Faith in Action: Pro-Life Women Deliver Semi-Truck Full of Supplies, $72,000 to the Border

The #BottlestotheBorder campaign ... collected more than $120,000 worth of supplies and donated more than $70,000 in aid funding to multiple respite centers, where migrants who are legally in the U.S. are temporarily housed and cared for while they connect with family members and figure out their next steps.

A fellow church-goer of one of ATTWN staff members had heard about the initiative and, as the owner of a trucking company, offered to drive an 18-wheeler to the border for the group, Johnson said. The catch: the truck had to be full.

“We did the first registry and filled that up in a couple of days, like in 48 hours it was full,” Johnson said....

“By the end it was completely packed full of supplies,” Johnson said. [...]

The politics behind the border crisis are frustrating to Johnson, she said, because they often dehumanize migrants and distract people from doing something concrete to help the situation.

She said people have asked her if her efforts to bring supplies to migrants means that she supports an open-border policy. She doesn’t.

“No I don’t support lawlessness, I don’t support an open border, I support legal immigration, doing it the right way, but the bottom line is I don’t have the answer, I don’t know the answer,” she said, “but I can deliver these wipes so that babies’ butts are clean and they’re not getting infections. And I know how to make sure that a baby can get fed, and that’s really what this is about. And that’s what it is to be the Church, to meet the needs that are right in front of us.”

Absolutely. There's a lot more to the story. Read it at National Catholic Register.

Jury Duty Today!

Fingers crossed I'll be back soon, but in the meantime I'm off doing my civic duty at federal court. Later gators!

UPDATE
I wasn't selected from the 70 person jury pool for the 2-1/2 week criminal federal trial. Whew! Though it sounded as if it would have been interesting.

Why it is fitting that Jesus did not write a book

Christ is unique among teachers, because he does not only instruct externally through words, ... but also enlightens us interiorly by grace. Christ, the eternal Wisdom of God, moves the heart and mind from within so that we can perceive intellectually the truths that he reveals. This, Thomas Aquinas argues, is one of the reasons it is fitting that Jesus did not write a book during his lifetime, but entrusted his teaching to others: so that we would not confuse the real presence of Christ among us with a text he wrote, but would instead learn of his presence through the teaching of the apostolic Church, a process that he assists and works through, by the presence of his grace acting in those who teach and in those who are instructed.

Thomas Joseph White, The Light of Christ

That never occurred to me. But, yes, it makes sense.

Wild Raspberries

Wild Raspberries, Duane Keiser

The Gripping Story of the Second Approved Miracle for Cardinal Newman

Melissa was bleeding because the placenta had become partially detached from the wall of her uterus and blood that was meant to nourish her eight-week-old unborn child was escaping through the tear.

An ultrasound scan had also identified a sub-chorionic haematoma, a blood clot on the foetal membrane that was by that time almost three times the size of the child.

Doctors could treat neither mother nor daughter. They fully expected Melissa to miscarry and warned her that her own life might be in danger from a haemorrhage. She had to be ready to call 911 at any time.

What happened when crisis came resulted in the second miracle required for Pope Francis to recognize Cardinal John Henry Newman as a saint. It's a gripping story. Read it at Catholic Herald.

Rehearsal

The rehearsal, Peter and Barbara Bridgmont by Edward B. Gordon

This painting is part of Edward B. Gordon's tribute to his acting teacher. It has several paintings and a lovely written tribute (scroll to the bottom for the English). I love the teacher just from the tribute, especially this bit.

He was not a big fan of Stanislavsky. „Method Acting“ was just as absurd to him as painting by numbers for a painter. Why should you experience something real when you could play it? Acting is not real, it should never be. It is a game that may become the mirror of the soul of the audience. Reality is transformed, a board becomes a jeweled sword. An old limping man becomes a young Romeo, an inconspicuous girl a powerful queen, that’s the magic of acting.

Yes.

Masks and Truth

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth.

Oscar Wilde

So true. And it sends my thoughts off in a lot of directions: the people I know who absolutely will tell you the truth without a mask, Adam and Eve hiding their nakedness from God (which is where the mask comes in), confession behind the screen versus face-to-face, and much more.

Dangal

Dangal is an extraordinary true story based on the life of Mahavir Singh and his two daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat. The film traces the inspirational journey of a father who trains his daughters to become world class wrestlers.

I really enjoyed this sports film with Aamir Khan showing his commitment by gaining 66 pounds for a total of 216 in order to play the role. Superb acting all round and a sport I was unfamiliar with added to our interest.

Most compelling of all was the way this movie hit the expected sports film/coming of age beats with unexpected twists. The girls are being forced to live their father's dream but his dreams also are for his country's honor. Beyond that his tough methods become a celebration of women's abilities and talents (twist!) — this in a country where often women are seen as nothing more than a burden to marry off to an unknown man for a life of domesticity.

By the end, we'd traveled Geeta's path with her — learning to appreciate her father's wisdom and her own hard won skills. We were also exhausted — the wrestling sequences were so vivid that we were worn out.

I especially loved the moment when Geeta is watching DDLJ with her new teammates. I myself don't love this movie but know it is a quintessential Hindi film. The moment shows so much about what Geeta has been missing and what she will gain from this time of her life. (And also, in a very small way, how much Indians connect through their favorite films, which I just heard discussed in the Movie Wala Podcast episode about Monsoon Wedding.) Of course, what Geeta is experiencing is far from her father's path and we also see the results of a different way.

It is, of course, a story celebrating women, but that point became even more vivid when I read this in a review.

What's very significant is that Mahavir's family hail from a village in the state of Haryana. Due to female foeticide, Haryana has the lowest female-to-male child ratio in India. This film was actually allowed tax-free status in a number of Indian states, including Haryana, as part of the Indian government's campaign against female foeticide. And from what I can tell, the true facts of the Phogat family's life were twisted a bit in the film to support this agenda - reportedly, in reality Mahavir was not disappointed that all the children born in his family were female.

As the reviewer mentions, the real coach's story is even more amazing. For one thing, all of his four daughters and his two nieces (taken in when his brother died) became respected, medalling wrestlers. This story obviously had special resonance in India but it applies worldwide on a variety of levels, as witnessed by the fact that it is in China's top 20 top grossing films. It is India's top grossing film in foreign markets - it's a universal story.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Worth a Thousand Words: Starry Night Over the Rhone

Van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhone, 1888

Bael

Bael, Ellen Schutt
via U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection.
 Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705

The USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection documents fruit and nut varieties developed by growers or introduced by USDA plant explorers around the turn of the 20th century. Technically accurate paintings were used to create lithographs illustrating USDA bulletins, yearbooks, and other series distributed to growers and gardeners across America.

Explore it for yourself!

Inspiration

From my quote journal.

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London

3 Good Movies: Neerja, Sui Dhaaga, Andhadhun

We had a lucky run last weekend with three great movies. They are each very different so you might find something you'll like too.

Neerja is a portrayal on the life of the courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers on the Pan Am flight 73 in 1986. The flight was hijacked by a terrorist organization.

I don't love movies about hijackings or terrorists, but I was so interested in finding out how a 23-year-old woman could save 359 lives that I was really intrigued by this movie. It totally paid off. The story wound several threads of Neerja's life together through flashbacks so we could see some of the events that prepared her, in a way, to keep her head and do the right thing even when terrified. The acting and directing were great. I, probably like most of the aunties who saw this, was fighting back sobs by the end. It was an inspiring hero's tale.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Hannah and Rose discuss this at An American's Guide to Bollywood podcast.

A sweet, charming, feel-good movie which showcases Varun's and Anushka's subtle acting abilities as they play Mauji and Mamta, an ordinary couple, struggling to begin a small clothing business. Sui Dhaaga means The Needle and the Thread which is apt not only for the clothing business but for how we see this young couple work together and grow closer to create a life together. I really enjoyed the ordinary setting of humble home and family, complete with traditional overbearing father. Mauji and Mamta each inspire the other in different ways without using any of the typical tropes we'd see in an American version of the story.

Rating — Introduction to Bollywood (come on in, the water's fine!)

Tom's review:

The story of a blind pianist who witnesses a murder. But that was just the first twist in this 2018 crime thriller. It was a heck of ride to the last frame. It got a bit dark, but never gory. It was critically acclaimed and a huge box hit. Box office was 14 times its budget.

It is worth watching, pretend it is a French noir film. (It’s based on a French short.) here is the trailer. It has subtitles. It is available on Netflix.

If a Hollywood studio does not redo this for the American market, they missing bet.

I found it very disturbing without actually showing anything disturbing. It definitely left all of us feeling unsettled. I'm not sorry I saw it but I won't need to see it again. Very much the way I felt after seeing Martin Scorsese's After Hours.

However, it was really popular and the acting and script were superb. Tabu deserved her first billing, especially once I found that she wasn't told anything about her character before the scenes she would play. It might be just the thriller that you talk about all summer.

Rating — for viewers with medium Indian film experience. (It's not rocket science, but without any cultural background at all you might feel kind of lost.)

Girl Reading a Newspaper

Girl Reading a Newspaper by Wada Eisaku

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

I'm rereading this magnificently written book just because. I can't believe I hadn't reviewed it here so am hastily pushing this book your way. It is not a typical Civil War book or I wouldn't like it. This is truly something special. Here's the review I posted on Goodreads in 2012.

Against all odds I loved this book. I wanted both sides to win. This despite being initially unnerved to see maps when I opened it. Maps with arrows indicating troop movements hither and thither around Gettysburg.

I do not care about maps in books. Even for Lord of the Rings I ignored the maps. I hasten to add that I actually love real maps ... on a wall, in an art book, on a blog. I just do not want to have to make my mental image when reading have to conform to the reality of a map.

Feeling brave despite my unnerving experience I soldiered on. (ha!) I would like everyone to note that my reading of Coraline (for both Good Story and also SFFaudio) was not in vain. Bravery consists in keeping going when one is afraid (or even merely unnerved).

It only took reading the descriptions of the leaders to begin embracing the book. The author makes all the personalities so accessible, all the military talk so clear, and sets the tale in clear, grounded writing.

For example, I just finished reading the Battle of Little Round Top. I felt as if I was in the battle itself, while not being dragged into the grim details. Watching through Chamberlain's eyes, one can see the decisions, the chaos, the necessity that drives the way the battle went. And, Hood was right. Of course, we could tell that all along just as Longstreet could.

It is simply an amazing book in communicating the humanity, the flaws, the errors, and the brotherhood and love of these men ... and the tragedy of the battle. I now have a small crush on General Longstreet. Also on Chamberlain.

=========

I originally read this for our podcast where you may listen to it here: Good Story #36. Scott learns that Texas is it's own direction, and Julie changes her opinion about Robert E. Lee. Neither is certain where in the timeline to find Lincoln's vampire slaying.

Francis warns German Catholics they can’t just do their own thing

At last. Pope Francis has been telling the German cardinals to work things out themselves ... and then when that didn't work, to try again. But now he gives very specific thinking.

As the Catholic Church in Germany prepares to embark on a synodal process motivated in part by a desire to stop a hemorrhage of faithful, Pope Francis has sent them a letter reminding them they don’t walk alone but with the universal Church.

In the missive he also reminds the Germans that a “structural” reform, simply changing to adapt to modern times, is not the solution.

The Church’s raison d’etre, Francis wrote in a letter released by the Vatican Saturday, is that God “so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that all who believe in him may not die, but may have eternal Life.”

[...]

Believing that solutions are purely structural, Francis argued, is “one of the first great temptations at the ecclesial level.”

“Without having the Gospel as its soul,” Francis wrote, a well-organized and even modernized ecclesial body could become a “gaseous” Christianity that has no evangelical zeal.

“Each time the ecclesial community tries to leave its problems alone and focuses exclusively on its forces or its methods, its intelligence, its will or prestige, it ends up increasing and perpetuating the evils it was trying to solve,” Francis said.

Crux has the story.

Kingfisher

Remo Savisaar, Kingfisher

Louis De Wohl's Saint Books

Louis De Wohl is a forgotten treasure - whose books I encountered a few years ago.

He was German and Catholic and between the late 1940s and 1960 he wrote a ton of historical fiction about saints' lives and Biblical stories. They were bestsellers at the time. In fact, sixteen of them were made into movies.

I discovered his novels when Ignatius Press reissued them but have discovered that a lot of people still haven't heard of them. Of course, some are better than others, but when they are good they are so interesting and also so inspirational!

Best of all our library has a lot of his books!

I recently read Lay Seige to Heaven which is about St. Catherine of Siena. I thought I knew all about her but it turns out I only knew the merest basics. It focused me on the Eucharist in a way I hadn't expected. That made me reread The Quiet Light about St. Thomas Aquinas which I enjoyed just as much as the first time ... and which reinforced my Eucharistic gaze.

Here are the 4 reviews I featured previously, although they are far from all of De Wohl's books that I've read and enjoyed.

• The Joyful Beggar - St. Francis
• The Quiet Light - St. Thomas Aquinas
• The Restless Flame - St. Augustine
• Set All Afire - St. Francis Xavier

They are easy to read but have given me a lot of food for thought. If you want a dose of history and inspiration they might be the perfect summer read!

Even Hindus Eagerly Await Canonization of India’s ‘Patroness of Families’

KUZHIKKATTUSSERY, India — Enthusiasm is growing even among Hindus as they join Catholics in awaiting the announcement of the date for the canonization of Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, who in 1914 founded the Congregation of the Holy Family (CHF), a community of women religious in southern Kerala state.

“Mother is not an ordinary Christian for us,” P.K. Mohanan, a member the village council for Kuzhikkattussery, told the Register. “She is an icon of love and charity. All of us respect her.”

Read all about it at National Catholic Register. I'd never heard of this saint but you can't watch as many Bollywood movies as I have without knowing about southern Kerala! So I feel a sense of connection just based on that slight bit of geography. Also, she seems like a really amazing person, just as any saint should!

I would also add that "even Hindus" is probably not as impressive as it sounds to us. Hindus often hold a variety of views that include other faiths. Such as the fact that some see Jesus as a god, just not the only God. So, it's great that they acknowledge her saintliness, but it doesn't have the same impact as if Muslims were flocking to this tomb. That would be something new indeed.

Fighting With My Family

Born into a tight-knit wrestling family, Paige and her brother Zak are ecstatic when they get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try out for the WWE. But when only Paige earns a spot in the competitive training program, she must leave her loved ones behind and face this new cutthroat world alone.

I was interested in this partially for the back-scenes look into the professional wrestling world. Also, The Rock is in it, very occasionally. So that was also a draw.

What we found was a coming-of-age sports movie that hits the familiar beats but in a funny, quirky, and thoughtful way that makes it rise above the ordinary. The cast is charming, the story interesting, and the fact that it's based on a true story gives a little extra interest.

They also gave a surprising number of takes on answering the question of what happens when your lifelong dream comes true ... and you suddenly have to reevaluate your dream. Or, conversely you don't get your lifelong dream. How do you pick yourself up and move on? These are standard questions for any sports drama but this movie gave us different perspectives, even if glancingly, from different characters which added a layer of nuance we didn't expect.

There were a few plot progressions that left us scratching our heads but we were willing to overlook them for such an enjoyable film.

The Animals As They Are

Les animaux tels qu’ils sont, which Google translates as “The animals as they are” is a book published in France in 1959 that offers 90 plus examples of how to draw animals using simplified geometric forms.

Lines and Colors

These are charming, both in technique and finished drawing. I love to think of generations of little French children drawing these animals. You can see more on Wikipedia and Flickr.