This Just In ... And Going On My To-Read Stack

With God on All Sides: Leadership in a Devout and Diverse America ... a book about how American leadership should handle the extremely diverse religious society we have become. The book concept puts me strongly in mind of The Right to Be Wrong which I found enlightening in the extreme.

First I will have to finish For Better, for Worse, for God: Exploring the Holy Mystery of Matrimony by Mary Jo Pederson. Get used to the name because this is one I'll be excerpting for a while ... it is a really fantastic book about marriage. It is like a "checklist" for marriage enrichment. In fact, I will say that it is the book I will be giving to any couples getting married. And that included Hannah and Rose when that time comes. I have not found anything that better reflects what we have learned and built upon from the Beyond Cana retreat.

Don't know much about polyphony ...

... but I do dearly love chant. It takes my spirit to an adoration chapel that my friends and I know well where there is always chant playing in the background. And it takes me to Good Friday at our church where for the last two years the Gospel has been chanted.

Anthology: Chants and Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey

Thanks to the Norbertine Fathers from St. Michael's Abbey I venture to say that we were probably one of the very few ... if not the only household in the DFW Metroplex on Friday night to have these glorious sounds swirling through our house. The CD came in the mail and when we got home from Tom's excursion to the emergency room I popped it into the CD player to for an initial listen.

The eclectic selection on this album is a cross-section of music sung at the abbey that includes chants from the liturgy as well as motets and music from the Renaissance era. These latter are sung on more solemn occasions like Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, and other great feasts of the liturgical year. "Anthology: Chants and Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey" is a testimony of the vigor and subtle beauty of Gregorian chant as sung today in the USA.

Simply beautiful ... and inspirational ... and peaceful. Also, I appreciate the Latin because I can't pick out words and it leaves my mind free for prayer while helping pull back that veil that separates me from God.

I now know that polyphony could be described as some of the most glorious harmony ever. I also can see why the retired abbot requested the initial Exultet recording that prompted them to begin recording in the first place. This is going to be the perfect music for my drive to work also, when I am finishing up the rosary begun on my morning prayer walk.

Highly recommended. In fact, so much so, that I am going to put Christmas at St. Michael's Abbey on my wish list.

Note: The release date is February 10 and Amazon has it on sale now. Do yourself a favor and order this if you want some inspirational music, especially with Lent beginning in a little less than a month.

Now There's a Bible Study I Can Get Behind

Listen now to: The Simpsons at Church

Thanks to Deacon Ken for thinking of me when hearing this story and getting the link! Even more so since he is not a Simpsons fan ... poor fellow.

Photo sources

Was it the knitting? Was it the Hail Marys? What does it take to get through a visit to the emergency room?

Probably both are what it takes to get calmly, almost meditatively, through a trip to the emergency room when you are afraid that your husband has an appendix that is about to burst. (Turns out it was a kidney stone ... excruciating pain but no imminent loss to life ... and it buys you a couple of hits of morphine to book. Poor fellow now has a prescription for Vicodin and can look forward to some more rounds of pain while waiting for it to all pass away. Get it? Pass ... well, never mind.)

I remember reading a knitter's account of being in either New York or Washington D.C. when Sept. 11 happened. She was stranded at the train station for hours and was thankful to have an unfinished sock to knit in her purse. It gave her something to do without disconnecting her from the people around her ... and kept her calm.

That has always been in the back of my mind for some reason. So when Tom gave me my Peacock Blue Newport Knitting Bag for Christmas I started carrying around the latest unfinished sock. The other day I asked myself why I was doing that when clearly I rarely had time to knit while I was out and about.

Yesterday afternoon was my answer. After the pain levels had been reduced to a dull roar by the morphine, I pulled out my knitting and luckily was just working on the heel (which for non-knitters means that it was fairly brainless and could be shoved back into the bag at a second's notice without losing my place). We were there from about 1:30 until after 6:00 during which time there were many dull periods of waiting around. I managed to turn the heel and am now working on the gussets to shape the foot.

As for the Hail Marys, those never stopped until the doctor came in and confirmed the triage nurse's first "probably a kidney stone" comment. It is very comforting to know that while you are knitting, you are also streaming prayer for Mary and other saints who pop to mind to pray with you ... not only for your loved one but also for those other frightened and hurting souls that you can see everywhere. As well as those kind, trained ones who are there to help. Once again, I am happy to be Catholic.

You know what happens when you drop a MIB quote in the sidebar?

You get a major award.

And a laugh to start the day. Thanks Tim!

Genesis Initiative

From my in-box ... though since I just watched Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan a couple of weeks ago, this might not have had the initial effect they would have expected ... though that was the "Genesis device" now that I think of it ...

New Catholic Group Launches Media Initiative

For far too long, Catholic artists and filmmakers have struggled to finance their projects and receive the training necessary to perfect their craft, hindering them from spreading their message of faith, hope, and love of God and His church. Today, we are happy to announce that a group of Catholics has come together to address this pressing cultural need.

The Genesis Initiative is a grassroots, non-profit organization aimed at funding worthy television and motion picture projects that promote Catholic values, teachings, and historical figures. ...

Their website can be found here.

This is What I Call Optimism

Grass Snake taken by Remo Savisaar

He adds that the fish is a flounder

Families, Audiobooks, San Francisco History, and Uncle Tom's Cabin

All can be found in Episode 71 of Forgotten Classics.

Enjoy!

You Can Learn the Most Useful Things from an Audiobook

Trying out the first couple chapters of Lost Gods from Podiobooks, a scam to steal ATM cards was described. The book is about Anansi, a trickster god, who is living in Canada. Who knew the scam pulled by a competitor of his was a real scam?

Until I got this from The Anchoress ... check out this Snopes entry on how a piece of film can be used to steal your ATM card.

By the way, I will be going back for more of Lost Gods when I've cleared out some of my stacked up audiobook listening. I'm a sucker for Anansi stories and this sounded good.

Hot Cocoa Coming Up

Grab a mug at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Deep Prayer and Pearl Diving

This discussion of deep prayer from Mother Teresa's Secret Fire (discussed here) has come to my mind continually since I read it some weeks ago. There is something about that idea of diving beneath the tumultuous surface into the calmer, deeper waters that makes distractions easier to brush off somehow.

The first means is to use silence. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence. We cannot put ourselves directly in the presence of God if we do not practice internal and external silence. (Mother Teresa)

Engaging in deep prayer is much like diving for pearls. Some minimal effort is required for a pearl diver to overcome his natural buoyancy, to arrive at the depths where the treasure lies -- and to remain there for the duration. In prayer as well, there is a kind of natural buoyancy at work, drawing us back to the surface. like the diver, we need some simple, persevering effort to remain there in the depths, where all is quiet and peace in God's presence.

A storm of thoughts and distractions may go on above us, but as long as we provide that minimal inner movement that allows us to stay below. the storms of distraction cannot touch us; they do not affect or interrupt our prayer. Whenever we experience turbulence, whenever we find ourselves buffeted by thoughts, it is a sign that we have been imperceptibly returning to the surface. We need only that small effort once again to return below, like the small kick of the diver's fins, and again we are at peace in an inward Eden. What this means for prayer, and our perennial battle with distractions, is that thoughts and distractions are no longer an obstacle -- we merely stay beneath them, consistently seeking this deeper "place of the heart."

[...]

We need to create our own inner hermitage, an inner sanctum where nothing and no one but God can enter -- where God can abide alone, "face-to-face" with the soul. This is the motive behind Jesus' teaching: "When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father... in secret (Mt 6:6).

Finding the "place of the heart" builds on the practice of establishing faith-contact with God at the outset of prayer. Before engaging in prayer, we first take a brief moment to enter into conscious and deliberate contact -- not with a God hidden above the clouds, nor floating on the mind's ruminations, but with the living God abiding in the depths of our soul.

Once we have taken this first step and consciously established faith-contact with God, we simply begin to move the focus of our awareness away from the surface, towards the center of the soul. We shift our attention from the level of the head to the level of the heart. There is nothing difficult or mysterious abut this at all. Though the "heart" referred to here is not the physical heart per se, there is such an intimate, God-made connection between soul and body that by shifting our focus inward, to a level corresponding to the are of the heart, we find ourselves moving towards a deeper level of the soul as well.

This also hit a chord with me because I have found that if I do not say my two customary prayers at the very beginning, then I struggle in prayer much more. I realized this some time before Father Langford's words put it into true focus for me. First I seek God deliberately, using those prayers repeatedly if necessary to calm my mind and soul so that I may attempt to duck my head beneath the surface and begin to listen as well as to talk.

The Curt Jester Really Knows How to Make a Girl's Day ...

... ok, two girls' days.

Thank you, Jeff.

The Mark Shea Experience

There is something so wonderful about getting to meet bloggers, especially those you respect highly, face-to-face. So you can see why one of the things I really looked forward to last weekend was getting to hear Mark Shea speak.

I remember back when Happy Catholic was getting started and I was so shy (yes, believe it or not!). Mark so kindly posted a link to the blog and I got a hundred hits that day instead of my usual ten! Woohoo!

Also, I had just read Amazing Grace for Survivors (review to come) and amongst the many stories of terrible incidents that God reached through were some smaller ones of tragedy as many of us can relate to. Mark has a story in there about the tortures of high school as experienced by so many of us ... the shy, the geeky, the unpopular ... and it was one I thought reminded us that there are many sorts of experiences that we must "survive" even if they often fade as we reach maturity.

We were late getting there as Rose's flight was delayed but were able to hear the last half of his talk: This is My Body - An Evangelical Discovers the Real Presence. He was warm, personable, and witty (and I hear his first talk was hilarious about what's wrong with Catholicism which goes over every wrong preconception about the Church). What was most important to me was that he was so good at pointing out the charitable reasoning every time he was telling the Evangelical point of view. Granted, he was talking about himself at one point, but it was still nice. Interestingly there were several Protestants there asking questions, even going so far as to read from their Bibles with questions ... which were answered openly and charitably as one would expect.

Over lunch, I got to meet him and must credit Mark Windsor (now not blogging but let us hold out hope for a future return to the blogosphere for him) for a good prep. It was immensely flattering for Mark W. to say, "This is Julie D..." and for Mark SHEA (all these Marks ...) to say with enthusiasm, "OH, HAPPY CATHOLIC!" (There was a brief glow, "He's heard of my blog!" Then I realized that Mark W is good at prep. But it was a nice two seconds while it lasted!)

Mark then gave a riveting talk based on his book "Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did." That is one of the first books I read when I figured out that Catholics look at many layers of the Bible. A fascinating book and a wonderful talk, I am tellin' ya.

If you have only ever read Mark's blog, you are not getting that whole Mark Shea Experience (if only I had psychedelic images proper for this subject!). There is something about hearing this gracious, humorous, realistic man talk that really makes you think things through on a different level. I also can recommend his books if he isn't coming to an area near you. It is not the complete experience but it is the next best thing.

If you don't believe me, then you can see that Heather agrees. Though she said so much more to the point. That must be nice. Some day she must tell me how she does that!

I have since remembered that his book about Mary should be out soon (at least I think so ... I am bad about keeping track of these things). I can't wait!

Fireproof Review ... The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This movie was viewed from a review DVD provided by the distributor.

The plot:

At home with his wife of seven years, fireman Caleb Holt shows little of the bravery he displays on the job, and has a failing marriage as a result. Fighting over every little thing, Caleb and his wife, Catherine (Erin Bethea), are on the verge of signing divorce papers when Caleb's father and coworkers urge him to approach his marriage in the same way he fights vicious flames. When Caleb's father gives him the "Love Dare," a 40-day guide to religiously motivated marriage help, Caleb begins a difficult journey to reclaim his wife, and in the process, his faith in God.

With several action-packed scenes, FIREPROOF uses fire metaphors in its exploration of marriage. The film offers an alternative to the common romantic comedy and, some might argue, a more multidimensional view of romance. The film examines both the ups and inevitable downs of married life, offering faith as a prescription for saving what may at first glance appear to have already failed. Likely to please its target audience, the film offers a fresh perspective on marriage and inspiring relationship tips viewers may want to try regardless of their faith.

The intended audience: Christians and married couples

Will they like it?: Yes.

Will everyone else like it?: Doubtful.

This is a typical "Christian movie" and to make sure we get the point, they hit us over the head with it like a hammer on a nail. There is little "art" or "story" in this movie and that leaves those uninterested in Christian themes or marriage in the cold.

THE GOOD
As someone who has helped present several marriage retreats as well as gone on one of my own that we repeat annually, I can testify that the movie hits on crucial points for a successful marriage. What they are telling us are key points in how to serve our spouse willingly and lovingly as Jesus set the example for us.

I did like the fact that the husband takes truly heroic measures in changing his behavior and that it must be sincere before it begins to change him and, therefore, become something that his wife will accept as real. I also like that the husband's parents spring to his aid with the 40 Days book and also with constant prayer. That felt very real to me. The other thing that felt very real was the affirmation Caleb receives toward the end.

I also liked very much the father's bravery in speaking the truth about his faith to Caleb who makes it clear, in very realistic terms, that he has no interest in anything Christian. The story falls somewhat short in what revelation prompts Caleb to make a life changing decision but does a very good job, on the other hand, with showing a revelation develop in the wife's understanding.

Although I am critical of the story, they still managed to surprise us in a couple of spots with their twists which helped even out some rough spots from elsewhere.

Some of the actors are locals from where the film was shot (or so I believe from the publicity info). If so, someone should sign those nurses up for contracts. They were a delight, fully believable, and our favorite characters. I also especially enjoyed Ken Bevel's best friend role. He was believable and engaged our sympathies as the friend who has been down the hard road of recovering his marriage from trouble.

THE BAD
Before I go into this, let me be clear. I don't have a problem with movies created for a specific audience. The Passion of the Christ was made for Christians and I found it to be a devotional experience. Mel Gibson had the advantage of Hollywood clout and was able to produce a piece that was beautiful, sounded beautiful, and had a lot of money invested to do so. Many small movies do not have this luxury. That is fine. Movies are all about the story. If a story is well thought out and engaging then the trappings do not matter so much. Even subpar acting can be forgiven because we are so engaged in the story.

This movie was shot on a shoe-string budget in thirty days. I do not mind that. I have seen many indie movies with low production values (The Castle and Eagle vs Shark both come to mind) and enjoyed them thoroughly. That would because there was a fully realized story that had fully realized characters.

Unfortunately, Fireproof forgot to give us a story along the way. That is not really true, actually. It is extremely focused on a bad marriage and plunges us into it with little else as the main focus. There were clear attempts to give a well-rounded story by including the nurses at the hospital and the hijinks at the fire station, as well as the firefighters performing daring rescues from precarious situations. Some of these worked while others were predictable. However, when one is dealing with a subpar story then the acting needs to be fantastic to carry it off. This was largely not true in this movie.

This movie was fortunate in having a wide distribution and earning a good profit. I see that the director and a relative wrote the story. I hope in the future they will use a good chunk of that money to hire a screenwriter to flesh out and polish the story.

THE UGLY
They gave us an extremely one-sided story in which the husband is the bad guy and the wife is the victim. Regardless of the fact that we see the wife do several things which she should not if she is truly blameless, this is all implied as a result of the husband's neglect. Never do we see her take part of the blame.

As well, the wife is hampered from getting any advice about her marriage because her mother is incapacitated from a stroke and cannot talk. Why does the wife not turn to her father? Presumably he might have something to say about marriage. The gaggle of friends piling on the husband-bashing advice could have included at least one person with a tad of understanding.

The men and women were very divided throughout the movie, to the point of having the husband very angry at his mother the whole time. We were rooting for his dad to give him a whap upside the head for his complete disrespect of her.

It felt as if people who hated men wrote the script, which is ironic because it was men who wrote it. Perhaps a woman should have helped polish it.

IN THE END ... I still recommend it if you are in the target audience.
I know it sounds as if I hated this movie. I did not. As I say it is very good for the intended audience. I recommend it to Christians and married couples, with the reservations above. If you are expecting a "Christian movie" then you will not be disappointed.

I just wish it could have been something that would have spoken past those boundaries to those who fall outside the specific audience.

GOOD MOVIES FEATURING MARRIAGE
These movies do not have marriage ostensibly as their main point but as our family reflected on Fireproof, these are the ones that we felt brought up very good points as well as being good movies overall.

• Regarding Henry
• Shall We Dance (Japanese version)
• The Paper
• Parenthood
• The Castle
• World Trade Center
• Firefly

More about "Christian Movies and Art"

To be blunt, if a film purports to be a “Christian film” it supposedly is done for the glory of God. You don’t glorify God by making lousy movies.

We need great movies.

Read Scott Nehring's article Less Christian Art - More Christian Artists.

A Crash Course in the Economy

Ready to learn everything you need to know about the economy in the shortest amount of time?

The Crash Course is a condensed online version of Chris Martenson's "End of Money" seminar.

What is it?

The Crash Course seeks to provide you with a baseline understanding of the economy so that you can better appreciate the risks that we all face. ...

A series of videos between 3 and 20 minutes in length. All 20 sections take 3 hours and 23 minutes to watch in full. I am just beginning to watch them.

As recommended by The Seanachai who you should be either reading or listening to just for the sheer entertainment ... and sometimes also for learning interesting things.

It's Funny Because It's True

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Saw this at The Anchoress first and then everywhere. Just now had a chance to watch.

My summary: Jon Stewart is a brave comedian and I salute him. Don't agree with him a lot but he's honest enough to go where I live this time for that laugh.

Hot Pepper Popcorn

Get this easy but delicious recipe over at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Jeffrey Overstreet's Onto a Good Idea Here ...

[...]

• How The Reader could be chosen over WALL-E (oh, right, it’s about The Holocaust!)…


• How Ron Howard could get a Best Director nomination over Andrew Stanton or Christopher Nolan…


• How The Fall could be ignored for cinematography… [...]
  


• How The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — a rewrite of Forrest Gump that manages to run almost three hours in spite of having a central character who is completely uninteresting (outside of his disease symptoms, anyway) — got a Best Picture nomination…

I have seen just enough of the Oscar nominated movies as well as those Jeffrey mentions (or have heard Rose's pronouncements, which clearly I trust more than the Oscar committee) to know that he speaks the truth.

He proposes very specific plans for an Oscar Boycott Party. Check it out.

Blame Jack Benny for My Broken "Lost" Resolution

Actually, blame PBS for their series Make 'Em Laugh for my missing Lost.

I have been taping the series and it was on directly opposite Lost. We have halfway converted over to digital tv, having put a DVR to use. However, the VCR is not connected as we need to get a little box for it. So I had one taping opportunity and I chose to go with the laughter.

Now whether I would have been so cavalier about missing Lost had I not known that they would be rerun on Saturday, I don't know. Let us hope I am not put to that test!

So I begin this season as I ended the last, already behind and trying to catch up ... while studiously averting my eyes from any articles about the show.

By the way, KERA showed Comedy in Bloom, a great documentary about Jack Benny, after the series last night. We wound up watching the whole thing and laughing out loud the whole time. Especially great was watching how many times Rose cracked up. I love to see that basic comedy still works. Jack Benny was one of the greatest. I still remember listening to the radio after he died as they played show after show in tribute. Like Rose, I cracked up.

Prayer Journals

At the bottom of my list of prayer intentions I mention that I put requests into my prayer journal. Shannon asked:

Prayer is something I am trying to grow in, and I am intrigued by the idea of a prayer journal. I am unfamiliar with the concept and I'm curious how one would use a prayer journal. What kinds of things do you write in there? Is it a prayer in the form of a dialog? Is it a place just to keep track of prayer intentions?

I don't think I have ever mentioned anything specific before so that is a good question. I have heard of two sorts of prayer journals. The first is where someone journals their prayers and I believe also what answers they received along the way. I'm afraid that I'd then get so into writing things down I would forget about the praying part ... which says a good deal about my personality I fear.

The second sort of journal is the kind I keep, one with a list of intentions. Being a "list-ish" sort of person, I have different categories on different pages of a little black Moleskine notebook with headings for family and friends, clergy, illness, the dead (for prayers for those in Purgatory), discernment, and special concerns (which includes the many sorts of prayers that don't fall under all those other areas). I also have a page of saints that have called themselves to my attention ... as quite often, reading that page will lead me into other areas of meditation or remind me of an intercessor for a prayer request.

Sometimes I carefully read through everyone listed, pausing briefly to lift each one in prayer.

Other times I will read the headings and offer a general prayer for all listed there, letting my eye fall where it will. On those days, there usually are several names that will stand out for me and they come back to me all day. I take that as a special day of more intensive prayer for those people.

There probably are many other sorts of prayer journals and ways to intercede for others in prayer. Please do drop into the comments box and let us know so that we may all grow in prayer for each other.