Dance and Life Lessons

Tom and I began dance lessons last night. I've always wanted to know the steps to the basic dances. I felt cheated growing up in an age where you made up your own dances. That was never my idea of a good time. So we are living the cliche. The kids are out of the house and we're taking dance lessons.

We now are acquainted with the Rumba, the Foxtrot, Swing, and the Merengue. All in one hour! Needless to say, it is merely a nodding acquaintance but we hope to improve it substantially in the weeks to come.

I used to be good at aerobic dance but, it occurs to me, that didn't need a partner. There is something daunting about minding one's own steps while coordinating with one's partner. Oh, and "listen to the music, this is supposed to be fun!" as the instructor said.

What? I can't do all that at once. Although by the end of the hour I did have moments where it all came together briefly and showed me the fun to come. The Merengue was easy enough that various partners and I could have brief conversation between rotations and twirls. I suddenly understood the Hollywood musicals where couples could break in on each other's dance partners and pick up complicated conversations. While dancing.

Interestingly, it didn't take many changes of partners, as they rotated around the room, until I could tell a practiced dancer from a neophyte. We were told that it took three or four months of classes before becoming adept enough to move on to intermediate. So there was a smattering of practiced men and women among us.

Most interesting of all was the fact that at the end of an hour, I could tell a good partner from a bad one. I don't mean that a bad partner was unpracticed in dance. I mean that there were some very generous partners who recognized my inexperience and adapted their steps to my pace and my mistakes. The bad partner never slowed down or tried to make our dance work as that of one couple. He just whisked me along expertly, me stepping on his feet as I lost track of what was going on, and then moved on.

At one point, I glanced over at Tom who was leading a young blonde woman in the Foxtrot. He, like me, was gamely struggling with the steps but with the additional pressure of leading his partner. She was gliding smoothly and I heard her murmuring to him, "Slow, slow, sidestep fast." It warmed my heart. That was generous on her part.

I hesitate to label the lack of adapting oneself to one's partner as pride, but it did spring to mind, especially since the person in question had been called upon to help the instructor demonstrate dances before we learned steps.  Perhaps it was a beginner's lack of experience, just in the area of dance courtesy rather than steps. But it did make me very grateful for the people who didn't forget that at one time they too had been absolute beginners and that it takes two to make a good dance couple.

Of course, this doesn't just apply to dance. It applies to all of life. We're thrown into situations with other people all the time. We can make it easy or we can be proud, show off. Sometimes, I'm sorry to say, I am the one showing off without consideration for the person who, often through no fault of their own, is slower for some reason. This is a good reminder to me, especially as this reflection comes on Ash Wednesday, that I need to strive to always be one of the generous partners.

Worth a Thousand Words: Moose

Moose
taken by Remo Savisaar

Because a week without one of Remo's photographs is like a week without sunshine. Click through on the link to see this fantastic image in full size. Simply stunning.

A Film You Can Skip: 20 Feet From Stardom

20 Feet from Stardom 2013 ★★★

Ho hum.

It was fine. Not spectacular. Not particularly deep. Certainly not the best documentary of the year, especially when it comes to music.

That would be Muscle Shoals which has been listed as one of the 10 biggest Oscar snubs of 2014. I concur.

Although it was from the year before, another good choice would be Searching for Sugar Man.

Either choice digs deeper, presents a focused story, and does more than skim over the surface of people's lives.

You won't be wasting your time, exactly, in watching 20 Feet From Stardom. It is just that there are so many better documentaries to watch instead.

What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Jo Walton

What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In 2008, science-fiction site Tor.com asked Walton to blog regularly about her re-reading—about all kinds of older fantasy and SF, ranging from acknowledged classics, to guilty pleasures, to forgotten oddities and gems. This volume presents a selection of the best of them, ranging from short essays to long reassessments of some of the field's most ambitious series.

As well as focusing on specific authors and books, Jo Walton also discusses why she likes rereading,
what it takes to have a mindset that understands science fiction, what order to read series in (chronological printing order or character development order) and many more general topics.

I already know that Jo Walton's style is warm and personal, and as opinionated as you'd expect from a passionate book lover. Waiting for the library to get this book to me, I would occasionally look at the table of contents on the Kindle sample and read the original blog post on Tor.com. It just made me want this book all the more.

This is a book to read with pen and paper at hand as your "to read" list grows and grows.

What is most interesting about this book is how often I agree with Walton and how often she drives me crazy because she's so wrong, and how, sometimes, she surprises me. (I never knew of a reader who didn't understand skimming over boring or graphic parts or a novel until I read about her bewilderment at the concept.)

All of it makes me think a bit more about the subjects of her essays.

For example she drop kicks Dickens to the curb in one devastating sentence and then goes on to wish that George Eliot had written science fiction because she'd have enjoyed seeing Middlemarch opened up to the broader possibilities that genre offers. Walton seems to be ignoring the fact that George Eliot's own life was just as improbably extravagant as one that Dickens would have written and that Eliot's examination of marriage within the narrow confines of Middlemarch was deliberately chosen because of that life and the consequences thereof. Eliot might very well have written precisely the same book anyway if SF had already been invented. I'd never have considered any of that if I hadn't been so outraged by Walton's summary dismissal of Dickens. As a fellow Dickens-appreciator said, "What books was she reading?"

All of which is to say that I am just as opinionated a reader as Walton and, even if one disagrees with her opinions, her essays provide a lot of food for thought.

This is someone I'd love to have a beer with and argue with about Dickens while discussing what order to read series books in.

NOTE - TO THE EDITORS: 15 essays about Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series? Really? 18 essays about Steven Brust's whatever-it-is series? Yawn. If you can't make me care in two or three essays, then have pity on the rest of us whose eyes are glazing over.

And I'm a bit outraged over the wasted pages for anyone who's not already a rabid fan of these two series. What about the rest of us? Luckily these are often not more than two or three pages each. But two or three times 15 is a lot of pages that could've been about something else. Georgette Heyer, for example. Yeah, she's not SFF. But it also wouldn't be about Miles and Cordelia, so it would've had that going for it.

Tom's Tip: A Geography of Time by Robert V. Levine

Does everybody in the world share the same perception of time? In A Geography of Time, psychologist Robert Levine puts time to the test by sending teams of researchers all over the world to measure everything from the average walking speed to the time it takes to buy a stamp at the post office. Levine scatters his findings among engaging accounts of his own encounters with the various perceptions of time in different cultures.

As is his wont, Tom passes along various interesting tidbits from his reading. A Geography of Time has such intriguing concepts that I now want to read this when he's finished. I never would have thought that time could be examined in relation to human culture in so many different ways.

As it is, it has already had an effect on our own household. We now talk about things being "event based" or "clock based" in our own lives. And it makes a difference in how I think of my own schedule.

Well Said: Roman Polanski's Movies

From a recent conversation.

I've never yet seen one of Roman Polanski's movies that justified his lack of jail time.

Rose Davis

In which we get Otter's advice, hear a tale of foul deeds, and agree to adventure.

Chapters 5 and 6 of The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard is ready for your listening enjoyment at Forgotten Classics.

Well Said: Napoleon and the Cardinal

Here's a final story from H.V. Morton's 1957 book A Traveller in Rome, one so true and also amusing that I just had to share it.

Many to whom the Government of the Roman Catholic Church is a mystery are nevertheless aware that it is the oldest administration on earth, and some would say the wisest; certainly no other has had such an extensive experience of human nature. It is the unique continuous growth of centuries, and though it has been modernized on countless occasions, it still carries with it many a strange relic of the past. Unlike the governments of ordinary states, which think in terms of their years of office, the Vatican thinks in centuries. Time is not important; its policy is based on the belief that while the individual is mortal, the Church is eternal. That was the attitude which exasperated Napoleon. He might kidnap and bully a Pope, but he could not browbeat the Church.

'Do you know that I am capable of destroying your Church?' he once shouted at Cardinal Consalvi, theSecretary of State.

'Sire,' replied Consalvi, 'not even we priests have achieved that in eighteen centuries!"

Christ promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church. We thank Him for preventing us from doing even greater damage.

Gay Weddings and Baking the Cake

The question is no longer whether couples may marry, but whether a baker may refuse to sell them a wedding cake on the strength of his religious or moral conscience, without risking a lawsuit.

Anyone can walk into a kosher or halal butcher’s shop and buy a chicken, but if asked to cater a party with bacon burgers, the butcher will refuse. Should that invite a lawsuit? People understand that you don’t bother religious butchers with requests they cannot honor. Should we be permitted to demand services of a cameraman, or a florist or baker that tread upon their religious sensibilities?

It’s too bad that laws and courts must become involved with what used to be the simplest of lessons: Not everyone thinks the same way, but everyone is entitled to their opinions; if that kid won’t play with you—or that baker will not make your cake—someone else will, so just kiss them up to God, and move on. Or, as Jesus told his apostles when he sent them off to preach the good news, “Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet, in testimony against them.”

Elizabeth Scalia wades into the issue that has been the source of troubled conversation around our house ever since I read about an Oklahoma florist being sued by two gay customers after she declined to do the arrangements for their wedding, citing religious reasons.

Once more, I found myself thinking that we all need to sit down and read The Right to Be Wrong by Kevin Seamus Hasson.

Start with Elizabeth's piece and then go get The Right to Be Wrong.

Book Bingo Challenge 2: Read 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.

Humans of New York it is!

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.

Tom's Tip: Pontiff-icating on the Free-Market System

Tom listened to the Freakonomics podcast episode about Pope Francis's critique of the free-market system in “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), his first apostolic exhortation.

Most papal documents tend to be pored over primarily by the Catholic faithful, but this one has opened the door for a larger secular question: what is the role of markets in causing — or alleviating — human suffering?
To answer this question, Stephen Dubner turns to Jeffrey Sachs, who is a longtime advocate for both the market system and the poor. We also hear from Notre Dame economics professor Joseph Kaboski, a devout Catholic and president of CREDO, the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization.

Tom found it interesting, thought provoking, and he recommends it.

Worth a Thousand Words: A glimpse into the Dipper's bedroom

A glimpse into the Dipper's bedroom
taken by the brilliant Remo Savisaar

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was raised to marry a monster.

How's that for a first line?

From that moment we are immersed in a world which has been ripped out of time, suffering a curse which Nyx has been pledged from birth to try to break by marriage to the demon lord Ignifex. When she finds Ignifex is not simply what he seems on the surface, she is torn between her vow to her people and her love for a complex person. And in this world the Greek gods punish vow-breaking with a vengeance, so this is a serious problem.

I read this book faster and faster so that by the end I knew I was heedlessly missing details. But the plot was the thing that kept me reading until midnight two nights in a row. This is a romance and it's a good one. After all it is based on Beauty and the Beast, albeit very loosely. However, the author tells it with a freshness and immediacy that makes me think of Robin Mckinley's The Blue Sword, which is some of my highest praise.

I am amazed this is a first book. Hodge took the Beauty and the Beast story and mixed it up with Greek mythology and a few other classics that I won't mention here for fear of spoilers. The result is a completely new soup* that doesn't seem derivative in any way. It is complex, compelling, and Tolkien-esque in the way big themes and truths are woven seamlessly into the story. It is C.S. Lewis-ian (is that a term?) in the way that source materials are woven seamlessly into a completely new story a la Til We Had Faces (yet so much more understandable to a schmoe like me.).

It is not without flaws, but they are few and forgivable as quirks. They are fairly minor and annoy no more than a few gnats so I'll not go into detail about them.

Above all I was struck by the underlying themes of the masks we hide behind, the real meaning of love, the many forms selfishness can take, the value of intention in sacrifice, the price of trying to control fate, and the fact everyone has more layers than you can see at first glance.

Cruel Beauty is being marketed as a YA novel and it fulfills those requirements in that I'd let my 9th grader read it if I still had one around the house. However, I miss the days when there was no YA designation and one could pick it up, as I did The Blue Sword long ago, without the preconceptions of a label. This is a story that adults can definitely enjoy. Be not afraid.

This book is a masterpiece and should become a classic. Certainly it is one I will be rereading more than once. I want to shove it into everyone's hands and force them to read it so we can talk about it.

Do yourself a favor and pick it up.

NOTES
1. This is a review copy and I'm friends with the author's brother and sister-in-law. Believe me, that all made me rather leery than inclined to shove this book into everyone's hands. This "shove-this-book-into-everyone's-hands" review is my honest opinion.

2. I've been asked if guys would like this book. I asked the author's brother who is not prone to read "girly books" and you may read his answer in the comments for his review at Goodreads.

3. Catholics will be happy to note that I used Tolkien-esque deliberately. Everything Hodge has here is solidly Catholic in basic worldview, despite the fact that the only gods mentioned are pagan. Which is as it should be. The story is the thing. The solid values that are the bones of this soup* give it depth and savor, but do not intrude upon a fine tale.

*THE SOUP
From Tolkien's essay On Fairy-Stories.

In Dasent's words I would say: “We must be satisfied with the soup that is set before us, and not desire to see the bones of the ox out of which it has been boiled.” Though, oddly enough, Dasent by “the soup” meant a mishmash of bogus pre-history founded on the early surmises of Comparative Philology; and by “desire to see the bones” he meant a demand to see the workings and the proofs that led to these theories. By “the soup” I mean the story as it is served up by its author or teller, and by “the bones” its sources or material—even when (by rare luck) those can be with certainty discovered. But I do not, of course, forbid criticism of the soup as soup.

Emphasis mine. Everyone leaves that bit off and I always feel I can see Tolkien smiling as he wrote it.

The Immediate Book Meme

DarwinCatholic's got a book meme. That means I'm playing. With the caveat that I'm always reading too many books simultaneously.

Here we go!

There are plenty of memes that want to know all about your book history and your all-time greats and your grand ambitions, but let's focus on something more revealing: the books you're actually reading now, or just read, or are about to read. Let's call it The Immediate Book Meme.


1. What book are you reading now?

Rabble in Arms by Kenneth Roberts

2. What book did you just finish?

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, wonderfully narrated by Derek Jacobi

3. What do you plan to read next?

Whatever my Book Bingo pulls up. It's the joy and terror of complete randomness.

4. What book do you keep meaning to finish?

Art: A New History by Paul Johnson

5. What book do you keep meaning to start?

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

6. What is your current reading trend?

Big, huge books.

It began when Scott Danielson said, "Hey, let's talk about The Lord of the Rings" on our podcast. It continued when I picked up Rabble In Arms. And then I was given the audiobook of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, narrated by Simon Prebble (who I just can't say no to, that guy is an amazing reader) ... and which I began a few days ago. And have I mentioned that Paul Johnson's art book has a gazillion pages (and not nearly as many pictures as you'd think for an art book).

Well Said: Christian Soldiers Waiting the Light of Day

It's still H.V. Morton but today I've got something more inspirational than the previous tidbits. He's finishing a visit to the catacombs with the priest who showed him around.

'You spend a great deal of time in the catacomb,' I said, 'What impressed you most?'

'Well,' he replied, 'though I am asked a hundred questions every day, no one has ever asked me that! I can tell you without pausing to think: it is the atmosphere of utter faith and complete trust.'

We walked up into the daylight.

'I sometimes think,' he said, as if to himself, 'that the world today, with its materialism, is much like the Roman world of today, with its materials, is much like the Roman world of centuries ago. When I go down into the catacomb, I am in touch with a faith that could move mountains.'

[...]

The atmosphere, as the Father had said, is one of faith and trust. The epitaphs carved on the tombs are happy and confident, as if the dead were waving goodbye and smiling as they left for a journey. The worlds 'rest' and 'sleep' are everywhere. I could not remember having once seen that word 'farewell' which sighs its hopeless way through all pagan cemeteries. As I remembered the dark galleries, the image came into my mind of a troopship in the dark, with its rows of bunks, their occupants sleeping, confidently awaiting the light of a new day.

Isn't that a lovely image? A troopship filled with confident occupants? I want to keep that in mind when I encounter such situations. I want that faith and trust with which those ancient Christians bade farewell to their loved ones.

One Browser to Rule Them All. And In the Darkness Bind Them.

I'm sure this was brought up by lots of people long ago, but I've thought it so many times that I finally got around to dropping it in here.

I've got one account for Blogger and a different one for G-mail (thank you so much Google for that necessity...).

So I see this screen a lot.

I mean, I like Google well enough. Their satellite maps are genius. But what were they thinking? Doesn't the comparison come to mind rather forcibly?

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The prophecy, the cobra, the storm, and Otter. All in the wilds of Africa!

Chapters 3 and 4 of The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard are ready for you to enjoy at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Why I Was Late for Work OR The Beast in the Bathroom

The Beast
or as Kaylee thinks of it, The Prey

Kaylee was barking from her bed in the middle of the night. She's a pretty good guard dog but we didn't get up to check it out.

Later Tom said he thought he heard some rustling that made him think we had something pretty large in the attic overhead.

Overhead.

If only.

We got up only to remember it was Presidents' Day because of our lack of a Wall Street Journal, drank coffee, and then Tom meandered back to the bathroom. Only to come immediately back saying, "I know why there was barking in the night. You won't believe what's in my bathroom."

Poor little thing.

I could see its black ear shaking against the white wall when I peeked around the corner.

It wasn't the only creature shaken up. Wash, our 85-pound gentle giant of a Boxer, atypically slept next to Tom (the alpha who would presumably protect him) and after Tom left, he moved next to me (the beta, so almost as good as a protector). More charitably we could assume he was protecting us. Sure. That's it. Protecting us.

Little thing is a relative term, of course.

That possum was probably a third of Kaylee's size. All we can figure is that she brought in yet another trophy to us. Since it was the middle of the night why not bring it where we were? The bedroom. I can only imagine that possum's terror at waking up and finding the exit blocked by Kaylee on her bed near the door. I am just surprised it found such a good defensive corner to crouch in.

Again we marveled at the way a possum's protective "faint" worked so well. Kaylee, the perfect predator, has brought us numerous dead rats and squirrels. One good shake and their necks are broken. She seems stymied by the "dead" possum though. Both of those have been alive when we found them in the house.

Thanks, girl. We love you too.

Luckily we had a huge cardboard box and a broom. That combined with the corner into which the little guy had backed itself were the perfect trap. A few minutes later it was outside near the bushes, motionless. When Tom looked out a few minutes later it was gone.

The Predator
Enjoying the satisfaction of a job well done.

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

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

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This slender volume is a quick and easy read which may surprise you with the sheer variety and individuality of the converts. Buffalo Bill rubs shoulders with Wallace Stevens, who scoots over for John Wayne and Gary Cooper. Communist journalist hell-raisers, witty society elite, hardened gangsters, and kings on the run all have one thing in common: in the end they turned to the Catholic Church when they were at the end of their life.

I liked the way that author Karen Edmisten used various stories to point out commonalities between situations. Sometimes all the potential convert needed was one prompting question from a trusted friend. Often conversions are so last minute and private that they are doubted by the world because the internal path was kept so private. (This was something I could relate to as in my own conversion I didn't even tell my husband I was debating questions with God. He was stunned.)

I especially liked the point made in the forward that often life-long Catholics feel as if the deathbed convert cheated by slipping in the door at the last minute. From observing my father who turned to God mere weeks before his death, I can say that what is left is the regret for a wasted life which could have been so much fuller of love and purpose. Looking forward there is a joy and peace that we should not begrudge any soul. God loves them to the end and we should at least try to have His vision in mind.

Edmisten also points out how important friends are in general, sometimes making a big difference simply by being true friends until the end. Time and again, we see the path to conversion can be something that is incomprehensible to anyone but the person who is struggling with the question. This point struck me in particular and she says it quite well here.

The Lord does not always come to us in recognizable or traditionally "religious" ways. Sometimes the first glimpse many of us see of Jesus Christ is unadorned, all-encompassing love.

It's a little too easy for us Catholics to want to retreat from the world, to hang out with only Catholic friends, with people who understand us and share our values. Make no mistake--there is great merit in finding and nurturing that kind of support. It is not only helpful, but crucial to cultivate a Catholic culture in our lives, and, more expansively, in our world. At the same time, we are called to be in the world but not of it, and sometimes that means the greatest work of mercy we can perform is to befriend the girl sitting next to us in drama class, or to remain loyal to a wife who has turned our world upside down.

Introduction

Deathbed Conversions is both entertaining and thought provoking to read. Definitely recommended.

Note, this was a review copy, as if that'd have made any difference to my opinion if I didn't like it (which publishers and authors know to their sorrow.) Nope. This is my opinion. I stand by it.

The Feasts of Judaism by Stephen J. Binz

Feasts of Judaism by Stephen J. Binz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Catholics hear a lot about how the Jewish people are their "elder brothers in the faith." Other than reading the Old Testament aloud every Sunday, however, you aren't given a lot of backup for this statement. Some similarities in worship are obvious but a lot of the Jewish faith remains a mystery.

That's why I was so interested in Stephen Binz's book The Feasts of Judaism. I trust Binz because of his excellent Catholic Bible studies (Advent, Easter, Lectio Divina) and felt I could trust him to help me make a connection between my faith and that of my "elder brothers and sisters." That trust was well placed. This is a terrific book.

It covers familiar feasts and some that I'd never heard of:
• Passover
• Pentecost
• Booths
• Rosh Hashanah
• Yom Kippur
• the Ninth of Ov
• Purim
• Hanukkah
• the Sabbath
• Jubilee Year

There are six lessons for each feast, which contain scripture, commentary/explanation, questions for reflection, and prayers. It is designed for either group or solo use. I really loved the way that Binz orients readers with the scriptural basis (and includes the scriptural text in each lesson), shows how the feast came to the ancient Jews, how it is celebrated by modern Jews, and how it relates to our Christian faith.

For example, here is a brief look at how the feast of Booths, Sukkot, would have been experienced by Jesus.

In the days of Jesus, Sukkot remained a joyful pilgrimage festival. Pilgrims came from throughout the land and from every Jewish community in the world. They came in colorful caravans--traveling by chariot, donkey, camel, and on foot--up to Jerusalem. Once in the city, festive with garlands of olive, palm, and willow branches, and fragrant with flowers, they participated in the colorful religious processions, waving the lulav, singing Hoshanah to God and feasting in the booths erected in every part of the city. Jesus traveled privately to the feast of Booths because of the confusion and division created by his preaching.

Binz goes on to explain that Sukkot rituals of light and water symbolized not only Israel's past but the future days of the Messiah. He finishes drawing the picture by connecting the dots so that Christians understand how this Jewish festival had meaning not only for Christ as an observant Jew, but for God's plan and for Christians.

On the final day of the feast, Jesus declared that he is the font of living water, the source of water for all people who thirst for God's Spirit (8:37-390. He also announced, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (8:12). Within the context of the autumn feast in which the temple became the light of Jerusalem, Jesus declared himself as the fire lighting the way for all people. With these words of Jesus, John's gospel proclaims that he is the fulfillment of the hopes expressed in the rituals of this great feast. Jesus is God's new temple, brightening the whole world with its light, from which flows the water of life for all thirsty pilgrims.

I especially loved the way that, although the book is written for Christians, Binz keeps the Jewish people's faith first and foremost. These are lessons that not only define them as a people, but help all of us in reading Scripture and understanding our faith better. Here's a bit from the Passover lessons:

For the Jewish people and all who share in their heritage, Egypt is not a place that was left only once; it is a place to be left continually. Egypt represents not only physical or political bondage, but personal and spiritual imprisonment as well. To celebrate Passover is to be freed from internal confinement, narrow mindedness, and apathetic hopelessness. it is a liberation that has not fully happened yet, but that is always happening whenever people enter into the event.

Perhaps most telling in how Binz communicates the Jewish faith and culture as it relates to these feasts, is his defense of Hanukkah. This is long, but worth every syllable.

It is ironic that the feast that celebrates Judaism's religious freedom and unique identity is the one that has been most absorbed into the dominant culture of the majority. As a minor feast in Judaism's annual cycle of holidays, Hanukkah can't hold a candle to Christmas. So as not to let their children feel deprived, many Jews have introduced gift-giving and other Christmas customs into their celebration of Hanukkah. But those Jewish parents who are most perceptive gather their children around the radiant Hanukkah and tell them their courageous history, about a rich tradition that could have flickered and gone out centuries ago but still continues to burn. While the mass marketers expand the purchasing month of December and try to inflate Hanukkah as the Jewish alternative to Christmas, the wise parents tell their children, "We're Jewish--we have Hanukkah, Passover, Shauvuot, Sukkot, Simchat torah, Purim, and more importantly, Shabbat every week." Children who have experienced the building of a sukkah will not feel disadvantaged when they don't decorate a Christmas tree. Those who have shared a Passover Seder will not feel deprived of a Christmas dinner. When children have given and received gifts on Purim, paraded with the holy scrolls on Simchat Torah, brought first fruits at Shavuot, and welcomed the Sabbath each week with candles and good food, they will know that to be Jewish means having a calendar full of joyful celebrations. Those same children will soon understand that if their ancestors had not stood firm and Antiochus IV had succeeded in obliterating Judaism, there would be no Christmas at all. Without the victory of Hanukkah, Christians would not be able to sing, "born is the king of Israel."

This book is not just for Catholics and, if I may go out on a limb here, not just for Christians. Yes the Christian element is there, with Catholic emphasis, but it is minor compared to the focus on Judaism. It is for anyone who is interested in better understanding Judaism through the feasts that are such a rich and vital part of the faith and culture.