WOOHOO! Mom is Coming to Visit for a Nice, Long Vacation!

Not a lot of details on this except that I'm driving up on Saturday and bringing her and Emma (her long-haired Corgi) back home for a two to three week visit.

She's been taking care of my ill father for a long time. Now that he is safely settled into assisted living she can take some time off and kick up her heels a bit visiting family. And we're the lucky ones this time around!

If you consider trying different kinds of Greek yogurt, talking about space opera, and dying Easter Eggs to be kicking up your heels.

Around our place, we do!

I'll say it again ... WOOHOO!

Miracles ... and a Need for Prayer

First the miracle ... sent by Heather's patient liaison person at her hospital to The Anchoress, who has many good observations about this.

We’ve all been praying for Heather…As you are aware, she had stage 3 cancer under her tongue. Since Heather found out about the cancer at the same time she learned she was pregnant, nothing could be done to address the cancer for several months. Although still pregnant, two weeks ago she began radiation to soften the cancer in hopes that it could be surgically removed after 6 weeks of radiation. Unable to talk or eat, her sole source of nutrition has been an IV tube since beginning radiation.

No doctors gave Heather much hope due to the severity and progression of the cancer. The plan was to complete radiation and then surgically remove portions of her tongue, throat, jaw and other areas affected by the cancer. This surgery was to be performed in St. Louis immediately after delivery of the baby, who will be 30 weeks by the end of radiation treatments.

Today, she went back to begin her third week of radiation. The technicians opened her mouth to position the equipment relative to the tumor. Only…this time…there was nothing there. No tumor. No cancer. Nothing anywhere on her tongue, jaw, throat, mouth…nothing. The only evidence that she ever had that cancer was a small cancerous patch on her lymphnode which the doctors expect to respond well to radiation.

What’s more…well, the unborn baby grew 1.2 pounds over the last 6 days. So, all doctors are thrilled.

Heather declared from the beginning that God would take care of her. She never lost hope or faith. God simply worked a miracle in her life. We serve a God for whom nothing is impossible. Please take a moment to thank and praise Him for this act of miraculous grace. May we all be encouraged and may our faith be strengthened as we consider that this God of miracles loves us and will work in our most challenging circumstances. Hallelujah to our God!

Of course we will be keeping the prayer requests that The Anchoress mentions at the top of our list.

However, now for another, very disturbing need for prayer for Katherine Ragsdale. I saw this at John C. Wright's place. Clicking through on the link I read the entire sermon, which I see is gone today. A little too much attention to keep it up, perhaps? What I read there literally made my jaw drop and also made me feel sick. The gist is well summarized in this bit that John C. Wright had up:

And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion - there is not a tragedy in sight -- only blessing. The ability to enjoy God's good gift of sexuality without compromising one's education, life's work, or ability to put to use God's gifts and call is simply blessing.

These are the two things I want you, please, to remember - abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Let me hear you say it: abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done. Abortion is a blessing and our work is not done.

I want to thank all of you who protect this blessing - who do this work every day: the health care providers, doctors, nurses, technicians, receptionists, who put your lives on the line to care for others (you are heroes -- in my eyes, you are saints); the escorts and the activists; the lobbyists and the clinic defenders; all of you. You're engaged in holy work.

I pray for this poor, misguided woman and for those she has led astray ... and for all like her who have such a disordered sense of what a blessing truly is.

UPDATE
Links to the entire Ragsdale sermon can be found here.

I Will Never Watch the Terribleness That is "The Room"

However, that does not mean I do not appreciate the reason this very, very, very bad movie has gained cult status. My friend Chris discovered the movie as The Cartoon Network ran it for their April Fools' joke ... he sent a clip and a link to an Amazon review that is in itself a tour-de-force in its tribute to The Room's amazingly good badness.

Purely glorious in just how terrible it is ... I present The Room.

The Clip
Which contains spoilers I'm told, but what do I care?




The Review

I have now seen Mr. Tommy Wiseau's cinematic tour-de-force, `The Room' three times. With each viewing, `The Room' becomes more complexly entangled in and inseparable from my own life. I no longer know where The Room ends and I begin.

It is, without question, the worst film ever made. Including movies made on beta max video cameras in special education high school classes. But this comment is in no way meant to be discouraging. Because while The Room is the worst movie ever made it is also the greatest way to spend a blisteringly fast 100 minutes in the dark. Simply put, `The Room' will change your life.

It's not just the dreadful acting or the sub-normal screenplay or the bewildering direction or the musical score so soaked in melodrama that you will throw up on yourself or the lunatic-making cinematography; no, there is something so magically wrong with this movie that it can only be the product of divine intervention. If you took the greatest filmmakers in history and gave them all the task of purposefully creating a film as spectacularly horrible as this not one of them, with all their knowledge and skill, could make anything that could even be considered as a contender. Not one line or scene would rival any moment in The Room. ...

Read it all here.

StarShipSofa podcasts all Nebula Short Story nominees for 2008 In one day!

Yes, Tony did that thing. Get the iTunes links at SFFaudio which has the whole story.

I haven't heard the others, but if you want to try out only one, might I suggest Trophy Wives? It is the one that I read for Tony.

Kudos Tony and thank you!

I Hate April Fools' Day ... and That's No Joke

However, in the spirit of the season (so to speak), here are some links to funny stuff:

• This year's Google April Fools' joke: Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity: Introducing CADIE. Be sure to check out the links. Her home page is my favorite.
• Google's past April Fools' jokes slide show: my favorite is pigeon rankings.
• Classic practical joke origins: from Mental Floss Blog
• My own personal question is about No Recipes blog where the subtitle says "cooking is more fun without them." Ok. But is this guy having us on? Because the delicious looking dishes all have ... wait for it ... recipes.
  

The Psalms Are Songs of Faith - Part 5

Continuing sharing this emphasis on psalms (which began here). It is not enough just to know these things we have learned about the psalms. We must consider what it means for all of us and for us individually.

Reflection

Faith becomes especially evident when people assemble for worship. The worship experience assumes faith. Our words for those who gather for worship are "the assembly of believers." Psalms achieve their ultimate richness when sung by the community of believers. No one person exhausts the wealth of a psalm, nor does any psalm exhaust the wealth of a faith community.

When Christians gather together to sing the psalms, they realize the significance of the Church and witness their faith to the world. These "faith hymns" are not only a glad sound for the world, which may stand back in open-mouthed disbelief. By the power of the Spirit these songs forge deeper belief in the hearts of the singers.

It is the will of Jesus that the attitudes of the psalms will penetrate the hearts of the singers and move them to witness their faith to others. Psalm singing is not meant to be an aesthetic pastime for the esoteric, nor a mere emotional jag. The psalms stand on the plains of battle. They are more than sweet sounds to charm the heavens, or emotional releases for the indiscriminate. The psalms serve as a battle cry to stir the heart of the Christian offering Christ's love and mercy to a reluctant world.

For Dialogue

What has been your experience with the psalms? When you participate in the responsorial psalms at Mass, what impact do they have on you. How much do you experience the psalms as prayer?

What is your favorite form of prayer? How do the psalms compare to it? What would you like to know about the psalms?

Since the psalms are a revealed form of prayer, why might they be a special source of faith for you? If you love the psalms, which ones are your favorites and why?

Prayer

Lord, show me how to pray your psalms with a fervent heart and a willing mind. Remind me that Jesus and Mary regularly prayed the psalms. Open their treasures of prayer to me.

The book of Psalms is a complete gymnasium for the soul, a stadium for all the virtues. All who read it aloud may find the cure for their own individual findings.

St. Ambrose

Fr. McBride's Guide to the Bible by Alfred McBride, P. Praem

The. Mind. Boggles.

[Her kid was a brat, so] Ms. Leavey began to practise consensual living, a set of principles designed to help family members understand each other’s feelings and meet one another’s needs.

In the consensual living model, father doesn’t know best. Neither does mom. Instead, parents and children are equal partners in family life, according to the principles laid out at consensual-living.com.

Hmmm. So very different from my theory which was that I needed to be comfortable in my own home. That meant everyone had to help with chores and not annoy others by being a brat. Of course, that also meant Tom and I had to pony up with such unpleasant things as consistent parental guidance. Etc.

Via the hilarious Rachel Lucas, who will not be everyone's cup of tea, but usually is very much to my liking as she is here.

"I'm so excited words fail me..."

So speaks a commenter at The Anchoress's place who will be entering the Church at Easter.

I started my journey to the church about 16 months ago. I had given up on secular life. I knew there was a God, but I just couldn’t find him no matter where I looked. I come in from the desert of 50 years of secular life. I feel I was I knew a lady real well that shined. You know what I mean? She just shone with the spirit. Everything about her life was in order. Eventually I learned the foundation; she was a devoted Catholic. Her daughter was in Catholic school, she sang at the Houston Co-Cathedral choir every Sunday.

That planted the seed. Why not try the Catholic church? Maybe God was there. ...

See how your life can be a beacon to those who are seeking? Without you even realizing it?

God is so good. Go read it all and I cannot help but echo the response a little later on in the comments...

As you receive the Sacraments for the first time, know that those looking on at the Easter Vigil will be smiling with the greatest joy for you in their hearts, just as the angels and saints in heaven are likewise cheering.

Amen.

Thanks to Maureen for the heads up on that!

From Angels to Exorcism

I just finished an excellent book -- Angels and Their Mission: According to the Fathers of the Church by the late Cardinal Jean Danielou which I will review soon. Next up is The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist.

I thought it ironic when it showed up soon after I cracked open the angels book. However, now I realize that the second book is going to be looking at the dark angels from a little closer up. I bring it up because I was interested to read The Curt Jester's great review of The Rite. Go read it.

And while we're talking about exorcism...
It must be the hot new topic. Michelle Johnson from EWTN tells me:

I thought you might be interested to know that EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo is going to interview Father Thomas Euteneuer about his new book on exorcism during “The World Over” this Friday, April 3, at 8 p.m. ET. Father Euteneuer is president of Human Life International and an exorcist. His new book is called “Exorcism and the Church Militant.” Father Euteneueur has been in the news lately saying that Pope Benedict feels there is a greater need for exorcism today and that he desires more priests to be trained as exorcists. Should be an interesting interview!

I am not necessarily interested in exorcism per say and on top of that I don't have cable ... however, if you are interested and do have cable, it could be a good show!

Matt Harding - Dance Around the World ... and What He Learned From It

The Dance

What He Learned From It

Listen or read it on NPR's This I Believe.

Another Video of The Dance

(I know I saw the Bean from Millenium Park in Chicago in there)

This video found at Deacon Greg's (yeah, it's a viral kind of thing we've got going on today).

The Psalms Are Songs of Faith - Part 4

Continuing sharing this emphasis on psalms (which began here). Why are the psalms the central prayers of the Church? This is a nice summary reminding us of all that the psalms are for us.

The Psalms Are the Central Prayers of the Church

The psalms hold a privileged position in the history of prayer. They serve to show us how to pray. As part of sacred Scripture the psalms are God's revealed prayers sun by faith-drenched poets and saints. The Church has chosen the psalms as the centerpiece of the Liturgy of the Hours and having an honored place in every Mass as seen in the "responsorial psalms." For over fifteen centuries monks and nuns in monasteries have made the psalms the central prayers of their lives. In the psalms, God has revealed prayer.

Psalms show us that in singing our prayer we are totally involved in it and yet lifted our of ourselves. They help us see that poetry and symbols in prayer lead to the throne of God. Finally, they remind us that all prayer reflects real life both on earth and in the heavenly realms. The psalms are rooted in the shouts, tears, smiles, and noises of a real world. Psalms are a theological commentary on the life of the people who sang them.

Fr. McBride's Guide to the Bible by Alfred McBride, P. Praem

Next: Reflection

From a Spider's Web to the Resurrection

Yes, I admit it now. Winter is over. Ice hands, palms up in a final supplication, melt away.

Just as Lent will end and the Resurrection will be proclaimed. The natural year and the Church year cycle together. If the natural year is a circle, the liturgical year is a spiral: it is Lent again, yes, but conversion is ever ascending toward the light. Or maybe it is ever-descending into the depths of the darkness that is God.

The photography isn't the only thing to admire at Paula's House of Toast. Go read her meditation that goes from a spider's web to the resurrection.

Much thanks to Paula for giving permission for me to share her photos with you. You will be seeing them show up here on a regular basis, I'm sure.

Weekend Joke

DR. BOLI’S ALLEGORICAL BESTIARY

No. 16.—The Chihuahua.

THE CHIHUAHUA IS a demonic creature of Aztec mythology, somewhat resembling a dog but impossibly tiny. It was the tutelary spirit of Toltec royalty, and adopted from them by the conquering Aztecs, who never stopped to think that it might have done the vanquished more harm than good. It was said that, if an Aztec prince was attacked, the high-pitched yelping of his tutelary Chihuahua would shatter the skull of his opponent. Indeed, the many solid-gold earplugs which Díaz del Castillo records as having been melted down after the Conquest attest to the pervasiveness of this myth among the Mexican upper classes.

Many curious stories about the Chihuahua are told by the superstitious Spanish missionaries. One writes of his failed attempt to exorcise a Chihuahua whose incessant yelping deprived the friars of their slumber for weeks on end; another reports having seen a Chihuahua with his own eyes as it gleefully tore apart the sumptuous tapestries in the governor’s palace. We may spare a smile for the benighted credulity of the monks, but we ought not to suppose that our own age is entirely free from such superstition. The Mexican state of Chihuahua was named for this mythological creature, which local lore insists still inhabits the arid wastelands of the Chihuahua Desert.

Allegorically, the Chihuahua represents Entropy.

Of course, from Dr. Boli!

Win $100 Gift Card for the Cutest First Communion Photo

Now this looks like a good deal! Send in those photos, y'all!

The Catholic Company, the market leader for online Catholic books and gifts, has just announced a First Communion Photo Contest. What a great excuse to pull those photos out of the photo book and show them off again. Bloggers, podcasters, and webmasters can also win a $50 Gift Card for referring the winning entry to the contest, so be sure to spread the word!

French director Jean-Luc Godard: "a work of extraordinary psychological insight and aesthetic perception."

What movie was he talking about?

The same one about which British film critic Robin Wood wrote, "If I were asked to choose a film that would justify the existence of Hollywood, I think it would be [this one]'"

The same one that Quentin Tarantino, uses to test a new girl friend, " -- and she'd better like it!"

Brace yourselves. Here it comes.

Rio Bravo.

Yep. You know the one. John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Rickie Nelson ... so purely Western, so funny, and just about perfect.

It's 50 years old and hipper now than when it was made. We love it in our family ... glad to know we're in such illustrious company.

Read all about it here.

In Advertising, Those Ads Are Called "Fear of Death"

In science, evidently it's called "fair and balanced."

Give me a break. Although it does sound like something Dean Koontz might write. I do like a good "end of the world" piece of science fiction.

IT IS midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south but their fascination is short-lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment. Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US is without power.

A year later and millions of Americans are dead and the nation's infrastructure lies in tatters. The World Bank declares America a developing nation. Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan are also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 150 million kilometres away on the surface of the sun.

It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that. ...

Read it all here

Now, wait. Is this the same sun that many scientists deny could be causing global warming?

Just wanna make sure I've got my theories straight ...

Via New Advent.

The Psalms are Songs of Faith - Part 3

Continuing sharing this emphasis on psalms (which began here). We don't tend to think of the Israelites as people privileged to see God's presence in nature. I, for one, think of them as turning to false gods when nature becomes involved. However, some of my favorite psalms are the ones that talk about such things as hills dancing or rivers singing ... and I am happy to see that it comes from our elder brothers in faith.

The Psalms Celebrate Events as Mighty Acts of God

It is true that we in the Western world love to reason, but this love need not exclude poetic experience. The psalms in deed revel in such vivid images as: mountains that dance, seas that howl like animals, clouds that ride in the sky as noble horsemen of God, and lightening that writes like a pencil God's presence into the hollows of the earth. When we can admit that these descriptions are real and not just fanciful ways of talking about God, we can accept the message of the psalms.

It was characteristic of the Israelites to find the presence of God in nature and history. It was the unique privilege of the Israelites to see and know that God was really doing something in this world. It has, after all, always been his world, but it takes a long time for many to admit it.

We owe a tribute to Israel for being perceptive enough to know that the events of nature and history are not just simple happenings, but the very acts of God. In the psalms we see that the Israelites had the original insight into God's presence in the movement of history. Put in another way, it was the Israelites who were really the first ones to see the divine purpose in history. As they saw the unfolding of historical events, they came to understand their history as salvation history. They learned to attribute these events to the presence of God.

Fr. McBride's Guide to the Bible by Alfred McBride, P.Praem

Next: The Psalms Are the Central Prayers of the Church

Ad of the Week

From the incomparable Dr. Boli, of course.

The Psalms Are Songs of Faith - Part 2

Continuing sharing this emphasis on psalms (which began here). This is the part that really struck me, especially considering that I don't like free verse poetry no matter how old it is! However, the logic of rhyming ideas ... now that I like.

Israelite Poetry

The poetry of the Israelites is somewhat different from our ordinary idea of what poetry should be. There is no rhyme nor fixed rhythm in the sense we would normally expect. It's true that the free verse movement has given us a broad idea of what poetry can be. Israelite poetry might be summed up in the saying: never say anything once that you can say twice, and better still three times. The rhythm of the psalms is a rhythm of ideas. The psalms rhyme thoughts. In the following examples see how the second line parallels the idea of the first:

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us.

Psalm 67:1

Thy solemn procession are seen, O God
the processions of my God, my Kind, into the sanctuary.

Psalm 68:24

How long, O Lord? Wilt thou be angry forever?
Will thy jealous wrath burn like fire?

Psalm 79:5

The rhythm of the poetry of the psalms is a rhythm (and rhyming) of ideas. An idea is stated and then repeated with different shades of meaning. It is the balanced drumming of a declaration that arises form the heart of one who has known the miracle of God and now speaks out of the ecstasy of response. Some psalms are the result of the experience of miracle and ecstasy. By miracle we mean the appearance of a mighty act of God, such as the Red Sea victory; by ecstasy we refer to the joyous, human faith-experience of God's work. Other psalms reflect the quiet presence of God experienced by a solitary shepherd, a religious experience when applied to God as the shepherd who protects us from harm even when we are in the valley of the shadow of death.

Fr. McBride's Guide to the Bible by Alfred McBride, P.Praem

Next: Psalms Celebrate Events as Mighty Acts of God.

Mmmm, Mmmm, Turkey Bone Gumbo!

Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.