Brochevarevarura (Who Shall Save the Day?)

This story has the framework of an aspiring scriptwriter who is telling the story to an actress who he hopes to interest in starring in the film he's writing. The film pops in and out of this framework and it is interesting to see how the story can subtly change going forward based on the actress's questions or comments.

As it begins, three slackers (or as they are charmingly called in India - back benchers) try anything and everything to make passing marks. They meet another low performer who is a young lady and the principal's daughter. When she runs into trouble, they turn all their limited resources into helping her out.

For the first half of the movie, this was all good and well, but I kept wondering what led to all the good critical reviews and audience enthusiasm. It seemed very ordinary in many ways. However, about halfway through a plot twist popped up that left us astounded and intrigued. This made all the difference as the movie exploded into action and we were glued to the story.

I would like to rewatch this someday because there are hints in the beginning which are fulfilled by the end. I know that we missed some but the obvious ones were a real pleasure when they popped up. This was cleverly written and well acted and directed. Definitely recommended.

A Wild Sea at Choshi

Katsushika Hokusai, A Wild Sea at Choshi, c. 1833
Via Arts Everyday Living

This is so well done that you can feel the movement of the boats, the spray from the waves, and the wild ride. Possibly also the terror at the danger!

The Lord, the Word, the Shepherd and Mary

The Lord entered (Mary) and became a servant;
the Word entered her and became silent within her;
thunder entered her and his voice was still;
the Shepherd of all entered her and became a Lamb ...

St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor (aka "Harp of the Holy Spirit)

This is so poetic and contains such depth. I love this for reflection.

God has planted us where we are — for our holiness

This is a really long quote but it holds together so well in reflecting on the particular circumstances of our own lives and God's desire for us to grow in holiness — so we're reading it all!

All times are good times for entering into the depths of sanctity; all circumstances are opportune for loving God more, for our interior life feeds, as plants do, on the stuff of the circumstances in which we are immersed. Growth is the work of the Holy spirit. Plants do not choose the ground in which they are nourished; the sower lets the seeds fall to the earth, where they prosper, converting the useful elements in the soil, with the help of rainwater, into the substance of the maturing grain. And so what is sown ripens and reaches up and grows strong.

With even greater reason we will grow in strength, because it is our Father God who has chosen the terrain and gives us the graces necessary for us to bear fruit. The plot of earth where Our Lord has planted us is the particular family of which we are part, and not any other. We grow up among those who form our initial immediate environment, with all their virtues and failings and idiosyncrasies. The rich mould we are rooted in is our work, which we must love so that it will sanctify not only us, but also our colleagues, our classmates, our neighbours ... The earth from whose nutrients we have to produce fruits of holiness is our country, our own country, our city, our town, the prevailing social or political system, our own condition of life and no other. It is there, in that environment, in the midst of the world where the Lord says we can and must live all the Christian virtues, developing them with all the demands they make on us and not allowing them to be stunted or to wither. God calls people to holiness in every circumstance: in war and in peace, in sickness and in health, when we think we have triumphed and when we face unexpected defeat, when we have plenty of time and when time is at a premium, so that we seem barely to manage to do what we must. Our Lord wants us to be saints at all times. Those who do not rely on grace, and habitually see things with a completely human outlook, are saying constantly: this now, is not the right tim for sanctity ..., later ... perhaps ...

Let us not think that in another place, in another situation we would be ready to follow Our Lord more closely and carry out a more fruitful apostolate. Let us leave that mystical wishful thinking to one side. The fruits of sanctity Our Lord expects are those produced in and from the environment in which we find ourselves, here and now...

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God, Volume Three: Eleventh Week, Tuesday

Kingfisher, carnation, iris

Kingfisher, carnation, iris by Katsushika Hokusai

 This reminds me that I really love Hokusai's work. Perhaps next week we'll look at some more!

Praying with Saint Augustine by Sara McLaughlin

“This book is powerful. Anyone who prays these prayers from the heart will be changed from the heart.” ― From the foreword by Peter Kreeft, Ph.D.

For years, there have been no books of St. Augustine’s prayers available. Finally, in this treasure trove, you will find select prayers from his works ― some of the most potent prayers ever composed. As you read the innermost thoughts of the greatest Church Father, you will be transported in time and learn how to pray with the heart of a saint. St. Augustine’s timeless words will help you encounter the “Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new” face-to-face and experience the relationship between praying and believing.

These precious gems are uplifting and accessible to all. Covering a range of topics and styles, they include praise and petition for health, docility, forgiveness, restoration, and salvation. You will also find prayers glorifying the Trinity’s attributes, such as wisdom, light, goodness, mercy, and truth, as well as intimate prayers of adoration to the Incarnate Word.

I think that Sara McLaughlin must love Saint Augustine as much as I do, although it never occurred to me to look for a collection of his prayers. She, however, went on the hunt and found that only a few books which were fairly incomplete and out of print. Being a woman after my own heart, she decided to compile one herself.  

She combed through Since St. Augustine's writings since he's is well known for combining prayers with his writing. That's a big job since he was a prolific writer. What she found has been published in a collection of inspirational, beautiful prayers which have been divided into five categories: Praise, Revealing God's Attributes, Adoring the Incarnate Christ, Forgiveness and Salvation, and Petition. Sometimes they are a sentence or two long. Sometimes they cover several pages. 

Of course, the point of prayer is to bring us closer to God.  As I pray my way through the book, I am rediscovering Augustine's honesty, love for God, and deep insight coming through. It informs my own love of God. It carries me closer to knowing both God and myself a little better. This is Augustine's special way, of course, and why I love St. Augustine as an elder brother beckoning me down the road toward the Lord.

I'm so glad that Sara McLaughlin undertook this labor of love so that I can benefit as well. Highly recommended.

Purple Irises

Leslie Wagle

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.

We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God's universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have seen this truth in so many places — with my family and friends, work, and neighbors. Most lately it has become apparent in my volunteering with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. It comes up repeatedly to me not only when I meet SVdP neighbors who ask for our help but in the weekly meetings where the group comes together. 

We help each other along or we get in each other's way. We're all woven together on our way to God. How do I become the person who helps more than I hinder? That's the question we must all ask as we strive to become saints.

Worth a Thousand Words: Irises

Irises, John Henry Twachtman, 1896

Irises

Irises, 1889, by Vincent van Gogh
via Wikipedia

Iris

Iris by Himmapaan

 Irises are one of my favorite flowers and Himmapaan's rendition is so lovely. Let's have a week of irises!

Word & Song by Anthony Esolen

Word & Song is the place to go for meditations on the beauty and sometimes the wildness of the English language, on English poetry and hymns, and on the sometimes forgotten gems of the Golden Age of film. What’s a teacher but someone who says, “Come, look at the great thing I’ve found!” Well then, we’ll be looking at — and listening to — some great things!

I came across this daily newsletter halfway through Advent and it was a delightful accompaniment to the season. 

I've continued reading it through this year. Every day I'm treated to the latest entry in one of the categories like Word of the Week, Hymn of the Week, Movie of the Week, and much more. They are short but substantial. And they continually beautiful art to illustrate whatever overall point is being made. They are a refreshing start to my day and a touch of beauty to carry with me.

They truly are fulfilling their mission recently stated in asking readers to spread the word:

We do genuinely hope to reach as wide an audience as possible with our daily dose of things good, beautiful, and true, a push back in an uplifting way against the distressing, ugly, and false messages that all of us have to face down every day in our benighted* times.

I've had several conversations lately with people who are disheartened by the state of our popular culture. Here's one of the remedies. Check it out.

Girl in a red dress reading by a swimming pool

Girl in a red dress reading by a swimming pool (1887). Sir John Lavery (Irish, 1856-1941). 

Hey, I didn't know they had swimming pools in 1887.

Couldn't Put It Down — The Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters

Another of the books I've been delighted to find I still really enjoy even though I first read it decades ago.

What did it all mean? The note with the hieroglyphs was found in the pocket of a man lying dead in an alley. The only other item of interest was a piece of jewelry, a reproduction of the Charlemagne talisman. It was good, so good that Vicky Bliss thought she was being shown the real jewel. The goldwork was done by a master; the jewels weren’t glass but top-quality synthetic stones. What did it mean?

Vicky didn’t know … yet. But on the sunbathed streets and in the moonlit courtyards of Rome, she was going to find out—if the dangerously exciting young Englishman didn’t get in her way…

I've read this many times since Vicky Bliss is my favorite of author Elizabeth Peters' heroines. However, I haven't read it for a long time so when I saw that the Barbara Rosenblat narration was available on Audible, I got ready for an enjoyable reacquaintance. Her narration really did make the book even better.

The Vicky Bliss series is made up of cozy adventure mysteries with a no nonsense heroine who is a curator at an art museum. When she meets up with a charming art thief the combination is quite fun. As with many favorites I've recently reread after a decade or so, I remembered the big surprises but was startled by other plot twists that I did't remember. The setting in Rome and Tivoli, the charming art thief, the eccentric household where Vicky is investigating, and the sheer adventure of the escapades that she gets embroiled in are all enhanced by a nice layer of humor that makes for lighthearted entertainment.

My favorites of the series are this one, Silhouette in Scarlet, and Trojan Gold. Any of them can be read as a standalone, though all build on the relationship between Vicky and the art thief. 

It is fluff but my kind of fluff.

Psalm 38 — Prayer in Sickness

 When you feel the Lord's displeasure, if you see that you are troubled by this, you can say Psalm 38.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This is a penitential psalm of David where everything has gone wrong because of his sins, which he freely admits. The result is disease, desertion by family and friends, attacks by enemies, and personal helplessness. Yet, just when the list of disasters hits its height, the psalmist declares confidence in the Lord. 

But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;

    it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

Now that's faith! That's hard to do, especially when literally everything is the worst it can be. The psalm is left open-ended as David begs the Lord to act.

Do not forsake me, O Lord
O my God, do not be far from me;
make haste to help me
O Lord, my salvation.

Here's a basic observation about the acid test for knowing how loathsome sin actually is. David feels it and we do too under similar circumstances to those that John Chrysostom describes.

38:5 After the Fact

After the Fact, Saint John Chrysostom. Our bedroom is our heart, for there we toss and turn if we have a bad conscience, but there, if our conscience is easy, we find rest. .. But the person of whom our psalm is speaking retired there to hatch his evil plots, where no one would see him. And because such wickedness was the subject of his meditation, he could find no rest, even in his heart. Homilies on the Gospel of John.

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

There is a bigger point to be gleaned from those final words asking the Lord to act.

If salvation is God's possession, if it is in some sense particularly his, then it is in his control and not simply at the beck and call of humans—no matter how righteous they may be. This awareness of the freedom of God to give or withhold his deliverance is not as clearly expressed in the psalms as in, let's say, Job, Ecclesiastes, or the prayer of the three friends of Daniel (Dan 3:16-18). It is in the final analysis not deliverance but God whom the three friends of Daniel, the psalmists, and Job seek to know and experience. It is this realization that lies behind the psalmist's exclamation at the conclusion of Psalm 38, "O Yahweh, my salvation!" (pers. trans.). Even if the desired deliverance delays or does not come, God is the continuing source of hope and salvation, now and into the future.

Psalms Volume 1 (The NIV Application Commentary)

An index of psalm posts is here.

Catholics Invited to Pray an Act of Reparation on Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

 It honestly didn't occur to me that the Dodgers are honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence on the very day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. That simply compounds and makes obvious the overt anti-Catholicism on display. 

U.S. bishops calling on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on June 16 “as an act of reparation for the blasphemies against our Lord we see in our culture today.” Here is their announcement (emphasis added):

Catholics Invited to Pray an Act of Reparation on Solemnity of the Sacred Heart
June 12, 2023

WASHINGTON - On June 16, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, joined by Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, have called on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart, and make an act of reparation—an act offered to the Lord with the intention of repairing the spiritual damage inflicted by sin. 

The bishops’ invitation to the faithful follows:

“Catholic Christians traditionally recognize June as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this time, we call to mind Christ’s love for us, which is visible in a special way in the image of His pierced heart, and we pray that our own hearts might be conformed to His, calling us to love and respect all His people.

“This year, on June 16—the day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a professional baseball team has shockingly chosen to honor a group whose lewdness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother, and consecrated women cannot be overstated. This is not just offensive and painful to Christians everywhere; it is blasphemy.

“It has been heartening to see so many faithful Catholics and others of good will stand up to say that what this group does is wrong, and it is wrong to honor them. We call on Catholics to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart on June 16, offering this prayer as an act of reparation for the blasphemies against our Lord we see in our culture today.”

I will be posting the Litany on Friday.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #84 — The Admiral: Roaring Currents

It's been 12 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.

Based on a true story, this is the astonishing tale of a legendary battle against overwhelming odds: the embattled Koreans with 12 ships against the invading Japanese navy with 300 ships. And also of the extraordinarily talented Admiral Yi  Sun-sin who masterminded a victory. 

We'd never heard of this admiral or battle because it is from halfway around the world and long ago. It's always nice to find another fascinating story from history while you're watching a great movie. 

It was well acted, directed, and edited so that I could not only follow the naval battles but tell apart key characters who, to my unschooled eyes, were hard to tell apart because of unfamiliar uniforms. I especially liked the Admiral's son who is learning tactics and whose reactions mirror ours. The spy and his wife also were favorites of ours, especially as their importance to the battle was revealed.

Hansan: Rising Dragon  is a prequel of another of the younger Admiral Yi's lauded battles. The third and final movie is Noryang: Deadly Sea. Both are wonderful also.

We got the dvd from our library which had subtitles so we got the all the actors' original intonations. I understand that it originally streamed with dubbed English. It's available to rent on Amazon.

Summertime

Summertime by Mary Cassatt, c. 1894
via Wikipedia

There's something about Mary Cassatt's art. I simply love it.

The Painter's Garden

Der Garten der Malerin (The Painter's Garden), Edward B. Gordon

I've followed Edward B. Gordon for years and have featured many of his paintings here over the years. This lovely piece is made even lovelier by his reflection on it.

When my mother set eyes on this piece of land in 1999, there were only a few old oak trees and grass. If visitors were announced, you could see them on the horizon a week beforehand. Then she traded her paints, canvases, brushes and pencils for spades, Wellington boots, wheelbarrows and watering cans. The lines of her new drawings were bamboo grasses, birches and fruit trees, the perspective became an avenue, planes and shapes became bushes and leaves, the colours of her palette became the magnificent blossoms of rhododendrons, roses and lilies, dandelions and lavender. It fills my heart with deep humility and great joy to be able to paint all this 24 years on.

The world must be hungry

Eight out of ten letters about Cross Creek ask for a recipe, or pass on a recipe, or speak of suffering over my chat of Cross Creek dishes.

"Bless us," I thought, "the world must be hungry."

And so it is. Hungry for food an drink — not so much for the mouth as for the mind; not for the stomach but for the spirit.

... Food imaginatively and lovingly prepared, and eaten in good company, warms the being with something more than the mere intake of calories.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Cross Creek Cookery

It really is the company that makes the meal come alive. Rawlings wrote this in 1949 so it is unsurprising she was getting so many letters about food, many of them from soldiers overseas. However, it inevitably calls to mind Proverbs 15:17, which takes it one step further "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."

The Importance of the Family Table

The table was the place for family business and for family quarrels as much as a place for eating. but most important, it was where we shared stories and learned lessons. I remember one night when the subject of managing money came up. Daddy took ten dimes out of his pocket and laid them out on the tablecloth. He said, "You give the first dime to the church. The second dime goes in your savings account. And you live on the rest." That, he said, was called tithing, and is how we should manage our money and our lives.

At that small white table in our hot kitchen, we learned the values and traditions that I later tried to teach — to recommend to — my own children.

Robert Khayat, quoted in A Gracious Plenty

This was my own experience too in raising our own children. The dinner table is where you catch up on everyone's day, hear about interesting things people have read or heard that you wouldn't have come across otherwise, and generally enjoy each other's company. Years later, with a grown daughter and my mother living with us, the dinner table serves the same function. It's a social time that I enjoy greatly and benefits us in ways we wouldn't otherwise experience.

June

June, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry

Harvest time - the peasants are moving the meadow in unison, with the Hotel de Nesle, the Duc's Parisian residence, in the background.

University of Chicago

Texas Bluebonnets 2023

Bluebonnets, Jason Merlo (shared by permission)

Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year by Eleanor Parker

Winters in the World is a beautifully observed journey through the cycle of the year in Anglo-Saxon England, exploring the festivals, customs, and traditions linked to the different seasons.

Drawing on a wide variety of source material, including poetry, histories, and religious literature, Eleanor Parker investigates how Anglo-Saxons felt about the annual passing of the seasons and the profound relationship they saw between human life and the rhythms of nature. 

It celebrates some of the finest treasures of medieval literature and provides an imaginative connection to the Anglo-Saxon world.

I expected this book to be interesting. I didn't expect to fall in love with it. Eleanor Parker weaves a tapestry of poetry, literature, history, religion, and language to go through the seasons and practices of the Anglo-Saxon year. The result is a masterpiece that gave me a real sense of connection with the people of long ago.

I was surprised to see how much I resonated with the Anglo-Saxon poetry. I've read Beowulf and really enjoyed it. The poems featured in this book were beautiful, nuanced, and had a depth of meaning. They spoke to me in a way that a lot of other poetry doesn't. I'll be picking up an anthology of them for future reading.

I also was surprised to see how integral the Catholic faith was in the Anglo-Saxon world. I'd expected to read a fair amount about pagan rituals but the author made it clear that this was a Christian world with only a glancing relationship with pagan religions. The way the faith was practiced then was, of course, different than now but there was enough in common to make me feel a connection with those times. In fact, I now am interested in getting my hands on some of Aelfric's homilies, many excerpts of which were featured in this book.

Most of all I felt a deep appreciation with the sacred cycle of time both then and now. I really love the Catholic liturgical cycles and how they connect with the natural world. This book brings that to the fore since the Anglo-Saxons were so much more in tune with nature and the seasons.

All this combines to make a work of rare value. It will be interesting to the history or literature buff. For me, I found my prayer life took on new focus and depth. As I went through my day or the recent liturgical seasons, I thought of those long-ago Catholic Anglo-Saxons doing the same thing, taking it seriously, knowing that prayer matters, that saints will rush to your aid, that God gives us all that is good in life beginning with the riches of the natural world around us.

Highly recommended.

Sister Wilhemina and When it comes to bodies, just how ‘incorrupt’ is ‘incorruptible’?

The Catholic internet is buzzing with news of the body of Benedictine Sister's foundress Sister Wilhemina seemingly being incorrupt. I mentioned it here.

The Pillar has a couple of great pieces about this. The first, When it comes to bodies, just how ‘incorrupt’ is ‘incorruptible’? is about what it means to be incorrupt and how the Church evaluates it.

The second is from JD Flynn who lives close enough to drive over and see for himself what's going on. It turns out he's not the only one. Thousands are flocking to Gower Abbey and a fascinating part of the story is how the locals are all pitching in to make the experience work smoothly, from parking to bathrooms to crowd control. 

Read I want to see for myself which has a really indepth piece including interviews with the nuns, pilgrims, and locals. Here's a bit:

Indeed, I am not an expert, but I spent a fair amount of time in the direct presence of Sr. Wilhelmina’s body, and I was astounded by what I saw: Her skin, though now covered with a light transparent layer of wax, appeared to be intact and preserved, and limbs and hands and feet seemed not to have decomposed at all. I was most astounded that as I knelt directly in front of her body, there was no odor at all of decay or decomposition.

Since the nun was not embalmed, buried four years ago, and found with a cracked coffin in wet and muddy earth, that seems extraordinary to me. Again, I am not an expert, and I allow that there might be some natural explanation of what’s happened to Sr. Wilhelmina’s body, but I was astounded — and as readers know, I’m often pretty cynical.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I drove to Gower Abbey. I half-believed there might be no one there at all. Instead, I came upon a crowd of thousands who had come to see the nun, and had come to pray. Some were devout Catholics, some were not Catholic at all. Some came skeptically, and some came hoping for a miracle.

Dinner at a Boarding House

A salesman who travels southern Georgia and Alabama was told of a boarding house in a small town in his territory that had great food. One day he saw some cars parked outside of a house that looked right and went in. There were about ten people sitting at a big dining table heaped with food. He took an empty chair. He was a chatty type, and so were they. They passed the platters, and he ate his fill. When he stood up and asked the lady at the head of the table how much he owed her, she said, "Oh, you don't owe anything. This is a private home. We hope you enjoyed your dinner.

Gail Greenblatt, quoted in A Gracious Plenty

This is the ultimate in gracious hospitality. I wonder what we would do if someone came walking in and sat down at the table, exuding bonhomie, and joined in as if he belonged there. I feel sure we wouldn't have handled it with the aplomb of that family.

Clock at Church of the Holy Spirit

Finely carved clock of the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tallinn, Estonia,
work by Christian Ackermann (late 17th century)
Via Wikipedia

This is the oldest public clock in Tallinn, and reminds us how important the Church was for daily life: religious services, announced by a peal of bells, would have structured the day and the week. The central sunburst on the clock refers not only to the passage of the sun across the sky, but also to the light of God, which was often depicted like this in the 17th century. The Holy Spirit frequently appears at the centre of this light and His presence can be assumed here, from the name of the church itself.

Today we combine the art and inspirational quote. That is often the case in Richard Stemp's wonderful book The Secret Language of Churches & Cathedrals. Not only does it, as the subhead says, decode the sacred symbolism of Christianity's holy buildings, but the author's commentary often lifts my spirit higher as he connects the realms of art, faith, and place.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #83: The Outfit

It's been 12 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.

A gripping and masterful thriller in which an expert tailor (Mark Rylance) must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night.

This little film is like a puzzle in a box. Every time you think you know how the pieces fit, another twist comes up to throw the viewer (and our master tailor) for a loop.

I came for Mark Rylance and he didn't disappoint. The rest of the cast were perfect at being various "types" of gangsters needed. We've seen these gangsters before but not used precisely as they are here. We've not seen the tailor anywhere before. I liked the way the characters all had more than one dimension and could be almost likable at times.

I saw this described as an old school thriller and also as an unpredictable whodunit and both descriptions were right. Definitely worth a watch.

Stained Glass and the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Stained glass depiction of Jesus and His Most Sacred Heart, in Germany.
via Wikipedia

Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of your well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto you in the name of sinners. In your great goodness, grant pardon to those who seek your mercy, in the name of the same your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, world without end.

Looking at Light

In the same way that Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Light of the World, and yet remained a virgin, light can pass through glass without altering the glass. When the glass is coloured, the symbolism deepens: the light takes on the same colour as the glass, just as God had “passed through” Mary, and took on her nature, humanity, in the form of Jesus.

Richard Stemp, The Secret Language of
Churches & Cathedrals

Saint in Prayer

Saint in prayer, Joaquín Sorolla, 1887

I love Sorolla's paintings. This one must have been a favorite because he "always kept it in a special place in their house, as revealed by many of the photographs of the artist’s various studios and dwellings." Read more at the Museo del Prado's site.

I myself like the fact that we can't see the face. It could be any of us and, indeed, is what we should be striving for — to become a saint!

Juni (June)

Juni (June), Theo Van Hoytema

 

Ransomware and Rereading — The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

At the beginning of May the City of Dallas suffered a citywide ransomware attack. All city services had to learn to operate again without the computer. The police and emergency services went back to the time-honored practice of using radio dispatchers and a pen and paper. The courts have been closed because legal materials for each case were online and now are gone ... or buried in whatever there is left of the system. As far as we can tell, they're having to rebuild the whole system from scratch.

As library users, this has been almost the equivalent of when the pandemic hit. There is no computer access, of course. You can go to a local branch and peruse the materials. But you must just see what that particular branch has. There's no citywide access to the catalog or, for that matter, no catalog to check at all. 

You can check out materials. They enter the info into a Word file which will be reintegrated with the whole system when it is back. I have no idea how they're going to know what everyone already had checked out. They aren't accepting materials back in because they have no way to check them back in.

Of course, we figure the library will be the last system to come back to normal once Dallas systems begin coming back online. They're a pretty low priority in the big picture.

Which is a very long introduction to why I've been rereading so many goldie oldies from our own shelves. (Well, that and the flu.) It's been kind of nice being forced to fall back on our own resources and rediscover so many books I love.

This is the story of Corlath, golden-eyed king of the Free Hillfolk, son of the sons of the Lady Aerin.

And this is the story of Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl who became Harimad-sol, King's Rider, and heir to the Blue Sword, Gonturan, that no woman had wielded since the Lady Aerin herself bore it into battle.

And this is the song of the kelar of the Hillfolk, the magic of the blood, the weaver of destinies...

This another one that I loved when it came out and haven't reread for a long time. Consequently, I remembered the big beats but not a few of the twists toward the end. Likewise, I'd forgotten the many elements that made this compelling. I found it grabbed me by the throat and I couldn't put it down — what a great read!

To quote another review, this is "a near-perfect short fantasy novel" and "an original work fantasy lovers shouldn't overlook."

Captain Vincenzo Lunardi with his assistant George Biggin, and Mrs. Letitia Anne Sage, in a balloon

Captain Vincenzo Lunardi with his assistant George Biggin,
and Mrs. Letitia Anne Sage, in a balloon,
painted by John Francis Rigaud, 1785

From J.R.'s Art Place, where he has fascinating details:

Captain Lunardi was a pioneering aeronaut, who with his English assistant George Biggin put on several demonstrations of early balloon flight. This painting depicts one of the flights, but was painted in advance--during the actual flight, the weight of passengers proved too heavy and so only Biggin and Mrs. Sage took part. The painting was probably used to publicize the event.

The flight took off from London and lasted 90 minutes, followed by landing in a field, where Biggin and Sage had to be assisted by schoolboys in fending off an irate farmer angry at the damage to his crops.

As the first British woman to fly, Mrs. Sage later wrote an account of her flight titled "A Letter, Addressed to a Female Friend, By Mrs. Sage, the First English Female Aerial Traveller" that was printed and sold as a pamphlet.

Cistercian Architecture

Cistercian Architecture: Poblet Monastery, Catalonia
via Barcelona Photoblog

Isn't this lovely? I can just imagine slowly pacing along it, looking out at whatever is on the other side of those open arches.

Click through to Barcelona Photoblog for a bigger image and to see details about this architecture.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #82 — A Taxi Driver

It's been 12 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.

In 1980, a foreign journalist hires a down-on-his-luck taxi driver to take him to Gwangju, South Korea. They soon arrive to find a city under siege by student protesters and the military. A Taxi Driver brings a ground-level perspective and a refreshingly light touch to a fact-based story with sobering implications.

I'd never heard of this 2017 movie which was wildly popular in Korea and was their entry to the Oscar foreign film nominations that year. Knowing only the brief description above and having a vague memory of Korea as having military dictatorship issues in the 1980s we launched into the movie.

As with the Indian movie Airlift, we were introduced to a piece of history we had never heard of. It turns out that the taxi driver, Mr. Kim, is the perfect character through whose eyes we should view the military lockdown of Gwangju. He also had no idea of the violence being perpetrated upon the protesters and innocent civilians. Following the reporter as he follows leads to the heart of the riots, the depth of the violence and oppression gradually unfold. We get to meet other taxi drivers as they help first with repairs and then with more important things. As the story goes on,  the driver begins seeing a bigger picture than just his own interest and that everyone, however seemingly insignificant, plays a part in others' lives. 

Based on a real event, this is a combination of fact about the photographer and fiction about the driver.  Kim's identity was unknown when the film was made so his story is fictional aside from his time with the photographer. Nevertheless, it is very effective and provides both a much needed lighter approach and "everyman" view which takes the audience along.

I came away grateful for good reporters determined to get the truth to the people. I also thought of the war reporters who have been dying in Ukraine. And I was reminded of how desperate the Ukranians' plight is, even as they fight with all they have. Those trends were personified in this movie.

As I mentioned, this reminded me of both Airlift and also of Argo. Fans of those movies will not be disappointed.

Couldn't Put It Down — Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton

When you're recovering from the flu and rediscover Aunt Dimity's Death jammed behind other books - that's a lovely moment. It's perfect recovery reading. 

Lori Shepherd thought Aunt Dimity was just a character in a bedtime story...

...Until the law firm of Willis & Willis summons her to a reading of the woman's will. Down-on-her-luck Lori learns she's about to inherit a siazable estate--if she can discover the secret hidden in a treasure trove of letters in Dimity's English country cottage. What begins as a fairy tale becomes a mystery--and a ghost story--as Aunt Dimity's indomitable spirit leads Lori on a quest to discover how true love can conquer all.

I'm not a lover of "cozy" mysteries as they are churned out today. However, this 1992 book is a charming mystery from before "cozy" was a category and it is far better than most. What sets it apart is the emphasis on what Lori discovers about herself in the investigation. This review hit the nail on the head:

This book, cleverly disguised as a cosy mystery, takes us into a world of adults looking at childhood memories through grown-up eyes. There are memories sweet and difficult, dark secrets, and finally, a love story or two. There's really not so much of a mystery here, but more a righting of past wrongs.

Certainly, when I was unable to continue reading and my thoughts whirled in flu-ish chaos, musing about this story kept me from focusing on how bad I felt.

Portrait of Emperor Napoleon I

Portrait of Emperor Napoleon I by François Gérard (1815)
via My Daily Art Display

Why Napoleon? Because suddenly he is in the background of my reading life in a weird way.

I have read half of War and Peace. The "war" part of that book is about Russia's part in the Napoleonic wars. At several points Napoleon is a character, actively influencing the young men whose stories we're following.

Now I'm taking a break from War and Peace. I've picked up The Count of Monte Cristo which I have been interested in rereading for a long time (sparked by my desire to rewatch the 2002 movie with Jim Caviezel). A key point of the book hinges on Napoleon being on Elba and the political struggles between royalists and Napoleonic supporters. So here we are again. Me and the Emperor.

Finally, I have begun listening to How to Eat an Elephant's series closely reading Les Miserables. Here we have a priest having a chance encounter with Napoleon which changes the trajectory of his life. We also have the Battle of Waterloo, which has an encounter that is key to characters later in the story. I've read the book before and won't be rereading it, but I am enjoying listening to the conversation about it. So, the Emperor is lurking in the background here and there again.

Very odd.

Books and Sharks

I do not believe that all books will or should migrate onto screens: as Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the Kindle showed up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old: there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is. Physical books are tough, hard to destroy, bath-resistant, solar-operated, feel good in your hand: they are good at being books, and there will always be a place for them.

Neil Gaiman in a talk about libraries

It is true that some books do perfectly well on the Kindle. But there are others where a great part of the experience is in having a book in your hand, seeing where the text falls on the page, and (possibly above all) not running out of battery.

A miracle in Missouri? Body of Benedictine Sisters’ foundress thought to be incorrupt.

Truly amazing. This photo did it for me, especially after reading the conditions in which they discovered the coffin and that she hadn't been embalmed. Read the story at CNA.

A pilgrim venerates the incorrupt body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB,
on May 20, 2023. Lancaster was recently exhumed
in Gower, Missouri. | Credit: Kelsey Wicks/CNA

Kantara (Deep Mystical Forest): A Legend

Shiva is a tribal vagabond who lives with his mother in a tiny forest village. He avoids participation in the traditional worship ceremonies due to an unforgettable childhood incident. He is happy loafing around with his friends and doing petty jobs for his landlord. When forest officer Murali enters the scene, it gives a fresh dimension to the man-vs-nature fight. Can Shiva save the forest from Murali? 

I especially liked the beginning which establishes the deep connection that the people have to their forest demi-god and land. And the end is simply astounding. It makes this film a cultural experience that is startling and also wonderful.

In between is a good story of a slacker, traumatized from an experience in his youth, who must deal with an officious forestry police official who is determined to take his people's land. This part of the story is more straight forward to the Western mind, although somewhat unfocused in a few spots. But it has it's own twists and turns. 

RATING — ADVANCED. As I mentioned the middle of the movie is straight forward. However, the beginning and end have cultural elements that you just have to accept and let flow over you.

Marriage is a colossal gamble, or rather, a very great adventure

You and I are faced with one of those situations (which fortunately are not very numerous in one lifetime) which cannot possibly be adequately judged beforehand. It strikes me as a colossal gamble, or rather, a very great adventure. And personally I am considerably exhilarated by the risks! ... The greatness of the adventure perhaps consists partly in the fact that as a Catholic I can marry only once! But, as with being born, perhaps once is quite sufficient! In the Church, you know, there is a great heightening of every moment of experience, since every moment is played against a supernatural backdrop. Nothing can be humdrum in this scheme.

Marshall McLuhan in a letter to his future wife, 

The Medium and the Light

I love the idea of being exhilarated by the risks of the adventure of marriage. We tend to cringe away from risk. But, as Marshall McLuhan says, think of how big this moment is, with the supernatural background. We've got to look past staying safe and and hedging our bets in the big things of life. Think of adventure!

Dinner Time

 

Dinner Time, taken by the talented Remo Savisaar

This is a photo extraordinaire! Click on the link to see it larger.

Pray for those being killed in Nigeria

Seemingly coordinated attacks began late Monday night on nine northern Nigerian communities. So far, at least 100 people have been killed, and the violence is ongoing.

The killings come amid years of violence in northern and central Nigeria, perpetrated by Muslim Fulani herding communities and Islamist terrorist groups, and the victims are mostly Christian farming villages.

... even while the violence went on for hours, police were not immediately on the scene – a common criticism of law enforcement forces in the region, who are often accused of looking the other way during attacks on Christian villages.

The Pillar has the story here.

Pray for the victims. Pray for the bereft families. Pray for the perpetrators to have a change of heart.

In Honor of Our 39th Wedding Anniversary

As Tom says, it is the couple that can laugh at this joke who will be able to survive the reality of it! We're not there yet, but we are still laughing together, 39 years into our journey through life together.

An old couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them. After checking the couple out, the doctor tells them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and making notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.

Later that night while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair and his wife asks, "Where are you going?" He replies, "To the kitchen." She asks him for a bowl of ice cream and he replies, "Sure."

She then asks him "Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?" He says, "No, I can remember that."

"Well," she then says, "I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you'll forget that." He says, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."

"Well," she replies, "I also would like whipped cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down." With irritation in his voice, he says, "I don't need to write that down, I can remember that."

He fumes off into the kitchen. When he returns twenty minutes later he hands her a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "You forgot my toast."

The children and Aunt Enid

I am sorry that the first thing you should hear about the children should be that they did not care about their Aunt Enid, but this was unfortunately the case. And if you think this was not nice of them I can only remind you that you do not know their Aunt Enid.

E. Nesbit, Wet Magic

E. Nesbit is so funny and this sense of humor is strewn through all her children's stories.

Nibbler

Nibbler
taken by Valerie, ucumari photography
Some rights reserved

Lion Man

Lion man, from Hohlenstein-Stadel, Germany,
40,000 BC-30,000 BC

A Movie You Might Have Missed #81 — The Lunchbox

It's been 12 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.

Can you fall in love with someone you have never met?

A mistaken delivery in Mumbai’s famously efficient lunchbox delivery system (Mumbai’s Dabbawallahs) connects a young housewife to a stranger in the dusk of his life. They build a connection through notes in the lunchbox. Gradually, this connection promises to move past the confines of the lunchbox.

A nice concept that developed from the filmmaker thinking about a documentary about the Mumbai lunchbox delivery system.

This is a good film but it does at a deliberate pace. The story rests on the stars to powerful performances in roles that demand understatement. They deliver in spades. I also really loved the aunty upstairs who we never see but only hear coaching the young wife in her cooking and fills in with emergency spices and ingredients. There are a lot of touches of humor throughout that make this a very enjoyable movie.

This filmmaker is known for his ambiguous endings and I'm annoyed even after two viewings over his lack of giving us a solid happy ending. Here is the place where we don't want imagination, we want to see it play out for ourselves. That is a small part of this lovely movie.

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

The Three Bears

Arthur Rackham, The Story of the Three Bears, 1837
via Wikipedia

The Little Good Mouse

Himmapaan, Illustration for 'The Little Good Mouse' from The Red Fairy Book,
edited by Andrew Lang, published by The Folio Society, 2008.

I love fairy tale illustrations, especially when they're as charming as Himmapaan's.

Couldn't Put It Down — War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

I picked this book up recently to reread and was riveted all over again. I remembered the broad strokes but not so many that I wasn't surprised by some big plot twists, especially toward the end. I read it at every spare moment, carried it all over the house and just loved it all over again.

So I'm reposting this review from 2008 in the hopes that you'll pick it up and have just as good a time.

Eddi reminded herself that this was not the only bass player in Minneapolis. The ads hadn't even appeared yet. "Ahhhh ... listen," she said at last. "I'm not sure you ... that this is a good idea."

And he raised his eyes from his bass just enough to look at her. His eyes were more fluent than his mouth; they blazed contempt and hostility, they pleaded for her forbearance, her indulgence.

She winced and picked up her own guitar. "Ever heard Bram Tchaikovsky's version of 'I'm a Believer'?" He shook his head, but continued to watch her, his fingers poised over his stings.

"Start it," he mumbled finally, and Eddi shrugged.

The song did kick off with only guitar. Then Carla dropped in after a few measures with a series of snare drum punches, and Dan's synthesizer yowled across it all.

Then, in precisely the right place, the bass came in. It began as if the Rocky Mountains had begun to walk. It sounded like the voice of the magma under the earth's crust, and it picked up the whole song and rolled it forward like water exploding out of a breaking dam. They were suddenly tight, all four of them, as if they were a single animal and that monster heartbeat was their own. Eddi listened wonderingly as they played the complicated stop beats in the chorus with respectable precision. She was dimly aware that she was playing some of the best guitar of her life.

When they were done, Eddi looked around and saw her own amazement on Carla's and Dan's faces. "Well," she said, and, unable to think of anything to add, said it again.

No one declared the newcomer to be the band's bass player. It would have been beside the point. Eddi only wanted to see if they could make other songs sound like that. She had no idea if he could sing; given his willingness to talk, it seemed unlikely. But for bass like that, she could sacrifice a harmony voice.

I have never read any book before that so well made me understand the synergy and energy of a band until I read this book. I would think that probably holds for any band playing any sort of music, on varying levels.

If that were all that there were to War for the Oaks it would be interesting but not worth recommending. Not since Neverwhere by Neill Gaiman have I read such wonderful urban fantasy. The book begins with Eddi who is having a very bad night. She has broken up with her boyfriend, which also means their band is now kaput, and then she finds herself in the dark city streets fleeing a truly terrifying vicious dog ... who suddenly changes into a man. 

Thus begins Eddi's coercion into being the mortal being needed by the Seelie Court of Faerie for their upcoming war with the Unseelie Court. Ostensibly the Seelie Court are the good guys but as these beings all are operating under completely foreign rules it is often difficult to tell the difference. Eddie is left with the dog/man, otherwise known as a phouka, as a bodyguard as she goes about her regular life of forming a band while waiting for the war to begin.

This is all a pale description of a rich story that pulls the reader into the world of Emma Bull's making. We learn about champions, love, truth, honor ... and , of course, musicians.

Highly recommended.

SPOILER
Reader's note for parents of YA readers:
Eddi does have an affair though details are not described. She later has another with an encounter that is a bit more descriptive but not graphic. The first is excused due to undue "faerie" influence and she refuses to resume it based on moral grounds. The second other is from true love. Both are handled well and nothing that makes an adult reader blink twice as part of this genre. This is the sort of book I would have read quite eagerly as a high school student.

It is worth saying about America ...

It is worth saying [about America] once again that no nation has ever come into the possession of such powers for good or ill, for freedom or tyranny, for friendship or enmity among the peoples of the world, and that no nation in history has used these powers, by and large, with greater vision, restraint, responsibility and courage.

London Times, 1954

When all you hear is criticism of your country from both without and within, covering every time period in which your country existed - it is really nice to see praise like this, even if it is from way back in 1954.

The Princess and the Unicorn

Armand Point (1861-1932), The Princess and the Unicorn

TV You Might Have Missed 4 — Tale of the Nine Tailed

The nine-tailed fox is a magical creature that appears in the folktales of East Asia and legends of Korea. It can transform into a beautiful woman, often to seduce men in order to eat their liver. Korean television plays fast and loose with this idea, as television often does, to create an urban fantasy where the titular nine-tailed fox is an enigmatic man, Lee Yeong. 

He works on earth for the the gods' Department of Immigration of Life After Death — hunting down mythical beings who kill humans. A lovely television producer, Nam Ji-Ah, whose show investigates the supernatural, suspects that he is involved in a murder case. She investigates him and he investigates her. Ji-Ah's looking for her long lost parents and Yeong's on the lookout for the reincarnation of his lost love. Naturally they will work together. Just as naturally, nothing is as it appears on the surface.

The plot just gets deeper, more intertwined, and definitely more fun from there. With 16 episodes of over an hour long, there is plenty of time for the obligatory romance of the K-dramas along with the many adventures into the supernatural. The writers did an extraordinary job of skillfully leading us to expect plot developments and then yanking the rug out from under us with twists and turns for every episode.  We also really enjoyed seeing the supernatural creatures from Korean culture which were often really different from anything American.

Tale of the Nine Tailed is a sixteen episode roller coaster ride of that never fails to leave you wondering how they'll get out of each predicament, while the romance keeps things feeling cozy in the background.

The Espousal of the Rat's Daughter

The Espousal of the Rat's Daughter
Illustrated by Warwick Goble

Isn't this a wonderful illustration? You can read the story here.

The Greatness of America

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 1

Hoping we still have this ability!

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire, Thomas Sully, 1843

Tthis lovely, gentle painting is in the Dallas Museum of Art and was brought to my attention when sweet Hannah gave me a print of it after a visit there. I love the glimpse of the stepsisters primping in the background.

Well Said: Absolute Government

A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate for the contempt he feels for those around him.

Alexis de Toqueville