In a World Where Mermaids Are Viewed as Sweet ...

... and where the first trailer for Lady in the Water was so innocent seeming and even boring, there comes this trailer that gives us a totally different view altogether. Not so nice after all. But interesting looking...

The Problem of Evil

Working my way through Peter Kreeft's Fundamentals of the Faith, I continue to be struck at how well he summarizes answers to common objections to the existence of God. While the existence of evil never particularly was something that struck me as a reason there could not be a God, it clearly is one of the main objections. In fact it is one of the only two objections that St. Thomas Aquinas could find. (The other was the apparent ability of natural science to explain everything in our experience without God.) You can find Kreeft's chapter on evil here. What I liked most were his comments on the philosophical problem of evil.

Finally, what about the philosophical problem? It is not logically contradictory to say an all-powerful and all-loving God tolerates so much evil when he could eradicate it? Why do bad things happen to good people? The question makes three questionable assumptions.

First, who's to say we are good people? The question should be not "Why do bad things happen to good people?" but "Why do good things happen to bad people?" If the fairy godmother tells Cinderella that she can wear her magic gown until midnight, the question should be not "Why not after midnight?" but "Why did I get to wear it at all?" The question is not why the glass of water is half empty but why it is half full, for all goodness is gift. The best people are the ones who are most reluctant to call themselves good people. Sinners think they are saints, but saints know they are sinners. The best man who ever lived once said, "No one is good but God alone."

Second, who's to say suffering is all bad? Life without it would produce spoiled brats and tyrants, not joyful saints. Rabbi Abraham Heschel says simply, "The man who has not suffered, what can he possibly know, anyway?" Suffering can work for the greater good of wisdom. It is not true that all things are good, but it is true that "all things work together for good to those who love God."

Third, who's to say we have to know all God's reasons? Who ever promised us all the answers? Animals can't understand much about us; why should we be able to understand everything about God? The obvious point of the Book of Job, the world's greatest exploration of the problem of evil, is that we just don't know what God is up to. What a hard lesson to learn: Lesson One, that we are ignorant, that we are infants! No wonder Socrates was declared by the Delphic Oracle to be the wisest man in the world. He interpreted that declaration to mean that he alone knew that he did not have wisdom, and that was true wisdom for man.

Another reposting as I continue to listen to Peter Kreeft's audio offerings and want to share with y'all just how inspirational and mind expanding I find his thinking.

Literary Post of the Week

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
By William Shakespeare

Katharina
Spit. Hiss.

Petruchio
Shut your mouth before I hit you.

Katharina
I can be civilized now that a man has bossed me around.
I love you madly, Petruchio.

THE END

Book-a-Minute Classics

Miracles: Evidence of God's Existence

If I were an atheist, I think I would save my money to buy a plane ticket to Italy to see whether the blood of Saint Januarius really did liquefy and congeal miraculously, as it is supposed to do annually. I would go to Medjugorge. I would study all published interviews of any of the seventy thousand who saw the miracle of the sun at Fatima. I would ransack hospital records for documentated "impossible", miraculous cures. Yet, strangely, almost all atheists argue against miracles philosophically rather than historically. They are convinced a priori, by argument, that miracles can't happen. So they don't waste their time or money on such an empirical investigation. Those who do soon cease to be atheists -- like the sceptical scientists who investigated the Shroud of Turin, or like Frank Morrison, who investigated the evidence for the "myth" of Christ's Resurrection with the careful scientific eye of the historian -- and became a believer. (His book Who Moved the Stone? is still a classic and still in print after more than sixty years.)

Fundamentals of the Faith by Peter Kreeft

Interesting idea isn't it? Just go check out the facts for yourself on those miracles and trust the evidence of your own eyes. It takes someone with a very open mind or a determination to prove the miracles false to go check them out. I think such people are much rarer than is commonly believed. Certainly, most atheists I know would not investigate but just argue from what they already know to be true.

By the way, I highly recommend Who Moved the Stone.

(Reposted from a long time ago ... I just like it too much.)

More Choices For That Pesky Da Vinci Code Movie

Yesterday I wrote about choosing between the Da Vinci Code and Over the Hedge movies as has been suggested to show Hollywood that we ain't gonna take it anymore.

My problem largely was that there are no good movie alternatives and Over the Hedge just looks so dreadful to watch that I thought a boycott and staying home would be better. In answer to a question about why my sudden dislike for Over the Hedge I must say that it is not sudden at all. I have loathed that movie ever since seeing the first trailers. It looks like the worst of "dumbing down, scatalogical" movies directed at kids. Think "Madagascar" put in the woods. Ugh! There just hasn't been any reason to mention it before now. Believe me, if you had to listen to me mention every movie trailer that looks terrible we'd all be here for a very long time.

Nehring the Edge talks about the superior effectiveness of a "buycott" and says that even paying for Over the Hedge while not seeing it would be a better alternative. I like the "buycott" idea but in response to saying that a boycott doesn't ever work I have noticed this morning that there has been a lot of talk about Mission Impossible III's relatively low box office numbers which has been attributed to Tom Cruise's self-inflicted over exposure and resultant lack of appeal, especially to women.

College Catholic via the comments boxes mentions that it might be important for Christians to see the Da Vinci Code so that they know what they are arguing about if asked questions after someone has seen the movie. He mentions paying for a different movie and then going to see the Da Vinci Code instead. I think that I've seen that idea before (though it may have been at his place, just can't remember).

Personally, after having thought about it for an evening I think that if I had to go see a movie I'd plump for Flight 93. It is an option that would still be at the movies most likely. Also, wouldn't it be nice to see a resurgence in box office numbers for a movie that promotes good movie making, heroism, and right ideals in place of the Da Vinci Code?

The Universal Prayer

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER (attributed to Pope Clement XI)
Lord, I believe in you: increase my faith.
I trust in you: strengthen my trust.
I love you: let me love you more and more.
I am sorry for my sins: deepen my sorrow.

I worship you as my first beginning,
I long for you as my last end,
I praise you as my constant helper,
And call on you as my loving protector.

Guide me by your wisdom,
Correct me with your justice,
Comfort me with your mercy,
Protect me with your power.

I offer you, Lord, my thoughts: to be fixed on you;
My words: to have you for their theme;
My actions: to reflect my love for you;
My sufferings: to be endured for your greater glory.

I want to do what you ask of me:
In the way you ask,
For as long as you ask,
Because you ask it.

Lord, enlighten my understanding,
Strengthen my will,
Purify my heart,
and make me holy.

Help me to repent of my past sins
And to resist temptation in the future.
Help me to rise above my human weaknesses
And to grow stronger as a Christian.

Let me love you, my Lord and my God,
And see myself as I really am:
A pilgrim in this world,
A Christian called to respect and love
All whose lives I touch,
Those under my authority,
My friends and my enemies.

Help me to conquer anger with gentleness,
Greed by generosity,
Apathy by fervor.
Help me to forget myself
And reach out toward others.

Make me prudent in planning,
Courageous in taking risks.
Make me patient in suffering, unassuming in prosperity.

Keep me, Lord, attentive at prayer,
Temperate in food and drink,
Diligent in my work,
Firm in my good intentions.

Let my conscience be clear,
My conduct without fault,
My speech blameless,
My life well-ordered.
Put me on guard against my human weaknesses.
Let me cherish your love for me,
Keep your law,
And come at last to your salvation.

Teach me to realize that this world is passing,
That my true future is the happiness of heaven,
That life on earth is short,
And the life to come eternal.

Help me to prepare for death
With a proper fear of judgment,
But a greater trust in your goodness.
Lead me safely through death
To the endless joy of heaven.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pope Clement XI

Choosing Between the DaVinci Code and Over the Hedge

Barbara Nicolosi made a suggestion that has caught fire around the blogosphere. Instead of going to see the DaVinci Code go to see Over the Hedge.

But wait a minute.

Have y'all seen the trailers for Over the Hedge?

*shudder*

I've been dreading that children's movie for longer than I've been dreading the DaVinci Code.

So we should pay to go see one bad movie to make our objections against another bad movie? Hmmm ... I object strenuously to either being encouraged with our hard earned cash.

How about this? Her adoration idea is a good one. Let's all either go to adoration or, if that doesn't work for your schedule, stay home. Either way you're not pay for any intelligence-insulting dreck whether directed toward adults or children.

While you're home you can catch up on the summer blockbusters and why you might (or might not) want to watch them. I liked this about the DaVinci Code.

"What it's about: In the film adaptation of Dan Brown's mega-bestselling thriller, Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou follow a series of cryptic art-world clues to a long-kept religious secret.

Why it's probably a waste of time: Wasn't reading Brown's stilted, tortured prose bad enough, without having to hear Hanks declaim it too?

Why it might be worth seeing anyway: Given the film's massive budget, it's likely to look really, really good onscreen. Also, if everyone in the country goes to see it, maybe they'll finally burn out on Da Vinci Code fever and America can get a new national obsession.

Suggested alternate activity: Reading a good book, wishing someone would make a movie out of that instead."

Food for Thought: the Christian Family

Mike Aquilina at The Way of the Fathers has fast become a "must read" blog for me. Take a look at these two articles he wrote about the essential role of the Christian family in the development of the early Church and, indeed, in Christianity itself.

These are long but well worth the time. Eye opening and thought provoking, they tie in quite well to recent conversations generated both by my book club and by a weekly Bible study ... but I think they can be appreciated even without that "prep" work.

• Salt of the Empire: The Role of the Christian Family in Evangelization ... this actually was a follow up article to this post, The Stark Truth which is also well worth reading, as is the interview to which it links.


• Roman Cruelty, Christian Purity is a follow up article to the Salt of the Empire.

Gilligan = the devil?

This idea about Gilligan's Island from Orthodixie is both hilarious and thought provoking.

What Will We Do in Heaven? Part II

Peter Kreeft has an interesting answer to yesterday's question. It is one of intertwined goals. Not only does it make sense, but he even makes it sound like something I'd look forward to; like a giant house party where everyone is having the most fascinating conversations. This is heavily edited to make a readable length for the blog but I highly recommend reading the whole thing for yourself in Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven But Never Dreamed of Asking.

... First we review our past life with divine understanding and appreciation of our past life with divine understanding and appreciation of every single experience, good and evil: we milk all our meaning dry. Then we do the same to others' lives from within. We know them more intimately and completely than we could ever know our most intimate friend on earth because we share God's knowledge of each one. When these two preliminary lessons are complete - when we know, love, understand, and appreciate completely by inner experience everything we and everyone else have ever experienced - only then we are spiritually mature enough to begin the endless and endlessly fascinating task of exploring, learning, and loving the facets of infinity, the inexhaustible nature of God.

The idea is not new, for it corresponds to three traditional doctrines: Purgatory, the Communion of Saints, and the Beatific Vision. But each is given new life by being related to the others in this sequence. Purgatory turns out be part of Heaven rather than a distinct place, and consists of moral reeducation rather than mere punishment, rehabilitation rather than retribution. The communion of Saints is rescued from a vague, philanthropic goodwill and made as interesting as human love and communion on earth; getting to know people is in one way or another the only thing we find inexhaustible here as well as there. Finally, the contemplation of God is not boring because it is done with souls matured by the first two tasks. The difference this maturing makes is as great as the difference between a dying saint and a newborn baby...

Hey! It's That Towering Tough Guy!

... the real triumph for Adam Baldwin in 1980 was his role as Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard. For those sad, soul-bankrupt few of you who haven't seen this epochal film, Baldwin played a hulking, brooding loner with a mysterious and violent past. His protective services are retained by Chris Makepeace -- the spindly, afroed nerd -- in an effort to fend of Moody, a vicious school bully, played effectively by a then-unknown and too-young-to-shave Matt Dillon.

So Makepeace enlists Linderman, and then Moody gets his own bodyguard, this crazy guy, and then it turns out Linderman won't fight, and then the crazy guy throws Linderman's motorcycle in the lake...okay, now I'm going to start crying...

Ever since, Baldwin's been busy doing two things: (1) playing a string of nameless, towering toughs (he is 6'4", after all) in movies such as Predator 2, Wyatt Earp, and Independence Day, as well as appearing in countless lesser efforts (and you know we're veering into sketchy territory when we talk about "lesser efforts" to Predator 2 and Wyatt Earp) such as Cold Sweat, Deadbolt, and Sawbones. And (2) convincing people that he's not one of the Baldwin brothers. Because he's not. Seriously. It's Alec, Stephen, Billy, Daniel, Tito, Donnie, Ryan, "Ace," Stretchy, and Kip. No Adam.

Source

We never heard of Fametracker before picking up Hey! It's That Guy! for Tom's birthday.

In a family like ours, a book about character actors, especially when as wittily written as this one, is sure to be a hit. You can hardly turn around without having someone reading you a clever bit about some actor. And when you look at the photo ... "Hey! It's that guy ... who was in my mind's eye!"

We love the book and we love the website. Surely I'll be feature a few more H!ITG! profiles here in the future. They're irrisistible.

Vatican Reaction to Chinese Government's Illicit Ordination of Bishops

Vatican, May. 04 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has released a scorching criticism of the illicit ordination of two bishops for the government-approved "official" Church in China.

The statement charges that the government forced other Catholics to participate in the ceremonies, in a "grave violation of religious freedom." And it warned that the bishops ordained without the approval of the Holy See, and those who ordained them, are subject to excommunication.

The strong statement released on May 4 by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls expressed the "profound displeasure" of Pope Benedict XVI at the two ordinations: of Bishop Ma Yinglin in Kunming on April 30 and Liu Xinhong in Wuhu on May 3.

The unauthorized episcopal ordinations, Navarro-Valls continued, constitute "a grave wound to the unity of the Church, for which severe canonical sanctions, as it is known, are foreseen." He cited #1382 of the Code of Canon Law. That canon stipulates excommunication as the penalty for any bishop who participates in an episcopal ordination without Vatican approval. However, the Vatican statement goes on to suggest that some participants in the two recent ordinations may have been acting under duress. "According to the information received," Navarro-Valls said, "bishops and priests have been subjected to- on the part of external entities to the Church-- strong pressures and to threats, so that they would take part in the episcopal ordinations."

Some clerics resisted this intimidation campaign, the Vatican reported, while others saw no alternative but to "submit with great interior suffering." By forcing bishops and priests to engage in an action "contrary to their conscience," the Vatican said, the Chinese government had committed a severe offense against religious freedom.

The AsiaNews service has noted reports from Chinese Catholics that the Catholic Patriotic Association has plans to consecrate 20 more bishops in similar illicit ceremonies. "If the news is true that other episcopal ordinations are to take place in the same manner," the Vatican statement warns, the "unacceptable acts of violence" seen in the past week must not be repeated.

"The Holy See follows with attention the troubled path of the Catholic Church in China," Navarro-Valls said. He added that Vatican officials had hoped that "similar deplorable episodes by now would belong to the past."

Source: Catholic World News

The only thing that I can imagine the Chinese government hopes to gain from this is to mislead Chinese Catholics. However, somehow I imagine that they are fairly well informed just through word of mouth. This is all just supposition on my part though.

What Will We Do in Heaven? Part I

Reposting this from a couple of years ago because it's just so good and we haven't had any Kreeft here in way too long.

Here's a common question. First of all, why do we care? Isn't it supposed to be perfect? Secondly, there's never a really satisfying sounding answer. Peter Kreeft tackles this in Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven But Never Dreamed of Asking.

Nevertheless, though the question "What do you do?" is not primary, it is important: first, because what we do flows from and reveals what we are; second, because what we do also flows into what we are, helps construct our selves. Third, creative work is a primary human need, and our conventional pictures of heaven are boring partly because they do not fulfill that need. Playing harps and polishing halos is an obviously bad answer to a good question. A second answer, the more philosophical alternative of an eternity of abstract contemplation of changeless truth, moves only philosophers (and even among them only the minority). The third, biblical answer, the enjoyment of God (Psalm 27:4), is true but must be fleshed out by the imagination. The mere words "the enjoyment of God" make sense only to those who already enjoy God; the vast majority of us seem to enjoy the vast majority of things vastly more than we enjoy God. (In fact, it is only God in these things that we enjoy, but we do not recognize that.)

We may even fear Heaven, consciously or unconsciously, because we fear boredom. Then death is truly terrible, for it offers only the two hellish alternatives of boredom or agony. Earth seems much more interesting than Heaven because there seems to be nothing to do in Heaven. What work needs to be done in a world of eternal perfection? Yet how can we be happy without creative work?

The answer to what we'll do coming tomorrow in Part II.

Chicago is Rose's Kinda Town

Rose's 16th birthday is next week and we all know what that means, right?

I'll put you out of your suspense. It means it's time to plan the father-daughter 16th birthday trip! Hannah chose San Francisco a couple of years ago ... just perfect for our almost hippie girl who loved tie dyed shirts at the time. She and Tom still talk fondly of the memories they made then.

Rose really didn't have any idea of where she wanted to go so I picked up a Fodor's USA guide. A few days ago she asked me to pick up a Chicago guide. The more she looked through it, the more excited she got. She has picked out every strange little museum and spot that they have for her and Tom to visit (that is her speciality by the way ... I'll never forget the doll museum in Paris ... who knew there was something like that tucked away being run by a couple of grandparents?).

More later, I'm sure but for now I'm almost jealous. Almost. (I've been to San Francisco, but not to Chicago.) I'm a grown up so I won't begrudge Tom and Rose this special time together.

But after the kids are out of school? And we have a little money again? Oh brother, is Tom gonna take me to Chicago!

Monsoon Wedding: Love — Exactly and Approximately

MONSOON WEDDING
This story of a large, Westernized, upper middle class Indian family gathering for a wedding is one that I watched several years ago. Somehow it didn't hit me then the way it did last weekend when I absolutely fell in love with it.

Aditi decides that her married boyfriend may never leave his wife so she agrees to an arranged marriage. The groom has been in Houston for four years and is flying back to India for the wedding. Aditi's father is struggling with stress as the wedding costs mount. As various families are added to the assemblage, we see the single cousins who are attracted to each other, the unmarried female cousin who has an old secret, the wedding event planner who falls desperately in love, and many other colorful characters. We also are given many glimpses of India itself as scene dividers. The scenes are so evocative of what I imagine the real place to be that it made me yearn to visit India and see all the seeming contradictions for myself.

It is rare to see a movie that is so charming and yet shows us so well many faces of love. We see the deep love of a father for his daughters, the respect and brotherly love of a man for his long-time family friend, the burgeoning love of two different couples from very different social backgrounds, and the dawning of love that comes for the wedding couple who are in an arranged marriage. We also are shown quite clearly the consequences of mistaking much baser emotions for true love. When that trust and faith is betrayed "everything is broken." However, we also are shown the power of forgiveness and the fruit it can bear.

I love the fact that the singing ismostly someone singing a line or two of a familiar song that others would pick up and sing. It really made me think of how much song is part of the Indian psyche.

This movie seems much more real than the recently popular Bride and Prejudice and certainly much less Westernized. I was charmed with the seemingly random mixture of English and Hindi (?) which everyone spoke. The English was difficult to understand before we became accustomed to the rhythm and pronunciation so you must listen carefully because when English is spoken there is no captioning. However, it does not take long for your ears to adjust and this is not a problem for too long.

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

Scott Danielson and I discussed this at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Hannah and Rose discussed it at An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

Bird Flu Hits Florida Trailer Park

From my in-box. Thanks Marcia!

Are You Reading Savage Chickens?

If not then you are missing a great comic pleasure every day. Reproduced with permission.

Back to Basics: The Basis for Belief in Transubstantiation

The miraculous changing of what was bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ that occurs during the Consecration at each and every Mass is called transubstantiation. It refers to the changing of substances, in this case, the substances of bread and wine into the substances of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Catholicism bases this belief in the transubstantiation on two points:

• In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, each writer uses the same phrase to describe the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the day before Jesus was crucified. Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, "This is My Body" (touto estin to soma mou in Greek; hoc est corpus meum in Latin). The verb to be is used such that an equality exists between This (which refers to the bread) and My Body. So the bread becomes the body of Christ. Because all three Gospels (Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, and Luke 22:19) meticulously repeat the exact same phrase, as does St. Paul (1 Corinthians 11:24), these sacred words must be taken literally.
• The words of the Last Supper spoken by Christ over the bread and wine are consistent with the New Testament: Jesus explicitly and graphically commanded, "Eat My flesh and drink My Blood," more than a few times. He also said, "My flesh is real food and my blood real drink." Some in the crowd said, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (John 6:52), and he responded, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53). "After this, many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him," (John 6:66). The Church reasons that if Jesus had meant this to be symbolic, why would he allow so many of his followers to leave with a serious misunderstanding?
  

Catholicism For Dummies by John Trigilio

Another Review That Makes Me Want to See "Flight 93"

Even if you don't want to see the movie, go read this first rate review ... 21st-Century Thermopylae.

I Can't Believe It Took Me So Long to Proclaim My Elite Status

It's an elite group.

It doesn't have to be that way though. Contact KT Cat to get on his notification list (check his site for the email address).