Worth a Thousand Words: Medieval Honey Bees

Medieval illustration from beekeeping manuscript
Via Animalarium where there is an antique treasure chest of illustrations for anyone who clicks through the link!

Well Said: The Path of Redemption

It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master; no path of redemption can make a detour around it.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

When I have this in mind it is so much easier to bear things that would otherwise really get me down. The challenge is often to keep it in mind instead of looking for that detour.

Well Said: Satan's Assurances

Before we commit a sin, Satan assures us that it is of no consequence; after we commit a sin, he persuades us that it is unforgivable.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Worth a Thousand Words: Water Spaniel

George Stubbs, Water Spaniel

Genesis Notes: Lot's Resume

I love these resumes. They pull together a Biblical figure's life in a way that gives me a whole new take sometimes.

Lot and his family flee from Sodom by Jacob Jordaens.
Jacob Jordaens

When still young, Lot lost his father. Although this must have been hard on him, he was not left without strong role models in his grandfather Terah and his uncle Abram, who raised him. Still, Lot did not develop their sense of purpose. Throughout his life he was so caught up in the present moment that he seemed incapable of seeing the consequences of his actions. It is had to imagine what his life would have been like without Abram's careful attention and God's intervention.

By the time Lot drifted out of the picture, his life had taken an ugly turn. He had so blended into the sinful culture of his day that he did not want to leave it. Then his daughters committed incest with him. His drifting finally took him in a very specific direction -- destruction.

Lot, however, is called "righteous" in the New Testament (2 Peter 2:7, 8). Ruth, a descendant of Moab, was an ancestor of Jesus, even though Moab was born as a result of Lot's incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. Lot's story gives hope to us that God forgives and often brings about positive circumstances from evil...

Strengths and accomplishments:

• He was a successful businessman
• Peter calls him a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7, 8)

Weaknesses and mistakes:

• When faced with decisions, he tended to put off deciding, then chose the easiest course of action
• When given a choice, his first reaction was to think of himself

Lessons from his life:

• God wants us to do more than drift through life; he wants us to be an influence for him

Vital statistics:

• Where: Lived first in Ur of the Chaldeans, then moved to Canaan with Abram. Eventually he moved to the wicked city of Sodom.
• Occupation: Wealthy sheep and cattle rancher; also a city official
• Relatives: Father - Haran. Adopted by Abram when his father died. The name of his wife, who turned into a pillar of salt, is not mentioned.

Key verse:
"When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them." (Genesis 19:16)

Lot's story is told in Genesis 11-14; 19. He also is mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:9; Luke 17:28-32; 2 Peter 2:7, 8.

All quotes from Life Application Study Bible. 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: Japan Mail Steamship Co.

Japan Mail Steamship Co., via BibliOdyssey

Title: Nippon Yusen Kaisha = Japan Mail Steamship Co. [Three ukiyo-e women]
Description: Three Ukiyoe women in kimono standing at the shore
Subject (Company): Nihon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha 日本郵船株式会社

Well Said: Finding Peace

Great peace is found in little busy-ness.

Chaucer

Yes. When I remember to do the little things it helps the big problems recede.

Leek and Potato Soup

This seems like a basic soup but James Beard's flavoring makes it something out of the ordinary.

Well Said: A continual remembrance

Food is the daily sacrament of unnecessary goodness, ordained for a continual remembrance that the world will always be more delicious than it is useful.

Robert Farrar Capon

Yes indeed. Which makes the modern tendency to slam down a meal as fuel all the more deplorable. We all do it from time to time. The trick is to be sure that we are mindful. That we do not make it a habit. That we appreciate the goodness available to us, thanks to the sheer generosity and goodness of God who wants us to have something delicious.

Worth a Thousand Words: Beragmo Window

Beragmo Window, Belinda Del Pesco

Well Said: I came in on my knees. That is the only way in.

I never came into the church as a person who was being taught. I came in on my knees. That is the only way in. When people start praying they need truths; that’s all. You don’t come into the Church by ideas and concepts, and you cannot leave by mere disagreement. It has to be a loss of faith, a loss of participation. You can tell when people leave the Church: they have quit praying.

Actively relating to the Church's prayer and sacraments is not done through ideas. Any Catholic today who has an intellectual disagreement with the Church has an illusion. You cannot have an intellectual disagreement with the Church: that's meaningless. The Church is not an intellectual institution. It is a superhuman institution.

Marshall McLuhan, The Medium and the Light

Two Italian Hotheads and Jesus

I reviewed this over 10 years ago and, just having reread it for an upcoming podcast conversation, thought I'd rerun the review for those who missed it the first time around. 

THE LITTLE WORLD OF DON CAMILLO 

by Giovanni Guareschi

You would be hard pressed to find a more charming book anywhere than this set of short stories.

Set in a small Italian village soon after World War II, we see the priest Don Camillo repeatedly come up against his sworn enemy Peppone. Peppone is an atheist who is the head of the local Communist party and, therefore, against Christianity. Both are hotheads who are inclined to solve problems with their fists and the occasional Tommy gun before turning to more peaceful measures. One soon learns that both men quarrel because they are so much alike that neither will give way and that, when push comes to shove, they will work together for the common good.

Whenever Don Camillo is in over his head, he talks to Christ on the crucifix in his church. We get to hear Christ's wise advice and his occasional, necessary words of reproval as Don Camillo goes about shepherding the souls of the village. In this scene the local communists have threatened to shoot anyone who participates in a scheduled religious procession.

... Don Camillo found the square as bare as a billiard ball.

"Are we going now, Don Camillo?" asked Christ from above the altar. "The river must be beautiful in this sunshine. I'll enjoy seeing it."

"We're going all right," replied Don Camillo. "But I am afraid that this time I shall be the entire procession. If You can put up with that..."

"Where there is Don Camillo he is sufficient in himself," said Christ smiling.

Don Camillo hastily put on the leather harness with the support for the foot of the cross, lifted the enormous crucifix from the altar and adjusted it in the socket. Then he sighed: "All the same, they need not have made this Cross quite so heavy."

"You're telling Me!" replied the Lord smiling. "And I never had shoulders such as yours."

A few moments later Don Camillo, bearing his enormous crucifix, emerged solemnly from the door of the church. The village was completely deserted; people were cowering in their houses and watching through the cracks of the shutters.

"I must look like one of those friars who used to carry a big black cross through villages smitten by the plague," said Don Camillo to himself. Then he began a psalm in his ringing baritone, which seemed to acquire volume in the silence.

After crossing the Square he began to walk down the main street, and here again was emptiness and silence. A small dog came out of a side street and began quietly to follow Don Camillo.

"Go away!" muttered Don Camillo.

"Let it alone," whispered Christ from His Cross. "Then Peppone won't be able to say that not even a dog walked in the procession."

The street curved and then came the lane that led to the river bank. Don Camillo had no sooner turned the bend when he found the way unexpectedly obstructed.

Two hundred men had collected and stood silently across it with folded arms. In front of them stood Peppone, his hands on his hips.

Don Camillo wished he were a tank. But since he could only be Don Camillo, he advanced until he was within a yard of Peppone and then halted. Then he lifted the enormous crucifix from its socket and raised it in his hands, brandishing it as though it were a club.

"Lord," cried Don Camillo. "Hold on tight; I am going to strike!"

But there was no need, because the men scattered before him and the way lay open. Only Peppone, his arms akimbo and his legs wide apart, remained in the middle of the road. Don Camillo put the crucifix back in its socket and marched straight at him and Peppone moved to one side.

"I'm not shifting myself for your sake, but for His," said Peppone, pointing to the crucifix.

"Then take that hat off your head!" replied Don Camillo without so much as looking at him. Peppone pulled off his hat, and Don Camillo marched solemnly through two rows of Peppone's men.

When he reached the river bank he stopped. "Lord," said Don Camillo in a loud voice, "if the few decent people in this filthy village could build themselves a Noah's Ark and float safely upon the waters, I would ask You to send a flood that would break down this dike and submerge the whole countryside. But as these few decent folk live in brick houses exactly like those of their rotten neighbors, and as it would not be just that the good should suffer for the sins of scoundrels like Mayor Peppone and his gang of Godless brigands, I ask You to save this countryside from the river's waters and to give it every prosperity."

"Amen," came Peppone's voice from just behind him.

"Amen," came the response of all the men who had followed the crucifix.

Don Camillo set out on the return journey and when he reached the doorway of the church and turned around so that Christ might bestow a final blessing upon the distant river, he found standing before him: the small dog, Peppone, Peppone's men and every inhabitant of the village, not excluding the druggist, who was an atheist, but who felt that never in his life had he dreamed of a priest like Don Camillo, who could make even the Eternal Father quite tolerable.

At first because of the format and simplicity of some of the stories I mistakenly thought that these were simply light hearted tales, featuring simplistic morality. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, the simplicity is deceptive and the problems that the characters must solve are often true to life and painful.

Did I mention that Guareschi did his own illustrations for the stories? They are charming.

There are so many good moments that I could post the entire book. However, I will leave you with this additional lengthy excerpt which answers the question of whether praying for your favorite team to win works or not. Christ's fondness for his priest even when he has done the wrong thing makes me smile and this is a good example.

Don Camillo was bewildered. He ran off to the church and knelt in front of the altar. "Lord," he said, "why did You fail me? I have lost the match."

"And why should I help you more than the others?

Your men had twenty-two legs and so had the Dynamos, Don Camillo, and all legs are equal. Moreover, they are not My business. I am interested in souls. Don Camillo, where are your brains?"

"I can find them with an effort," said Don Camillo. "I was not suggesting that You should have taken charge of my men's legs, which in any case were the best of the lot. But I do say that You did not prevent that dishonest referee from calling an unjust foul against my team."

"The priest can make a mistake in saying Mass, Don Camillo; why do you deny that others can make a mistake and yet be in good faith?"

"Errors happen in most circumstances, but not in sport! When the ball is actually there ... Binella the clock-maker is a scoundrel ..." Don Camillo was unable to go on because at that moment he heard an imploring voice and a man came running into the church, exhausted and gasping, his face convulsed with terror.

"They want to kill me," he sobbed. '"Save me!"

The crowd had reached the church door and was about to pour into the church itself. Don Camillo seized a weighty candlestick, and brandished it menacingly. "Back! In God's name or I strike!" he shouted. Remember that anyone who enters here is sacred and immune!" The crowd hesitated.

"Shame on you, you pack of wolves! Get back to your lairs and pray God to forgive you your savagery."

The crowd stood in silence, heads were bowed and there was a general retreat.

"Make the sign of the cross," Don Camillo ordered them severely, and as he stood there brandishing the candlestick in his huge hand, he looked like Samson.

Everyone made the sign of the cross.

Don Camillo stood back and closed the church door, drawing the bolt, but there was no need. The fugitive had sunk into a pew and was still panting. "Thank you, Don Camillo," he murmured.

Don Camillo made no immediate reply. He paced to and fro for a few moments and then pulled up opposite the man. "Binella!" he said furiously. "Binella, here in my presence and that of God you dare not lie! There was no foul! How much did that heretic Peppone give you to call a foul in a tied game?"

"Two thousand five hundred lire."

"M-m-m-m!" roared Don Camillo, thrusting his fist under his victim's nose.

"But then ..." moaned Binella.

"Get out," bawled Don Camillo, pointing to the door.

Alone again, Don Camillo turned toward Christ. "Didn't I tell You that the swine had sold himself? Haven't I a right to be mad?"

"None at all, Don Camillo," replied Christ. "You started it when you offered Binella two thousand lire to do the same thing. When Peppone bid five hundred lire more, Binella accepted."

Don Camillo raised his hands. "Lord," he said, "but looking at it that way makes me the guilty man!"

"Exactly, Don Camillo. When you, a priest, made the first offer, he assumed it wasn't wrong and then, quite naturally, he took the more profitable bid."

Don Camillo bowed his head. "And do You mean to tell me that if that unhappy wretch gets beaten up by my men, it will be my fault?"

"In a certain sense, yes, because you were the first to lead him into temptation. Nevertheless, your sin would have been greater if Binella, accepting your offer, had agreed to cheat on behalf of your team. Because then the Dynamos would have done the beating up, and you would have been powerless to stop them."

Don Camillo reflected awhile. "In fact," he said, "it works out better that the others won."

"Exactly, Don Camillo."

"Then, Lord," said Don Camillo,'"I thank You for having let me lose. And if I say that I accept the defeat as a punishment for my dishonesty, You must believe that I am really penitent. Because, to see a team like mine, who could easily swallow and digest a couple of thousand Dynamos, to see them beaten ... is enough to break one's heart, and cries for vengeance to God!"

"Don Camillo!" Christ admonished him, smiling.

"You don't understand me," sighed Don Camillo. "Sport is a thing apart. Either one cares or one doesn't. Do I make myself clear?"

"Only too clear. I understand you so well that ... Come now, when are you going to get your revenge?"

Don Camillo leaped to his feet, his heart swelling with delight. "Six to nothing!" he shouted. "Six to nothing that they never even see the ball! Do You see that confessional?"

He flung his hat up in the air, caught it with a neat kick as it dropped and sent it like a thunderbolt into the little window of the confessional.

"Goal!" said Christ, smiling.

Well Said: I am not what I ought to be

I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.

John Newton

Worth a Thousand Words: Femme à la Marguerite

Femme à la Marguerite, Jane Atché (1872-1937)
via French Painters

Well Said: Correct Morals

Correct morals come from knowing what Man is — not what do-gooders and well-meaning old Aunt Nellies would like him to be.

Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Trooper

Genesis Notes: A Man of the Covenant

GENESIS 18 & 19
Abraham is very hospitable to the three strangers here as is Lot later on. Whenever a stranger comes to my door, I try to keep in mind that it might be an angelic encounter just like theirs. It helps temper a lot of the "temper" I might otherwise display! Life Application Study Bible tells about hospitality in Abraham's time.

Abraham and the Three Visitors by Marc Chagall

... In Abraham's day, a person's reputation was largely connected to his hospitality -- the sharing of home and food. Even strangers were to be treated as highly honored guests. Meeting another's need for food and shelter was and still is one of the most immediate and practical ways to obey God. It is also a time-honored relationship builder. Hebrews 13:2 suggests that we, like Abraham, might actually entertain angels. This thought should be on our minds the next time we have the opportunity to meet a stranger's needs.

There is a highly symbolic understanding to the three men's visit. I never noticed before all the little hints that help show what is really happening on a spiritual level.

Note: "This new appearance of God to Abraham is somewhat mysterious: the three men stand for God. When Abraham speaks to them, sometimes he addresses them in the singular (as if there were only one person there: cf. vs. 3), and sometimes in the plural (as if there were three: cf. v. 4). That is why some Fathers interpreted this appearance as an early announcement of the mystery of the Holy Trinity; others, following Jewish tradition (cf. Heb. 13:2) take these personages to be angels. The sacred text says that one of the three men (Yahweh, apparently) stays with Abraham (cf. v. 22), while the other two, who are referred to as angels, go to Sodom (cf. 19:1)." (Navarre Bible: Pentateuch; Princeton, NJ: Scepter Publishers, 1999; p. 103-104)

I remember hearing this story of Abraham "bargaining" with God for the righteous men's lives in Sodom. Never understood it very well, until now, that is. I love the idea that Abraham is concerned about God's character and that God uses bargaining to help Abraham understand Him better. Very Middle Eastern isn't it?

Interestingly, as Abraham considers what God has told him, his primary concern is about God's character. He does not want to believe that God would allow those who live righteously (and surely he is thinking of Lot and his family) to suffer the same fate as those who live wickedly. This kind of treatment of men by God would suggest that He is not just ("Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" vs. 25). Abraham seems to comprehend in a flash that if the Creator of the world is not just, men are in very serious trouble ("Far be it from Thee to do such a thing....Far be that from Thee!" vs. 25). Why? Because if the Creator is not just, then there is no difference between right and wrong. If God does not reward righteousness and punish wickedness, men can and will do whatever they want. The alternative to justice is chaos.

This protest from Abraham reveals him to be a man who believes that God is just and that He can be expected to deal justly with men. In effect, what he is saying is, "God, You are not really like that!" It is his confidence in God's true character that makes him bold to make his appeal.

To allow the presence of righteous people in a city to spare judgment of the wicked in that same city is an
example of how justice and mercy meet. What a powerful moment this is in redemption history! We should get down on our knees when we read it. It is from human lips that the outline of our salvation is first established in Scripture. Father Abraham, God's covenant-keeper, raises the possibility that righteousness can be so powerful that it spares judgment on those who deserve it. This is not a violation of justice. Rather, it is a statement of the superabundant merit of righteousness. Abraham acknowledges that the wicked deserve to be punished, but he opens the door to the possibility that the righteous can fill up what is lacking in the wicked, thereby saving them.

And God accepts it!

Abraham perhaps realizes that the number of righteous people in Sodom may be very small. He is probably thinking of Lot's family and maybe a few others. He carefully works the numbers down to see how merciful God is and how powerful righteousness is. He stops at ten. The reality is, of course, that ultimately it is the perfect righteousness of one Man, God's own Son, who saves the whole world! As St. Paul writes, "Then, as one man's [Adam] trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." (Rom. 5:18-19)

If Abraham is an example of someone who keeps a covenant with God, then we are supposed to follow his example. Kind of a sobering thought. He has shown us several lesssons:

1. Covenant-keepers should occasionally expect to be visited by God in "disguise." Energetic hospitality is the proper response to these visits. Sometimes He may come to us "hidden" in a family member, a coworker, or a stranger in need. Abraham's respect for and self-donation on behalf of his three visitors show us the way to receive Him.
2. Covenant-keepers can expect that sometimes God will ordain circumstances in our lives that are meant to be occasions for Him to reveal His nature to us. These circumstances will cause us to examine what we believe about God - Who He is and how He acts in the world. Covenant-keepers will defend God's character against accusations or doubts (even when they come from within), just as Abraham did.
3. Covenant-keepers should see themselves as God's co-workers, just as God described Abraham as one through whom the whole earth will be blessed. We should be prepared to pray as intercessors for those who are in need of God's mercy. Abraham's prayer for Lot meant that already God was keeping His covenant promise to him of making him a "blessing" (19:29). Our prayers for others fulfill God's promise to us to make us a "royal priesthood." As St. Peter writes: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy." (1 Pet. 2:9-10)
4. Covenant-keepers should be as bold and as humble as Abraham was before God.

All quotes from Life Application Study Bible. 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.

Lagniappe: Meeting my cat away from home

My cat does not know me when we meet a block away from home, and I gather from his expression that I'm not supposed to know him either.

Guy Davenport

Worth a Thousand Words: On the Menu

On the Menu by Edward B. Gordon

Lagniappe: Texans' Self Evident Truths

We Texans hold certain truths to be self-evident: Davy Crockett was the most fearless freedom fighter who ever lived, Buddy Holly was the greatest rock 'n' roller, the Dallas Cowboys are America's Team, and the best barbecue in the world is pit-smoked in Taylor, Lockhrt, Bastrop, Elgin, and Luling, along the Central Texas Barbecue Belt.

Texas Monthly 1992

Worth a Thousand Words: Misses Solomon

Misses Solomon, Anders Zorn