Worth a Thousand Words: Brown Hare

Brown Hare
taken by Remo Savisaar

The Other Papal Statement: Embracing Catholic Moral Theology the Day After a Gay Rights Parade in Rome

And now for something completely different. Let's take a glance at some mainstream news coverage of that other recent pronouncement by Pope Francis, the one that didn't get very much ink.

Why is that? Well, the problem is that the pope, in this case, warmly and publicly embraced a key element of Catholic moral theology linked to marriage and sexuality. This is not the sort of thing that ends up getting major play in major American newspapers.

Very interesting. Read all about it at GetReligion.

Blogging Around: The Leaked Encyclical Edition

In case you're curious, here are some good pieces.


12 Things to Know and Share - Jimmy Akin (via The Curt Jester). Everything from "what's an encyclical" to what happened to the journalist who leaked it to what you should believe.

10 Things That Won't Be In Pope Francis's Encyclical "Laudato Si" - Acts of the Apostasy (again via The Curt Jester). Which means it will be funny (#8 Indulgences will not be granted if you install solar panels on your house). There are some calming words of common sense included too.

Beware of Early Media Speculation - GetReligon

Pope Asks For Open Hearts - Vatican Radio (via The Deacon's Bench)

UPDATE
Here's the link to the final version at the Vatican website.

Seven Continents Book Challenge — UPDATED

Via Melanie Bettinelli, this seemed like fun.

Keep in mind that "favorite" is often a shifting term for me. I have a hard time pinning things down to one favorite.


1. What is your favourite book set in Europe? Who is your favourite European author?

Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger

J.R.R. Tolkien

2. What is your favourite book set in North America? Who is your favourite North American author?

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Can't really lock an author down as "favorite" — just for the moment let's go with Walter Tevis who wrote the truly amazing Mockingbird.

3. What is your favourite book set in South America? Who is your favourite South American author?

I got nuttin'.

UPDATE: Via J. Balconi at The House of Nonsense, I realized I actually have read a book setin South America — and I liked it! The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

4. What is your favourite book set in Asia? Who is your favourite Asian author?

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was which the author very kindly allowed me to read on Forgotten Classics.

Madhur Jaffrey

5. What is your favourite book set in Australasia? Who is your favourite antipodean author?

UPDATE: How can I have forgotten that The Rosie Project is both about a New Zealand couple and by a New Zealander, Graeme Simsion? So much so that we discussed the book on A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Father Paul Glynn who wrote A Song From Nagasaki and The Smile of a Ragpicker

6. Have you ever read, or do you know of, any books written by authors in Antarctica/ the Arctic?

UPDATED: Joseph at Zombie Parent's Guide points out "Brother Guy Consolmagno lived in the Antarctica for a while and I've read a book by him that partially covers his time there, though I don't think he wrote it while he was there." And I loved Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial by Brother Guy and Joseph Mueller.

And I had the honor of virtually meeting Brother Guy when he chose a book for A Good Story is Hard to Find discussion. So that's a double Antarctic connection!

7. Who are your favourite African authors & books set in Africa?

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Elspeth Huxley

I realize what this list really shows is how little actual fiction I read and how much genre / memoir / cookbook reading I do.

I regret nothing!

Your turn ...

Well Said: Keeping a Journal

Keeping a journal has taught me that there is not so much new in your life as you sometimes think. When you reread your journal you find out that your latest discovery is something you already found out five years ago. Still it is true that one penetrates deeper and deeper ito the same ideas and experiences.

Thomas Merton

That is certainly true in blog writing. I don't know how many times I've had an "original" idea for celebrating a saint's day only to find I already used the very picture and comment for several years running. One can only hope there is deeper penetration in my mind and soul!

Encountering Truth by Pope Francis

Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday by Pope Francis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A promise that comforts, a request for generosity, a mission to fulfill. This is how Jesus makes himself present in the life of a Christian. ...

Promise, request, mission. These three moments are found not only in an active life but also in prayer. First, "a prayer without a word of Jesus and without trust, without promise, is not a good prayer." Second, it is good to ask Jesus to help us be ready to leave something behind, and this gets us ready for the third moment, because there is no prayer in which Jesus does not inspire "something to do."

Early every morning, Pope Francis celebrates a personal sort of Mass in the small Saint Martha chapel at the Vatican. The audience is made up of gardeners, nuns, cooks, office workers, and always changes. What doesn't change is that the pope gives his homilies without notes just as he did when he was a parish priest. This book features highlights from almost 200 daily homilies covering a year from March 2013 to May 2014.

I was enthralled by Antonio Spadaro's introduction which has an in-depth look at how Pope Francis prepares, including what the pope thinks is important in contemplating and conveying the Word of God to the faithful. Spadaro also gives a "map" of the way Francis circles round various topics, engaging them from different angles as the liturgical readings progress day to day. That was a new idea for me, that to get a full sense of his teachings one must patiently look at them from day to day.

I have been reading these homilies as daily devotionals and can testify that the "circular" approach is true. As one works through the liturgy with Francis, one begins to see the way he backs up and tilts his head for different angles on the material we've heard so many times that we take it for granted.

The hunt for the only treasure that we can take with us into the life after life is a Christian's reason for being. It is the reason for being that Jesus explains to the disciples in the passage from the Gospel of Matthew: "Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." ...

"The Lord has made us restless so that we will seek him, find him, grow. But if our treasure is a treasure that is not near the Lord, that is not of the Lord, our heart becomes restless for things that are no good, for these other treasures ... So many people, we ourselves are restless ... To have this, to get that, and in the end our heart becomes tired; it is never satisfied; it becomes tired, lazy, a heart without love. The weariness of the heart. Let's think about that. ...

(I honestly never thought about St. Augustine's "restless until we rest in you" and "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Maybe it's obvious, but it wasn't to me.)

About halfway through I began expecting to be surprised with each homily, even if only by a throw away line that illustrated the main point. The surprise was good because it made me rethink issues, look deeper into myself, and learn to know God a little better.

To be honest, that's not usually the way I feel after reading Pope Francis's writing. So this is a rare find for me. (What can I say? Pope Benedict's style resonated with me from the get-go. It ain't Pope Francis's fault. I get that.)

These are pretty short, about a page and a half usually, and each has the references for the scriptural readings on which Francis was commenting.

This one's good for people who want to know Pope Francis better, need daily inspiration, want a good gift to give new Catholics, need to reinvigorate their relationship with God, and more. Definitely recommended.

Blogging Around: "The Arts" Edition

Oscar-winner Morricone composes Mass for pope, Jesuits

The Washington Post reports that Ennico Morricone is has composed a Mass, “Missa Papae Francisci," in honor of the 200th anniversary of the restoration the Jesuits.

Fantastic!

I notice they mention his score for The Mission but not for Fistful of Dollars or Once Upon a Time in the West.

If there isn't a harmonica in that Mass I'm going to be disappointed!

The Martian Viral Video

You may recall that I was a big fan of The Martian by Andy Weir, as is my husband who doesn't read much fiction but loved this audiobook.

So we've both been eagerly anticipating and simultaneously dreading the movie. Thus far the trailer seems to support the eager anticipation, which we could tell because it has spoilers galore. About a minute into in Tom started saying, "Too many spoilers! Stop!"

What's more fun is this viral video promo which introduces you to the crew before their mission to Mars begins. It is very much in keeping with the book where NASA keeps funding going by pushing mission news through every outlet they can.

Who wrote this amazing, mysterious book satirizing tech startup culture?

A mysterious little book called Iterating Grace is floating around San Francisco right now. At least a dozen people have received the book in the mail—or in my case, by secret hand-delivery to my house. (Which is a little creepy.)

The artifact itself consists of a 2,001-word story interspersed with hand-drawn recreations of tweets by venture capitalists and startup people like Chris Sacca, Paul Graham, Brad Feld, Sam Altman, and others.

The story’s lead character, Koons Crooks, goes on a spiritual quest by contemplating the social media feeds emanating from the startup world. It leads him to a Bolivian volcano and a chillingly hilarious final act with some cans of cat food, a DIY conference badge, and a pack of vicuñas (which are sort of like llamas).

I first heard about this in Robin Sloan's newsletter (the author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore who emails so rarely that I forgot who he was ... and I thank him for that lack of clutter in my inbox!).

But you can read about it and pick up a pdf version of the book here. As Sloan said, "P.P.S. If this really is viral marketing I'm going to be so mad."

Scott can't find a match for his Camels. Julie wants beer but all they've got is iced tea. Rose's little man ...

.
..  is warning her about teaming up with these two — even if it is to talk about Double Indemnity.

That's right, baby. It's you and me, straight down the line. Join us at A Good Story is Hard to Find for a discussion of one of Billy Wilder's most famous films.

Customer Experience happens… one way or the other.

We're all tired of corporations saying they want us to have an "excellent customer experience" ... and then putting us through the wringer.

Tom at General Glyphics has some advice about the "Customer Experience" strategy and how companies get it wrong.

My Interview at Big C Catholics

I am honored to be Matthew Coffin's "June Blog of Note" at Big C Catholics.

Matthew asked thoughtful questions on a variety of topics ranging from coincidence to answering the Church's detractors to what I've been reading lately. I had fun answering them and hope you enjoy reading the results!

Check it out!

Well Said: Life is this simple

Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.

Thomas Merton

I Didn't Know That: Small Sheep

Incidentally, although the Cistercians did much to improve the quality of sheep, the animal remained much smaller than its modern descendants; as late as the early eighteenth century a sheep wasn't much bulkier than a Labrador Dog.

Clarissa Dickson Wright,
The Medieval Larder in A History of English Food

On Small, Petty Men and Loving One Another

Mrs. Darwin wrote about a recent encounter that left her with the "wound that will not heal" — hatred toward an old lady who shrieked at her child in a restaurant.

As we were finishing up everything, William gave one more yip.

"Shut up!" screamed a lady from the card-playing table.

Our table froze in a collective horror. Finally I turned around and looked at the ladies. I stared each one in the face, and I hope I may never again see such coldness and hostility. ...

I stood up, seizing William out of his high chair and knocking over the glass of lemonade.

"I am sorry, " I said, in a voice that was not quite as controlled as I wanted it to be, "that a little child offends you."

The blue lady fidgeted. "He's been screaming ever since you brought him in," she said, gilding the patent falsehood with the very slightest defensive edge of explanation.

I repeated myself.

"Poor parenting skills," said the screamer, and the table tsked and murmured in agreement.

I've been on both sides of this situation. Luckily not as a screaming old lady, but there have definitely been times when I've been wincing at piercing shrieks and wishing that someone would take a child outside.

And I've been the mother of a small child when an old lady shrieked at her across the produce section because my little girl touched the twist ties container. I shrieked back at her, defending my child. My knee-jerk reaction is to lash out. (I'm getting better but that comes with age and Christianity, neither of which I had at the time like I do now!) We're just lucky it was late in the evening and we had relatively few witnesses.

In the days that followed her encounter, Mrs. Darwin was left struggling to bring her better self to the fore while being unexpectedly blind-sided by the hatred that would suddenly begin looping through her brain.

This is something that I struggle with. We all do.

It is part of the human experience.

We've all been wrong. That's the great joke.

In calm, intellectual moments it is easy to see that we are just as C.S. Lewis points out in The Great Divorce.

"Oh, of course, I'm wrong. Everything I say or do is wrong, according to you."

"But of course!" said the Spirit, shining with love and mirth so that my eyes were dazzled. "That's what we all find when we reach this country. We've all been wrong! That's the great joke. There's no need to go on pretending one was right! After that we begin living."

That doesn't always cut it when I'm suffering from the I-want-to-see-you-groveling-at-my-feet-and-begging-forgiveness scenarios that I concoct again and again.

The Middle Manager of My Soul

Luckily I have a loving husband who knows just what to say to restore a sense of proportion.

He once looked at me as I was mid-tirade and said, "'I'm a small, petty man, Bart.'" I stopped short, took it in, and we both completely cracked up.

Recovering, he said, "That's the problem with middle managers, you know. Sometimes they'll fight to the death for control over the most ridiculous things."

Bart: So, I guess the two things sorta cancel each other out, right?

Principal Skinner: I'm a small man in some ways, Bart. A small, petty man. Three months detention.

The Simpsons, The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Is it wrong to write that on a card so I can look at it when the anger gets too great? Because that's what I did.  If I don't make mild fun of the person who has harangued me, then it turns into something that can take over my brain and control me.

The person is almost never actually a middle manager. That's beside the point. As my husband says, "A bad middle manager is frustrated because they can't control the big picture. So they over-manage the things they can control."

It's both jolting and grounding to realize that 90% of the things that infuriate me are because someone is acting like a petty middle-manager, like Principal Skinner.

Without that card, I lose sight of a greater danger. I am also often being "a small, petty man." That quote cuts both ways. Bart is rarely completely innocent.

My life is better when I assume that people are doing their best.

Lately I've also been reflecting on something in Brené Brown's "Rising Strong." Brown was grappling with her feelings about someone whose behavior made my jaw drop when I read it.

Her therapist suggested that perhaps the offender was "doing the best she could." In typical researcher fashion Brown began asking this question of everyone she met. What she found tended to sort people into personality types until she thought to ask her husband.

"Do you think people are doing the best they can?" [...]

Steve said, "I don't know. I really don't. All I know is that my life is better when I assume that people are doing their best. It keeps me out of judgment and lets me focus on what is, and not what should or could be." His answer felt like truth to me. Not an easy truth, but truth.

His answer is one that opens the door for me to follow Jesus more closely: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. (John 13:34)

I don't know what someone is going through and they don't know what I'm going through. Only God knows. And how much has God had to forgive me? So very much.

It is only by continually fighting my worst impulses that I get a tiny glimpse of His point of view. Because I can't ignore the fact that, from His point of view, I also am doing my best ... even when I'm being hateful it's not because I set out to be malicious. (I wish I weren't but I can be just as hateful as the next person I will dislike for something.)

And I do strive for my "best" to become better. Just as on a different day the blue-haired lady and Mrs. Darwin may have been completely undisturbed by each other.

A really good prayer

My shorthand for all of the above when I am in such situations is to use a really good prayer, which I will repeat here.

Lord, have mercy on me and bless [insert name here].

Amen.

Well Said: Why I Am a Catholic

The difficulty of explaining “why I am a Catholic” is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. I could fill all my space with separate sentences each beginning with the words, “It is the only thing that…”

G.K. Chesterton, Why I Am a Catholic

As you may recall, last week The Anchoress asked why we stay Catholic. My answer was, like many, short and sweet.

Even as I wrote it I was aware that it was woefully inadequate. There were so many different things that added up to the whole: the Eucharist, millennium of thinking and logic and grace to draw upon, my brothers and sisters in Christ here and around the world ... and so much more.

Turns out Chesterton articulated my brief answer beautifully (of course).

His expansion on the subject is quite good also. Click through on the link to read the entire essay.

xkcd: Geeks and Nerds

Courtesy of xkcd

Believe it or not, this actually came up yesterday as Tom was crafting a work email.

Which led us to the natural question, "What's the difference between a geek and a nerd?

Hah! Geeked it!

Free Dracula Audiobook

I just wanted to give a heads up that Sync has a free download of the Naxos recording of Dracula.

If you ever thought you might listen to Dracula it is worth getting.

I'm about an hour and a half in and it is simply wonderful. And it opens one's eyes to more about the book itself. 

For example, listening to Jonathan Harker talk about his encounter with the vampiresses (yes, I'm positive it is a word), we get titillation (which is definitely there). But we also get an intimate look at how a vampire's victims feel, at why they would allow someone to get that close. 

The combination of sexual tension, fascination, and revulsion is really fascinating. It is skillfully done and makes me realize Stoker's craftsmanship with a wonderful story.

If you're not familiar with Sync, SFFaudio did a good post some time ago about how to download Overdrive.

This recording will only be available through Thursday so get it while the getting's good!

The Amazing Barn Owl

Bing.com always has some great image on the home page but today's very short video takes the cake.

Don't miss it. Simply amazing.

Well Said: The Suction of Story

Human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story. No matter how deep we dig in our heels, we just can't resist the gravity of alternate worlds.

Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal

Preach it!

Rising Strong by Brené Brown

Rising Strong by Brené Brown

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The physics of vulnerability is simple: If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall. The author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection tells us what it takes to get back up, and how owning our stories of disappointment, failure, and heartbreak gives us the power to write a daring new ending. Struggle, Brené Brown writes, can be our greatest call to courage, and rising strong our clearest path to deeper meaning, wisdom, and hope.

I scored this off of NetGalley. I was unsure how I'd feel about reading a Brene Brown book since I have only watched her TED Talks and listened to The Power of Vulnerability which is a series of workshop courses she gave.

I shouldn't have wondered. Brown's voice grabbed me from the moment I read the introduction. In fact, early in the book Brown's realization that "you can't skip Act 2" (a reference that will be clear if you read the book) was revelatory for my husband and me in a work situation that we're slogging through at the moment. It didn't change our point on the map, so to speak, so much as to point out where we were and that we weren't really lost in the Slough of Despond ... just working our way through it to Act 3.

I like the way Brown has our innate connection to storytelling as a parallel thread. On one hand, it defines ways we can recognize and recover from dangerous trajectories. On the other, just reading what she's found about us as storytelling beings hits a note that interested and connected with me.

The reason I only gave this three stars is that the last third of the book somehow felt very different, much more self-help oriented than what preceded it. Suddenly there were a lot of acronyms, bullet pointed lists to consider and work through, open ended questions to ask yourself, and a couple of case studies that seemed very unnecessary. My eyes glaze over at that sort of thing which is why I've enjoyed Brown's work so much before this. Now I haven't actually read one of her other books so she may have followed this pattern before. It may work for everyone else in which case the problem is mine alone.

At any rate, I still recommend the book. It allowed me to make a lot of connections in my own life between my behavior, internal logic, and how to avoid or recover personally from falling hard when taking a risk.

Worth a Thousand Words: Brown Bear

Brown Bear
taken by Remo Savisaar

I can't resist this. Who could? And it makes the perfect beginning to the week.