Math Monday ... on Tuesday

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Surprised by Prayers

Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems
by Anthony DeStefano

... One thing that you learn as you progress in the spiritual life is that God is a God of perfect timing. Since he is able to see the "big picture," he knows just when you should move on and when you should stay where you are. And sometimes before you move on he has to "arrange" a thousand different details in order to make that move possible. That arranging takes time.

People who travel frequently on airplanes know just what I mean, because they have experienced the frustration of "circling." Usually this happens near the end of the flight, just when you're most anxious to get off the plane ... you've gone into the dreaded holding pattern... The point is that, despite the frustration of the passengers, and despite the pilot's ability to freely control his aircraft, another entity -- air-traffic control -- has made an over-riding decision to prevent the plane from landing. And there's just nothing that anyone can do about it.

The very same thing often happens to us in life. We can decide what we want to do and where we want to go, but God is still in charge of "air-traffic control." He sees everything on his omniscient radar screen -- the weather, the airport, all the other planes in the area. Sometimes, for reasons he may or may not disclose, he decides that the best thing for us to do is remain in a "holding pattern." While we're busy circling, he's busy clearing obstacles, solving problems and moving people around until things are just right. Then and only then does he permit us to come in for a safe, smooth landing.

I received Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life's Most Difficult Problems by Anthony Destefano in the mail about a week ago. At first glance, the title made me think it was another of those "Gospel of Prosperity" books. You know the sort I mean. The ones that tell us if we only pray this special prayer or act in a certain way that God will reward us with piles of money and riches.

I almost didn't pick it up.

In my insular way, actually my way of protecting myself, I didn't like the fact that it was endorsed by Christians I'd never heard of, except for Cardinal Martini who I had heard of but not for anything that I liked in the way of interpreting scripture.

This raised my alarm level even more.

However, I recalled the many times that I have almost rejected a book that I later found to be full of spiritual riches, so I ventured to read the introduction. Looking in vain for scriptural references in the text (another alarm bell going off), I flipped to the back where I found an entire section of end notes consisting of nothing but one scriptural citation after another. After that was a bibliography. True, it did have a Rick Warren book listed (yet another alarm bell clanging) but many more references were to writings by St. Augustine, C.S. Lewis, and others who I trusted to be sound spiritual advisers if taken properly in context. Additionally, looking through the acknowledgments section, I saw that Destefano's parish priest who he admired greatly was Fr. Pavone who I also trust to be a sound guide.

Somewhat reassured, I gingerly began reading, fully on alert and ready to toss the book at a moment's notice if my fears of being led astray came true.

What a pleasant surprise to discover that this was not only engagingly written but decidedly on track in terms of leading us to God through what God wants for us instead of the other way around. In fact, by chapter two I was reading with a pen nearby to mark significant sections and telling Tom that, so far, I wanted him to read it ... and the book club ... and everyone I knew.

It takes an extraordinary book to turn my fears into such enthusiasm in a short time. I soon realized that all the things that rang my alarm bells, beginning with the title, were specifically designed to call out to the very people who tended to be attracted by the "Gospel of Prosperity" books. In fact, I could think of two people who this book would be perfect for as it take those "I want" impulses and turns them outward so that we are focusing on what God wants instead of what we might think is best.

I had a couple of things that I thought might be problems for those reading the book and wanted to bounce them off of someone else. Luckily, Tom was interested and began reading it. He is about halfway through and the really interesting thing is that our various objections were things that the other person always thought were not a problem. For instance, I was somewhat amused that the chapter about the prayer "God, outdo me in generosity" talks almost exclusively about ... money. DeStefano does point out that God may repay you in other ways than monetarily but he always comes back to the cold, hard cash in the end. However, Tom didn't have a problem with this as he thought the author had adequately offset possible moneygrubbing with talk about intentions and motives.

Tom, on the other hand, was bothered that he didn't know what authority the author was basing his claims on. This was among the things that had sent me early on to the end notes and bibliography which had greatly reassured me. Furthermore, as I read on with increasing approval I never found anything that went against the Church's teachings. (So, for what it's worth, it has the "Julie D." stamp of approval.) Tom didn't have anything specific to mention on this front, just that he wanted to know where these ideas were coming from (I told you he's Catholic to the bone, haven't i?). By the way, this book was specifically written to be able to be used by Christians in general, not simply Catholics. Any Catholic comments found within are simply in reference to the author's own experiences or some similar situation.

All in all, we could find nothing wrong and a great many things right in this book. Furthermore, Tom also could think of a couple of people right off the top of his head that might benefit from it. (As can The Anchoress; check out her review.)

So often the dreams we have are all about us and our desires and insecurities and vanities. They don't take God's wishes into the slightest account. Everyone has heard stories about unhappy movie stars, drug-addicted rock stars, disgraced public officials, and suicidal authors. All these folks achieved their dreams and yet they all came to the same unfortunate end. Why? One of the reasons is probably that their dreams did not coincide with their real purpose. They wanted something so badly -- maybe it was fame, maybe it was riches, maybe it was power -- but they failed to consider that perhaps this was the last thing they really needed, the last thing God had destined them for. Instead of trying to ascertain God's will through prayer and discernment, they essentially "forced" their key into a lock it was never meant for; they twisted it, struggled with it, pushed and jammed it -- until finally it broke off.

There's no need for that ever to happen to us. God knows the deepest desires of our hearts. He knows what will give us the greatest pleasure and the most profound happiness. Remember, he's the one who created us -- he's the one who crafted the key -- so he knows best what kind of lock it will fit into.

Happy Birthday, Dear Tom!

I'm making a Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Malt Frosting ... are we all seeing the theme here?

First, however, we will go out for fried chicken ... not sure where yet. And, of course, after cake will be gifts, none of them good enough for the most wonderful husband and father ever. But it's what we can do and, luckily, since he is so very wonderful and understanding ... it will be enough.

Movie Night Report

We had a blast. Three other couples made it, laden with appetizers, salads, and dessert. We provided a Chinese noodle main dish, with peanut sauce option for our vegetarian member ... and we had plenty of libations of all sorts.

The movie? Shower, a charming little Chinese movie (my review here) that everyone seemed to like a lot. In fact, we actually had quite a bit of conversation about it later. (Whew!)

I'm really looking forward to the next one and to seeing what sorts of movies people choose to show.

The entire evening format is highly recommended!

As an added bonus, we had to rearrange the living room to move the TV in from the back room where it normally "lives." We moved the TV back the next day but liked the rearranged living room so well that it may stay that way. Tom and I are still playing around with it ... one of us will walk through and find a few things moved around a bit, make our own further adjustments, and move on again. Yes, I'm easily entertained.

For the Students I Know

Catholic Mom has posted a prayer for students, which I am putting here as well. Check out her spot for more info about St. Joseph of Cupertino.

O Great St. Joseph of Cupertino
Who while on earth did obtain from God
The grace to be asked at your examination
Only the questions you knew,
Obtain for me a like favor in the examinations
for which I am now preparing.
In return, I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.

Through Christ, our Lord,

St. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for Us.

Amen.

Around the House

Quick news for those who have been asking ...

• Hannah comes home in about a week and a half. She has been loving A&M but is so ready to come home that she's trying to figure out when her last final is so that we can be waiting outside with the motor running and the door open when she's done (joking, joking). But she always has been a "home" girl and is ready to have some time off from school.


• Aggie Parent's weekend was fun although due to the complete lack of hotel rooms any closer than 1-1/2 hours away (which would put it 1-1/2 hours away from home) we opted to drive down early Saturday morning and then back late Saturday night. It was all lots of fun. We went to a barbecue held by her Christian women's club and it was great to meet some of the girls that Hannah talks about, then we went to a scrimmage football game (I was so right to back White, y'all!) and did our best to keep up with the cheers, saw the rock wall where she spends most of her out-of-class time, walked through a little museum in the MSC which had some interesting glass collections and Western paintings (reaffirmed there is a reason that acclaimed art "masters" are so named, thanks to the wide variety there), and went to Lane's for chicken fingers. Mmmmm, chicken fingers. Then we hung out at Starbucks for a while and mocked their "contest" which apparently gives the lucky winners 10 days picking coffee beans so they can feel close to the earth (or some such malarkey). Got home at 11:30 ... a very full day but lots of fun, as I said.


• Rose got back her PSAT results and is a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist because she is in the top 3% of those who took the test nationally. Doesn't it just figure that she is so good academically but wants to go to Columbia College and study film editing? Which she would be brilliant at, don't misunderstand me, as she is very creative also ... but they don't give a flip about academics and only give one academic scholarship. Ah well ... we'll have to see how all that falls out ...


• Rob Duncan from Spero News (as well as from Navarre University where he actually is employed) was in town and so we went out for TexMex, meeting up with our lovely and talented Laura H. as well. Rob is soft-spoken, tall, interesting, and funny ... we had a great time albeit too short together.


• Tonight we will be having our first Movie Night with a few couples we know. The idea is that it will rotate to different houses, everyone will bring potluck (a rather coordinated potluck), and we'll watch a movie of the hosts' choice and then talk about it (which is at least half the fun) over dessert. The first movie is a favorite of Tom's and is going to be a surprise to everyone (no, we haven't told them anything about it, wanting no one to form impressions before seeing it). However, as a semi-coordinated theme I'll be making a Chinese noodle dish (and I bet that no one guesses this movie as it is not commonly known). I'll let y'all know how it goes but now must go grocery shopping, movie renting, etc. in preparation. For one thing, we have to move the television into the living room as it "lives" in a back room out of the way (y'all never would have guessed that would you, what with my passion for television?).

So now I'm outta here until Monday. Have a good weekend y'all!

"Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine."

St. George and the dragon from The Roving Medievalist

We most truly serve the common good by having the courage to be disciples of Jesus Christ. God gave us a free will, but we need to use it. Discipleship has a cost. Jesus never said that we didn’t need a spine. The world doesn’t need affirmation. It needs conversion. It doesn’t need the approval of Christians. It needs their witness. And that work needs to begin with us.

Archbishop Charles Chaput gave a speech in Philadelphia last week about religion and the common good and boy, howdy, what a speech it was. I read it through twice. He ranges from Nietzsche’s Will to Power Bars to Georges Bernanos to Frank Sheed to Flannery O'Connor and yet always stays on target in this powerful speech.

I usually copy the text from long posted pieces and dump them all into a text file that I print out and take home to read at my leisure. It functions like a personalized magazine in a way. Homesick Texan's musings on biscuits will be followed by Orson Scott Card's thoughts on walking everywhere to save gas. At any rate, I was reading along in this piece and by the time I worked my to the statement below I was taken by surprise.

First, I’m tired of the Church and her people being told to be quiet on public issues that urgently concern us. And second, I’m tired of Christians themselves being silent because of some misguided sense of good manners. Self-censorship is an even bigger failure than allowing ourselves to be bullied by outsiders.

I blinked. Who wrote this? I looked back at the beginning. Yep. Archbishop Chaput. That's the spirit I like to see in our bishops. More power to him.

Much of it follows theme developed by Georges Bernanos in his seemingly prophetic "The Last Essays of Georges Bernanos."

As Bernanos explains it, big ideological systems “mechanize” history with high-sounding language like progress and dialectics. But in doing so, they wipe out the importance of both the past—which they describe as primitive, unenlightened, or counterrevolutionary—and the present, which is not yet the paradise of tomorrow. The future is where salvation is to be found for every ideology that tries to eliminate God, whether it’s explicitly atheistic or pays lip service to religious values. Of course, this future never arrives, because progress never stops and the dialectic never ends. ...

Time and freedom are the raw material of life because time is the realm of human choice. Bernanos reminds us that the Antichrist wants us to think that freedom really doesn’t exist, because when we fail to choose, when we slide through life, we in effect choose for him. Time is the Devil’s enemy. He lives neither in the eternity of God nor in the realm of man. Satan has made his choice against God and he is forever fixed in that choice. But as long as man lives in time, which is the realm of change, man may still choose in favor of God. And, of course, God is always offering the help of his grace to do just that. If the Devil can sell us the idea that history is a single, determined mechanism; if humanity’s freedom of will can be forgotten or denied; then man will drift, and the Antichrist will win.

There is much more to ponder in this speech and I encourage everyone to go read it at least once.

Which is Your Favorite Picture of Joy?

Laura H. asks that question for those who watch this really great slideshow from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. You can see my choice ... I love the way these brothers are laughing and clasping hands.

Poetry Thursday

refreshing limeade
dancing over cool ice cubes
nectar of the gods

Monkey

Eifelheim Love Spreading

You may remember that Claw of the Conciliator gave it two thumbs up.

What if the first contact between humanity and an intelligent alien species occurred in the Year of Our Lord 1348?

Some sf authors would have taken this concept and written a cautionary tale in which benighted priests declare the aliens to be demons and whip mobs of superstitious peasants into a killing frenzy. After all, was that not the Age of Faith, an era of theocracy, ignorance, and fear?

What Flynn has done instead is marvelously refreshing. Eifelheim is a carefully researched depiction of Rhineland in the 14th century, showing both the bright and dark aspects of medieval civilization and the small renaissance that was underway before the Black Plague. He illuminates some of the roots of the Scientific Revolution among natural philosophers like William of Ockham, Jean Buridan, and Nicholas Oresme.

Thus when grasshopper-like aliens, the Krenken, crash near the small Black Forest village of Oberhochwald, it is in fact their good fortune to encounter the local priest. Father Dietrich is a thoughtful and discerning man, who studied under Buridan at the University of Paris, and is adept at inquiring into the natural causes of things. His somewhat cool rationality is combined with deep Christian faith, which motivates him to display charity and hospitality to the stranded travelers.

Now The Wine Dark Sea and The Curt Jester add their approving voices to the chorus.

Me?

I'm still waiting for the darned thing to get to the library near me.

Finding Holiness ... in Our Families

Love in the Little Things
by Mike Aquilina

... The family is the great catechism God has given the world. The work of our lifetime is to learn how to read it, and then study it prayerfully.

A couple in love will find many lessons to learn in the everyday events of their life together. Throw into the mix a child or two (or six or twelve), and the lessons increase by orders of magnitude. It’s all serious business, I suppose, but a sense of humor plays no small part in our spiritual development. Monks may learn humility by wearing a hair-shirt. We parents have our own means of mortification. We must, for example, sit helpless while our four-year-old daughter, patiently and with scientific rigor, enlightens a visiting priest — an elderly, saintly Franciscan — about the varieties of panties that Mattel affixes to its Barbie dolls. (I’m not making that one up.)...

Our family life is the sacrifice we offer to God every day. It rises like incense to heaven as we do very ordinary things: as we love our spouses, guide our kids, pay the bills, attend countless, endless scout meetings, and do our work. All this is our share in the common priesthood of the Church. It is our daily sacrifice, our “Mass.” God, for His part, gives back to us abundantly, from the treasury of His own perfect fatherhood.

This is a subject that Tom and I recently were talking about on a long car trip. It is easy to look at the family and see why God made that our basic core of life on earth. It is the means of sanctification for us all, as we learn to gracefully take up the many irritations and pinpricks of daily self-sacrifice. It is only in soldiering through many of these that we then see the other side, that the graces we receive are so much more than any sacrifice we make ... and the "self" that we become is so much holier than we would have been otherwise. (Not perfectly holy, just a little more holy ... and when you're like I am, then that means there is a long way to go on the holiness business ...)

I received this book last Friday and have to admit that I was so happy to see it looked lighter than Mike Aquilina's usual "Church Fathers" fare. He is brilliant at communicating their personalities and works but I had just finished his Fathers of the Church and am deep in the middle of a church history. (Of course, I just read about the new, expanded version of Mass of the Early Christians coming out soon and now am suddenly ready for the "deeper" reading again!) This book of short essays was just the ticket. He talks about something we all can relate to -- how family life and marriage give us endless opportunities to live a holy life and see God's touch everywhere. These essays range from short two-page works beginning with a family story, usually humorous, and then go to a simple reflection about a needed grace or lesson learned that the incident illustrates or sparks. These are the sorts of examples many of us need to see God's hand in the everyday and to remind us that everything we do is an opportunity to grow in a holiness that needn't be stuffy or holier-than-thou. It is all very real and down-t0-earth.

Some chapters are longer essays that are packed full of good reflections, also stemming from family interactions, that take us to deeper reflective depths. A favorite of mine is about the "Spousal Secret." In other words, what is the secret to being a good husband (or wife). As you'd guess, it is self sacrifice but it is examined from every angle in a very readable way.

I will finish by sharing one of my favorite chapters so you can get a feel for this charming and insightful book which would make an excellent Father's Day gift. It is simple but there's something about Grace that I just can't resist.

The State of Grace

A lone blonde in a crowd of brunettes, our Grace Marie early sensed her difference, her distinctiveness.

One October night the family poured out of the van and approached our favorite ice-cream parlor -- now decorated for the harvest season. Suddenly, three-year-old Gracie broke ranks and ran to a pair of scarecrows. "Look, Mom! Look, Mom! Look, Mom!" She jumped repeatedly in front of the flopsy couple. We all looked, but couldn't figure out what was so special. She pointed emphatically to the golden straw peeking out from the scarecrows' hats. "Look! Gracie dolls!"

Our peerless blonde had found her peers, or at least she thought so. I found them entirely too subdued to pass for "Gracie dolls."

Early in Gracie's life I decided that the word "irrepressible" must have been coined for her. From the time she could crawl, she's had boundless energy and an inquisitive mind. She could jump repeatedly while she asked a breathless series of questions: "What are eyelashes for? Why did God make dinosaurs? How do flowers know what colors to turn?"

In exhausted prayer I would suggest to our Lord that perhaps He should have sent Gracie when I was twenty-five rather than thirty-five.

But, if He had, I would now have even less muscle in my abdomen than the little I can claim. Gracie is extremely affectionate, and from toddlerhood onward her preferred display of affection has been the flying leap. (Ballet lessons have only made her more adept at this.) So I've grown accustomed to tensing my abdomen, just in case it should have to absorb a strong and sudden impact. I'd wager that, even as I sleep, my belly stays taut (well, as taut as it can), just in case Gracie should swoop down from the darkened eaves of the master bedroom.

When our family flew to Rome several years ago, Gracie was only five and she could barely contain her excitement. As our jetliner passed over the ocean, she bounced across the aisles, from sibling to sibling in the Aquilina dispersion, before bouncing to her parents, then back through the cycle.

Shortly after landing, through an unpredictable series of events, we found ourselves, jet-lagged, at Pope John Paul II’s regular Wednesday audience -- with passes to greet the pope personally afterward. Everyone in the family was awestruck by the presence of that great man, now stooped and partially paralyzed from age and ailments. One by one, we passed before him. He hugged each of the children. But none of us had the courage or presence of mind to say anything.

Except, of course, Gracie, who hugged him tight and said, "I love you very much." The flashing cameras captured his broad smile forever. And hers.

Later, back at the hotel, my wife and I felt the comedown from the excitement of meeting a pope and a saint. Factor in the time difference between Rome and Pittsburgh, and we were plummeting toward collapse. Everyone headed to one of the rooms and found a place on the beds, the comfy chairs, or the floor. I dropped to a mattress, so utterly exhausted that it never occurred to me that I was leaving my abdomen wide open.

Sure enough, as soon as I closed my eyes – crash, whoosh, and out went the breath from my lungs. And there was Gracie hovering over my face, smiling what her mother calls her "thousand-watt smile."

"Oh, honey," I groaned. "If you'll just let me sleep five minutes, I'll be a new man when I wake up."

And then I saw something I had never seen before. Gracie, looking frightened, jumped off me as suddenly as she'd landed. She turned to Terri: "Mommy, when Daddy's a new man ..."

"Yes?"

"When Daddy's a new man, what will he look like?"

All the kids erupted in laughter. But Terri just hugged our actual Grace and said: "Remember what the pope looked like?"

Gracie nodded.

"He'll look like that."

Gracie accepted this and let me have my forty winks. But no more.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines grace as our “participation in the life of God” (n. 1997).

What is God's life? Boundless joy. Boundless love. Limitless energy. Unceasing wonder.

God gives us the grace we need, when we need it. He gives us the children we need, just when we need them. He has given me Grace, amazing Grace, abundantly.

You Say Moslem. I Say Muslim. H.W. Crocker III Says BOTH.

The Perpetua & Felicity Book Club is reading Triumph and Susan, a history major and attentive reader, pointed out that the author uses both Muslim and Moslem. Naturally she wondered why and so did we. I can't find anything definitive on why one term would be different from another, least of all from the author himself. I'd ask him, except that I can't find contact info on him either.

Muslim? Moslem? Anyone have more than a guess on this?

UPDATE:
The question is not which word is correct. Or why we might have two spellings. (These things we already knew.)

The question is why H.W. Crocker III uses both spellings throughout Triumph. Obviously he is making some sort of distinction (or has the worst editor known to mankind).

All Things Work for Good ...

In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.

And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:26-28

God knows what we need before we do and provides in ways we couldn't imagine. Check out Penni's story from today.

Science Fiction and Faith LInks

It occurred to me that the ongoing listing of great sci-fi and fantasy novels with links to faith was sometime ago (as the blogosphere counts it anyway). Here are some wonderful resources. If anyone has any others I'll add them to the list.

• Speculative Catholic has a very good list of Catholicism in Science Fiction at The Catholic Wiki Project
• Elliott has a great series of discussions about science fiction, fantasy, and faith wherein he discusses different authors. It begins at the link and you can follow it from there.

Want to Know About the Pope in Pavia?

AmericanPapist is on the job. Check out the links there.

Moses: The Most Complete Prefigurement of Christ

Exodus centers on Moses, greatest of all Jewish prophets, the man who spoke with God face to face and lived. Moses is as prominent and primary in Judaism as Mohammed is in Islam or as Confucius is in Confucianism. Yet his deepest significance is beyond Judaism: Moses symbolizes and foreshadows Christ. Let's look at some of the ways he does, some of the parallels between Moses and Christ.

1. Both were outsiders (Ex 3:1-10; Jn 3:13)
2. Both received long training before their public ministry (Ex 2:10; Lk 3:23)
3. Both performed many miracles (Ex 7-14; Jn 3:2 and 21:25)
4. Both were preserved from an evil king's plot to murder them as babies (Ex 2:2-10; Mt 2:14-15; and Rev 12:1-6 and 13-17)
5. Both stood up against masters of evil (Ex 7:11; Mt 4:1)
6. Both fasted for forty days (Ex 34:28; Mt 4:2)
7. Both controlled the sea (Ex 14:21; Mt 8:26)
8. Both fed a multitude of people (Ex 16:15; Mt 14:20-21)
9. Both showed the light of God's glory on their faces (Ex 34:35; Mt 17:2)
10. Both endured rebellion from their people (Ex 15:24; Jn 5:45-47)
11. Both were scorned at home (num 21:1; Jn 7:5)
12. Both saved their people by intercessory prayer (Ex 32:32; Jn 17:9)
13. Both spoke as God's mouthpiece (Deut 18:18; Jn 7:16-17)
14. Both had seventy helpers (Num 11:16-17; Lk 10:1)
15. Both gave law from a mountain (Ex 20; Mt 5-7)
16. Both established memorials (Ex 12:14; Lk 22:19)
17. Both reappeared after death (Mt 17:8; Acts 1:3)
18. Both did the work of prophets, priests, and kings -- the three most important positions of authority in the ancient world
19. Both conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil
20. Both, finally brought their people from slavery tofreedom and to the Promised Land

Moses is the most complete symbol of prefigurement of Christ in the Bible.

You Can Understand the Bible
A Practical And Illuminating Guide To Each Book In The Bible
by Peter Kreeft

A God of Infinite Justice and Infinite Love

It's often said that the Old Testament, especially Genesis, teaches a God of justice, in stark contrast to Jesus, who teaches a God of forgiveness and love. It is a lie, of course. The God of the Old Testament does all that He does out of love; and the Father of Jesus needs to satisfy justice as well as love; that's why Jesus had to die. I used to think that only those who never read the Bible could fall for this fallacy. But experience has taught me otherwise. Why is it so common?

I think it comes partly from misunderstanding the literary style of Genesis. It is not meant to be psychology, either of God or humanity. The modern style of storytelling emphasizes psychological motive and scrutinizes inner consciousness. This is simply not the style of premodern writing. Augustine's Confessions is the only personal introspective autobiography in premodern literature.

Thus the "wrath of God" is not meant as a description of God's own private feelings, but of His public deeds, of how those deeds look to fallen, "wrathful" man. Psychologically, this is "projection." When God gave Lady Julian of Norwich a "showing" of His wrath, she said, "I saw no wrath but on man's part."

God is indeed a God of justice and thus of punishment, which is part of justice. But love is the motive behind all His deeds of discipline. "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves. ... If you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb 12:6-8).

You Can Understand the Bible
A Practical And Illuminating Guide To Each Book In The Bible
by Peter Kreeft

He Had Me At Kelvin ...

Pondering Evil

I really was resisting writing anything about this because I know that I can't match some of the very good pondering I have seen written already ... but the two columns I read this morning generated even more thinking on my part and it poured out here.

I already had been thinking about evil before the Virginia Tech massacre. After Rose and I watched the premiere of Drive, I was unsettled because of the cruel methods used to coerce some of the participants. The basic premise of the show is that it is an anonymously run, illegal cross country race with the winner receiving 32 million dollars. Although the race liaison, has informed them that there are other competitors, the group does not know exactly whom they’re racing against, or even where the finish line is. Some are participating sheerly for the cash while others have been forced to participate. In one case, Alex Tully is trying to save his wife who has been kidnapped. In another, a mother's newborn son is being held hostage. In a flashback we are shown a couple racing to save their young daughter, who watches them crash and die before her eyes. And so on ...

It is clear that Alex Tully (Nathan Fillion) will also be working toward uncovering whoever is running the race and stopping them from ever doing so again. What bothered me was the idea of such evil that would kidnap a wife or take a newborn from his mother without any reason other than the sport of motivating participants. It made me think of the villain from Daredevil who was sadistically and purposely evil at any opportunity. He bothered me so much that I forbade the girls to ever rent or buy the movie (and, believe me, that is something that I don't often do).

The evil in Drive may be further explained as the plot develops further, however, it provided food for thought all day long. Was evil worse because I didn't know about any motivation? It seemed so to me and that didn't seem right either. Evil is wrong no matter whether we understand the motivations or not. Truth to tell, I realized that knowing the motivation for evil is no excuse at all. Many, many people suffer what might be similar motivations but very few act upon them.

As we watched the next episode it became clear that Alex Tully had been a very bad person but that his wife had somehow redeemed him and helped him transform into a good and normal man. He is being required to revert to his more basic, bad-guy self in order to save his wife. In fact, a race representative was specifically sent to make sure that was clear to him. And revert he did. The sweet and pure seeming mother of the newborn was given an order to eliminate another racer, along with a loaded gun. She was able to find a solution that fulfilled the requirements without having to kill anyone, or even eliminate the other person from the race at all.

Again it seemed to me that a major theme of the show was evil. Some people are being lured to it with the reward, some are being forced by choices that seem unthinkable. Some people are showing their worst sides in response while others are managing to hold onto themselves while fulfilling the requirements. Still I pondered. Was it any more acceptable that Alex Tully was having to race now that we knew he was indirectly responsible for murders? That possibly the punishment for his past sins were being visited upon his innocent wife? I knew I would keep watching if only because it generated so much thought. Also, let's face it, I liked the show and because it is a television show I know there will be answers that will eventually fit into an acceptable moral guideline. That is what good stories are all about, after all.

That same evening I learned from Tom of the Virginia Tech massacre (I am unplugged from news, computer, and email once I leave work). Here was a real life example of evil for which we could not fathom any possible motivation. In our household, as in those across the country, we kept saying to each other, "Why? Why would someone do something like that?" I thought of Cho as a baby, a toddler, a little boy and my heart ached not only for the people whose lives he cut short but for the potential that somehow went terribly wrong in his own life.

We will never know.

As reports have surfaced it is clear that there were many warning signs. Debates will continue over what to do in such cases.

Rod Dreher wrote a "it could have been me" editorial for the Dallas Morning News today (free registration required).

So I was saved twice by friendship during my teenage years, and by having the grace to respond to lifelines when they were thrown.

Still, it's a little frightening to think about how things might have turned out for me had I continued drifting down that dark river, until I'd lost sight of the last human settlement. Was Cho ever thrown a lifeline? Was he too lost in a fog of self-pity and loneliness that he couldn't see it when it was thrown?

Along with my horror and sorrow over the massacre, I also had felt a profound tiredness from the beginning at the thought of the experts, the analyses, the "what if's," the "it could have been me" stories that we now would be subjected to ... all of which would solve exactly nothing.

It is not that the various solutions I have read about would do no good. Undoubtedly it would be a very good thing if we were nicer to that loner, reached out and fought harder to get help to a troubled person, tried through personal example to help our culture regain some of the social strictures that probably reduced these sorts of incidents in the past, or put a few sane controls on gun laws (I'm all for the right to bear arms, but semi-automatics? Let's get real here. And as for the Europeans clucking about violent American society ... Cho's guns were manufactured in Austria and Germany. How about taking a look at their contributions to our problem?). However, there will always be some people that these things will not help, no matter how well the solutions were applied.

My own thoughts (undoubtedly as lacking as everyone else's) coincide amazingly with Scott Blow's column in the Dallas Morning News this morning.

When I first began to educate myself about mental illness, 20 years ago or more, I repeatedly encountered a calming assurance:

"People with mental illness are no more dangerous than society at large, except perhaps to themselves."

That was part of the campaign to remove the stigma from mental illness. After all, hadn't pop culture always depicted "crazy people" with an ax in hand?

While I applaud the ongoing effort to erase that stigma, I wonder if we didn't let the safety assurance lull us into a certain complacency about mental illness.

For the moment, Cho Seung-Hui has blasted us from our complacency.

And though I would never want to go back to the days when "murder" and "mental illness" were synonymous, must we continue to shrug off these rampages by "misfits" and "loners" as inevitable?

They are not.

One thing about mental illness is known for sure: Treatment works. People with mental illnesses can be helped.

I see that NAMI – the National Alliance on Mental Illness – has slightly adjusted its basic statement. "People under treatment for mental illness are no more dangerous than society at large," NAMI legal director Ron Honberg told me yesterday.

"Under treatment" – a couple of very important added words.

Go read it all (free registration required).

As someone who has dealt with mental illness suffered by a family member, as have many people I have been surprised to find out), sometimes they are just sick. There is no rhyme or reason to their thoughts or feelings. They are sick. We would remove plague carriers from the general population to protect society and we should give serious consideration to doing the same to those with mental illness. It is no kindness to these tortured souls to let them suffer when they can be helped and sometimes they just can't see clearly that they need help. In our case, our family member did alert us and I thank God often for their clarity of thought that had them asking for immediate assistance.

Now I have fallen into the same trap as everyone else and given a solution ... which is no real solution at all. However, it might make life better for some people, and maybe not only for those who are the immediate sufferers.

As to the problem of evil, I still ponder it. Or rather my reactions to it. Knowing why evil has been committed should not make the evil seem less than that with no obvious motivation. But it does somehow, at least to me. I think that is a problem with my spiritual eyesight that I need to be aware of and ponder some more.

Poetry Thursday

Not only is it poetry month but Monkey reminds us that it is Grilled Cheese Month! Woohoo! Naturally Monkey makes sure we have some poetry available for this auspicious time.

UNTITLED
Low fat, no, fat, low carb fare
No salt, less salt, do we dare
No bland , flavorless, dry arse cheese
I prefer the kind that blocks arteries
So its fattening that’s for sure
Life is short as it were
Use any kind of bread you like
But sourdough is a gourmet delight
Pile some mayo on the side
Dip it in and open wide
So when I hit the pearly gates
I’ll pray a grilled cheese sandwich awaits.

by Kc