Catholicism and The Lord of the Rings

Have you ever wondered just why people might say LOTR is a really Catholic book?

Scott and I, feeling the heavy weight of the One Ring, happily accept Seth Wilson's kind assistance in a discussion of story and faith in The Lord of the Rings at A Good Story Is Hard to Find podcast.

Even if you've only seen the movies, you'll get something out of this podcast.

If you're interested, Part One is here.

They Crept In: Latest Review Books On My "To Read" Stack

I have been trying hard to have a different attitude toward review books. Like any blogger who gets free books (free books! calloo callay!) it is easy to go overboard, commit to more reading time than there are hours in the day, and take everything offered whether or not you are suited to the style. (C.S. Lewis mentions this in an essay about reviewing, that it is important not to review books which are a style that you normally dislike because it is impossible to be fair to the book.)

I have an unfortunate tendency to be like Therese of Lisieux, "I want it all," but without the charming saintly qualities with which she was imbued. So "all" is not really good for such as me.

At any rate, I began asking myself, "would I be willing to pay for this book in five years instead of getting a free copy now?" Suddenly, my time and book ratio began to straighten out. I hardened my heart, turning away more books.

So if a book made it onto this stack, I thought long and hard about it, read a Kindle sample, and thought yearningly of the Dickens novel that I might not get to begin because I was reading a review novel instead. (Dickens is my latest "discovery" as of a few years ago. As unlikely as it may sound, a year without Dickens is a year without sunshine and I've got a lot of his books to go.)

So, voila! Here are the books who crept into my heart despite my best efforts to thrust them aside. I wanted to let you know now so you don't have to wait until I've read them.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

This book has been in the corner of my eye for a little while. You know, you suddenly realize that you've seen this book mentioned everywhere, that half your acquaintances are reading it, and that it just ducked behind some trash cans like a stray puppy when you turned around suddenly on the street? Or maybe you don't. I get haunted by books that way.

So when the Darwin Catholics ran a book giveaway for a copy of Cruel Beauty because the author is Darwin's sister, I signed up. While waiting for the results I thought, "Wait. Rosamund Hodge. Didn't she just become my friend on Goodreads? Never mentioning her book? Just arguing with me about whether Jane Eyre is really a true romance novel?" By golly, I like her style!

Didn't win. But I was interested enough to request a copy at the library, super impressed by not only Ms. Hodge herself but by the fact that I have a friend whose sister's first book is out from a major publisher in hardback, on Audible, and as an ebook. And, of course, the Kindle sample was good. Luckily for me, the Darwins, those canny friends of mine, scored me a review copy.

Deathbed Conversions: Finding Faith at the Finish Line by Karen Edmisten

I read Melanie Bettinelli's review of this book.

I trust Melanie. My father was a deathbed convert to Christianity. And I loved the way Karen Edmisten began the book.

Had to ask for a copy.

Go read Melanie's review. You'll see why I was interested.

Jesus and the Bridegroom Messiah: Shedding Light on the Ancient Jewish Traditions That Influenced Christ by Brant Pitre

In Jesus the Bridegroom, Brant Pitre once again taps into the wells of Jewish Scripture and tradition, and unlocks the secrets of what is arguably the most well-known symbol of the Christian faith: the cross of Christ. In this thrilling exploration, Pitre shows how the suffering and death of Jesus was far more than a tragic Roman execution. Instead, the Passion of Christ was the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecies of a wedding, when the God of the universe would wed himself to humankind in an everlasting nuptial covenant.

Ok. I'm gonna say what we're all thinking. "Thrilling exploration?" That description does not make the book sound thrilling.

But ... and this is a big but ... I absolutely loved Pitre's Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist (my review here). Yes. I was even thrilled by it.

It's the kind of nerd I am and I'm ok with it. Again, the Kindle sample sold me. This is gonna be some kinda good. It may just be the book I read during Lent.

St. Peter's Bones: How the Relics of the First Pope Were Lost and Found ... and Then Lost and found Again by Thomas J. Craughwell

In 1448 a team of architects and engineers brought Pope Nicholas V unhappy news: the 1100-year-old Basilica of St. Peter suffered from so many structural defects that it was beyond repair. The only solution was to pull down the old church-one of the most venerable churches in Christendom-and erect a new basilica on the site. Incredibly, one of the tombs the builders paved over was the resting place of St. Peter.

Then in 1939, while working underground in the Vatican, one workman's shovel struck not dirt or rock but open air. The diggers shone a flashlight through the opening and saw a portion of an ancient Christian mausoleum. An archaeologist was summoned at once, and after inspecting what could be seen through the hole the diggers had made in the mausoleum's roof, he authorized a full-scale excavation. What lay beneath? The answer and the adventure await.

Love Craughwell's writing. Love this topic. One of my favorite books as a relatively new Catholic was an old one on this very topic but which has been out of print forever and could only be gotten through my parish library. I was so pleased to see that Craughwell was telling the story anew and I'm interested to see what modern developments may have happened.

Well Said: Faith and Explanation

From my quote journal.

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Truer words were never spoken.

What We've Been Watching: I Am

I Am 2011 ★★

A friend told us about this documentary, adding that it was rather one-dimensional but that he found it worthwhile.

The premise: Hollywood director Tom Shadyac, known for Hollywood hits (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty) suffered a serious accident that left him in a great deal of pain. It led him to a personal journey to answer these questions:

1) What is wrong with the world?

2) What can we do about it?

What he found is the subject of this documentary.

Ultimately, this is well-meaning, simplistic, and shallow with somewhat suspect science presented. The science may actually be just fine and I'd really like to think it is valid, but it left me with a lot of logical loopholes unclosed. Also, certain of the experts presented, with little if any mention of the mission of various companies or institutes, continually made us wish for more solid credentials in a few spots.

In a sense, this is the believer's version of Bill Mahr's Religulous. If you're one of the choir, this preaching is going to work for you. It sets sights for the desired destination and tailors the provided information accordingly to get there.

The documentary would definitely have been stronger if Shadyac had shown how some people were trying to make things better, even through very small change. Instead we saw him hugging strangers and laughing and dancing in the streets. Nothing wrong with that but it leaves one with the impression that it could have been a sudden enthusiasm that would wear off.

On Wikipedia, we saw that he has founded a homeless shelter and given to help preserve nature. Even that, with the risk of self aggrandizement, would have been something to take away in terms of love-in-action.

However, it may be enough to help some seekers think about the big pictures in terms of how each person's small actions can add up to big change.

I will say that, valid science or no, Shadyac's conclusions are perfectly in line with Catholic teachings. Those in the Church have not always lived up to the high ideals and mission of our Master, as we must admit. However, the idea that we are all connected, that loving our neighbor is the answer to "what's wrong with the world" and that helping others also helps us are some of the basic things I've learned to try to live up  to in my life as a Catholic.

I especially was intrigued with the idea that all life on earth is connected. Shady science? Legitimate science? All I know is that it resonated on many levels and brought to mind the teaching that our sins affect the whole world, so we're letting down more than ourselves when we choose poorly.

Well Said: In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption.

From a justifiably famous essay by Raymond Chandler, though I think he was a bit harsh on authors such as Agatha Christie when he wrote it. Regardless, this applies to much more than a noir novel. You can read the essay at the link.

In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and it may be pity and irony, and it may be the raucous laughter of the strong man. But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

[...]

The story is the man's adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. He has a range of awareness that startles you, but it belongs to him by right, because it belongs to the world he lives in. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in. ”

Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder

Worth a Thousand Words: In Full Beauty

Taken by Remo Savisaar

Go to Remo's blog to see this beauty in full size. Simply gorgeous.

Book Bingo Challenge 1: Read a Book Based on a True Story

As I mentioned in my Reading Bingo post, I am amused by the idea of using a random factor to push me out of well-worn reading habits.

I'm going to go for blacking out the entire Book Bingo board (now hanging on my fridge).

The first opportunity arose this weekend when I finished my fiction and was looking around desultorily for something else. And then I remembered. Book Bingo to the rescue!

1. A Book Based on a True Story —

What? No! I hate that sort of book!

The random factor is not so beautiful when it is pushing me out of my comfort zone, is it? Dash it all!

I looked through my "to read" list and actually found a candidate: Rabble In Arms by Kenneth Roberts. It is historical fiction about the Revolutionary War and although I love Roberts' books I haven't read this one.

Rabble in Arms was hailed by one critic as the greatest historical novel written about America upon its publication in 1933. Love, treachery, ambition, and idealism motivate an unforgettable cast of characters in a magnificent novel renowned not only for the beauty and horror of its story but also for its historical accuracy.

Roberts is second only to Samuel Shellabarger in my opinion. Both pack so much accurate history into their books it is surprising. And both tell compelling stories so that the history slips down like "a spoonful of sugar." Shellabarger's fictional style is more graceful than Roberts and Roberts stuck strictly to American history while Shellabarger roamed Europe (and Mexico in one book).

I also realized that Charles Dickens wrote one book of historical fiction, Barnaby Rudge, about the Gordon Riots (whatever they were).  Love Dickens and am very slowly working through his novels. I have an as yet unchosen Dickens novel on my 2014 challenge list also.

In the end, though, I'm going with Rabble In Arms. It's been far too long since I read any Kenneth Roberts. Luckily the library has 3 copies so one should be here soon.

 — Rabble In Arms

2. A Best Seller —

WHAT?

NOOOOOOO!

Maybe the real challenge is for me not to react that way every time a square pushes me out of my comfort zone. Which is two for two now, I'll just add.

If there is something I loathe it is a Bestseller List. I so rarely see anything on there that I'm interested in. Although I see that, had I begun this challenge a mere month earlier, I'd have been able to sweep up two entries ... The Rosie Project and The Martian. The Rosie Project was force on me by mother (who did know best) and The Martian was being mentioned everywhere I turned at the time my most recent Audible credit popped up, so I listened.

I was tempted to cheat. Hey, Great Expectations is a best seller, right? One for the ages. But that's cheating. I knew what they meant. After three times through the New York Times Bestseller List (fiction, nonfiction, hardcover), finding a few candidates ... I ran into another problem.

I am unwilling to spend hard cash on this challenge. The library has ridiculous numbers of people ahead of me for the few books I was interested in reading [such as David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (94)].

Finally, I saw something that had escaped me ... a picture book! And one with only 2 people ahead of me in the hold line.

Plus there's a blog which I can begin reading now. Because like The Rosie Project and The Martian, this looks like a bestseller I can enjoy.

— Humans of New York it is!

3. A Published This Year —

Well, well, well, Book Bingo Challenge. We meet again.

And this time you will not make me look to the Heavens, howling, "Noooooooo!"

Because I just began a book that's not even coming out until next month. Yeah, you heard me. Next month.

Is that "This Year" enough for ya?

Book Bingo Challenge, meet Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin S.J.

Which I'm enjoying very much, by the way. Very much indeed.

4. A Book With a Mystery —

Now this is an easy one. I'd finished an audio book and was wanting to get back to my favorite back-up audio, something featuring Sherlock Holmes read by Derek Jacobi.

In this case, the audiobook I turned to is the last collection of Holmes short stories: The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

Nothing could be more splendid than the way Jacobi characterizes Holmes, lightly and with a touch of playfulness ... almost like a seriously minded Bertie Wooster. It lightens up the Holmes-Watson relationship quite a bit and makes these a sheer delight. I'm on the third or fourth story and they do seem to be more of a mixed bag than the usual lot, but Jacobi's narration makes me simply enjoy the ride no matter where it takes us.

5. A Book That Is More Than 10 Years Old —

Rumpole on Trial by John Mortimer


The bingo challenge gave me another that is familiar ground.

However, I let the decision wait for a few day. Then rearranging and cleaning out books I came across my collection of Rumpole books. I hadn't picked them up for some time, being familiar with the solutions to most of the mysteries.

When dipping into them I remembered the other reason for reading these delightful short stories. John Mortimer's style and Rumpole's personality are so engaging that it really doesn't matter if one knows the solution. These stories transport you to a different time with a rumpled knight in shining armor who just wants to get on with doing the one thing he may be able to control ... his job in getting various villains (and sometimes an innocent person) off of their legal charges.

What a joy it was to pick up this book at bedtime and dip into it before dropping off to sleep.

Sochi Olympics

After missing the London Olympics opening ceremonies somehow (talk about careless), we weren't going to miss seeing the Russian ceremonies. Talk about impressive, we were blown away. Yes the looks at Russian history were highly idealized but this is their moment in the sun.

My favorite moment might have been the black and white Peter the Great sailing ship. I have to say, though, that I also really loved the highly stylized industrial revolution with the look taken from Soviet-era posters. We both thought it fascinating that you never saw an image of Stalin or Lenin, which surely would have been at the forefront in Soviet days.

My favorite people-person moment was the almost tender look that Vladislav Tretyak gave Irina Rodnina right before they lit the torch together. Somehow to me it spoke of how far they'd come, of what they'd been through as athletes from their time in Russian history.

Every time they showed Putin, I thought of what President Obama had said in an interview right before-hand ... that he always looked bored in public, as if he had to put on a bad-guy persona. Mission accomplished. He looked as if he almost couldn't be bothered, as if Hollywood had cast him to play a very powerful gangster.

As always, Olympic uniforms are the funnybone of the countries, it seems to me. Most were so boring. Or sometimes confusing. Why were the Irish wearing what looked like military camouflage design?

Favorites included the Tonga delegation, which brought the cold-weather version of Hawaiian shirts.

The Russian women's uniforms were so beautiful that we couldn't figure out what happened to the men's boring ones. Two different designers perhaps?

I really loved the Kazahkstan flag bearer's uniform and wished they'd have riffed on that traditional look a bit more for the other uniforms, which were rather average looking. It's hard to see here but you can get the idea.

But no one ... no one ... matched the U.S. for sheer, down-home, ugliness. It looked as if they'd had two hundred grandmas sit down and knit up sweaters for everyone. Sweaters that you have to wear because ... you know ... grandma knitted it for you.

Can't wait to see how this is translated for the events. Talk about giving the designers a challenge.

The Upside of Only Taking Two Weeks Off in August. N'est Ce Pas?

This is great because it both pokes fun at ourselves as Americans and also says what we're all thinking deep down ... so it celebrates us as Americans.



The next times someone compares us to Europeans, watch this. I might be watching it once a week. Yeah. I get a lot of those sorts of comments.

In which we meet lose everything, bid farewell to love, and make a sacred vow to reach for the stars.

The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard begins at Forgotten Classics podcast. Enjoy!

Reading Bingo

I have buddies who do various reading challenges like reading a book from every country in the world, etc. I've never been interested since I always have more books to read than I know what to do with, many of them challenging in themselves.

But this is the sort of random book challenge I can get behind. Evidently the key to me is ... surprise. (I was going to say randomness, but let's relabel that "surprise." So much more positive.)

I'm printing these out to think about. (I'll print two of each so I can cut up the squares and draw them from a hat ... I'm talkin' about real, don't-choose-your-own-square bingo ... otherwise what kind of challenge is it?)

I'd have to start fresh. I could cross out a lot of these squares just from my past two months' worth of reading.

These are Random House's idea (see link above). Brilliant.

The Ultimate Trust Test

Everyone likes to talk about that test where someone stands behind you and then you let yourself fall back into their arms.

Will they catch you? Many a funny television bit has been based on this little test.

I've got a better one.

Say that your loved one, with his eagle ears trained by a lifetime in Texas, discerns that there could be a cockroach coming out of the air-vent that is right over your head when you are sleeping.

(Yes, this is partly a horror story. Those are the best tests of trust.)

He could only tell this by flipping the light on and off repeatedly looking for intruders as you were trying to sleep.

In brave, manly fashion, he does not reveal this until you irritatedly ask him what's going on, because he is so focused on your safety that he is straining every sense for danger. No time to talk. Must listen.

Once the danger is revealed and you have moved in one second flat across the room, wrapped in a blanket, he can act.

Cautiously, carefully, he sprays inside the vent with roach spray, springing back in readiness, the better to battle the danger. Together, you wait.

Nothing happens.

Cautiously, warning you to listen for possible encroachment, you both return to bed.

Five minutes later, when you have shrieked, "I hear it!" and bolted across the room in a blanket, your hero turns on the lights to see, emerging from the darkness, a gigantic cockroach.

Your head would have been right under it!

The danger. The horror.

"Ugh" cannot express it, but it will have to do for now.

He battles the foe in practiced style. The hounds leap about, seeking their share of the prey.

Safety plans are discussed. Sleeping on the couch. Sleeping in the guest room. All unsatisfactory. The ultimate plan, moving the bed across the room where there is no vent, is long-term and awaits the coming dawn. (Platform beds put the strongest hero's muscles to shame in the middle of the night.)

A hasty but reliable battle plan is developed. Tape the vent with packing tape.

You begin to wish that your favorite movie was not Aliens and this incident were not so reminiscent of the many plans to hold back the vile forms lurking in the darkness. The horror has taken hold in your soul. A cockroach could drop on your head while you are asleep.

Once again, less composed than usual for sleep, lights out, there is a rustle above. Your hero has heard it too and tells you that the heater is bound to cause some expansion of tape, but it is tight. No need to worry, he tells you, it's ok.

So, here it is. The moment of trust. One which you will relive throughout the night as you awake repeatedly, hearing a slight rustle overhead.

"It's the heater," you will think. "Or has something slipped through the perimeter?"

And then, it comes down to the final thought. "Do I trust what my hero did for my safety?"

Yes. Yes you do.

And you fall asleep again. Without turning on the lights to double-check his work. Without elbowing him awake to ask again if he taped it really tight.

You sleep. In safety. In trust.

What We've Been Watching: Pirates, Windmills, Stupid Celebrities, and Coffee Drinking Celebrities

COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE - Season 3

(Season Trailer)

I've talked about this before, right? Short episodes follow Jerry Seinfeld picking up a fellow comedian to go get coffee with him. Each time, Jerry, a car enthusiast, has carefully matched the car he's driving to the person he's picking up. I'm no car nut, but I love seeing all these cars and hearing his descriptions. A more mixed bag are the comedians, many of whom are wonderful to listen to in regular conversation about anything and everything. Some are more boring. But that's people for you and often it is simply interesting to see two comedians talking about their profession. 

We just remembered season 3 had begun and are enjoying working our way through the episodes. Available free on Crackle or YouTube. If you watch on Crackle you'll also see ads for the Accura, the show's sponsor. These are also often quite funny and we enjoy them a lot.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013) ★★★★★

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.

I watched this as part of my movie group's Oscar Series, based on what we can pick up on dvd before this year's Academy Awards. I'm glad this was out in time because I'd probably have avoided it for a long time, knowing I'd probably be anxious watching.

What an intense film. I didn't expect it to have such an intriguing cat and mouse game between the pirates and the crew. I also didn't expect to get so caught up in the the tactics taken by the tiny pirate boat to gain access, nor to the ways the ship tried to shake off the pursuer. It reminded me of a wolf stalking a buffalo.

The last 10 minutes of the movie were amazing. Simply amazing.

Don't miss this. Just be sure to remember to breathe.

LOST IN LA MANCHA ★★★½

This 2000 documentary shows Terry Gilliam's attempt to film an adaptation of the Don Quixote story, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Back injuries, extreme weather, delicately balanced schedules, and much more combine to kill the movie. The documentary was meant to record the film being made but when it was abandoned it was retitled Lost in La Mancha and released independently.

I have heard of this for years and finally ran a copy to ground. It is truly staggering thinking of the incredible run of bad luck that Terry Gilliam ran into trying to get this film made. It was also fascinating watching the logistics of moviemaking of any sort. Both gave us a lot to talk about in the day after we watched.

THIS IS THE END (2013) ★★

While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.

Short version: Cheech and Chong 2013. Shaun of the Dead this ain't.

Longer version: I felt as if I were watching "Be Kind, Rewind" where a group of stoners made their home movie about the apocalypse and then had enough pull to get distribution. Parts of it were funny but it would have greatly benefited from an editor who went in and removed a lot of the sloppy, self-indulgence.

Most interesting were the last 20 minutes or so when they finally returned again to telling a story. From the point where everyone is suddenly convinced it is the apocalypse, the end of days, the movie takes an unexpected turn and focus. That isn't enough to save the movie or make me want to ever see it again but it was enough to raise it slightly above other similar lewd, crude movies.

"Keep it together. Work the problem." Reviewing The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m pretty much f**ked.

That’s my considered opinion.

F**ked.

Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it’s turned into a nightmare. I don’t even know who’ll read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe 100 years from now. For the record… I didn’t die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought I did, and I can’t blame them. Maybe there’ll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say “Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars.” And it’ll be right, probably. Cause I’ll surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when everyone thinks I did. Let’s see…where do I begin?

Astronaut Mark Watney is marooned on Mars after a freak dust storm literally blows him away from his crewmates. Thinking he's dead, the mission is scrubbed and the rest of the crew head back to Earth. Mark hopes to survive until the next NASA mission to Mars in four years.

Most of The Martian consists of Mark's log entries which read like a MacGyver episode. He keeps as lighthearted a mood as possible while recording the details of how he is attempting to grow food, find water, and so forth. It is this lighthearted element which helps keep this from being merely a manual of "how to survive on Mars." For example, Mark's selection of entertainment from among the things left behind by his crewmates yields the complete series for Three's Company. His occasional comments on the series afterwards made me laugh out loud.

Fairly early in the book, NASA's side of the story begins being interwoven with Mark's struggle for survival. Since Apollo 13 is one of my favorite movies, the comparison is inevitable and irresistible. NASA must juggle PR, competing agencies, rescue plans and more ... while we see Mark doggedly surmount one obstacle after another. It is a welcome element because an entire book of Mark's survival log was going to need some sort of additional depth to make it interesting.

Although I always felt fairly sure that Mark would survive, as the end of the book loomed near I got increasingly tense. What if these were his "found posthumously" logs? The author kept the tension up to the very end.

And at the end? I'm not ashamed to admit it. I cried.

Tears of joy? Tears of sorrow? Read the book and find out.

Or listen to it as I did. Narrator R.C. Bray did a good job of conveying Mark's sense of humor and absorption in problem solving and survival. He also was good at the various accents of the international cast comprising the rest of the crew and NASA. He had a tendency to read straight storytelling as if it were a computer manual or something else that just needed a brisk run down.

The main thing a bit at fault was Bray's German accent, which I kept mistaking for a Mexican or Indian accent. Those don't seem as if they should be that interchangeable do they? My point exactly. However, I always knew who was speaking, I felt emotions as they came across, and it was a good enough narrating job. Not enough to make me look for other books in order to hear his narrations, but good enough.

This novel is not a short story and I felt it would have benefitted from more characterization. Yes, we get to know Mark Watney and, to a lesser degree, his crewmates and the NASA crew. However, to hear Mark's story for so many days (sols) and get to know so little about him during that time ... well, after a while it got a little boring, aside from the new problems to be solved or emergencies from which to recover.

We also got occasional forays into NASA and the spaceship crew, but more about Mark would have enriched the story. It didn't have to be soul-baring and I realize he was writing a log, but after several hundred days some personalization would have crept in, one would think.

Anyway, that is not a huge factor because I enjoyed the story. But I was not surprised to see that the author is a computer programmer and it did cost the book a star.

Notes on Mark: This is My Body. This is My Blood.

The Last Supper, by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret, 19th century
Click through on the link to see it larger.

MARK 14:22, 24

22 "This is my body."

Not "This stands for my body" or "This is like my body" or "This means my body." The Lord does not utter these words in the context of a parable. Mark does not use the word "parable" to explain them or in any way indicate that they were a parable. The teller of a parable uses the word "is" only to explain the parable, not to present the parable itself. If anything, Jesus at the Last Supper provides the interpretation of the Cross understood as a parable, but it is an interpretation which gives an instance, not a sign. That is to say, the last supper is a participation prospectively in the sacrifice of the Cross, just as the Mass is today retrospectively. It's as if a child hears the president announce a tax cut and asks his father what that means. The father pulls out his wallet and, knowing that he will have extra money, gives the child five dollars and says, "This is what it means." He is showing the child the meaning by giving him an instance of it.

[...]

24 "This is my blood, of the covenant..."

Not "This represents my blood" or "This is like my blood." Jesus uses the same form of words in the consecration of both the bread and the wine, indicating that the form of words matters. Otherwise he would have altered the form to indicate that the meaning, not the form, was important.

The word "covenant" means literally a disposition of goods, a testament, as in "last will and testament." The Lord, who is about to die, is transferring certain goods to others as an inheritance.

The Memoirs of St. Peter

I've heard a lot of arguments designed to remove literal meaning from "This is my body. This is my blood." but never that it was told as a parable.

 ===== 

Sources and Notes Index 

Notes on Mark: Judas' Motivation

Remorso de Judas (Remorse of Judas),
José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior

MARK 14:10-11

10-11 So Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, departed

People feel compelled to explain Judas' betrayal. Some think he intended to force Jesus' hand in establishing his earthly kingdom. Some think he was afraid that Jesus would provoke a Roman reprisal. Some thought that when Judas grasped that Jesus was claiming to be God, he thought he should be tested or punished with death. And others think that Judas, knowing that Jesus was aware of his sinfulness, was moved by guilt to eliminate him. But it is striking that Mark offers no theory at all of Judas' motivation, as if Peter regarded Judas' actions as evil because they had no reason.

The Memoirs of St. Peter by Mark Pakaluk

I actually don't care what the reason was. For one thing, worrying about someone's motivation in the ways mentioned above is relatively modern. The fact that other gospels show Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss is bad enough for me. How can someone betray their best friend? And maybe that's why Mark offers no theory. 

 ===== 

Sources and Notes Index 

How to Open a Bottle of Wine Without a Corkscrew

Another good video via my sis on Facebook.



Now, I couldn't help noticing that one video was from Guinness and this one is for wine. Not that I'm judging, mind you, I liked them both. But it does help me confirm this is indeed my sis and not an imposter using her name.

In which all is revealed. Well, not "all" (get your minds out of the gutter) ...

...but everything we need to finish our "half-clad Martian warrior maids invading Earth" adventure at Forgotten Classics podcast. Enjoy!

I Rarely Watch Videos But I'm Glad I Watched This

Via my sis on Facebook.

Well Said: Gentlemen, I am a Catholic ...

From my quote journal.

Gentlemen, I am a Catholic. As far as possible, I go to Mass every day. This [taking a rosary from his pocket] is a rosary. As far as possible, I kneel down and tell these beads every day. If you reject me on account of my religion, I shall thank God that He has spared me the indignity of being your representative.

Hilaire Belloc, 1906 speech in Salford

He won the election. I like his moxie.