Well Said: God is not susceptible to proofs and disproofs

Anyway, God is not susceptible to proofs and disproofs. If you believe, the evidence is all around you. If you don’t believe, no evidence can be enough.

Andrew Klavan, The Great Good Thing:

A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ

Worth a Thousand Words: Snow Light

Snow Light
by The French Sampler

Punk rocker describes his return to Catholicism

Terry Chimes, the drummer for The Clash, has written a book about returning to Catholicism.

Chimes describes stumbling across a copy of CS Lewis’s book Mere Christianity at a car boot sale in 1998 and reading about Lewis’s analysis of the sin of pride.

Chimes said: “There was a chapter entitled The Great Sin. The great sin is pride, the tendency we all have to think we are better than someone else. I had always known that pride existed but wondered why it’s referred to as the great sin. That was until I realised the significance of pride as an obstacle to spiritual growth.

“The problem with pride is that those who have the most see it the least. CS Lewis said that if you have done some good works, read some spiritual books, perhaps practiced meditation or given up drinking and you take pride in that, thinking that you are more spiritual than someone else, then Satan will rub his hands with glee, because he will have caught you in a spiritual trap from which escape is very difficult.”

He continued: “As I read those words I had the chilling awareness that I have been in just such a trap for twenty years. I put the book down and went to sit on the sofa. I was reeling from the realisation that I’d been in a trap for all of that time. Within minutes I was having the most extraordinary experience of my life.”

Read the whole article in The Catholic Herald. It was also C.S. Lewis who said in Surprised by Joy:

In reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. . . . God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.

Indeed.

A Daily Defense by Jimmy Akin

A Daily Defense: 365 Days (plus one) to Becoming a Better Apologist
by Jimmy Akin

The history of Christianity is one of debate. As the gospels reveal, Jesus was challenged right from the start. Rival schools like the Pharisees and Sadducees posed pointed questions to him, trying to trap him in his words and even to get him in trouble with the authorities. ...

Our world is very different from the one in which Jesus lived, but the more things change, the more they stay the same. If people posed challenges to Jesus, they will do so to us as well.

I'm really glad I received a review copy of this book because otherwise I probably wouldn't have picked it up. This excellent book provides an easy daily reminder of our beliefs and how to defend and explain them. Each day presents a challenge to the Catholic faith, a (one-sentence) defense, and an explanation of the belief. Sometimes there is also a final one-sentence tip which may range from a cogent summary to a reading recommendation to directing the reader to a related page with a different wrinkle on the topic.

Some of the objections are that I just don't encounter such as "Matthew's genealogy of Jesus omits some generations and thus is wrong" or "The Bible originally taught reincarnation, but the relevant passages were struck out by the Council of Nicaea." For me the answers to these are academic, but interesting.

Many, though, are those I am familiar with. I love the way that Akin's defense statements often turn my usual thoughts on the subject into a new direction. The explanations are thorough and often include information or positions I wouldn't have thought of. And I thought I knew a lot about how to explain some of these topics.

Highly recommended.

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy: A Notable Story of Redemption and Joy

This is one of my favorites by one of my favorite authors. This review ran back in 2007 and I'm rerunning it since a lot of Rumer Godden's titles have just been released for the Kindle. Get this one and In This House of Brede (my favorite) and maybe also China Court. You won't be sorry.

Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy

by Rumer Godden

"I took Vivi home." Why? Lise had asked herself a thousand times. "There's a little church in England," she told Soeur Marie Alcide, "at Southleigh in Oxfordshire, which has an old, old mural painting showing a winged Saint Michael holding the scales of justice. The poor soul awaiting judgment is quailing because the right-hand scale is coming heavily down with its load of sins: but on the left our Lady is quietly putting her rosary beads in the other scale to make them even. I saw it long ago, but in a way I suppose something like that happened to me.

"It happened to me," and Lise started to tremble. "How did Vivi come to have those beads?" Lise asked that for the thousandth time. "She wouldn't say. She never said ..."

Now, in the cafe, Lise seemed to hear Soeur Marie Alcide's firm voice. "Put it behind you. That is one of our first rules. You will probably never see Vivi again." and, "It's time you caught your train," Lise told Lise.

This is an inspiring tale of conversion and redemption told in flashback sequence. We meet Lise when she is being released from prison where she has served her term for murder. She is going to join an order that ministers to those on the fringes of society. Through Lise's thoughts, we watch her go from being a young WWII staffer in Paris, become seduced by a man who has a brothel and eventually turns her into a prostitute where later on she becomes the manager. The reasons behind the murder become clear as the threads come together again in the people around Lise in current time.

The first third of the book can be tough to read as Godden is devastatingly emotionally honest as always. Despite the fact that much of the book takes place in a brothel the words used are unobjectionable so one needn't worry about that. As I read, I suddenly realize that I must have tried this book at least once before but always stopped as it was too painful. However, I was selling the book short by never pressing on as the last two-thirds took an upward swing that surprised and enchanted me.

Throughout it is strung the rosary, sometimes in surprising ways and always as a pointer toward action to be taken. Interestingly, Lise doesn't even enjoy saying the rosary but it is somehow integral to her journey of faith despite that. She cannot seem to escape it no matter how she might try.

I didn't realize how integral the rosary was to the book until I was very far into it. After I finished the book and thought about it over the next few days, I wondered about the title. What did it mean? Suddenly it came to me. Five [mysteries] for sorrow, ten [mysteries] for joy. It reflects the rosary itself. Reading the book with that foreknowledge might yield even more riches. I will have the opportunity to find out as I definitely will return to this book.

It was a revelation to the aspirants that the sisters, some of them elderly impressive nuns, filled with quiet holiness, should publicly admit their faults. Could Soeur Imelda de Notre Dame, that calm saintly person, really have snapped sharply at anyone? Could Soeur Marie Dominique have lost her temper? "Then do you go on being you until the very end?" they could have moaned. "Even after all this trying and training?" "Always," Soeur Theodore would have told them. ...

Fake News, The BBC, and Pope Piux XII

In a significant finding, the British Broadcasting Corporation has conceded that in their main evening news bulletin, seen by millions, it falsely described the Church as being ‘silent’ in the face of Nazism and that it has not reported correctly on the Church’s opposition to Hitler.

The finding was made by the BBC’s internal watchdog after Father Leo Chamberlain and I jointly lodged a complaint. Chamberlain, a Benedictine, is a historian and former headmaster of Ampleforth College.

The broadcast was made last July during a visit to Auschwitz by Pope Francis. The reporter stated as fact that, “Silence was the response of the Catholic Church when Nazi Germany demonized Jewish people and then attempted to eradicate Jews from Europe.”

No one who has read Church of Spies is surprised by the truth that the Church was not "silent" and gave the Nazis quite a bit of opposition. But that's the way it goes with even the most prestigious news organizations these days. They can be just as liable to perpetuate fake news and propaganda as everyone else.

Here is what it takes to make people report the real news — dogged determination. In the immortal words of Galaxy Quest, never give up, never surrender!

Read it all at Crux.

(Thanks to Scott Danielson for the heads up on this.)

Well Said: Show me

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint on broken glass.

Anton Chekov

Worth a Thousand Words: Quenching Thirst

Quenching Thirst
by Remo Savisaar

Well Said: The moral disaster of losing good manners

Good manners depended on paying moral attention to others; it required one to treat them with complete moral seriousness, to understand their feelings and their needs.

... How utterly shortsighted we had been to listen to those who thought that manners were a bourgeois affectation, an irrelevance, which need no longer be valued. A moral disaster had ensued, because manners were the basic building block of a civil society. They were the method of transmitting the message of moral consideration.

In this way an entire generation had lost a vital piece of the moral jigsaw and now we saw the results: a society in which nobody would help, nobody would feel for others; a society in which aggressive language and insensitivity were the norm.

Alexander McCall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club

Worth a Thousand Words: Sewing

Sewing (1898), William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Last Testament: In His Own Words by Pope Benedict XVI

Last Testament: In His Own Words by Pope Benedict XVI

I actually preordered this by accident or I'd never have read it. As it turns out, I'm glad I did.

Journalist Peter Seewald continues the interview format that he used for his previous books with Pope Benedict XVI. This book serves not only as Pope Benedict's last testament but as a good overview of his entire life. I was interested in reading about the decision to step down as pope and what Benedict's life has been like since.

I was much less interested in his life story but am glad that I read it because it gave me a much better understanding of his journey in faith. I never realized that as a young man Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) was a progressive who was considered possibly dangerous and who was good friends with Hans Kung. Ultimately Ratzinger chose to adhere closely to the liturgy in his zeal to bring the church into better touch with modern times. And that has made all the difference.

I wasn't familiar with some of the theologians or controversies which Seewald kept coming back to. However, even in reading about those one gets a look at Pope Benedict and how he approaches conflict.

Very interesting overall, a super fast read, and I found it ultimately inspiring.

Something Delicious: Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

Pick it up at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Worth a Thousand Words: December in Provence

Henry Herbert La Thangue (1859–1929), December in Provence

Genesis Notes: Abram's Practicality

GENESIS 13
When Abram gives Lot the first choice of land, we begin to see not only his generosity but his wisdom. Abram is willing to put family peace above what he might want personally. We also see that there is a bigger lesson about wealth being taught here.

The Parting of Lot and Abraham mosaic from Santa Maria Maggiore

Abram's wealth meant that he and Lot could not dwell together on the land. This created strife in the family, which leads to a separation. It is worth taking note that this first mention of great wealth in the Scripture is associated with unhappiness and lack of peace. This will become a constant theme in the rest of Scripture. It is no surprise, then, when Jesus tells His followers not to bother laying up treasures on earth. If the heart of man is so closely connected to his treasures, better that he should build treasures in heaven, where there can be no threat to happiness or peace (see Matt. 6:19-21).

This also is a continuation of what God showed Noah through the rainbow, the use of physical things as sacraments.

If Abram's descendants were ever to become a "great nation," as God had promised, the first thing they would need was land. Tribes of people without land of their own remain just that-tribes of people. God told Abram to take a good look at the land itself. This was the concrete reality that lay before his eyes. The land was real to him; the promise of descendants to fill it was still a hope, which depended entirely on God's trustworthiness. This is reminiscent of God's use of the rainbow with Noah. He uses here a concrete reality within nature as a sign of His promise to act. In the Church, God continues to do this in the sacraments.

Abram may have been thinking the same kind of thoughts we think when we approach a sacrament. "All I see here is land-dirt, rocks, bushes. God says this will be the home of my great nation. I don't have any kids, and my wife is barren. Can I really believe this?" In the sacraments, we are always faced with these very human questions. "This is just water on a baby's head. Is this child really being washed from original sin and given the Holy Spirit?" "This looks and tastes like bread and wine. Can I really believe that I am eating the Body and Blood of the Lord and that it will give me eternal life?" When we think those thoughts, we are much like Abram, walking through that desert land, pondering the promises of God. That is why his response will be of interest to us.

All quotes from Genesis, Part II: God and His Family. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Worth a Thousand Words: Chrysanthemums

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chrysanthemums
via Arts Everyday Living

Well Said: To every life there eventually came a moment when one had to accept the fact that the future was entirely out of one's hands

In the morning when Mrs. Pollifax awoke she realized at once that a fateful day was beginning. She lay and thought about this dispassionately, almost wonderingly, because to every life there eventually came a moment when one had to accept the fact that the shape, the pattern, the direction of the future was entirely out of one's hands, to be decided unalterably by chance, by fate or by God. There was nothing to do but accept, and from this to proceed, doing the very best that could be done.

Dorothy Gilman, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax

I've been listening to The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, which is the first in the series about the grandmother who becomes a CIA spy. It's been a real pleasure revisiting a beloved character anew through Barbara Rosenblat's excellent narration. When I was young my mother would bring home the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries from the grocery store and it would get passed around. We all enjoyed Mrs. Pollifax's personality and ingenuity, as well as the author's talent for weaving a spy novel with a light touch.

I reread these so many times that the plot is coming back to me, several decades later, but it doesn't diminish my enjoyment.

Lisa Nicholas's Omniblog

New website alert - Lisa A. Nicholas who has her fingers in a lot of pies but most especially in Catholic writing and editing has launched a new website. Of most interest to me is her Omniblog which gathers all her blog posts from various sites. Check it out!

Worth a Thousand Words: Snowball

Snowball
taken by the incomparable Remo Savisaar

Living in Texas, the trees are just beginning to hit full color and we're hitting our first cold weather. Not only is this little fellow adorable but the snow on the branch reminds me that winter is in full swing in some places.

Well Said: Love can be hated when it challenges us.

God is love. But love can also be hated when it challenges us to transcend ourselves. It is not a romantic “good feeling.” Redemption is not “wellness,” it is not about basking in self-indulgence; on the contrary it is a liberation from imprisonment in self-absorption. This liberation comes at a price: the anguish of the Cross. The prophecy of light and that of the Cross belong together.

Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives

Lagniappe: Nature was absorbed in making cabbages when Mrs. Vesey was born

Some of us rush through life, and some of us saunter through life. Mrs. Vesey SAT through life. Sat in the house, early and late; sat in the garden; sat in unexpected window-seats in passages; sat (on a camp-stool) when her friends tried to take her out walking; sat before she looked at anything, before she talked of anything, before she answered Yes, or No, to the commonest question — always with the same serene smile on her lips, the same vacantly- attentive turn of the head, the same snugly-comfortable position of her hands and arms, under every possible change of domestic circumstances. A mild, a compliant, an unutterably tranquil and harmless old lady, who never by any chance suggested the idea that she had been actually alive since the hour of her birth. Nature has so much to do in this world, and is engaged in generating such a vast variety of co-existent productions, that she must surely be now and then too flurried and confused to distinguish between the different processes that she is carrying on at the same time. Starting from this point of view, it will always remain my private persuasion that Nature was absorbed in making cabbages when Mrs. Vesey was born, and that the good lady suffered the consequences of a vegetable preoccupation in the mind of the Mother of us all.

Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

My favorite Wilkie Collins' book is The Moonstone, especially because it is so funny, but The Woman in White also has touches of Wilkie Collins' humor. The passage above is a favorite of mine.