I had no key

Illustration for Quatrain XXXII of Rubaiyát of Omar Khayyám,
1913, Rene Bull

There was a Door to which I found no KEY:
There was a Veil past which I could not see:
Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE
There seem’d–and then no more of THEE and ME.

Quatrain XXXII of Rubaiyát of Omar Khayyám

A Movie You Might Have Missed #50: The Overnighters

It's been 11 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.

"The problem is we're working with sinners and some people are fearful."

This documentary focuses on Pastor Jay Reinke's ministry to homeless men who have flocked to Williston, North Dakota to work in the oil fields but found jobs are not as plentiful as they thought. In some cases, the men are fleeing former problems which catch up to them and leave them unemployable.

Reinke's Lutheran church begins by offering shelter during the winter. The congregation eventually becomes overwhelmed when the "Overnighters" program shows no signs of shutting down although good weather has come because the needy continually arrive in ever-increasing numbers.

We follow Reinke as he and his family struggle to continue the ministry against increasing opposition, including from local media and city government. I was astounded at some of the frank conversations caught by Jesse Moss with his one camera set up.

At first this looks like a straight forward case of Christian hypocrisy. However, no story is ever as simple as it appears on the surface. As the documentary continues we are shown further strands of the story which lead into challenging, thought provoking waters. By the end we are left pondering a morass of complex issues which embody themes that may lead many a Christian to say, "There but for the grace of God, go I."

I could see everyone's struggle. The pastor trying to live the Gospel, the overwhelmed congregation, the men who just want a chance to work, and even the neighbors and local media. That is part of the value of this piece. It reflects us in so many ways and leaves us thinking about how we serve when the "other" is among us.

Hoopoe

Hoopoe, Remo Savisaar

 

The Merchant's Wife

The Merchant's Wife, Boris Kustodiev

What the angels eat

When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took; we know it because she repented.

Mark Twain

Roosters and Chicks

Roosters and Chicks, Xu Beibong

"And the flower said to the dirt ..."

This is really long but I love the story so much I wanted you to read it too.

It is hard to believe in this love because it is a tremendous love. "It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God." If we do once catch a glimpse of it. Once we recognize that we are sons of God, that the seed of divine life has been planted in us at baptism, we are overcome by that obligation placed upon us of growing in the love of God. and what we do not do voluntarily, He will do for us. Father Roy, our dear Josephite friend who worked with us at Easton and who has been these past two years in a hospital in Montreal, learning what it is to be loved, used to tell a story of a leper he met at a hospital up on the Gaspé peninsula. The leper complained to him, How could he believe in the love of God?

Father Roy proceeded to tell his favorite story. First of all, the humus from which all things spring, and the flower says to the dirt, "How would you like to grow and wave in the breeze and praise God?" And the dirt says "Yes," and that necessitates its losing its own self as dirt and becoming something else. Then the chicken comes along and says to the flower, "How would you like to be a chicken and walk around like I do and praise God?" And the flower assures the chicken that it would like it indeed. But then it has to cease to be a flower. And the man comes to the chicken and says to it, "How would you like to be a man and praise God?" And of course the chicken would like it too, but it has to undergo a painful death to be assimilated to the man, in order to praise God.

When Father Roy told this story, he said with awe, "And the leper looked at me, and a light dawned in his eyes, and he clasped my hands and gasped, 'Father!' And then we both cried together."

Father Roy is a childlike man, and the Russian leper up in the Canadian peninsula was a simple sufferer, and he saw the point that Father Roy was trying to make, and he began to believe in this love and to see some reason for his sufferings. He began to comprehend the heights and the depths and the strange mystery of this love. But it still takes the eyes of faith to see it.

Dorothy Day, On Pilgrimage

Psalm 22 (part 2) — The "Today" of Suffering God's Silence and the "Today" of the Resurrection.

In Psalm 22 he speaks in the person of the Savior about the manner of his death. ... The psalmist places all these teachings in front of us because the Lord suffered all this not on his own account but for us.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

Last week we saw how the Jewish people understood this psalm and would have taken Jesus' reference to it from the cross.

This week we're going to see how it applies to our own lives in a meditation which I put together from Pope Benedict XVI. Definitely click through on the links to read his entire two homilies.

Detail, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 150

... Forsaken by almost all his followers, betrayed and denied by the disciples, surrounded by people who insult him, Jesus is under the crushing weight of a mission that was to pass through humiliation and annihilation. This is why he cried out to the Father, and his suffering took up the sorrowful words of the Psalm. But his is not a desperate cry, nor was that of the Psalmist who, in his supplication, takes a tormented path which nevertheless opens out at last into a perspective of praise, into trust in the divine victory.

And since in the Jewish custom citing the beginning of a Psalm implied a reference to the whole poem, although Jesus’ anguished prayer retains its burden of unspeakable suffering, it unfolds to the certainty of glory. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”, the Risen Christ was to say to the disciples at Emmaus (Lk 24:26). In his passion, in obedience to the Father, the Lord Jesus passes through abandonment and death to reach life and to give it to all believers. ...

However a question arises within us: how is it possible that such a powerful God does not intervene to save his Son from this terrible trial? It is important to understand that Jesus’ prayer is not the cry of one who meets death with despair, nor is it the cry of one who knows he has been forsaken. At this moment Jesus makes his own the whole of Psalm 22[21], the Psalm of the suffering People of Israel. In this way he takes upon himself not only the sin of his people, but also that of all men and women who are suffering from the oppression of evil and, at the same time, he places all this before God’s own heart, in the certainty that his cry will be heard in the Resurrection: “The cry of extreme anguish is at the same time the certainty of an answer from God, the certainty of salvation — not only for Jesus himself, but for ‘many’” (Jesus of Nazareth, II, pp. 213-214 Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2011).

In this prayer of Jesus are contained his extreme trust and his abandonment into God’s hands, even when God seems absent, even when he seems to be silent, complying with a plan incomprehensible to us. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read: “in the redeeming love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us in the state of our waywardness of sin, to the point that he could say in our name from the cross: ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (n. 603). His is a suffering in communion with us and for us, which derives from love and already bears within it redemption, the victory of love.

We too have to face ever anew the “today” of suffering of God’s silence — we express it so often in our prayers — but we also find ourselves facing the “today” of the Resurrection, of the response of God who took upon himself our sufferings, to carry them together with us and to give us the firm hope that they will be overcome (cf. Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, nn. 35-40).

Dear friends, let us lay our daily crosses before God in our prayers, in the certainty that he is present and hears us. Jesus’ cry reminds us that in prayer we must surmount the barriers of our “ego” and our problems and open ourselves to the needs and suffering of others....

Pope Benedict XVI, General Audiences, September 14, 2011 and February 8, 2012

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

The Trail Drive-In

The Trail Drive-In in San Antonio, 1982.

Located at 910 SE Military Drive there in San Antonio. The site where the Trail Drive-In once stood is now a Wal-Mart Store. It was opened on April 28, 1946 with Randolph Scott in “Abiline Town” and operated by Underwood & Ezell. Santikos Theatres took over in 1973. It closed for good in 1984.

Traces of Texas, from whence came this photo.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #49: The Extraordinary Voyage

It's been 11 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.

The cinematic journey of the iconic film A Trip to the Moon

We came across this on the Docurama channel when surfing Roku.

What a find! This tells the story of Georges Melies, whose 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune left us with the indelible image of gentlemen in top hats exploring the moon. However, in order to tell Melies' story, the filmmakers wove the story of early cinema itself around the narrative. It winds up following restoration efforts to the only hand-colored print of the film in existence.

In particular I loved seeing how experimenting with a new medium allowed vivid story telling and imaginative special effects in those early days. Clocking in at 78 minutes, The Extraordinary Journey is packed with entertainment and elegant fantasy as well as being a fascinating tale.

When your duty is to be a lotus-eater

For my own part I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better. I remember being ill once in a foreign hotel myself and how much I enjoyed it. To lie there careless of everything, quiet and warm, and with no weight upon the mind, to hear the clinking of the plates in the far-off kitchen as the scullion rinsed them and put them by; to watch the soft shadows come and go upon the ceiling as the sun came out or went behind a cloud; to listen to the pleasant murmuring of the fountain in the court below, and the shaking of the bells on the horses' collars and the clink of their hoofs upon the ground as the flies plagued them; not only to be a lotus-eater but to know that it was one's duty to be a lotus-eater.

Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, ch 80

This is via DarwinCatholic where Mrs. Darwin attests to the truth of the statement above. I especially loved the description of what he was hearing and watching while lying ill. It was so evocative of the experience.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #48: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

It's been 11 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.

She raised 10 kids on 25 words or less.

Julianne Moore portrays Evelyn Ryan, a 1950s housewife with 10 children. Submitting jingles, slogans and songs to product contests, she wins prizes and cash that help their family scrape by. Her husband, Kelly, (Woody Harrelson) is an alcoholic who spends a hefty portion of his paycheck on the nightly fifth of whiskey and six-pack of beer so Evelyn's talent with words is much needed.

This started off fun and cute, with stylized presentation that made us think of Pushing Daisies. Then, just when we thought there wasn't more to say, it veered into deeper waters thanks to the complex issues caused by the alcoholic husband. Although it is treated more lightly than in some movies, the film's power comes from watching how Evelyn copes with her husband and the issues his dysfunction raises in the family.

NOTE: I subsequently read the book and found this movie to be a very good adaptation of it. Both are worth experiencing for their own worth.

Worth a Thousand Words: What Happens Next?

What Happens Next? Guglielmo Zocchi (Italian, 1874-1957)

Psalm 22 (part 1) — What Did It Mean Before Jesus Quoted It From the Cross?

In Psalm 22 he speaks in the person of the Savior about the manner of his death. ... The psalmist places all these teachings in front of us because the Lord suffered all this not on his own account but for us.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

After I became Christian I flipped open the Bible one day and came upon Psalm 22 with the distinctive opening line, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

I was stunned. Of course, these are words that Jesus said on the cross. Surely this was prophecy, being written so long before Jesus' passion. Reading further I came upon more familiar moments, all from  accounts of Jesus' crucifixion.

He committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him! (Passersby, priests, soldiers and, specifically, one of the two thieves who was crucified with Christ.)

They pierced my hands and feet. (Crucifixion)

I can count all my bones (None of his bones were broken.)

They stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots. (The soldiers dicing for Jesus' robe.)

We can see how this would have great resonance with Christians. It sure did with me. And the Church Fathers were all over it. But, of course, they had the example of Christ on the road to Emmaus showing how all the scriptures related to his coming as Messiah.

That makes it kind of easy to forget it was a psalm that the Jewish people prayed in ancient days before the time of Jesus. Psalm 22 is read on Purim, which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from a Persian Empire official who was scheming to massacre them with government sanction. So it  is considered a prophetic psalm but about Queen Esther who saved the people. In fact, Jesus would have prayed it as an observant Jew within the community. The fact that he could quote that first line knowing people would get deeper meaning meant he was referring to the significance it already had to the faithful.

We're going to get a couple of takes on this psalm, today reflecting on the psalm itself and next week from Pope Benedict XVI meditating on Jesus quoting it on the cross.

Detail, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 150

This psalm is long and powerfully descriptive. The psalmist laments God's absence and silence and attacks by humans. However, interwoven in this is trust in God as strength, as one who is listening, as one who will reign and have dominion over nations. The big question in our own lives, as in that of the psalmist, is how do we react when we are in agony and God seems to be absent?

Only as we understand what the psalm means on its own are we better able to understand why Jesus chose these words to reflect his own agony of abandonment by his Father at the final moment of crisis represented by the cross.

Far from being just a prediction of events surrounding Jesus' death the psalm reflects a model of response to abandonment and divine delay ... By quoting just verse 1 of this psalm, Jesus could draw on a long history of awareness on the part of his listeners who knew how the first nineteen verses illustrate the struggle of the faithful sufferer who waits for deliverance by God. ...

The psalmist's faithful response to the absence of God is placed within a broader context of an eschatological* vision of hope. In the midst of fulfilling a vow of praise "in the congregation" — a praise grounded in the past history of Yahweh's faithfulness even in the face of his absence (22:22-24) — the psalmist suddenly sifts gears with a remarkable profession: "My praise in the great assembly [is] from with you!" This phrase is remarkable because the psalmist realizes that even when Yahweh is most distant and entirely absent from our experience, the ability to praise him is a testimony to his enduring presence with those who fear him. The very ability to praise comes from God himself.

This realization catapults the psalmist from a historical reflection to a vision of eschatological hope. ...

It admits the possibility that faithful living may not result in deliverance — that suffering and death are realities for the faithful. But, at the same time, it also understands that present suffering and evil will not ultimately prevent the fulfillment of God's plans. ... The faithful psalmist remains loyal and takes solace in the knowledge that regardless of the personal outcome, God's will will be done.

Psalms vol. 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

 Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here. 

 

*relating to death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind

Mademoiselle Huquier Holding a Cat

Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Mademoiselle Huquier Holding a Cat, 1747

 I love  the playful nature of this young lady's pet.

I feel as if life with dogs is easier but I do occasionally miss having a cat around the house. However, even if my husband were amenable, our little white Kaylee would surely try to kill any cat we brought home. So I will just enjoy them in art.

I could never be a Catholic because I'm such a snob.

9 May. Miss Shepherd's funeral is at Our Lady of Hal, the Catholic church round the corner. The service has been slotted into the ten o'clock mass, so that, in addition to a contingent of neighbors, the congregation includes what I take to be regulars: the fat little man in thick glasses and trainers who hobbles along to the church every day from Arlington House; several nuns, among them the ninety-nine-year-old sister who was in charge when Miss S. was briefly a novice; a woman in a green straw hat like an upturned plant pot who eats toffees throughout; and another lady who plays the harmonium in tan slacks and a tea-cozy wig. The server, a middle-aged man with white hair, doesn't wear a surplice, just ordinary clothes with an open-necked shirt, and, but for knowing all the sacred drill, might have been roped in from the group on the corner outside The Good Mixer. The priest is a young Irish boy with a big, red peasant face and sandy hair, and he, too, stripped of his cream-colored cassock, could be wielding a pneumatic drill in the roadworks outside. I keep thinking about these characters during the terrible service, and it reinforces what I have always known: that I could never be a Catholic because I'm such a snob, and that the biggest sacrifice Newman made when he turned his back on the C of E was the social one.

Alan Bennett, The Lady in the Van

This might be one of the biggest compliments to the Church I've ever read.

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The Unbroken Thread by Sohrab Ahmari

Holy moly, what a great book!

Sohrab Ahmari wrote this book for his 2-year-old son, Max, after he began worrying about what sort of man Max would become when formed by our modern culture. Max is named for Maximilian Kolbe, a great saint of the 20th century. Ahmari thought about the gap between our cultural expectations and the culture that led Kolbe to to lay down his life for a man he didn't know. He wanted to bridge the gap between those two different cultures using the "unbroken thread" of tradition — both Tradition as Catholics would know it and tradition from other cultures such as from someone like Confucius.

He begins with the premise that the great traditions offer answers to questions that liberal modernity doesn't even begin to ask. Therefore, Ahmari asks twelve questions, each of which he explores through the life of different great thinkers from across the political and ideological spectrum. The style is kept very readable as it encompasses both story telling and intellectual thinking.

For example, his first question is "how do you justify your life?" What is at the bottom of that question is  modern scientism which says that everything must be measurable through cold, hard facts. The great thinker he uses to help examine this concept is C.S. Lewis.  First we are given a mini-biography so that the context of Lewis's thinking is clear. The place that Ahmari finds Lewis's thinking on science is in the first book of his science fiction trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet.

Some of the thinkers were those I'd heard a lot about, such as St. Thomas Aquinas. However, Ahmari also included people I'd never heard of like anthropologists Edith and Victor Turner. And there were plenty of in-betweens where the most I knew was a vague sense of their contributions, such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It got to the point where I was excited to begin a new chapter to see what thinker was going to be highlighted.

I felt lucky to begin the book on a fairly open weekend so I finished it in two days. It was exciting and satisfying to read. And I was surprised to find myself moved in one spot where a teacher asked a former student, "May I hope that's the second volume of your Gnosticism book?" You'll have to read it yourself to see why that matters.

I really appreciated that Ahmari included people who are not 100% in lockstep with traditional Catholic teachings. It was enough that their basic premises showed logical thinking and that "unbroken thread" from past to present. That in itself is an important lesson to the modern reader in how to discern when someone has the big idea but may go astray on smaller details. He's not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

The others in my household are eagerly waiting their turn before this goes back to the library. Needless to say, I will be buying my own copy for rereading. Highly recommended.

Shop Sign of Gersaint

Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), Shop Sign of Gersaint

The picture was originally painted on one canvas, depicting clients and staff at the shop. As a worker packs away a portrait of Louis XIV at the left, in the centre a young man offers his hand to a woman who is stepping over the threshold of the shop. At the right an elderly couple examine a painting of nudes, and a pretty young shop assistant, possibly Gersaint's wife, shows a painting to a group of well-dressed young people.

I know that trade work was common for artists trying to keep their heads above water, but something about this shop sign really grabs me ... and amuses me at the same time.

Agua Dulce Wine

Agua Dulce Wine by Belinda Del Pesco

This is so evocative of place. I almost feel as if I'm standing in the vineyard.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #47: Art & Copy

It's been 11 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.

Art serving capitalism.

We like documentaries. We love advertising.

So we were suckers for this film which looks at the creators of several campaigns which have lent our culture iconic phrases.

Got milk?

It's morning in America.

I want my MTV.

Just do it.

And many more.

The ad stories are told through interviews with some of the chief creative figures of the advertising world from the last few decades. It's interesting to watch the very different styles and ways they describe themselves and their process because they all have the essential ability to distill a product's appeal into key words and images that spark our imaginations.

Dropped into the narrative are facts and figures about advertising and the daily life of a laborer who changes billboard signs. Those added a nice bit of perspective to the sometimes high flown conversation.

"Are there any good coming of age books?"

My friend Meg asked this question during last week's book club and I could only think of Huckleberry Finn. Which I was loathe to include, as was Meg. Now that's crazy because it is, of course, a coming of age book. But, as it turns out, neither Meg nor I like coming of age stories and we both like Huckleberry Finn.

At the same time another friend, Emily, mentioned Anne of Green Gables, to which I automatically said "No." Now that's even more bonkers because, of course, it also is a coming of age story and a good book. To me, though, it seemed too simple and sweet, without the deep layers of angst that I hate when reading about coming of age.

So I went home thinking about Meg's question and my peremptory exclusions. 

Suddenly I understood why I never liked David Copperfield until the very end where he's wrestling with his marriage ... and is an adult! Right. The whole darned book is coming of age with angst. So much angst. (Not that I don't love Aunt Betsy and Mr. Dick because, you know, Dickens isn't going to let you out of any book without making you love at least some of the people in it.)

Rose and I talked this over and came to the conclusion that  coming of age stories are fairly predictable and boring unless that is just one element of a much more compelling, complex tale. 

Naturally, I made a list. 

I'm including two classic coming of age tales because I encountered them at just the right age to love them always. And they manage to be legitimately good books even without lots of other elements.

• Treasure Island
  Pirates! And ... no, that's it - Pirates!
  
  
• Anne of Green Gables
  Classic
  
  
• Little Women
  Classic
  
  
• Kim
  Adventure, espionage, and exotic India from all walks of society
  
  
• Northanger Abbey
  Deliciously fun satire of Gothic novels. And romance!
  
  
• To Kill a Mockingbird
  Small town life in the South, racial injustice, and the best father in the world
  
  
• Huckleberry Finn
  Road trip, adventures on the Mississippi, and racism
  
  
• Citizen of the Galaxy 
  Slavery, beggars, exotic far-off worlds, spaceships, espionage
  
  
• Dune
  Giant worms, interplanetary intrigue, and trying to spot the coming messiah
  
  
• Harry Potter (books 1-7)
  Super villain, wizards, magic, Muggles —you already know why this is fun and also great
  
  
• The Giver
  Fascinating utopian/dystopian society.
  
  
• The City (Dean Koontz)
  Supernatural horror with plenty of jazz
  
  
• The Jungle Book / The Graveyard Book
  Take your pick since Neil Gaiman wrote Graveyard in homage to Jungle. Raised by animals or ghosts, running from a tiger or a hired killer, encountering mysteries and wonders in a world that isn't human.
  
  
• Jane Eyre
  All things gothic and mysterious. Avoid the attic!
  
  
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
  The creepiest carnival ever. Do not — I repeat "do not" — ride the merry-go-round.
  
  
• Ender's Game
  Giant alien insects want to invade Earth. Who can possibly save us?
  

Notre Dame de Bayeaux Crypt

Notre Dame de Bayeux Crypt
By Anton Bielousov

Freedom and small daily acts of self-denial

Unselfishness, which makes men free, is attained only through the patience of small daily acts of self-denial. By this daily passion, which alone reveals to a man in how many ways he is enslaved by his own ego, by this daily passion and by it alone, a man’s eyes are slowly opened. He sees only to the extent that he has lived and suffered. If today we are scarcely able any longer to become aware of God, that is because we find it so easy to evade ourselves, to flee from the depths of our being by means of the narcotic of some pleasure or other. Thus our own interior depths remain closed to us.

Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), 1969 radio address

I try to practice daily self denial (emphasis on try). Thinking of it as a "daily passion" is something new, which elevates it beyond my usual routine.

The Fading of Forgiveness by Timothy Keller

What are the influences that are making forgiveness problematic in our culture?

Pastor Timothy Keller's article about forgiveness is important and worth reading. The article can be found online from Comment magazine.

I came across this article via The Word on Fire podcast where Bishop Barron is discussing it in two parts. Here's part 1.

I finished Les Miserables!

 

I finished!!!

It took three months and so much skimming but I'm glad I read it, although I will never read it again. And I'm very impressed that the Les Miserables movie (Hugh Jackman) did such a good job of carrying through important characters and themes. In fact, if I hadn't seen the movie about 5 times I would occasionally have gotten lost in the novel. As it was, I was fascinated at the places where the plots diverged between the two with both still carrying the same message. In fact, I wound up being surprised that the movie's ending was so overtly religious when the book handled religious elements in that spot with much less emphasis.

At any rate, much as with Crime and Punishment — huzzah! My whole day is one of triumph!

Poppies

Augusto Giacometti - Poppies [1932]
via Gandalf's Gallery

Gardening had gone out the door, nature had returned in all its glory.

Gardening had gone out the door, nature had returned in all its glory. Weeds flourished, which is a wonderful adventure for a poor patch of dirt. The stocks there were having a field day, riotously splendid. Nothing in the garden opposed the sacred effort of things toward life; venerable growth was very much at home. The trees hung down toward the brambles, the brambles reached up toward the trees, the plant climbed, the branch bowed, what crawls on the ground had gone to look for what blossoms in the air, what floats on the wind had stooped toward what trails in the moss; trunks, limbs, leaves, twigs, tufts, tendrils, shoots, thorns mixed together, crossed, married, merged; in a close and powerful embrace, the vegetation had achieved and celebrated there, under the satisfied eye of the Creator, in this enclosure of three hundred square feet, the sacred mystery of His fraternity, a symbol of human fraternity. This garden was no longer a garden, it was a colossal thicket, that is, as impenetrable as a forest, as crowded as a town, as tremulous as a nest, as sombre as a cathedral, as fragrant as a bouquet, as lonely as a tomb, as full of life as the teeming multitudes.

In Floréal, this enormous bushland, free behind its gate and within its four walls, began to rut in the mute labour of universal germination, quivering in the rising sun almost like an animal gulping in the effluvia of cosmic love and feeling the April sap rise and boil in its veins; it shook its extravagant green hair in the wind, scattered over the wet ground, over the worn statues, over the crumbling steps of the villa and even over the pavement in the deserted street, flowers like stars, dew like pearls, fecundity, beauty, life, joy, perfume. At noon, a thousand white butterflies took refuge there, and it was a divine spectacle to see this living summer snow swirling there in flakes in the shade. There, in the jaunty gloom of the greenery, a host of innocent voices spoke softly to the soul, and what the warbling forgot to say, the humming completed. At night a dreamy vapour rose from the garden and enveloped it; a shroud of mist, a calm celestial sadness covered it; that intensely intoxicating smell of honeysuckle and wild morning glory wafted up on all sides like an exquisite and subtle poison; you could hear the final calls of the tree creepers and the wagtails dozing off under the branches; you could feel the sacred intimacy of bird and tree; of a day, the wings rejoice the leaves, of a night, the leaves protect the wings.

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Victor Hugo will take very long side trips in the course of telling his story, many of which I don't care about much. This description of the garden where Marius and Cosette meet, however, is so wonderfully described that I copied it into my quote journal and have read it over several times. It is so evocative.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #46: Intouchables

It's been 11 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.

Sometimes you have to reach into someone else's world to find out what's missing in your own.

 

 Wealthy quadriplegic Philippe needs an assistant to help him with all the functions of daily life.

Immigrant, ex-con Driss needs a signature on his application to fulfill unemployment requirements.

Philippe hires Driss because the regular applicants are missing one important quality and the lives of both men are changed.

This sounds like a predictable enough plot except it is played as a sympathetic comedy. Philipe doesn't want pity. Driss has irrepressible honesty and humor that changes the dynamic of many scenes from what we expect to see. They make each other laugh. They enrich each other's lives. They broaden each other's worlds.

Omar Sy is a delight, as always. We've been enjoying him in the French series Lupin where his charm keeps coming through. Francois Cluzet is masterful in a role where all the acting must be done with voice and expressions. Both performances are nuanced.

It is based on a true story. The original Philippe turned down several movie offers until these filmmakers presented him with this comedic script. After watching the movie I can see why. There are moments of both pathos and comedy for both men. Neither is perfect and each is untouchable in his own way. It shows that no matter our handicaps, life goes on. We choose how to live it.

Study of a Hat

Study of a Hat (1889), Susan Merrill Ketcham
via Books and Art

Psalm 21 — Thanksgiving and Trust

Psalm 21 reveals Christ's kingdom, and the power of his judgment, and his coming again in the flesh to us and the summoning of the nations

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This psalm is like an response to Psalm 20's anticipation of God's promised support. Both trust in victory and both are royal psalms.

 More importantly in our understanding, is that the king serves as a model for individual believers and their relationships with God. Reading this psalm do we see ourselves trusting God's strength and unfailing love?

The top of the photo has source information.
I look at this fragment and wonder who used it in prayer,
who was inspired by it, how long has it been used?
It's another reminder of the timelessness of the psalms.

Psalm 20. Contemporary Significance.

Characteristic of Israelite kingship was a tension that most of us face almost daily. If you look at the early narratives of the origins of Israel's monarchy, this tension is very apparent. The Kings constantly struggled with competing demands. On the one hand, the people wanted them to become political and military leaders winning victories against Israel's enemies. On the other hand, God  called them while demanding them to forego the normal kingly reliance on military, political, and financial power in order to lead the people in the ways of Yahweh. [...] Rather than the usual forms of kingly power, therefore, the kings were required to bind themselves to keep the law of Yahweh and to rely on him alone.

Psalms vol. 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here.

Love, Treachery, and Other Terrors by Katharine Campbell

Fairies have one job. They are tasked with helping people learn and practice virtue. I am sure you've heard stories of fairies taking the form of beggars, blessing those who help them, and cursing those who don't.

However, not all fairies are good. Instead of helping people practice virtue, some encourage vice. These are the types of fairies you generally want to avoid. Nothing would delight them more than seeing you destroy someone you love.

Unfortunately, for the young King Alexander, his sister falls victim to a pair of such fairies who convince her to launch a coup. Alexander has no choice but to flee to a barbarian kingdom and try to build himself a new life among the uncouth locals.

Even if happiness were possible in such a place, could he live with himself if he left his people at the mercy of such evil beings? And even if he wanted to help his people, how could he possibly match the fairies' power?

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is a fractured fairy tale of sorts, updated for modern sensibilities but still anchored in the things that make for good fairy tales — fantastic adventures, heroes, right and wrong, good and evil, and even a faithful hound. There are even solid spiritual lessons woven into it, thankfully without ever hitting you over the head with them.

All this is told with a good sense of humor, clever plot twists, and solidly developed characters. I was really on tenterhooks at the end, wondering what sort of countermeasures Alexander could come up with against the two evil fairies. (He did it very cleverly, by the way.)

Definitely recommended.

Udria Cliff

Udria Cliff, Remo Savisaar

 

Creating what does not exist and changing natures to something new

If the words of Elijah had power even to bring down fire from heaven, will not the words of Christ have power to change the natures of the elements? You have read that in the creation of the whole world he spoke and they came to be; he commanded and they were created. If Christ could by speaking create out of nothing what did not yet exist, can we say that his words are unable to change existing things into something they previously were not? It is no lesser feat to create new natures for things than to change their existing natures.

St. Ambrose, from treatise on the Mysteries

This is such a basic bit of logic and yet one that never occurred to me. Now I just have to hope it pops into my mind if I am in discussion about the Eucharist.

Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List

Michelangelo’s Handwritten 16th-Century Grocery List
via J.R.'s Art Place

“Because the servant he was sending to market was illiterate,” writes the Oregonian‘s Steve Duin in a review of a Seattle Art Museum show, “Michelangelo illustrated the shopping lists — a herring, tortelli, two fennel soups, four anchovies and ‘a small quarter of a rough wine’ — with rushed (and all the more exquisite for it) caricatures in pen and ink.”

A child is not an "add on"

A child does not come from outside as something to be added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2366

Canticle: Letter to the Philippians (2: 6-11) – He humbled himself

He humbled himself

We're taking another short break from the psalms to consider another canticle. This one is featured in the Liturgy of the Hours every Sunday in evening prayer, so we know it is a biggie. When you go read it, you'll recognize it from the fact that it is often mentioned in the regular liturgical readings. And it is one of my favorites since I need that reminder that Jesus' obedience is key to our salvation. Like everyone, I struggle with obedience so this is something that hits me fresh every time I read it. Once a week seems just about right!

Icon of the Mosaic Pantocrator (Agia Sophia)

In every Sunday celebration of Vespers the liturgy proposes anew the Christological hymn of the Letter to the Philippians (cf. 2: 6-11) which is short but laden with meaning. We are examining the first part of this hymn that has just resounded (vv. 6-8), in which the paradoxical "self-emptying" of the Divine Word is described as he divests himself of his glory and takes on the human condition.

Christ, incarnate and humiliated by the most shameful death of crucifixion, is held up as a vital model for Christians. Indeed, as is clear from the context, their "attitude must be that of Christ" (v. 5), and their sentiments, humility and self-giving, detachment and generosity.

[...]

The basic element of this first part of the Canticle seems to me to be the invitation to enter into Jesus' sentiments. Entering into the sentiments of Jesus means not considering power, riches and prestige as the supreme values in our lives, for basically they do not respond to our most profound spiritual thirst, but rather, by opening our hearts to the Other, carrying with the Other our life's burden and opening ourselves to Our Heavenly Father with a sense of obedience and trust, knowing that by such obedience to the Father, we will be free. Entering into the sentiments of Jesus: this should be our daily practice of living as Christians.

Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience on Evening Prayer, June 1, 2005

I've linked above to where you can find this on the Vatican website. However, there are actually four different homilies, one for each week, in the series on the evening prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours. Two are by Saint John Paul II and two are from Pope Benedict XVI. You may read them all at Totus Tuus.

An index of canticle posts is here.   

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Goodness gracious, I first shared this recipe in 2004. That is so long ago! In the meantime, I've made a number of time-saving changes or those that up the flavor. This soup is so simple and so delicious you've got to try it so I'm rerunning it, revised. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #45: Attack the Block

It's been 11 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.

Inner City vs. Outer Space

 

This was one of my favorite movies of 2013 and I just realized that I never gave more than a one line description of this unexpected delight.

It's a good, solid monster movie with a basic puzzle to solve in order to rid oneself of the monsters. In this case, the twist is that the alien monsters land in London. The only ones to realize what's happening are some young thugs in a council block (that translates to "the projects" in the U.S.). They must battle the aliens while trying to escape the police who believe the resulting destruction is from gang violence. Its thoroughly enjoyable if one doesn't expect too much from it and watching the young actors is a delight, many of whom were recruited from local acting schools.

I especially enjoyed the fact that you can tell the aliens are not computer generated. The young actors said that they were actually frightened during action sequences because they were acting with real, unpredictable "creatures" ... it both shows and enhances the film.

The director went to a lot of trouble to get the place right. He interviewed council block kids to find out what weapons they'd grab if aliens landed. They use real slang and at times I felt as if I were watching a foreign language film with the captions off. However, there was always enough understandable dialogue for context.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It is Mom's birthday. This is the second year she is with us so we can enjoy celebrating the day together.

I'm not making a Sunflower Cake but odds are good that I will be making her a chocolate cake of some sort. She's requested a chocolate cake with orange frosting and that is a divine combination.

I put the sunflower cake picture because Mom loves sunflowers (as do I). And that's perfect, actually because thinking of Mom's birthday makes me think of how many we celebrated when I was growing up in Kansas. One of my fondest memories is of sunflowers everywhere. The scene below is typical of what you'd see driving through backroads through the open country. It is thanks to Mom that I have my enduring love of nature, flowers, and wildlife of all sorts. That's a gift you can never say thank you enough for.

Happy birthday Mom!

Either man governs his passions and finds peace, or ...

... either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.126 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint.

[...]

Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2339, 2342

Yoshida-jinja Shrine Aichi

Yoshida-jinja Shrine Aichi, Find47

 

If Christ had acted as we do

Let us not be insensible of Christ's loving kindness. For if he had acted as we do, we would have been lost indeed.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, letter to the Magnesians

Basket of Berries

Basket of Berries by Sarah Miriam Peale

Since I was talking about Strawberry Raspberry Pie, this seemed perfect!

What is a Yankee?

To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.

E.B. White

So true! Tom told us this because Rose and I were talking about eating Strawberry-Raspberry Pie for breakfast. Because, you know, it is mostly fruit and, therefore, so healthy! It was delicious. And did not make us Yankees! It just made us happy.

"I'm from Texas"

A man from Iowa or Illinois will say "I'm from the Middle West"..a Georgian or a Mississippian may admit to being merely a Southerner...but no Texan, given the opportunity, ever said otherwise than "I'm from Texas."

J. Frank Dobie, Texan

Indeed, very true!

Gerontius

Gerontius, N Puttapipat Illustration