Today's Pittsburgh Picture

I truly meant to reveal why I've had Pittsburgh on my mind ... but something came up that prevented the requisite amount of blogging time.

Enjoy this photo today and tomorrow I will ... reveal all!

It's All Downhill From Here

A little midweek humor from Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine. I see that I am not alone in my appreciation for Dr. Boli as Will Duquette has posted an appreciation.

Ask Dr. Boli

Dear Dr. Boli: The honey I just bought at a local organic market claims on the label that it came from an “apiary” in Westmoreland County. I thought honey was made by bees rather than apes. What’s going on? —Sincerely, Dr. Carolina Thicket, Curator of Primates, Duck Hollow Museum of Natural History.

Dear Madam: Honey is indeed made by bees, as you were taught from infancy; and an apiary, as you correctly surmised, is an institution devoted to the cultivation of apes. Apes, and especially gibbons, have an instinctive aptitude for tending bees, and are frequently employed for that purpose. It is a happy arrangement for both species, as it is cheaper than employing human attendants for the purpose, and it gives the apes something to do. Dr. Boli is somewhat surprised that a scientist in your position would not be aware of these well-known facts, but he supposes that you are more accustomed to meeting apes after they have paid a visit to the taxidermist, which renders them entirely unfit for tending bees. The advantage of the stuffed ape for museum purposes, of course, is that it tends to be less sticky, the taxidermist having carefully cleaned off the honey before mounting the specimen.

The use of apes in the honey industry is only one of the many ways in which our animal friends are employed to the benefit of humanity. You should ask Dr. Boli about foxholes some day, or perhaps about catamarans.

Away in a Manger ... But Not With This Nativity Scene

David L. Alexander - Man With Black Hat
Amy Welborn
Fr. Dwight Longenecker - Standing On My Head
Joshua Snyder - The Western Confucian
Mark Shea
Julie D. - Happy Catholic
Zippy Catholic
Dawn Eden
Kenneth Hynek
Jeff Miller - Curt Jester
Thomas Peters - American Papist
Jimmy Akin

I am especially concerned about that creepy Jesus figure.

Robert Duncan is blogging again. He was a favorite of mine for a long time and then broke my heart by becoming too busy.

Luckily, he has been back for a few weeks and I now have time to draw your attention to his fine writing. His Photoshop work ... not so much, though I am glad to see that I am a wise man.

Check out this sampling of work and see if you don't agree:

• Fatima: The Madrid Bombings (Chapter One) ... the first of four parts so far of a serialized history
  
• John, Mary, and Christ: An Islamic Viewpoint ... text is from an 1863 book "The Bible, The Koran, and The Talmud; Or, Biblical Legends of the Mussulmans," by Dr. G Weil.
• Three Classic Spanish Plates
• Semana Santa ... and even some photography
  

"We were not born into this world in order to die in this way."

Some of us say: “May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians, the offspring of apes and pigs.” Is this the language of progress? Is this the language of enlightenment and tolerance? If you had been born in Rome, you would have been Christian, if you had been born in Tehran, you would have been Shiite, and if you had been born in Saudi Arabia, you would have been Sunni, and so on. How wonderful it would be if all these people could gather in love around the table of humanity.

This is from 2006 and so perhaps I am the last one to see this video of Bahraini intellectual Dhiyaa Al-Musawi. It is still worth watching as a powerful statement from a thinking man who understands the serious problems with the Arab world today. I found it inspirational.

You can see it here.

Mary Moments Honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe

Many good posts are featured in this round up honoring Mary. My overall collection about Our Lady of Guadalupe is in there as well. Check it out.

Max Vanko Murals in Pittsburgh Church

A series of fascinating murals celebrating the American worker can be seen in Pittsburgh's St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church and also at The Society to Preserve the Millford Murals. You can read more also at Time magazine.

Worth a Thousand Words

Gray Partridge by Remo Savisaar, wildlife photographer extraordinaire

Jack Skellington Visits Las Ramblas

Jack Skellington's Visit to Las Ramblas
from Barcelona Photoblog where he has a full report on the visit

You know I can't resist this one, especially considering our family's fondness for Nightmare Before Christmas.

Ducking Shoes, Bush Makes Me Like Him Even More

Mostly for this exchange with media afterward, which I got from The Anchoress.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think you can take one guy throwing shoes and say this represents a broad movement in Iraq. You can try to do that if you want to. I don’t think it would be accurate.

QUESTION: Well, then, separately from him —

THE PRESIDENT: That’s exactly what he wanted you to do. Like I answered on your question, what he wanted you to do was to pay attention to him. And sure enough, you did…

[There was a noise on board the plane.]

THE PRESIDENT: The other shoe just dropped. Look, I’m going to be thinking of shoe jokes for a long time. I haven’t heard any good ones yet.

Worth a Thousand Words

Portrait of Louis Pasteur, painted by Albert Edelfelt, 1885

Pittsburgh, O Pittsburgh ... how lovely are thy views

View from the rotunda of Daniel Burnham’s Pennsylvania Railroad Station,
taken by Father Pitt

Would that I could see them in person ...

A Wonderful Variation on Striped Sock Yarn

Swinging by Jimmy Beans Wool to pick up another ball of Bunny Hop to finish out my first-ever Christmas-deadline knitting, I found these yarns. Yes, I fell prey to picking out one of the Saturn variety to try out. My first stashing, y'all. I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

Jupiter Natur Color

Regia Galaxy Jupiter has swirls and pools of colour in shades inspired by the patterns of Jupiter's clouds.

Regia Galaxy Saturn Janus

Each of the colorways seems to be named after the moons of Saturn and reflect their spirals and ellipses.

Introverts and Extraverts: The Light Bulb Goes On

Then a few years ago Dr. Richard D. Grant taught me the difference between introverts and extraverts.

Introversion and extraversion don't refer to shyness and boldness. They refer only to how you charge your emotional batteries. Introverts gain energy from internal contemplation, centering, and quiet time. Extraverts gain energy from external people, places, and things.

...

Books are written for introverts. Audiobooks are recorded for extraverts.

Introverts rarely say what they are thinking.
They say only what they have thought. Introverts think to talk.

Extraverts talk to think.

This was a very enlightening way for me to consider the differences between these two personality types. I will be copying part of this into my quote journal as a reminder. Go read ... or listen to ... Roy H. Williams' Monday Morning Memo here.

Twilight Before Christmas

Well, that didn't take long ... and from reading Twilight in 15 Minutes, I have a feeling this is probably about as good as the move.

I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart ...

We all know, I'm not always happy. I know full well that my crosses are so much lighter than those of others and I am grateful for it. Generally, like most people, I soldier on in my own little arena of struggles, and do not dwell on them too much. This is possible because of the joy and optimism that growing closer to God has brought me.

As I said, we know it is not possible to always be happy. Last week the convergence of a number of factors hit me in just the wrong way at the wrong time and I was overcome with sorrow. In fact, I remember a distinctly odd moment of sending a garbled reassurance to Jesus that it wasn't that I lacked faith or trust but I had to get through this moment first ... right before I bent over the kitchen sink and sobbed for a while. I realize that Jesus needs no such reassurance. I was actually clarifying things for myself while giving in to emotional distress.

However, perhaps because of that same garbled emergency message, I had the experience of receiving consolation while giving in to sorrow. In my mind's eye, there was an arm round my shoulders gently patting me, a head tilted against my own, and a murmuring "There, there, Jules. It's ok... ." Notice there were no promises of making everything ok, of me getting to sit back and let someone else take up the problems. I didn't expect that. I also didn't expect such clear consolation and sharing of my moment either, however.

After a good cry cleared my system, I was able to move on through my day. It wasn't miraculously filled with joy. Actually, I was not in the best of moods. However, I was able to overcome the impulse to snap at people, to ignore what I didn't want to face, and to avoid shutting myself off from the world. In short, I was given the grace I needed to fight my battle of the moment. It was enough. By the afternoon I had regained much of my usual optimism.

In the week that followed, the memory of that consolation would occasionally float into my mind and it was warming. I have never had such a clear indicator of "not walking alone." Usually a memory of sorrow does not bring joy but this memory did. The difference was that Jesus was there with me.

Which all brings me to the point that yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, which reminds us to rejoice always in all situations. That memory flooded through me as I was in front of the tabernacle during Mass and it was a cryative time (crying and sensitive ... Rose's term). And joyful.

Yesterday's readings from In Conversation with God just underscored my experience even more.

The world's happiness is a poor and transitory thing. The Christian's happiness is profound and can exist in the midst of difficulties. It is compatible with pain, with illness, with failures and contradictions. our Lord has promised: Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. (John 16:22) Unless we separate ourselves from its source, nothing and nobody can take away this joyful peace.

To have the certainty that God is our Father and wants all that is best for us gives us a serene and joyful confidence even in the face, sometimes, of unexpected hardships. In those moments which a man without faith would consider to be meaningless and deadly blows of fate, the Christian discovers God, and with Him a much greater good than he seems to have lost. How many obstacles vanish, when in our hearts we place ourselves next to this God of ours, who never abandons us! Jesus' love for his own, for the sick and for the lame is renewed, expressed by different sufferers in different ways. "What's the matter?" he asks; and we reply, "Its my ..." At once there is light, or at least the acceptance of his will, and inner peace. (J. Escriva, Friends of God, 249)

We will have difficulties, as everyone always has, but whether they are great or small these contradictions will never be able to destroy our happiness. We have to expect the setback as part and parcel of ordinary life, and we cannot put off being happy until some impossible time arrives in which there are no contradictions, temptations, or sorrows. What is more, we should have no opportunities at all for growing in virtue if we had no obstacles to overcome.

We need a firm foundation for our happiness. It cannot depend exclusively on changeable circumstances like good news, good health, peace and quiet, enough money to bring up the family comfortably and having all the material possessions we would like. All these things are good in themselves if they do not separate us from God, but they are unable to provide us with real happiness.

Our Lord asks us to be happy always. Let each man take care how he builds. For no other foundation can anyone lay other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:11) Only he can be the support of our whole life. There is no sorrow which he cannot alleviate: Do not fear, only believe, he says to us. (Luke 8:50) He knows everything which is going to happen in our lives, including those things that will result from our stupidity and lack of sanctity. But he has the remedy for them all.

Very often, as we are doing now in this time of prayer, we shall have to come to him in the Tabernacle and have a conversation with him which is both serious and intimate. And we shall need to lay bare our soul in Confession, and in personal spiritual direction. There we shall find the source of happiness; and our gratitude will show itself in greater faith, in an ever-increasing hope which banishes all sadness, and in our care for other people. For yet a little, just a very little while, and He that is to come will come, and shall not delay; (Heb 10:37) and with him come peace and joy; with Jesus we find meaning in our life.

This is the cause of our joy. This is what we long to share with others who have not yet found Jesus. "Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; rejoice, again I say, rejoice."

An Eyewitness Account from Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

These young sisters dressed as
indigenas peregrinas (Indian pilgrims)
for el Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe,
celebrated every December 12.

Read this wonderful account at Mexico Cooks! of the feast day celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe right where Juan Diego met Our Lady.

Note to self ...

... when one has been in the habit of always sending Halloween cards to college-bound children's friends, one must not think that just because they are juniors that they will not miss those cards. This evidently results in said child receiving many queries about missing cards.

I still love y'all ... and I am not going to make that same mistake at Valentine's!

Another Reason to Visit Pittsburgh

I love strolling through cemeteries no matter the size but monuments like this one in the Allegheny Cemetery just call out to me. Who would have thought that there would be so many interesting memorials there? Of course, in the summer, it would be that much more inviting for lingering and speculating upon why this gentleman feels he must go on working even now.

Accepting Nominations - Catholic New Media and Innovation Awards

Who is the best in Catholic New Media? Where are the innovators in Catholic evangelization? I want the world to know. So this year I am rolling out the first annual Catholic New Media and Innovation Awards. The purpose is to find and highlight the best in Catholic New Media and acknowledge those using innovate ways to evangelize the faith.

This is something I have wanted to do for some time now. It is my hope that this informal award will bring attention to those working tirelessly and unselfishly to promote the good works of the Catholic Church and share the gifts of our faith.

Here are the rules:

1. Open Nominations
2. There are no specific categories. I prefer to keep the nomination field broad and defined only to new media and innovation. It will be fun to see what suggestions people send to us.
3. Jury Panel = me. The awards are subjective but based on my experience, expertise and input from those who are kind enough to send me their thoughts.
4. Winning entries will be posted on this blog and will receive a glowing email with congratulations from yours truly. Wow!

OK, so there's no red carpet, banquet, or celebrities fawning over the winners. Just me and my platform to share the good works of generous people. I'll probably announce the winners on a Catholic radio program or perhaps EWTN or Catholic TV if they'll have me. First things first. Send me your nominations. I promise to thoroughly review them and announce the winners in early January.

I set up a special email account for nominations and related correspondence. Please send you suggestions and comments to: awards (at) lovetobecatholic (dot)com

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I got this via email, but you can check it out here also. This will be interesting.

Worth a Thousand Words

Ball Point Pen: Study for New Mother by Belinda Del Pesco