Book Giveway! A Guide to the Passion of the Christ

UP Network (Uplifting Entertainment) is airing 21 movies as Easter approaches in their Easter Lives Here series. Check out the link for all the movies they will be airing.

This Sunday, April 13, UP will air The Passion of the Christ in its network TV debut.

As those of us who have seen the movie know, the dramatic events portrayed depend upon a deep understanding of Christianity, and in fact of Catholicism, for fullest appreciation. So it isn't surprising that perplexing questions may arise after seeing the movie.

A Guide to the Passion of the Christ helps you delve a little deeper into some of the movie's profound riches. It’s a NYT bestseller that’s a resource book and scene-by-scene analysis of the film.

And we're giving it away!

Sign up in the comments box for your chance to win. If you don't want to go through the rigamarole of the Blogger comments sign up, you can leave a comment as Anonymous. Just be sure to include an email address so I can contact you if you win.

I'll draw the winner Friday, April 11, at 9 a.m. (central time) and announce it that day.

Book Bingo 5: A Book That is More Than 10 Years Old

Rumpole on Trial by John Mortimer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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.

Well Said: The aim of art

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.

Aristotle

This spoke to me after recording the next episode of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast, which I just finished previewing this morning.

Essentially, we talk about Aristotle's premise. What inward significance, as Catholics, do we see in books and movies? Now, I have to agree with Freud that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But oftentimes, there is more to art than meets our first glance. N'est ce pas?

Firefly References on Castle

I was just thinking yesterday that I needed to rewatch Firefly. It's been a long time since I had a marathon. And then I came across this.




Yeah, it's been too long. I enjoy Castle, but I need the real thing.

Well Said: Conspiracy Versus Incompetence

I find [H. P.] Lovecraft's general paranoia a bit hard to empathize with -- I tend to think of the world as being ruled mostly by benign incompetence, rather than malicious conspiracy.

Alex, Goodreads

Indeed. I was struck by this when I saw it a few weeks ago on Goodreads. I'd recently had a conversation with someone who I really respect but who flabbergasted me by saying that he thought the Catholic Church was a vast, malicious conspiracy. Oh, and that the conspiracy began very soon after Jesus' death. This was supported by all the reading he had done.

I have to say that my experience of the Church ... and indeed of most organizations, whether secular or religious ... tends to fall in line with Alex's quote above. Yes, you do get evil sometimes. Hitler's and Stalin's legacies alone testify to that and we all wish those were the only two of their kind we could point to.

But for the most part, most people are generally good at heart. We're just not as good at being competent as we all think we are. And neither is the next guy.

Worth a Thousand Words: Goldcrest

Goldcrest
taken by Remo Savisaar

As always, to fully appreciate Remo's incomparable nature photography, click through and examine the image in full size. I just don't know how he gets these shots. I only know I'm grateful he shares them with us.

Catholic by Choice by Richard Cole

Catholic by Choice: Why I Embraced the Faith, Joined the Church, and Embarked on the Adventure of a Lifetime by Richard Cole

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this for the Patheos book club after they approached me because they needed more bloggers to participate.

Originally I thought, "another conversion story ... I've read so many, do I need to read another?" I forgot, of course, that every conversion story is the same, a love story. And every conversion story is unique because each of us is uniquely different. As it turns out, this was a very engaging reading experience, to the point where I read it in 24 hours.

I really enjoyed reading Richard Cole's very honest account of his internal struggles after it became clear that God was tapping him on the shoulder to invite him to a closer relationship, through the Catholic Church. I appreciated the way he'd tell sitting down at the kitchen table to ask honest questions about things troubling him and then would relate Jesus' answer. Usually direct, often surprising ... and that all rang very true to me.

I also appreciated Cole's honest accounting of dealing with his wife about faith. Interestingly she was in the process of moving away from Catholicism to new age spiritualism. This troubled Cole and led to several conversations which showed two people trying to move into greater relationship with God through very different paths. It seemed especially relevant to our times when so many people are moving away from the faith (or lack thereof) in which they were raised and find themselves adapting to "mixed marriages."

I would be curious to hear the author's wife's reasons for giving her husband that three-day gift certificate to a retreat at a monastery, which is what kicked off his conversion process. Since she herself was in the process of moving away from Catholicism it was a generous and interesting gift but those reasons aren't given in the book.

Cole was a lot more directed in his conversion that I was in mine. I'd just go along, something would happen to get my attention and I'd respond and then go off in whatever new direction seemed indicated, happy and oblivious until the next attention-getting bop on the head from God. Cole worked on his as if it were a Divine Assignment he'd be graded on, with a lot of worry and attention and introspection that would have worn me out.

Not that my own enthusiasm and gung-ho attitude probably didn't get wearing for my own family, it is just that I didn't work it like a program with boxes to check off a list. I might not have been thrilled about the idea of RCIA classes, but I just figured if that was what God wanted, then that's what I'd do. No wonder my spiritual progress during that time was a surprise to me, a welcome one to be sure but still not something I'd expected or worked to get.

And that's what makes each conversion story both different and the same, in some sense. This one is definitely worth reading. Ultimately it focused me on thinking about Jesus' own interactions in my own life, in a different way than I'd been doing lately. And that's a good thing. For me anyway.

NOTE ABOUT THE INTRODUCTION:
For some reason the introduction has a lot of details about how the author's life and family have turned out after his conversion. This was rather off-putting and left me in a distinct mood of not being interested in reading the actual book. Obviously, this was overcome with the first chapter, but there's no reason to put yourself through that. Skip the intro and read it after the rest of the book.

REVIEW COPY PROVIDED FREE
The review copy was provided by the Patheos Book Club. Publishers pay for Patheos to feature their books. My review is my own based solely on the book's merits.

Noah ... the Movie ... the Controversies - MORE UPDATES

I've been pretty excited about the upcoming Noah movie ever since I heard about it. Then I saw the trailer and got even more excited.

This looked like a classic Bible movie, the likes of which I loved watching as a kid. The Ten Commandments. Ben Hur. You know what I'm talkin' about. Eye popping special effects, miracles, heroic struggles, bigger-than-life stuff.

The fact that we were completely secular and didn't give God a second thought had nothing to do with it. These movies rocked.

I was ready for Noah to rock my world in the same way.

Then I began hearing swirling discontent coming from people who were afraid the movie wouldn't be purely Biblical enough.

Probably.

This is a Hollywood movie after all.

Film makers have lots of other considerations and even when they've loved a story since their youth, they make trade offs. This was recently called to mind when rewatching all of The Lord of the Rings movies for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast recently.

Director Peter Jackson made some choices I agreed with and some I didn't. He mentions in the extras that he actually got lost down the wrong track a few times and was able to return to the original message only at the last minute.

In fact, that's not a bad place to start when considering how stories must be adapted to move from one medium to another. Since the Bible was originally oral and then written down, Jewish tradition often chose to keep everything even when it conflicted. They didn't want to throw something out in case it was important in a way they couldn't see at the time.

And from that arose the tradition of midrash. Midrash is a traditional Jewish way of trying to understand the underlying spirit of scripture, sometimes connecting it to modern life, by creating parables. This allows for some imaginative storytelling as rabbis look for interpretations that are not immediately obvious but are nevertheless held within the original text.

I figured that as long as we got a good, entertaining movie Noah would, at the very least, be an interesting modern midrash on the story's applicability to our times.

Steven D. Greydanus, respected movie critic for the National Catholic Register, devout Catholic, has invested a considerable amount of thought into the flap over Noah.

Whatever the movie looks like, I expect some pious moviegoers, especially biblical literalists, will be upset or angry about anything in the film that goes beyond the biblical text, or that contradicts their own ideas about the story, or that doesn’t dovetail with their conception of the message of the Bible.

Is this really necessary? I don’t think so. By way of providing some perspective, here are a few points that I think thoughtful Christians, particularly Catholics, should consider in evaluating Aronofsky’s film and others like it.

We all grow up with this version of the story, we read it to our own kids, and many of us never look at the text any other way. (For example, picture books invariably stick with the “two by two” motif, ignoring the verses that refer to seven pairs of “clean” animals.)

There’s nothing wrong with this familiar version of the story. But we shouldn’t mistake it for the canonical story itself — nor should we be too quick to reject interpretative or imaginative approaches to the text that challenge our assumptions. A retelling that defamiliarizes the story, that makes us rethink what we thought we knew, can be a valuable thing.

Greydanus hits the nail on the head. He's got several good pieces which I read with interest as they came along. If you are curious about why the movie is worth watching, despite not being what might be called "strictly Biblical" then these may interest you also. Heck, they're interesting no matter what.

• Everybody chill out about the 'Noah' movie — this where the above excerpt comes from and he develops this theme quite well.
• Interview: ‘Noah’ Writer-Director Darren Aronofsky and Co-writer Ari Handel — this had to be fun for Greydanus because Aronofsky and Handel had read his "Everybody chill out" piece and loved it.
• SDG Reviews 'Noah' - I haven't read this yet. But SDG's reviews are always thoughtful and good.
  

Here's another piece (WSJ: Ark-itectural Digest) which has nothing whatever to do with controversies, but has everything to do with how the filmmakers combined digital and physical elements for the special effects. For instance they actually built the ark to Biblical proportions. The ultimate test was when Hurricane Sandy came along.

In a clearing within a woodsy arboretum on Long Island, on dry land, Mr. Friedberg's crew spent about six months erecting the front entrance and sides of an ark about 60 feet high, out of steel and foam designed to look like logs. For scenes in the ark's interior, they built a three-story set to the same scale inside an armory in Brooklyn.

"We decided that it would be built to biblical proportions," Mr. Friedberg explains. That means it isn't a seafaring ship but a large rectangular box intended to keep Noah's family and the menagerie afloat, specified by scripture to be 30 cubits high, 50 cubits wide and 300 cubits long (a cubit is the distance from human elbow to middle fingertip). Sunk in a cement foundation, the "ark" was framed in I-beams.

In October of 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit like some kind of cosmic message and flooded parts of New York. "The ark did fine," says Mr. Friedberg. "It enjoyed its chance at some real weather. It did better than some of our own houses."

I can't wait.

UPDATE
Other Christian reactions to Noah, all via Brandywine Books.

• Phil Cooke: Why I'm Recommending Christians See The Movie Noah
  He's got many good reasons, but this was my favorite:

  9) Do we as a Christian community really need to “protect” ourselves from a movie that isn’t 100% Biblically accurate? Would the Apostle Paul have run from the challenge? Rather than withdrawing from the discussion, I suggest that we seize the moment, turn the tables, and use this to our advantage. Pastors should be preaching messages on the Noah story. Let’s use the film to share our faith with friends and co-workers. Like the Old Testament’s Joseph, who rose to remarkable heights in an alien and hostile culture, let’s not shy away from these opportunities, rather, let’s use them to demonstrate the power of God’s Word.

• Gregory Alan Thornbury: Darren Aronofsky's Noah.
  It's a long, thoughtful piece that you need to go read for yourself, but let's let this give the overall tone:

  Aronofksy's Noah is a way of putting ourselves before the Bible's "dangerous question" as Barth put it. The grim, gritty, and supernatural antediluvian biblical world takes us back into ancient history, of origins. Who are we? What has gone wrong with the world? Where is justice? Is God there? What does he have to say? That ancient world sets us back on our heels and forces us to take stock in this strange new world inside the Bible.

YET MORE UPDATES
Steven D. Greydanus is turning into quite the authority on the Noah movie. He's being interviewed everywhere, asked tons on questions, and has a couple more pieces written. I'm not reading either of these until I've seen the movie, but wanted to share these links.

• The Noah Movie Controversies answers the many questions he's being asked. If there's a misconception out there, he's addressing it.
• Noah: A Theological Reflection. Here's the description of the piece: Darren Aronofsky’s controversial film is sometimes divisive and divided, but is also deeply serious about Scripture and essential questions.
  

AND ANOTHER UPDATE

• Father Barron's take on Noah ... What is significant is that Noah remains utterly focused throughout, not on his own freedom, but on the desire and purpose of God. God, creation, providence, sin, obedience, salvation: not bad for a major Hollywood movie!
• Darwin Catholic's review ... which comes down halfway between Greydanus' enthusiasm and (as Darwin put it, taking the words from my mouth) "Barbara Nicolosi's bizarre rant." (Note: Nicolosi's piece made me long for Roger Ebert's witty, erudite reviews of movies he hated. Nicolosi is no Ebert.) At any rate, Darwin is always worth reading and I'll go past his spoiler alert once I've seen the movie.

Worth a Thousand Words: Shadow Play

Schattenspiel (Shadow Play)
by Edward B. Gordon

I simply love Edward B. Gordon's artistic style and the fact that he records everyday life in the city. This painting exemplifies both those traits.

Worth a Thousand Words: Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain detail
taken by Joseph at Zombie Parent's Guide

As I've mentioned before, I am thoroughly enjoying Joseph's pictorial records of his family's travels while they are living in England. I'm getting views of places like Pompeii and Rome, among others, that I might never get to see in person.

Book Review: The C. S. Lewis Bible

C. S. Lewis Bible: New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've never understood the enthusiasm for study Bibles on a single theme or with a single person's commentary. Obviously, they are popular because you can see them everywhere. When this Bible came to my attention, I blanched.

However, it seems as if 2014 is fast becoming my "year of C.S. Lewis" as I work my way through his books in audio format. So I took a closer look on Amazon where I found Brandon Vogt's review, which I encourage you to read. I trust Brandon's judgment a lot from having read his blog. His thoughtful comments also showed that he, too, was leery of this sort of study bible. He pointed out that, with care, one can view such a work as having midrash available on scripture and that opened up another way to consider it.

I'm not crazy about the NRSV translation but that is a matter of personal taste admittedly. Catholics will note that this is a Protestant Bible and so has fewer books than a Catholic Bible would. The committee who put this together does seem to have done an impressive job of carefully matching Lewis's comments in the appropriate spot without overdoing it. It is definitely a Bible first and foremost, with occasional C.S. Lewis comments from a wide variety of sources. It quickly became a favorite morning read.

I do want to mention that except for the cover, this book is a work of beauty. The typesetting, format, and overall look are gorgeous. The cover ... well, you can see that for yourself. Nothing can make it anything except ugly. But once the cover is opened, the interior is beautiful. This is the book that proves the old adage. Don't judge this book by its cover.

Well Said: Comedy and Diversity

Jerry Seinfeld responding to a question about a lack of diversity in his online series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," on CBS This Morning, February 2014.

People think it's the census or something. This has gotta represent the actual pie chart of America? Who cares? Funny is the world I live in. You're funny, I'm interested. You're not funny, I'm not interested. I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that. But everyone else is kinda with their little calculating, "Is this the exact right mix?" To me, it's anti-comedy. It's more about PC nonsense than "are you making us laugh or not?"

Precisely.

Almost Brand New Puppies

These three baby boys came in overnight with no mom. The person who found them tried to care for them the best she could, but at just a few days old, they needed more care than she could provide. Thanks to your donations of heating pads, bottles, and formula they are still alive. It's touch and go, of course, but YOU are making a difference.

Dallas Animal Services Facebook page

This takes me back to the old days when my parents raised and bred Bulmastiffs for show. We sometimes had teeny tinies like this who needed extra care. I can still remember getting the feeding tube down a bitty baby and watching it suddenly go to sleep in my hands as I pushed the syringe slowly and it became ... full.

I've gotta say that no one uses Facebook to better advantage than Dallas Animal Services. They update it continually with pictures and stories that make me feel good, know their needs, and just generally keep them top-of-mind. Aside from our Boxer needs, we generally have adopted rescue pets from the SPCA. However, the next time we'll probably go to Dallas Animal Services. The SPCA has some very generous donors and now has a "no kill" policy but Dallas Animal Services doesn't have that luxury.

Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin

Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James J. Martin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I am a fan of Father James Martin's books, especially A Jesuit Off-Broadway. When Scott chose this book for our next religious book discussion at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast, I was excited, having been interested since I first saw it mentioned at Amazon.

This is a much thicker and more substantive book than I expected. The bibliography alone makes one step back and realize there is more hard-core scholarship than in any of his previous books. Yet it is written in Father Martin's trademark style, interspersing personal experience with the main book text. It is accessible and interesting. It isn't dumbed down and isn't too scholarly. It's juuuuust right.

Martin's goal is to help us consider our answer to Christ's question to his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"

This means we must consider what it means to be "fully human and fully divine." Martin does a very good job of presenting a lot of contextual information for understanding Jesus' life and ministry through this lens. As we travel through the gospels, so to speak, he intertwines the various stops (recruiting the disciples, healing demoniacs, etc.) with his own pilgrimage to Israel. He then stops to place everything in the context of our own lives and is extremely generous in sharing his own life changing experiences, whether flattering or not. I especially appreciate Martin's openness in sharing the spiritual experiences he had, most notably that in the Church of the Resurrection.

I especially appreciate the way that Father Martin approaches questions from all angles. For example, when considering Christ's healings of "demoniacs," Martin isn't afraid to discuss the idea of psychological or physiological illness as a cause. This will be welcome to those who like to get down to examining facts. However, he always does this in a thoughtful, thorough, Christian way that leaves no doubt we are reading about the Messiah and that miracles can (and do) happen.

Each chapter ends with Martin's deeper thoughts on how our own lives can be enriched with the aid of what Christ has shown us about this part of his life. This is where the rubber meets the road for most of us and Martin brings great sensitivity and understanding to these pages. In fact, I was enduring great inner turmoil about something when I read Martin's thoughts of what it means to take up your cross daily. The whole section spoke to me strongly, but nothing more than "wait for the resurrection" which I sorely needed to hear that very day.

This is the sort of book that used to be much more common. To Know Christ Jesus by Francis Sheed and Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen are just a couple of the older books I've read like this.  We have been sorely in need of a new one and I'm so pleased that James Martin wrote this book which is truly a treasure for reading and rereading. I'm beginning to feel that this book might be a "must have" for Christians who want a more rounded, personal experience of Christ. Or for those who don't understand the "Christian thing" and would like some general context of their own.

I also have a feeling that a lot of readers are going to come away wanting to visit the Holy Land. Not me, but I appreciate Father Martin's descriptions as it helps me "feel" the place a bit better. And, to be fair, I've never especially felt the need to go to Rome or anywhere else on pilgrimage, for that matter.

However, what it did was help me feel a deeper familiarity, connection, friendship dare I say, with Jesus when I encounter Him in the gospels. It made me think of Father Martin's story about his spiritual director showing him a green tree and reminding him it would be red in autumn, without anyone ever seeing the gradual change. That's what happened to me. A step closer. All to the credit of this book, which is doing it without "wows" or "aha" moments. Truly that is a credit to this work.

NOTE
I also received the audiobook for review. I was eagerly anticipating this but was surprised to find that Father Martin's reading was extremely plain and without nuance or subtlety. In a sense, it was like a father reading to his children who is unused to reading aloud. I'm used to authors reading their work who are extremely good at it, such as Father Robert Barron or Neil Gaiman (yes, I know that is an unusual pair to put together but both are excellent at reading aloud).

That said, once I adjusted to Martin's style, or lack thereof, it actually worked fine for this book. In a sense, it took out any of his own personality and allowed the text to speak for itself. Which is actually just as it should be for a book like this. With that in mind, I can recommend the audiobook.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

I was completely blank on today being a feast day of any sort. Thanks to Ingrid for pointing out to me that this is the Annunciation so I could join in celebrating the wonder of Mary's yes to God's messenger.

This actually makes me think about Tolkien's including March 25 as a significant date in The Lord of the Rings. (Yes, three podcasts and all that talking have left me with Tolkien on the brain.) 

I think of Tolkien mentioning in a letter that faithful Sam was truly the hero of the book. He humbly served Frodo for the love of his master. The hardships he went through as Frodo's companion were more than he'd have been able to imagine. And yet he never even considered turning back, though Elrond made it clear that anyone except Frodo could without any need to feel obligated.

Tolkien was such a devout Catholic that surely Mary's loving service and "yes" without understanding the cost to herself surely had to be part of the worldview that went into creating Sam's character. It surely helps me understand Mary just a tiny bit more.

And now with that lengthy thought out of the way, here is something from those who gave this celebration due consideration and which I last featured in 2012.

Leonardo da Vinci. The Annunciation.
Detail. c. 1472-1475. Oil and tempera on wood. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

On today's feast the Church celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation and, at the same time, the vocation of Our Lady. It was her faithful response to the angel's message, her fiat, that began the work of redemption...

The setting of this feast day, March 25th, corresponds to Christmas. In addition, there is ancient tradition that the creation of the world and the commencement and conclusion of the Redemption all happened to coincide at the vernal equinox.

As the greatest proof of his love for us, God had his only Son become man to save us from our sins. In this way Jesus merited for us the dignity of becoming children of God. His arrival signalled the fullness of time. St. Paul puts it quite literally that Jesus was born of a woman. (cf The Navarre Bible, Romans and Galatians, note to Gal 4:4) Jesus did not come to earth as a spirit. He truly became man, like one of us. He received his human nature from Our Lady's immaculate womb. Today's feat, therefore, is really in honour of Jesus and Mary. That is why Fr. Luis de Granada has pointed out: It is reasonable to consider, first and foremost, the purity and sanctity of the Woman whom God chose 'ab aeterno' to give form to his humanity.

When God decided to create the first man, he first took care to create a fitting environment for him, which was the Garden of Eden. It makes sense, then, that when god made ready to send his Son, the Christ, he likewise prepared for him a worthy environment, namely, the body and soul of the Blessed Virgin. (Life of Jesus Christ, I)

As we consider the significance of this Solemnity, we find Jesus very closely united to Mary. When the Blessed Virgin said Yes, freely, to the plans revealed to her by the Creator, the divine Word assumed a human nature: a rational soul and a body, which was formed in the most pure womb of Mary. The divine nature and the human were united in a single Person: Jesus Christ, true God and, thenceforth, true Man; the only-begotten and eternal Son of the Father, and from that moment on, as Man, the true son of Mary. ... (J. Escriva, Friends of God, 274)

In Conversation with God,
Vol. 6: Special Feasts: January to June

Have you ever noticed how many annunciation paintings have Mary interrupted at her reading? This is because of Mary's association with the Word. I never noticed this myself until I had to look through many paintings on the subject for a book I was laying out.

Also, it's a feast day, y'all! No fasting. That means no Lenten sacrifice. So Tom can have some ice cream! It's the little things, right?

St. Peter's Bones by Thomas J. Craughwell

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

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In 1939, while reconstructing the grottoes below St. Peter's Basilica, a workman's shovel struck not dirt or rock but open air. After inspecting what could be seen through the hole they'd made in the mausoleum's roof, Pope Pius XII secretly authorized a full-scale excavation. What lay beneath?

This book was interesting and well written as one would expect from Thomas J. Craughwell. However, it had a major structural flaw. What I was interested in was the discovery of St. Peter's bones by the archaeologists excavating the catacombs. Every time the action reached a peak moment the next chapter would stop and drag us back into Christian history, completely stopping the momentum and eventually frustrating me to the point where I just would skip the history in order to get back to the main story.

It is a fine thing, one supposes, to educate as one goes, but in this case it not only messed with the book overall but felt as if one were being forced to have a history lesson.

You won't be wasting your time in reading this book but a far better telling can be found in The Bones of Saint Peter by John Evangelist Walsh (my review here). He just tells the exciting story with historical bits wound in only as necessary for understanding.

St. Peter's Bones has a small amount of updated developments since the 1982 publication of The Bones of Saint Peter so there is that going for it.

NOTICE: This book was provided by the publisher for me to review. I think it's pretty obvious I didn't let that influence me.

Person of Interest: "/" "Root Path"

Holy moly the last episode knocked me out.

I was so surprised to see several threads all woven together with one big message presented from different angles: each person matters, the ends don't justify the means, and there is a big plan for each of us. These came from unexpected sources in the show also.

I especially love the way that The Machine is putting Root's personal good over it's own survival. If ever there was a Catholic theme in this show, this show had it.

The Value of Reading Exodus, a Chapter at a Time

I'm not sure how I fell into this habit.

I come home from work, fix a cuppa Joe, the dogs whisk around me excitedly as I add the milk and sugar (they know what's coming next) ... pick up my Bible from the hearth and open the patio door, the dogs race to the bottom of the yard together, and I go out to sit in the sun.

I sit in the sun and open up my Bible to Exodus to slowly read the next chapter.

I must have begun this two or three weeks before Lent began. For some reason, I'd been wanting to read Exodus for a while. Maybe because I'd read Genesis several times in the last couple of years for various reasons. (Surprisingly, you can have various reasons to read Genesis. I'd never have believed it in my pre-Christian days.)

I tried also reading commentaries but it turned out that what I wanted, deep down, was to just read the words ... and see what I found there for myself.

Maybe that's why I like the Ronald Knox translation I have been using. The lack of subheads, unobtrusive placement of verse numbers, the paragraph structure, the relatively few explanatory notes ... all these things lend themselves to simple reading. It's restful to simply sit and read.

Maybe that's also why things in the text stand out and surprise me.

I was surprised to find it dawning on me that all Moses asked of Pharaoh was to let the Hebrew slaves go worship in the desert for a few days. Not to "let my people go" out of slavery. Just to go worship ... and then they'd come back.

I guess I really absorbed more of The Ten Commandments than I realized.

Then I was bemused by Pharaoh's stubbornness. Yes, I know God said he'd harden his heart, but this looked like a familiar pattern. Something we all understood.

When he finally began to relent, Pharaoh said, well ok but you have to worship here. No leaving the country.

More plagues.

Then Pharaoh relented. A little. Ok, but who's going with  you? What? You want to take the women, children, and livestock? Absolutely not. Just the men can leave.

More plagues.

Ok, I'll let you take the women and kids. But not the livestock. No way. They stay here.

More plagues ... and the death of all the firstborn and Pharaoh's famous full relenting.

How many times have we done that? We try to work deals with God. We'll give in, a little, but we want to maintain control, have things on our own terms as much as possible. We're not fooling anyone, certainly not God. Just like Pharaoh. To think I'd never have come across that if I hadn't been just sitting and reading a little at a time.

Right now I have been working my way through the liturgical instructions that come along with receiving the tablets of commandments written "with God's own finger."

I had no idea that after hearing the commandments, Moses was sent back down the mountain to round up the top 70 elders and bring them back up as witnesses for more in-depth coverage of just how the laws would apply.

As God worked his way through all the circumstances and applications of law, I kept thinking of how these people were just like us. And they were in circumstances just like the ones that we find ourselves in. What a tangible connection between me and those long-ago people.

Even in the lengthy chapters about how the tabernacle was to be constructed, how the priests' garments were to be woven, how the poles would go through the altar, I found fascinating tidbits. I thought about how God selected the craftsmen by name, saying that their creative spirits were given by him to be used for this purpose.

I could picture the tabernacle and how the men would carry it, based on the careful description of making holes for the poles to go through. It also gave me a sense of just how deeply the connection went for the Hebrew people to their temple. If God cared so much about these details, they surely would carry over to everything connected to him. I felt it in a deeper way than merely "knowing" the facts.

I'm not always fascinated. But I read it anyway and there is always something that I stop and think about. This is truly a different sort of Bible reading for me.

After I'm done I will most probably pick my Navarre Bible and read through the commentary. But for now, experiencing the Word without a filter is a truly enlightening and inspirational journey into the desert.

DVD Review: The Faithful Traveler in the Holy Land

This review is by Scott Danielson, my podcasting partner over at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

I haven't made a trip to The Holy Land, but would like to go. There's got to be something special about walking where Jesus and his contemporaries walked. The escape from day-to-day life into a world that's very different (for me) yet very familiar. I imagine contemplative moments taken after stepping away from the groups, where one can really process the fact that one is truly and actually in the Holy Land. I imagine that such a trip would be faith affirming, and... well, there's no need to imagine what it would be like because Diana von Glahn took us along with her on a tour.

The Faithful Traveler in the Holy Land is a joyful, personal, and informative travelogue. Diana is the host and her husband David shoots and directs the show.

I thoroughly enjoyed all six episodes. The tour starts at Mount Carmel and ends with the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. On the way, Diana shows us the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, Jerusalem's Walls, the Sea of Galilee, and many other places.

On of the reasons for my enjoyment is that Diana not only explains the historical significance of the art and architecture she encounters, but she also shares her faith. Sometimes clearly moved, she shares her personal thoughts at several of the sites. In turn, I come away from this series moved myself. I'm both thankful for the experience of having watched and am more eager to take a trip myself.

But whether I take that trip or not, I appreciate and agree with what Diana said near the end of the series as she muses about whether or not the contested sites along the Via Dolorosa are the actual path that Christ took to Golgotha:

What matters is what's in our hearts and what we bring to these windy streets. Whether we meet Jesus along them, I think, depends on our willingness and desire to do so. Our frame of mind. And the openness of our hearts.

Amen.

The Faithful Traveler is available on DVD and is also airing on EWTN. For more information, visit The Faithful Traveler website.

PILGRIMAGE
Diana and David von Glahn have organized a pilgrimage to the Holy Land for this summer. I've got to say that were I ever to go on pilgrimage, this is the group I'd want to go with. Who wouldn't want to hang out with Diana? (Probably with David too, but I haven't seen him on screen ... so I've got nothin' to work with here.)

We just can't stop talking about The Lord of the Rings ...

... so we watched all the movies (extended editions, 12 hours well spent) and went on talking! Catch it in episode 79 of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.