Books In the Pipeline

I just realized that between podcasts and my book club I've got a lot of varied reading coming up. I would say this interferes with my 2017 book goals but I tossed them out the window about a month ago.

I'd kind of forced the list this year just because I'd done a reading goals in previous years. Note to self - no need to force a reading list. The books will come to you anyway. And the reading will be both varied and wonderful.

This is my "assigned" reading for the next few months.  (Title links go to my reviews.)

• THE ROSIE PROJECT - rereading this for my Catholic women's book club. Proof that a book can be light and fun and still say something meaningful.
  
  
• THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - it's been years since I've read this one. It's Scott's selection for our next book on A Good Story is Hard to Find.
  
  
• DRACULA - rereading for SFFaudio podcast. I love this book so much. So. much.
  
  
• BURGLARS CAN'T BE CHOOSERS - also for SFFaudio. Never read it but Lawrence Block's "burglar" series is supposed to be good.
  
  
• NOSTRA AETATE (Vatican II doc: The Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) - Catholic women's book club choice. The Vatican II documents are surprisingly easy reading.
  
  
• A TALE OF TWO CITIES - the book that introduced me to Dickens as an adult. This will be my next book choice for A Good Story is Hard to Find.
  
  
• THE MALTESE FALCON - the movie's good but the book is better. This one's also for SFFaudio.

Elements of Faith book club - live in Dallas? Join us!

A Good Story is Hard to Find

SFFaudio

A short interview about Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life

In this short Interview Extra, Scott sits down with Julie to discuss her new book Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life: Prayers and Reflections for Getting Closer.

Hear it at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Well Said: The Marvels of Rome and the Length of Human Memory

One of the marvels of Rome is that the traditional portraits of St. Peter and St. Paul have been preserved in the catacombs, and every artist who has painted the two Apostles owes something to this tradition. The portraits were engraved in gold leaf on the bases of the glasses or chalices which, as the Salesian Father had told me, were embedded in the plaster round the bodies. There are hundreds of these glasses to be seen in the Vatican Museum, and the type of portrait never varied. Both Apostles are shown as men of middle-age and both are bearded, but while St. Peter has a fine head of curly hair, St. Paul is almost bald. Those who have studied the portraits believe that they embody a tradition which goes back possibly to the days of Nero and to those who knew the Apostles by sight.

I was reminded of a story which the late Monsignor Stapylton Barnes was fond of telling to illustrate the length of human memory. His mother, who died in 1927 at a great age, could clearly remember, as a small girl, hearing Victoria proclaimed queen in 1837. When a child she was often taken to see a very old lady who remembered the French Revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette in 1793. This old lady had spent her childhood in Philadelphia and had known Benjamin Franklin, who was born in 1706. Thus it would have been possible for Franklin to have described some event of his early childhood--perhaps the great fire in Boston of 1711--to the little girl, who could have told it in her ld age to another little girl, Mrs. Barnes, who could have passed on the story to her son in the twentieth century.

In his book The Martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, Monsignor Barnes refers to the great sweep of human events commanded by such lives, and says 'it would have been possible for a Christian child in rome in the year 67 to have been actually present at St. Peter's martyrdom and to have seen him nailed to the cross, and still to have been alive and able to tell the tale in 150. And the child to whom he told it then could have told the story again in his extreme old age to one who lived to see the peace of the Church in 312 under Constantine.'

H. V. Morton, A Traveller in Rome

This is lengthy but I love the vivid illustration of how few generations it takes to span a very long period of time when passing along memories.

Why You Should Go to Church (Even If You're Not Sure of Your Beliefs)

I'm not sure tho compelling this would've been before I became a believer. Now, though, having gone to church for a couple of decades, I can attest to the truth of this piece from The Art of Manliness. So I can assure you they're on point here.

These are just a few of the topics they touch upon:

• A Chance to Remember/Reorient/Reflect/Re-center
• Builds Discipline
• Rare Chance for Communal Singing
• Breaches Your Echo Chamber and Connects You With People From Different Walks of Life
• Contributes to Greater Free-Thinking and Your Diversity of Ideas
• Ample Opportunities (and More Motivation) for Service

Worth a Thousand Words: Noli Me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere, Lavinia Fontana, 1581
via Elizabeth Lev

Fontana’s version emphasized accuracy: Mary Magdalene mistakes Jesus for a gardener, and so she paints him in a broad-brimmed hat holding a shovel. Yet once she has emphasized the literal sense, Lavinia also evokes a beautiful scene. The atmosphere is permeated with warm golden light as a new age is dawning. A little flashback scene in the distance shows the women who have left the city arriving at the tomb where an angel tells them Christ is gone. Mary’s pose in the further scene shows her with the slumped shoulders of dejection, but in the foreground her face becomes radiant with hope. Christ puts out his hand, ostensibly to tell her not to touch Him, but also in a gesture of affectionate blessing. Mary’s gaze is directed toward the wound on his hand made visible for her, but she seems to look beyond it, trying to gaze at his face under the shadowy brim. Proof of his resurrection is not her primary concern as she sinks to her usual place by his feet. The light, setting, and positions evoke a love story, a compelling language that the Counter-Reformation will employ in its time.

Elizabeth Lev, Meeting the Resurrected Christ in the art of the Counter-Reformation

There's more where that came from. I love being shown beneath the surface of paintings for deeper meaning. Elizabeth Lev's piece discusses the goals of Counter-Reformation art and opens another piece up for our edification. Be sure to check it out.

Genesis Notes: Jews, Christians, Muslims ... and Abraham

We know that all three religions have a basic connection through Abraham. A succinct summary in The Complete Bible Handbook shows where they agree and disagree about Abraham's example for us.

Abraham Serving the Three Angels by Rembrandt

A common reverence for Abraham as a model of true human response to God and as ancestor of subsequent believers is one of the prime links between Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Abraham's responsiveness to God is summed up in his epithet as "the friend of God." This title is first given in Hebrew scripture (Isa 41:8; 2 Chr. 20:7); it is taken up in the New Testament (Jas. 2:23); and in Islam, Abraham (Ibrahim) is known simply as "the friend" (Al Kahlil).

Each religion gives content to Abraham's friendship with God in terms of its own characteristic emphases, on the supposition that Abraham is best understood in terms of that to which he helped give rise. Thus for Jews (appealing to Gen. 26:5 as well as to more general considerations), Abraham is an example of one who was obedient to God's commandments, or Torah, even before Torah was given to Israel at Sinai. For Christians, following Paul's exposition (Rom. 4), Abraham is a model of one who has faith (pistis) in God. For Muslims, Abraham demonstrates islam, unconditional submission to the will of God, as in his willingness to sacrifice his son. Though Jews, Christians, and Muslims differ about the true human response to God as exemplified by Abraham, they agree that he provides a model of how human life should be lived.

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.

"Egyptian Christians are made of steel!"

Watch the news anchor's reaction to the forgiveness expressed by the widow of the gatekeeper who prevented a suicide bomber from entering an Alexandria church yard on Palm Sunday, thereby saving countless lives.

It is truly moving. This is why the blood of the martyrs [and the forgiveness of the faithful] is the seed of the church.

Forgiveness Incarnated from The Bible Society of Egypt on Vimeo.

"Egyptian Christians are made of steel! These people have so much forgiveness!"

Via The Deacon's Bench.

Worth a Thousand Words: Tea Service

Albert Anker, Tea Service, c. 1910
via Arts Everyday Living

A "Fast Take" Interview on Aleteia

Elizabeth Scalia graciously offered me a "fast take" interview on Aleteia about Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life. Aleteia is a worldwide Catholic network with all sorts of fascinating articles.

Among other things, find out what person I identify with most in the book, what writing it taught me, and ... perhaps most importantly of all ... what the ideal beverage is that you should have in hand while reading your copy!

Challenging Opinions Interview: Sticking Up for the Faith

William has relaunched his podcast and I feel honored that my 2016 interview was one he carried over. So I'm reposting this in case you're interested.

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Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.

I Peter 3:15

William Campbell invited me to chat with him at his podcast, Challenging Opinions. The podcast exists to "test all ideas, left and right, liberal and conservative, progressive and libertarian."

That idea in itself is pretty challenging but when I listened to sample episodes William was a fair and impartial interviewer, which is a rare quality these days.

I thought we were going to discuss my post Obedience: The Dirtiest Word in America so I was prepared to talk about being an American Catholic during the political season. I think that post was only what drew me to William's attention. We never actually discussed that topic, but wound up covering everything from faith in God to Catholic misdeeds to the future of the Church.

I was going completely off the cuff, which I think shows sometimes, but that in itself was fair. Shouldn't we be able to shed some light on faith and the Church when we're asked about it? It was a like a particularly invigorating workout and I really enjoyed talking with William.

Listen at Challenging Opinions or iTunes.

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The Reason for My Hope and Why I'm a Happy Catholic
This didn't come up in our fast-paced conversation, but I wanted to share it anyway. This quote perfectly echoes my feeling.

I have looked for happiness everywhere: in the elegant life of the salons, in the deafening noise of balls and parties, in accumulating money, in the excitement of gambling, in artistic glory, in friendship with famous people, in the pleasure of the senses. Now I have found happiness, I have an overflowing heart and I want to share it with you. … You say, “But I don’t believe in Jesus Christ.” I say to you, “Neither did I and that is why I was unhappy.

Hermann Cohen, letter to a friend

All my life I searched for Truth, wondering if there were such a thing. And I found it in Jesus.

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NOTE
On the documents I hadn't heard of, allegedly Vatican blueprints for methodically concealing sex crimes, the news articles had responses from both the Church and other experts which point out that they aren't a "smoking gun" and that "it's a church law that deals only with religious crimes and sins. And that the secrecy is meant to protect the faithful from scandal." All this proves is that there are two sides to any issue and that we can't make quick assumptions without very careful study.

A friend of mine is a canon lawyer. I've often heard him speak about how easy it is to misunderstand a law by only a looking at it through one frame, especially when it has been misused so that is the only lens we are using. Often these laws reflect long ago history and problems which were very different than the current issues.

Can such documents be misused? Absolutely. Was there a terrible sexual misconduct and a mistaken idea of protecting the Church implemented by moving predators around? No doubt. These are the sins we, the faithful, mourn and must keep from ever recurring.

But, it is equally a mistake to read our current mindset backwards into documents whose roots lie deep in the past. Jumping to conclusions about intention is as much of a mistake as ignoring victims to protect an institution.

Which is all a way of saying ... it's complicated.

Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life: "Are you ready to hit the reset button on your practice of the faith? Here it is."

A friend had a relative who’d just turned to God for the first time in the midst of a serious end-of-life crisis, but now what? How do you help someone who’s ignored God for a lifetime to even know how to pray? I recommended this book.

Starting with “Beginning to Pray” as the zero point, Julie walks the reader from I’ve-got-nothing all the way into the depths of the Christian life.

Jen Fitz has a lovely review of Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life. Please do read the whole thing at the link.

A Spring in the Heart

A Spring in the Heart
taken by Remo Savisaar

Worth a Thousand Words: The Fantasy World

Column header from Stirring Science Stories, Feb. 1941
via SFFaudio

Coptic Priest: "To those who kill us. Thank you."

A MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO KILL US

Fr. Boules George, St. Mark, Cleopatra (Cairo, Egypt)

What will we say to them?

THANK YOU

The first thing we will say is “Thank you very, very much,” and you won’t believe us when we say it.

You know why we thank you? I’ll tell you. You won’t get it, but please believe us.

You gave us to die the same death as Christ–and this is the biggest honor we could have. Christ was crucified–and this is our faith. He died and was slaughtered–and this is our faith. You gave us, and you gave them to die.


[...]

WE LOVE YOU

The second part of the message we want to send to you is that we love you. And this, unfortunately, you won’t understand at all. Maybe you won’t believe us when we say we’re grateful. But this–you won’t even understand. Why won’t you understand it? Because this too is a teaching of our Christ. I want to explain to you about our Christ. I want to tell you about how wonderful He is.

There is much more and it is worth reading and reflection, especially on Holy Thursday.

Via Eve Tushnet.

As an additional note on martyrdom, the cause for beatification of Fr. Jacques Hamel, priest and martyr, has been officially opened.

What I'm Reading: A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

When life gets serious, my reading gets light. As frequenters of these pages already know, for me that often means Georgette Heyer, the queen of the Regency romance novels. I've written about Heyer's novels in general so if you are rolling your eyes over romance novels, please do read it for a bit more explanation.

I've been struggling much more than usual this week over my Lenten penance. So many times I've stepped to the brink and then “So, could you not watch with me one hour?" comes to mind. And I turn away.

Between that and the Triduum beginning tomorrow, I think you could say I'm in a serious mood. Time for Heyer! Though, to be fair, this is a bit more serious Heyer than many.

A Civil Contract 
by Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer wrote two types of romance novels. One type was lighter, often verging on farce or containing large doses of adventure, such as Faro's Daughter or The Talisman Ring. The other type was more serious such as These Old Shades or this book, A Civil Contract.

We hear a lot in romances about couples who married for money but they tend to be couples on the periphery of the main action. In this book, Heyer took the bold action of making a distinctly unromantic match the main story. Adam Deveril must marry money or lose the family estate. Jenny Chawleigh's father is vulgar but rich and wants to boost his daughter into society. Complicating matters is the fact that Adam has been in love for some time with their one mutual acquaintance, Jenny's friend Julia who is everything that Jenny is not — cultured, sensitive, and beautiful. Jenny is painfully shy, direct, and plain.

Overall, this is a look at marriage and how one makes one's life work when our plans for the future are torn away from us. I remember when I was a college student, first discovering Heyer, this was one of my least favorite books. Now, with much time behind me and a 33-year marriage, it is one of my favorites.

Will Duquette's review of Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life

I'm here to tell you that there isn't any deadwood. If you're interested in learning to pray, or to pray "better", which is to say if you want to draw closer to Jesus Christ, this is an ideal book to spend time with.

Will Duquette's very nice review - go read the whole thing! Thanks Will!

The Curt Jester's Review of Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life

She has a Chestertonian ability to see things afresh and to illustrate that freshness to you. There is gratitude and wonder in her reflections that inspire me to want to imitate that viewpoint more consistently.

Jeff saw something in my book that I certainly wasn't aware of ... but am highly complimented to read in his review. I was especially pleased when Jeff told me he was using my book as intended, as a daily devotional. That makes his thoughtful remarks even more meaningful to me. Thank you Jeff!

Praying for our Egyptian brothers and sisters

These Palm Sunday church bombings  hit me hard. It's hard not to become inured to a lot of the violence that is epidemic these days. I can deplore it, and do, but not feel it.

Maybe it's because we went to Palm Sunday mass yesterday evening, beginning the holiest week of the year. I felt that ... and when I read about these attacks on these Christians it was as if my own family had been attacked. As indeed it has. We are all one body in Christ.

Let us pray for these victims, who are hated only because they follow our Lord Jesus. Let us pray for the attackers, that their hard hearts may soften and their blind eyes will be opened.

May God have mercy upon us all.

Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life - Now Available on Amazon!

Order it here!

This book is the fruit of my own personal search to grow closer to Jesus. It is perfect for launching into the Easter season or as a gift.

Don't miss the book that made Elizabeth Scalia say, "I love this book. It’s like taking your Happy Catholic book and making all those quotes spiritually useful!"

To see an excerpt go to Niggle Publishing.

I'll be running samples here in the days to come.

What Lenten Penance Has Shown Me

When The Anchoress was failing at her Lenten penance, she shifted gears ... and found herself right back in the same place.

Slightly chagrined, I made an adjustment back to the most basic of basics: fasting. Without thinking much about it, I said, “Okay, no snacks. I won’t eat between meals.”

If you had asked me before this how much snacking I did, I would tell you, “Nuthin’ much . . . I can’t understand why I am having so much trouble losing weight.” But since beginning this fast, I’ve learned how often I would, out of boredom or tension, not hunger, open the fridge and look inside or thoughtlessly grab a cookie. Confronting the difficulty of holding to this simple fast, I have been forced to think about motivation, and anxiety; tension vs. comfort, what it means to self-medicate, and why I feel the need to do so.

And that has caused me to think about what I am “treating” with the eating. The “eat” comes down to the same thing, actually, as my reluctance to “meet-and-greet”

Read it all here at Alateia.

It's funny how it works when you give stuff up. Suddenly you understand just what it means in your life. I gave up listening to spoken word audio (podcasts, audiobooks) and discovered that they soothed me through my day. Without them I was twitchy, irritable, and I began eating more. Snacks, desserts, seconds. Hah! Welcome to panacea #2.

That realization has been hard but good. I am still fighting the good fight, now against both food and audio. I now know more about myself - things I wouldn't have without the fast. And I have been turning to Jesus more and more, asking for the grace I need. Leaning on him has been a great, good result of my internal struggle.

Getting my head in the game for the end of Lent, I've been reading through various meditations on the Way of the Cross at the Vatican website. Cardinal Ratzinger in 2005, Pope John Paul II in 2003. Great stuff is there. And it gets me back to the basics.

So when I read this reflection on when Jesus is nailed to the cross, it stuck with me in my internal struggles.

Let us halt before this image of pain, before the suffering Son of God. Let us look upon him at times of presumptuousness and pleasure, in order to learn to respect limits and to see the superficiality of all merely material goods. Let us look upon him at times of trial and tribulation, and realize that it is then that we are closest to God. Let us try to see his face in the people we might look down upon. [W]e stand before the condemned Lord, who did not use his power to come down from the Cross, but endured its suffering to the end ...

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, you let yourself be nailed to the Cross, accepting the terrible cruelty of this suffering, the destruction of your body and your dignity. You allowed yourself to be nailed fast; you did not try to escape or to lessen your suffering. May we never flee from what we are called to do. Help us to remain faithful to you. Help us to unmask the false freedom which would distance us from you. Help us to accept your “binding” freedom, and, “bound” fast to you, to discover true freedom.

I begin struggling and then (with God's grace) I remember "may I never flee ... may I discover true freedom." And my struggles ease.