Well Said: Rain

Planting seeds inevitably changes my feelings about rain.

Luci Shaw

Context is all. The trick is to keep the context when it is outside one's immediate experience. Or to say it another way, the trick is thinking outside the box, thinking outside my box.

Being a Christian has made me much better at that because Jesus continually demands it. All you have to do is read the Gospels with any attention to see how He was always asking people to tilt their heads and look at things from a new angle, from God's angle. I forget to do that a lot of the time, but I do remember sometimes.

Worth a Thousand Words: French Mediterranean

French Mediterranean
via The French Sampler

I'd like to be able to look across the street (or plaza or whatever) and see this.

Die Schleuse

Die Schleuse (the lock)
painted by Edward B. Gordon

I can hear the waves slapping on the walls, feel the uncertainty of the boat not centered where it should go, in sum - I'm there.

Well Said: The Romance of Catholicism

Outside Christianity, the magic is not in life. For the pagan or neopagan progressive, life is pain followed either by endless nothingness or by endless reincarnations of endless pain. ...

But I am a Catholic. In my world, every sunrise is the trumpet blast of Creation, more astonishing than the bomb burst, and every nightfall is the opening of a vast roof into the infinite dance of deep Heaven, where the stars and planets reel and waltz to the music of the spheres. ...

Romance? Let me say something of the wild poetry that now rules my life.

I have a charm chalked on my front door to call a blessing down from wide Heaven. I carry a Rosary like a deadly weapon in my pocket and hang the medallion of Saint Justin Martyr, whose name I take as my true name, atop my computer monitor where he can stare at me.

Two angels follow me unseen as I walk, and I live in a world of exorcists and barefoot friars, muses and prophets, healers who lay on hands, mighty spiritual warriors hidden in crippled bodies, and fallen angels made of pure malicious spirit obeying their damned and darkened Sultan from his darkest throne in Hell. And I live in a world where a holy Child was born a secret king beneath a magic star, and the animals knelt and prayed. And from that dread lord, the small Child will save us.

You might think my world inane, or insane, or uncouth, or false, but by the beard of Saint Nicholas, by the Breastplate of Saint Patrick, and by the severed head of Saint Valentine, no one can say it is not romantic.

My life these days is a storybook story. If there were more romance in it, it would be enough to choke Jonah’s whale. Without Catholicism, there is no romance. Outside the Church, where are the miracles?

Should I hide this? Should I hide a world larger and more glorious than mortal worlds?

It is the only type of story worth a man’s time to tell or heed.

John C. Wright, Faith and Works in a Science Fictional Universe

I enjoyed the entire article but when I got to the part excerpted above it was as if I had drums beating in the background, that martial music played in Battlestar Galactica. It was the same way I feel when I read St. Patrick's Breastplate aloud. I read this to my husband and to our priest. By the time I got done both were laughing and nodding and had a certain light in their eyes as they said, "Yes. Exactly!"

Well Said: Being Cynical and Naive

He remembers being both cynical and naive in those days. "I assumed humans were basically bad people and if you stumbled…you would be devoured," he says. "I don't believe that anymore." Instead, he has been heartened by the hospitality that he's encountered while traveling around the world, even in places he thought would be hostile to Americans. "It made me hopeful and made me feel better about the human species," he says. "We like to be good, we aspire to do good things, and we're generally trudging through life trying to do the best we can."

Anthony Bourdain, WSJ

I like the realization that one can be "cynical and naive." Usually being cynical is represented as a response to "lost naivety." However, Bourdain puts his finger on the fact that often cynicism can be a response coming from a lack of experience. It was an eye opening realization to me.

Lagniappe: Egg McMuffin and Mobile Apps

Troubled by criticisms that it has fallen behind the times and is losing its appeal to hungry but progressive millennials, McDonald's is developing mobile apps allowing patrons to access data about the company's social responsibility.

This is the best news ever. And not just for young people. I can't tell you how many times I've been standing in line at McDonald's trying to decide whether to have the Sausage Burrito or the Egg McMuffin when the issue of the firm's social responsibility has suddenly popped into my head. And once that door swings open, I simply cannot get it closed.

Joe Queenan, WSJ

Sometimes the joke just writes itself. Especially when the company's move smacks of desperation.

Blogging Around: the Super-Duper Long Edition

Saving Dr. Brantly: The Inside Story of a Medical Miracle
GetReligion tells us that another miracle, aside from that reported on Matt Lauer's NBC special about Dr. Brantly's recovery from Ebola, is that faith and the "miracle" aspect were fully discussed and never shied away from. Well done, Matt Lauer!

Why the Seal of the Confessional Can't be Broken

I try not to make a habit of wading into swamps, but there’s something going on in Louisiana that should not be ignored.1 The state Supreme Court ruled that, once a penitent has waived confidentiality, what was discussed in the sacrament of confession can be fair game in court. The diocese of Baton Rouge has recently appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court. The case is particularly challenging because the confession in question was made by a girl who was being abused by a parishioner, and it appears from her testimony that the priest did not do anything to help her.

Much of the discussion thus far has been about what Louisiana law requires and whether or not the seal of confession supersedes it. But this misses two important questions — one about what should have happened, and one about why the seal cannot be waived, even by the person who made the confession.

Sam Sawyer at The Jesuit Post has an excellent piece about why the seal of the confessional is so important. I've been surprised how much this topic has arisen lately in my life. Understandably, it first came up when Scott Danielson and I at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast were discussing I Confess. Then my movie viewing group at Caruth Haven has had it pop up a couple of times.

If you haven't considered the topic, Louisiana is making sure that you do. This is important.

Dante's Lessons for Millenials

And then, a year ago, I stumbled into the Divine Comedy by accident. I was going through a deep personal crisis and couldn’t see any way out. One day, browsing in a bookstore, I pulled down a copy of Inferno, the first book of the Commedia trilogy, and began to read the first lines:

Midway along the journey of our life
I woke to find myself in some dark woods,
For I had wandered off from the
straight path.
(trans. Mark Musa)

Well, yes, I thought, I know what that’s like. Like me, Dante (the character in the poem) was having a midlife crisis. I kept reading and didn’t stop until months later, when I slogged with Dante through Hell, climbed with him up the mountain of Purgatory, and blasted through the heavens to see God in Paradise. All made sense after that pilgrimage, and I found my way back to life. I was, in a physical and spiritual sense, healed.
That’s the testimony of a forty-seven-year-old writer, late to wisdom. What if I had encountered Dante as a young man and taken the lessons the pilgrim learned on his journey to heart back then? Would I have had an easier time staying on the straight path? Perhaps. At least I would have been warned how to avoid the false trails.

Rod Dreher's been digging deep into Dante lately and I hear tell he's writing a book. Which I can't wait for, by the way. Having read the Divine Comedy once, I know that's not enough. It didn't hit me the way it did Dreher, but then I've been gobsmacked by Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Jane Austen lately. I'm working my way up to diving beneath the layers in Dante. If Dante doesn't sound like your cuppa tea, read Dreher's piece. Heck, read it anyway. He's good.

Comic Book Superheroes and the Moral Struggle

We all need guardian angels. In fact the Catholic Church teaches that we each have one – a supernatural entity assigned at conception, not to dominate us, but to prevent us being dominated; to defend us against our supernatural enemies, giving us the space to live our human lives in a world that is much bigger and scarier than we think (what the Rangers do for the Shire in The Lord of the Rings). Comic book superheroes and supervillains are the angels and demons of this cosmic spiritual warfare reinvented for the secular imagination, and they resonate with us because on some level we know that we need them. At the same time, they give us something to aspire to (the corresponding Christian doctrine istheosis or divinization by grace). These are not all protectors sent to us from outside – like the boy from Krypton, or Thor – more often they are ordinary human beings (Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Hal Jordan) who by providential accident or brilliant design find themselves possessed of a power beyond the lot of mortals. And “with great power comes great responsibility”, as they quickly learn. These are flawed human beings who have to become heroes, fighting alongside the guardian angels for the right of human beings to live a meaningful life. (“I have come to set them free,” says Loki. “Free from what?” asks Fury. “Freedom,” comes the reply.)

Stratford Caldecott, whose name I have come to know lately via my own Tolkien appreciation, wrote a wonderful piece that any lover of pop culture will enjoy. And those who decry pop culture may find hope in his words. Via Steven D. Greydanus.

Cardinal Dolan and the St. Patrick's Day Parade That Won't Go Away

An excellent piece from The Anchoress which I am sorry to say will probably be wasted on either side which has its mind made up. Another good piece on the topic comes from Pia de Solenni. And if anyone cares what the Cardinal himself has to say, he wrote a column about it for New York Catholic.

Concerning Pope Francis, "Trial Marriages" and Poorly Covered Media Rites

My friend Scott often remarks that when he hears reporting the latest "mold breaking" thing Pope Francis has said or done, then he knows it is time to look for indepth coverage. Because news bytes are inevitably wrong about how the Church works.

Here's an excellent piece from GetReligion which begins with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and then dives into how the news media has been representing Pope Francis' recent remarkable marriage of 20 couples. A follow-up piece, also from GetReligion, looks even further into the event and the heretofore unknown significance.

Your Marriage IS Worth Saving–And YOU Can Save It.

When Divorce is Not an Option: How to Heal Your Marriage and Nurture Everlasting Love is a book for couples who want to know what it takes to get their marriage back on track. Solo spouses can
also use the book to heal a marriage even if his or her mate isn’t interested in working on the relationship.

Dr. Greg Popcak, who I greatly respect, has a book that sounds as if a lot of couples could benefit from it.

Well Said: To Confess Your Sins to God ...

To confess your sins to God is not to tell him anything he doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.

Frederick Buechner

I knew that. But I never saw it so perfectly worded before. Worthy of writing down on a Post-It just to keep in front of me for reflection.

Which Chili Will Mom Pick?

Texas-style or Cincinnati-style? Get the recipes and the story at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

In which friendship, a newspaper, and a steam fish help our heroes home.

The finale of The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard. Hear it at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Emma by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a terrific book! I'd heard about how unlikable Emma is as a character and I have to disagree. Yes, she can be infuriating but she is truly sorry for her mistakes, tries to change, and has a sense of humor when she catches herself falling back into her bad habits. I found her lively, open, and lovable. I especially loved the tender way she took care of her father.

Interestingly, everyone in the book falls prey at some point to Emma's habit of drawing completely wrong conclusions except Mr. Woodhouse and Miss Bates. I quickly grew very fond of both those characters who did everything with a great concern for those around them. It was just everyone's misfortune that they had such quirky ways of expressing their concern. Every time they would appear I'd settle back with great enjoyment to hear them talk since they were so hilarious (unintentionally on their parts, completely intentional on that of the author).

It was also interesting to see Austen work with such a closed society. Occasionally people would come or go but our focus is always on Highgate. It was almost like watching a scientific experiment as to what the effect would be on the settled social system by adding a young eligible bachelor or lowbrow social climber. And no wonder people would spend 15 minutes talking about how best to get the mail. Eventually that is one of the greatest points of interest in one's day with so few outside resources. Eventually I would begin laughing when one of those conversations would begin, wondering how long Austen could keep it going by having new people enter the conversation just when it was dying out.

I must mention that I listened to Juliet Stevenson's audiobook and it was simply superb. I credit her with the fact that I enjoyed Mr. Woodhouse, Mrs. Eliot, and Miss Bates so much. Her impeccable inflections, emphases, and characterizations made this book come alive.

All in all, a most delightful book.

Ancillary Justice discussion at SFFaudio

The SFFaudio gang (Jesse, Bryan Alexander, Tamahome and I) have mixed reactions to Hugo-winner Ancillary Justice (which I liked a lot, by the way).

Blog Tour for "The Feasts" - The Holy Angels

The Feasts: How the Church Year Forms Us as Catholics by Donald Cardinal Wuerl


I reviewed The Feasts yesterday. Today, as part of the blog tour, we'll take a look at The Holy Angels bit of the book which includes The Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on September 29 and the Memorial of the Guardian Angels on October 2.

Devotion to the angels is something integral to the life of God's people. It is a practice that christians and Jews have kept since ancient times, and for good reason. Angels do not move people like chess pieces. They live in relationship with us. The prophet Zechariah quizzed the angels sent to guide him. The young man Tobias spent days in conversation with his heavenly traveling companion. Saint Augustine often described our relationships with the angels as "friendship." God created us to be social, and our society is both earthly and heavenly. It includes family members who look like we do, and family members who are pure spirits and have no physical appearance whatsoever. Yet they are with us, and we should acknowledge them, and we should be grateful for their help.

The Feasts contains one of the best short summaries of angels I've ever seen. In just a few pages we are told the nature of angels and the Scriptural evidence, introduced to the archangels and guardian angels, and told about Michaelmas as a traditional day.

I know whereof I speak. I have read many books about angels.

I
really
like
angels.
A
lot.

What made me grab these feast days for the blog tour was recalling that in the fall after I entered the Church I was just beginning to observe the liturgical year a bit more than the basics. I had just splurged for the devotional In Conversation with God, Feasts July-December by Francis Fernandez when Tom's father had a stroke and we had to rush to Houston.

It was a dire time with much worse news than we could have imagined about his health. I remember brushing my teeth but needing something inspirational no matter how late it was in the day. Wanting to "do it right" I plunged in at our chronological point in time to see what upcoming feasts to expect. It was the Feast of the Archangels and the way this book did it was to not skimp over a single one. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael each had their own fascinating three-part feast written up. And right behind it — the Guardian Angels! Hey, I'd been wondering about them!

The knowledge of those angels helped hold me up during those days of trial.

That was my first introduction to the idea that I could have my own relationship not only with angels but with feast days. I now have some that I celebrate although our local parish doesn't mention them. I know that somewhere in the world there are parishes who are uniting with me in celebrating yet another unique way that our lives are united to that of Christ.

In those early days I was fumbling my way through understanding feast days and angels and many other "basics" of Catholic life. I'd definitely have welcomed a book like The Feasts which not only informs but inspires.

Huzzah! Another Special Day! Reviewing "The Feasts" by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Mike Aquilina

The Feasts: How the Church Year Forms Us as Catholics by Donald Cardinal Wuerl

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Church's calendar is an intricate, complex, and beautiful technology. It is the work of many human hands and human minds trained to deal with holy things. The seasons turn and the feasts interplay like the gears in a priceless clock. They regulate our religious life and enrich our spiritual life.

They seem to happen automatically, but only because the Church oversees the apparatus, averts temporal collisions, and finely tunes all the components to make the year as festive as it can be.

I am not sure exactly why but one of the things I have always loved about the Church is the liturgical year. The idea that there are a steady series of seasons and feast days linked with our calendar year enhances the richness of my life. Perhaps it is because my mother taught us to love nature and the turn of seasons simply because she herself loves them so much. Perhaps it is because, long before I was a Christian, I read and reread Rumer Godden's masterpiece In This House of Brede where the liturgical year is a continual background to the story.

“Don’t you see, it’s like a pageant. Our Cardinal has said the liturgy entertains as well as feeds us ... Yes, we’re not angels but humans," said Dame Clare, "and human nature is made so that it needs variety. The Church is like a wise mother and has given us this great cycle of the liturgical year with its different words and colours. You’ll see how you will learn to welcome the feast days and the saints’ days as they come round, each with a different story and, as it were, a different aspect; they grow very dear, though still exacting.”

Having unknowingly absorbed all that I suppose it is only fitting that I really enjoyed The Feasts. It covers the background and reasons for feast days, the liturgical calendar (and our calendar in general), and how these enrich our Christian lives. Even those of us who are well informed on the subject will find new information as well as good reminders of things we may have forgotten. For example this is supremely logical but just never occurred to me:

Sunday did not become simply a Christian version of the Sabbath. Christians were wary of enforcing a day of rest, as such enforcement had been turned on Jesus during his earthly ministry (see, for example, Mark 2:23-27). In any event, most Christians could not refrain from labor on Sunday because it was an ordinary workday in the Greco-Roman world.

Christian observance centered on the Mass, which was in most places offered very early in the morning (before work), but sometimes also in the evening (after work). ...

Certainly The Feasts is a worthy accompaniment to Cardinal Wuerl's and Mike Aquilina's previous two books, The Church and The Mass. Taken all together they provide a thorough, accessible, and much needed look at aspects of the Roman Catholic faith which seem very mysterious to outside eyes.

Tomorrow, I'll participate in the Blog Tour for this book by looking more closely at a particular feast. In this case, it will be that for The Holy Angels (which will surprise no one who is a regular reader of this blog).

Weekend Joke: Changing that Light Bulb

Because those are some of my favorite jokes, don't you know? Here are my favorites.

How many Proletarians does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None, the light bulb contains the seeds of its own revolution.

=====

How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

Only one but the light bulb has to want to change.

====

How many Boxers does it take to change a light bulb?

Doesn't matter. You can still play with the ball in the dark!

Cardinal Dolan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad St. Patrick's Day Parade

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is going to be the Grand Marshal of the next St. Patrick's Day parade in New York. Which was fine and dandy until the parade organizers decided to allow a LGBT group to march with a banner.

So now you'll see a wide variety of Catholics speaking up on whether Dolan should still be Grand Marshal. Which he is, by the way.

My initial question is this: wasn't this LGBT group always marching? Why does them having a banner suddenly make it immoral, according to some, for the Cardinal to participate? Why weren't they bringing this up before? In my view very little has changed. Banner or no banner, this group would have been very obvious to anyone attending. To my mind, this is a non-argument for this very reason.

There's also some discussion out there that since the St. Patrick's Day Parade isn't really a "Catholic" event that the Cardinal shouldn't participate. So if he's ever asked to throw out the first ball at Yankee Stadium he should turn that down too? Again, I understand the sentiment, but this makes no logical sense.

The Curt Jester has a post which sums up various responses around the web, including links. I don't necessarily agree with The Curt Jester's personal conclusion, but his post contains some of the wisest words on the tempest over Cardinal Dolan's participation in the St. Patrick's Day Parade:

Still what it comes down to is my prudential answer to the situation, did not match the Cardinal’s prudential answer to the situation. God is his great wisdom and mercy did not make me a priest or worse a bishop. ..."

Would that more of us kept that in mind when discussing the situation.

I myself keep recalling how many ways Christ participated in common life while people tried to use situations to judge him ... paying taxes, teaching at the Temple, attending a Pharisee's dinner, eating with tax collectors (both Matthew and Zachaeus), recruiting a tax collector as a disciple (that had to be one of the worst offenses, right?), and so forth.

All these actions could be seen as making a public statement for or against a big issue. It just depended on what group you belonged to and what group you were worried about. In fact, some of the situations were setups for traps based on that very concept.

I don't know if Cardinal Dolan's choice is right or wrong. (I really can see the validity of the arguments on both sides, although the venom some exhibit is not at all Christian.) I do know it's not my choice to make and stewing about it isn't going to change things.

(Side note: I'm also struck by what a small issue this is when I look at what people were complaining about in our bishops ten years ago, when I began blogging. Compared to the weak examples back then on issues like abortion, Dolan still comes out on the side of the angels.)

I'm not a cardinal and I thank God that I don't have to juggle all the factors he does in trying to serve God. In fact, I think all of you should also be thankful I'm not in a position of any real power. God definitely knew what He was doing with that one.

No matter whose side you think is right in this situation, let's pray for our our priests, our bishops, our Pope, and Cardinal Dolan.

Remembering the tragic, sudden, and violent loss of 2,996 innocent Americans

I guess it is a measure of how time softens blows that it was only as an afterthought I realized today would be September 11. That memory makes me reel a bit when I think of how powerful it was to visit the Flight 93 Memorial this summer.

I still have no better tributes than those I have from past years so I present this one here today.

I turn on the TV and watch as the plane slowly flies into the Tower.
Hail Mary, full of grace
My daughter wanders downstairs, shoes in hand,
Turns to look at what has me transfixed on a weekday morning.
The Lord is with thee.
"Where is that, Mommy?" she asks.
Blessed are you among women
"New York," I answer. She nods. The name is familiar,
Like Venus,
Like Mars
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
"Do we know anyone there?" Her eyes are blue and full of innocent concern.
Jesus.
"No," I answer, thinking of friends, family, business associates, safe here.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
She has seen the green glass tower where I work,
Tucked amongst taller builders.
Pray for us sinners
But a skyscraper in one city looks much like one in the next.
Now
"Where's the tallest building in the United States?"
And at the hour of our death.
"Chicago."
Amen.
My daughter looks relieved.

Written by March Hare, copied to my quote journal

I remember that day and how horrible it was.

I also remember the many accounts and how moved I was by the heroism showed by so many. Looking back through my accumulated links, it moves me still.

One of those heroes was Captain Daniel O'Callaghan, 42, Smithtown, N.Y., whose tribute I wrote for Project 2996. I am reposting Captain O'Callaghan's tribute today.

Other good links from previous tributes:

• Heather Ordover from CraftLit has one of the most moving memories of being in 9/11. She links to it in this 10 Years' Later piece where she ponders forgiveness.  You'll find it at Patheos.com too.
• Deacon Greg's Homily for Sunday, 9/11
• Four Ways to Brooklyn
• Simply Evil by Christopher Hitchins
• New York from French Sampler
• 9/11 Dwarfed the Films About It by Roger Ebert
• Twin Tower Cameos
• Never Forget
• The Worst Day
• On Being Half a World Away
• Remembering
• Whispers in the Loggia
• How Long Do Some Remember Historical Dates?
  
• Patheos' 9/11 stories

In which there are gemstones, treachery, insanity, and a rip-snorting roller coaster ride.

The penultimate episode of The People of the Mist shows that H. Rider Haggard saved the best for last. Holy mackerel, what a show! Hear it at Forgotten Classics.

Worth a Thousand Words: The Difficult Reply

Guy Rose, The Difficult Reply (also known as The Difficult Response), 1910

I discovered Guy Rose via Lines and Colors, as I have discovered so many wonderful artists. I really love Rose's use of vivid color and patterns. I feel as if I could step right into that room.

Weekend Joke: Boudreaux and Marie

My favorite Cajun and his wife, Marie, for your weekend humor.

Boudreaux and Marie were having their first fight, and it was a big one.

After a while, Boudreaux said, "When we got married, you promised to love, honor and obey."

Marie replied, "I know. But I didn't want to start an argument in front of all dem people at the wedding."