New Blogs

... or at least new to me. Interesting holy cards in one spot and a ton of interesting writing in the other. Check 'em out!

• Holy Cards for Your Inspiration
• Asymmetric ... plus he cracks me up. For instance his comment before posting the "500 women in art" YouTube: "I liked it even better than the one where the cat is flushing the toilet."

Tolkien and Evil

... this is a strain in Tolkien I don't quite trust. He seems to have greater confidence in evil than in good.

At the end of Lord of the Rings the triumph of good leads to the destruction of nearly everything good. Lothlorien is abandoned, the Shire is overrun with foulness, and the elves all leave Middle Earth.

It is naive to assume that the triumph of good means good results for all; however, it is equally naive to assume that evil consistently betters good.

Flos Carmeli

I think that this is a rather glum take on the end of Lord of the Rings. True, it is not the shiningly complete victory we would like but neither is it the practically complete triumph of evil that is presented above. Sam finds a good and happy life in the Shire as he helps return it to normalcy. Aaragorn rules with a fair and good hand in the lands over which he has sway. Indeed, it is sad that the Elvish folk leave Middle Earth but, as they themselves point out, it is their time to go. Nothing stays as it is forever. That doesn't mean it is a triumph of evil but merely that it is the way of the world for the order of things to change. It is reflecting the way the world really works in the story. We may not always like the change but we can't see the big picture either. I haven't read The Children of Hurin, in large part because I dislike reading others' attempts to finish deceased authors' unfinished works. There is never any telling where the original author might have taken the tale with further work.

It seems to me that perhaps the above comment is a misunderstanding of Tolkien's completely Catholic view of our world. Please pardon my sketchy theology, but if Satan is prince of this world, then we should not really expect a complete triumph here ... certainly not by our efforts, at any rate. Jesus' victory in procuring our salvation means that we will see triumph in the next world but we are not necessarily promised more here ... as Tolkien points out in the excerpt from a letter below.

I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect "history" to be anything but a long defeat -- though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.

J.R.R. Tolkien

Obviously, this is not a comprehensive treatment of the question that Steven raised above ... just my overall view of it.

Busy Weekend Ahead

This morning we have a wedding to attend (I remembered this morning that I've got no "wedding" wrapping paper and no card ... must dash to Hallmark). This afternoon/evening an engagement party to attend (for which family gathering we all were at a brother-in-law's house for dinner last night). Tomorrow is my CHRP team meeting at brunch after Mass. Thank heavens I signed up to bring bagels and cream cheese. If I have time to go to the grocery store and do some laundry this weekend I'll be doing well (not to mention doing some more story reading and editing for the first chapters of next week's Forgotten Classic).

Busy but good ... the conversation and drink will be flowing (not necessarily in that order!).

Corpus Christi ... The Reality of the Eucharist

For me, Eucharistic chat is all well and good, but it does not make me believe in the Real Presence. What does that is the Eucharist itself - with each encounter, with each breaking of the bread, with each hour of Adoration, Jesus’ Real Presence becomes more undeniable as he reels me in and I flop down before him, a landed grouper, both unable to escape and not wanting to. For me, His Presence in the Eucharist cannot be talked…it must be experienced. A half-hour before the monstrance, an hour before a closed tabernacle in an empty church…nothing compares, nothing instructs so sweetly, or sears me with such unrelenting gentleness. John Paul II wrote every one of his encyclicals while seated before the Tabernacle in his chapel.

This is also my experience of the reality of the Eucharist. The Anchoress has given us a veritable feast for contemplation in preparation of this coming Sunday's Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Included in that, she leads us to a deacon whose site I certainly shall be visiting often in the future.

In 1995, a Gallup poll reported that only 30 percent of Catholics – less than a third -- believe in the Real Presence, that the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Christ. Another 30 percent said it’s just a symbol.

I wish they could see what I've seen.

A few years ago, my wife and I had the good fortune to make a pilgrimage through Italy. One of the stops was in a town called Lanciano.

About 1200 years ago, a priest there had begun to doubt the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Then one morning, during mass, he was stunned to discover that the bread and wine in his hands had become actual flesh and blood.

Today, it’s been preserved in a glass case, on its own altar. You can walk around it and see the host from many different angles. The blood has congealed naturally into five distinct pellets – just like the five wounds of Christ. In 1970, scientists were given permission to take samples and analyze it.

They weren’t prepared for what they found.

The bread is actually myocardial tissue -- tissue from the heart.

And what had been wine is, in fact, type AB blood. The universal recipient blood type.

It has been so perfectly preserved, the investigators ruled out any kind of fraud. They determined it was human, and could not have come from a cadaver, or it would have spoiled.

Instead, the flesh and blood that were hundreds of years old appeared new.

In other words: ageless.

Do go read all of both, as well as The Anchoress' linked posts at the bottom.

Temptation of Jesus: In the Temple

Considering the temptation where the devil attempts to lure Jesus into stepping off the temple roof because the angels will "guard you in all your ways...", Benedict takes us into an unexpected direction. Certainly everyone has reflected upon the devil's excellent knowledge of scripture and his ability to pull it from context and twist it for his own uses. The Pope considers this specifically in terms of this temptation and, once again, surprised me.

I could quote the whole darned book for you but will try to feel satisfied with sharing this couple of excerpts for the moment.

First, about scripture:

... The devil proves to be a Bible expert who can quote the Psalm exactly. The whole conversation of the second temptation takes the form of a dispute between two Bible scholars. Remarking on this passage, Joachim Gnilka says that the devil presents himself here as a theologian. The Russian writer Vladimir Soloviev took up this motif in his short story "The Antichrist." The Antichrist receives an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Tubingen and is a great Scripture scholar. Soloviev's portray of the Antichrist forcefully expresses his skepticism regarding a certain type of scholarly exegesis current at the time. This is not a rejection of scholarly biblical interpretation as such, but an eminently salutary and necessary warning against its possible aberrations. The fact is that scriptural exegesis can become a tool of the Antichrist. Soloviev is not the first person to tell us that; it is the deeper point of the temptation story itself. The alleged findings of scholarly exegesis have been used to put together the most dreadful books that destroy the figure of Jesus and dismantle the faith. ...

The theological debate between Jesus and the devil is a dispute over the correct interpretation of Scripture, and it is relevant to every period of history. The hermeneutical question lying at the basis of proper scriptural exegesis is this: What picture of God are we working with? The dispute about interpretation is ultimately a dispute about who God is. Yet in practice, the struggle over the image of God, which underlies the debate about valid biblical interpretation, is decided by the picture we form of Christ: Is he, who remained without worldly power, really the Son of God?

Secondly, he returns to the question which Jesus answers when he says, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." I basically knew the reason for that, as does any faithful believer, but look at how eloquently and elegantly Benedict says it.

We are dealing here with the vast question as to how we can and cannot know God, how we are related to God and how we can lose him. The arrogance that would make God an object and impose our laboratory conditions upon him is incapable of finding him. The arrogance that would make God an object and impose our laboratory conditions upon him is incapable offending him. For it already implies that we deny God as God by placing ourselves above him, by discarding the whole dimension of love, of interior listening; by no longer acknowledging as real anything but what we can experimentally test and grasp. To think like that is to make oneself God. And to do that is to abase not only God, but the world and oneself too.

Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI)

Completely off-topic:

I have been to Tubingen. It is a delightful university town and you will find darned few American tourists there. Or, I should say, at least you did when we went. It had the nearest castle to where my brother was living at the time so we went to see it. After Pope Benedict was elected we were all delighted to think of him teaching there and wandering in the same streets that we had for that summer day that I remember so fondly.

Brown Coats Meeting in the Post Office

How did I know the woman I was standing behind at the Post Office was a Brown Coat (translation: Firefly fan)?

Because she was carefully folding up Jayne's hat to put in a box for shipping. "Jayne's hat!" I cried in delight.

She turned to me with a big grin. "I have a friend who knits these and I'm sending this to my friend in Switzerland. It's perfect!"

Then we rhapsodized over Firefly for a bit, which I will spare you.

Knitting and sci-fi: when worlds collide ...


Here's Jayne wearing the hat ... which was so incredibly goofy but which bad-a** Jayne wore through an entire episode because his mother made it and mailed it to him. As we can see from my testimony above, all you have to do is say "Jayne's hat" to a Firefly fan and they know exactly what you mean.



Turns out that there is more than one pattern out there for this hat and you'll also find photos of Serenity/Firefly fans wearing Jayne's hat to various conventions. You know, for a show that only aired 9 episodes it sure developed a hard core cult following.

Here's the pattern, which I printed out and kept ...

The Temptations of Jesus

The temptations of Jesus is one of the passages that I sometimes slide into when meditating on Jesus' baptism. Naturally I was delighted to read the Pope's thoughts on this same passage. As with all scripture, it is so rich and layered and there is so much that applies to our own daily lives which are lived with the constant temptation to do what we like rather than what God asks of us. Here's just a bit of that section.

Moral posturing is part and parcel of temptation. It does not invite us directly to do evil -- no, that would be far too blatant. It pretends to show us a better way, where we finally abandon our illusions and throw ourselves into the work of actually making the world a better place. It claims, moveover, to speak for true realism: What's real is what is right there in front of us -- power and bread. By comparison, the things of God fade into unreality, into a secondary world that no one really needs.

God is the issue: Is he real, reality itself, or isn't he? Is he good, or do we have to invent the good ourselves? The God question is the fundamental question, and it sets us down right at the crossroads of human existence. What must the savior of the world do or not do? That is the question the temptations of Jesus are about. ...

Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI)

Weekend Movies

Rose chose a couple of Hitchcock movies. I wouldn't have chosen either of them ... one worked out very well and the other ... well, it was interesting.

The Family Plot ... one of Hitch's later movies and one that I remember didn't have good reviews when it came out. (Yes, I actually can remember back that far!) Not one of his better movies to be sure, although the plot was just interesting enough to keep us watching to see what happened. Not really recommended though.

Dial M for Murder ... adapted from what the trailers told us was a wildly successful play. A fascinating plot, excellent acting, and Hitch did a lovely job making what was essentially a play on film visually interesting enough that we didn't feel as if we were trapped in one room the entire time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Public Service Announcement

Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering has been hit with a "spam blog" notice. Poor thing, it is completely undeserved. However, until she can work through the system of clearing herself (which may take two days or two weeks), she's been forced "off the air" and your patience is requested (not to mention a few prayers I am sure!).

Jesus' Baptism

This book is so good! I know I've said that before but I just cannot say it enough. As if that weren't enough, last night I was lolling on the couch reading aloud parts to Tom. (Not from this section below, from further ahead in the Tempting of Jesus section.) Astonishingly enough, Tom objected to one concept, saying that he had heard somewhere that such an interpretation meant revisionist thinking.

I was shocked. Shocked!

Tom never (never) has comments like this. I was resisting being annoyed that someone would dare to question The Pope ... and then I remembered that was the entire reason he skirted having the book looked at by the Magisterium. So that people would feel free to talk over the ideas in the book without having The Pope looming in the background.

Obviously his plan is working. How can I be annoyed about that? Well, I can't.

(Also I was pleased because I attributed his conversing about these things to our evening readings together ... though he is less pleased with Beginning to Pray than I hoped. Still, we persevere...)

I became intrigued. "Who said that? I want to read it."

He couldn't remember. But he promised that if he comes across it again he will let me know.

Just a tidbit of some of the book I'm enjoying so much.

A broad current of liberal scholarship has interpreted Jesus' Baptism as a vocational experience. After having led a perfectly normal life in the province of Galilee, at the moment of his Baptism he is said to have had an earth-shattering experience. It was then, we are told, that he became aware of his special relationship to God and his religious mission. This mission, moreover, supposedly originated from the expectation motif then dominant in Israel, creatively reshaped by John, and from the emotional upheaval that the event of his Baptism brought about in Jesus' life. But none of this can be found in the texts. However much scholarly erudition goes into the presentation of this reading, it has to be seen as more akin to a "Jesus novel" than as an actual interpretation of the texts. The texts give us no window into Jesus' inner life -- Jesus stands above our psychologizing (Guardini, Das Wesen des Christentums). But they do enable us to ascertain how Jesus is connected with "Moses and the Prophets"; they do enable us to recognize the intrinsic unity of the trajectory stretching from the first moment of his life to the Cross and the Resurrection. Jesus does not appear in the role of a human genius subject to emotional upheavals, who sometimes fails and sometimes succeeds. If that were the case, he would remain just an individual who lived long ago and so would ultimately be separated from us by an unbridgeable gulf. Instead, he stands before us as the "beloved Son." He is, on one hand, the Wholly Other, but by the same token he can become a contemporary of us all, "more interior" to each one of us than we are to ourselves" (Saint Augustine, Confessions, III, 6, 11).

Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI)

By the way, Thursday Night Gumbo is beginning to work their way through this book also and is sure to have interesting posts ... beginning with this one.

It's First Friday!

We are three bloggers who also live in the Dallas area. We are deeply committed to ending abortion in this country. To that end, we have committed ourselves to the following: On each First Friday for the next eleven months, we will fast and pray before the Blessed Sacrament for an end to abortion. This will culminate at the annual Dallas March for Life in January of 2008, where we will join our bishop and the faithful of this city in marching to the courthouse where Roe was originally argued.

We ask anyone reading these words to join us. Fast and pray with us each First Friday, no matter how far removed you are from Dallas. Spend some time in Eucharistic adoration, and implore Christ to end this curse. We especially ask other Dallas area bloggers and residents to join us, at least in spirit. If you would rather not fast, then pray for those of us that do.

A Joint Statement

Tomorrow is First Friday

Just a reminder for those of us who are fasting for an end to abortion. Tomorrow's the day!

Bread From Heaven

The most recent of the series that has been running in our bulletin with excerpts from Sacramentum Caritatis

The Blessed Trinity and the Eucharist

The bread come down from heaven7. The first element of eucharistic faith is the mystery of God himself, trinitarian love. In Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus, we find an illuminating expression in this regard: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16-17). These words show the deepest source of God’s gift. In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a “thing,” but himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own blood. He thus gives us the totality of his life and reveals the ultimate origin of this love. He is the eternal Son, given to us by the Father. In the Gospel we hear how Jesus, after feeding the crowds by multiplying the loaves and fishes, says to those who had followed him to the synagogue of Capernaum: “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32-33), and even identifies himself, his own flesh and blood, with that bread: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51). Jesus thus shows that he is the bread of life which the eternal Father gives to mankind.

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In this passage Pope Benedict XVI traces the connection between Jesus and the Eucharist. In so doing, he makes it easier for us to understand the source of the apostles’ faith in Jesus as “the bread of life come down from heaven.” Their faith is the same that has been passed to us 2,000 years later and it is good to be reminded of the original sources. If we take the time to go read the scriptural references for ourselves they come to life even more as we see the context.

We also are reminded that God’s generosity to us knows no bounds. In the Eucharist Jesus does not give us a “thing,” but himself; he offers his own body and pours out his own blood. As Saint Catherine of Siena says, “We are purchased not with gold, nor merely with love’s sweetness, but with blood.” Jesus gives literally everything that he has and is. What is more, he does it every time Mass is celebrated which is something to contemplate before we go to Holy Communion.

Those random associated thoughts ...

... so I'm at my bank ATM this morning, right next to SMU, when I see a gaggle of high school cheerleaders walking to the campus. I remember that there's an annual cheerleading training camp that takes place for 4-5 days.

And then Rick Lugari comes to mind ... hmmm ....

Knitting a Dishcloth

Ever since I read in Mason-Dixon Knitting that they regularly knit dishcloths, I have been consumed by curiosity. How could that possibly work? Would the dishcloth actually be functional?

The driving urge to answer these questions was fueled by the fact that no matter where I look I can't find a dishcloth that isn't huge (maybe 10"x10"?) and also quite heavy. Quite difficult to get into little nooks and crannies of various utensils, lids, and so forth. I realize these things must be part of some sort of a general trend but all I wanted was the old style dishcloths that used to be so easy to pick up at the grocery store ... maybe 6"x6" and fairly thin so it is easy to manipulate in the sink.

Finally, this weekend I dropped into our local crafts shop, picked up a nice, inexpensive ball of Peaches and Creme all cotton yarn and took it home for experimentation.

Lo and behold, it worked! I cast on 30 stitches onto size 8 needles, knit up a half-linen stitch 6"x6" square, bound off, and tried it out. It was just what I wanted, bumpy enough to do good scrubbing, yet flexible and small enough to get to every corner that needed scrubbing. Tom washed the dishes last night (what a guy!) and also gave it the thumbs up.

It is the small victories that make everyday life fun. This small victory is good for many days as I look for more stitches to try out with my little square of cotton dishcloths.

Blogwatch

NEW
Unborn Word of the Day: Michele Peate has begun a blog with the intention of:

Honoring the Unborn Christ Child, promoting the Gospel of Life, one day at a time… Each day you will find an inspirational pro-life quote of the day, with special emphasis on the Unborn Christ Child and the great hope we have in Him. Feel free to participate with comments, suggestions, and ideas!

She is the wife of author George Peate whose Unborn Jesus, Our Hope has been mentioned before here and here.

RETURNING

• I am thrilled that Roz and Therese Z. at Exultet are back! These two have provided me with much inspiration in the past.
• Remember Enbrethliel (sp?)? She's baaaaack ... just in a different setting.
  

Memorial Day: With Many Thanks to Those Who Gave All For Us

I really have nothing to offer besides my whole hearted thanks and gratitude to those who gave their lives for their country.

However, here are some pieces from others that may interest and inspire.

Today our nation celebrates Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration Day, the holiday started spontaneously in 1866, when a drugstore owner in Waterloo, N.Y., sought to honor those who died in the recent Civil War. Townspeople joined Henry Welles' cause to commemorate the fallen, and they decorated the graves with flowers, wreaths and crosses.Today our nation celebrates Memorial Day. Originally called Decoration Day, the holiday started spontaneously in 1866, when a drugstore owner in Waterloo, N.Y., sought to honor those who died in the recent Civil War. Townspeople joined Henry Welles' cause to commemorate the fallen, and they decorated the graves with flowers, wreaths and crosses.

In short order, others joined around the country and by 1868, according to the History Channel: "Children read poems and sang Civil War songs, and veterans came to school wearing their medals and uniforms ... Then the veterans marched through their hometowns followed by the townspeople to the cemetery." Soon enough, heroes from other wars were honored as well, and the day became Memorial Day.

Abraham Lincoln described our country, in his message to Congress in 1862, as the "last best hope of earth."

Dallas Morning News

• Memorial Day and the Mirror of Hope: Siggy says it well.

  ... There are really only two ways you can hurt someone. Take away their dignity or take away their hope. When a tyranny oppress a citizen, they take away dignity. When that oppressed citizen no longer believes that there are free and good people who care about them, there are left without hope. What is hope? Well, it is an average American, from an average place, that put on a uniform and fought to liberate oppressed people -- and then went home. ...
  

• Moving tribute from an Englishman (via The Anchoress):

  ... when the Americans speak of freedom, we should not imagine, in our cynical and worldly-wise way, that they are merely using that word as a cloak for realpolitik. They are not above realpolitik, but they also mean what they say.
  
  These formidable people think freedom is so valuable that it is worth dying for.

• If you want to look at a good way to connect this day to our faith, Way of the Fathers has just the ticket.


• Here's a really touching post from last year about the day from an American living in Saudi Arabia.

What Tom's Reading

Just for a change of pace ... and so that y'all know what little tidbits of information I am being fed over time. He recommends both highly.

The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios
Evidently comic books get their physics right more times than not. Although I never heard of Ant Man or Atom Man until now ... and I now know just how Spider Man got his start. The physics is presented in easy-to-understand terms and is fascinating.

Great Tales from English History: The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More by Robert Lacey
I got this for Tom for his birthday and, flipping through it, was disappointed to see that it had in it what everybody already knew. Actually, that turned out not to be the case. Instead I should have been thrilled at how much English history I have inadvertently absorbed while reading a lot of theology. The interesting thing about this book, is that while I have impressed Tom by knowing the big picture about obscure historical figures, Lacey has all kinds of little details that I hadn't come across. Short chapters make this Tom's reading when taking a break from the physics book.

A Mystery to Be Believed

Another from the weekly installments that have been appearing in our church bulletin. I can't believe I forgot to post this until now. I really have been enjoying the way that this is taking us through the document so slowly ... it makes me really think about each paragraph.

The Eucharist:
A Mystery to Be Believed

“This is the work of God: that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn 6:29)

The Church’s eucharistic faith
6. “The mystery of faith!” With these words, spoken immediately after the words of consecration, the priest proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding. The Eucharist is a “mystery of faith” par excellence: “the sum and summary of our faith.” (13) The Church’s faith is essentially a eucharistic faith, and it is especially nourished at the table of the Eucharist. Faith and the sacraments are two complementary aspects of ecclesial* life. Awakened by the preaching of God’s word, faith is nourished and grows in the grace-filled encounter with the Risen Lord which takes place in the sacraments: “faith is expressed in the rite, while the rite reinforces and strengthens faith.” (14) For this reason, the Sacrament of the Altar is always at the heart of the Church’s life: “thanks to the Eucharist, the Church is reborn ever anew!” (15) The more lively the eucharistic faith of the People of God, the deeper is its sharing in ecclesial life in steadfast commitment to the mission entrusted by Christ to his disciples. The Church’s very history bears witness to this. Every great reform has in some way been linked to the rediscovery of belief in the Lord’s eucharistic presence among his people.

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The “mystery of faith” that is the Eucharist is something that we may not really consider much when in the habit of going to Mass regularly. It is human nature for us to become dulled to splendor when it is presented time after time. However, Pope Benedict reminds us that we are participating in a reality that “surpasses all human understanding” in the Eucharist. We actually are partaking of the body and blood, soul and divinity, of Jesus Christ himself. Indeed, how is it possible to adequately understand such a thing? The answer is that we cannot understand it, at least not with the ordinary comprehension that we apply to everyday things.

Saint Augustine said, “I believe, that I may understand.” Our understanding of the Eucharist grows not through any proof or scientific understanding but because of God’s grace. By partaking in the sacraments which nourish our faith and keeping the fact of this “mystery” in our minds during the Mass we may be privileged to see just a bit better when Heaven comes to earth as the Eucharist comes to us during Holy Communion.
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(13) Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1327.
(14) Propositio 16.
(15) Benedict XVI, Homily at the Mass of Installation in the Cathedral of Rome (7 May 2005): AAS 97 (2005), 752.
* Ecclesial: of or relating to a church

Tails Tales from the animal clinic

Hannah is finishing up her first week as a general assistant at a local veterinarian's clinic. She says that most of her duties consist of holding animals during examinations and walking dogs. However, the vet who hired her (there are four in the practice) enjoys training students and eventually wants her to assist some with surgeries. With that in mind, she has been an observer at three surgeries so far and covered herself with glory by not fainting although she has had to avert her gaze much of the time (understandably, I'd say!).

We get plenty of stories about individual animals, interactions with the office staff, and observations of the different ways to think about animals. All in all it is very good experience, especially for someone who is majoring in wildlife and fisheries. If there was possibly a veneer of excessive sentimentality toward animals in general it will be tempered with a layer of "real world" by the end of the summer. As someone who spent part of her childhood in the country where animals are valued but known for their proper place in the world, this pleases me.

Coming up: Dishing from the Cafe as Rose begins her new job next week bussing tables at a small 10-table cafe for a realistic sounding owner who is used to training high school students.