The Cemetery Gates

The Cemetery Gates, Marc Chagall, 1917
via J.R.'s Art Place

Psalms Index

Canticles Index

(In alphabetical order)

• Daniel 3:57-88, 56 — Let Every Creature Bless the Lord
• Philippians (2: 6-11) – He humbled himself

Psalms Index

•  Initial Notes and Sources
• Background — The prevailing Western worldview is  no more "modern" than the worldview of the first Christians
• What is More Pleasing Than a Psalm? — what experience is not covered by the reading of a psalm?
  
• Psalm 1 — The Blessed and the Wicked
  
• Psalm 2 — The Lord's Anointed King
• Psalm 3 — Selah
• Psalm 4 — Deliverance and Thanksgiving
• Psalm 5 — The Holiness of God and the Power of Words
• Psalm 6 — A Prayer for Healing
• Psalm 7 — God Has Prepared His Deadly Weapons
• Psalm 8 — The Back Parts of God
• Psalm 9 — Confidence in God
• Psalm 10 — Plea for God's Judgment
• Psalm 11 — Trust in the Lord
• Psalm 12 — The Promises of the Lord are Pure
• Psalm 13 — Waiting on the Lord
  
• Psalm 14 — Fools Deny God
• Psalm 15 — Who May Dwell with God?
• Psalm 16 — Faithfulness to the Lord
• Psalm 17 — Prayer for Protection
• Psalm 18 — A Prayer of Thanksgiving
• Psalm 19 (part 1) — The Glory of Nature and the Law
• Psalm 19 (part 2) — God's Self Revelation 
• Psalm 19 (part 3) — Right Relationship with Nature and God 
• Psalm 20 — The King and the Community Can Trust God with Their Desires
• Psalm 21 — Thanksgiving and Trust
• Psalm 22 (part 1) — What Did It Mean Before Jesus Quoted It From the Cross?
• Psalm 22 (part 2) — The "Today" of Suffering God's Silence and the "Today" of the Resurrection 
• Psalm 23 — Trusting the Shepherd
• Psalm 24 — Who is This King of Glory?
• Psalm 25 — He Teaches the Sinners and the Humble His Way
• Psalm 26 — I Have Led a Blameless Life
• Psalm 27 — The Lord is My Light and My Help
• Psalm 28 — Plea for Divine Assistance
• Psalm 29 — The Lord Blesses His People with Peace
• Psalm 30 — Praise for Healing
• Psalm 31 — Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit
• Psalm 32 — Happy Those Who Are Forgiven!
• Psalm 33 — The Sovereignty of God
• Psalm 34 — Praise for Deliverance
• Psalm 35 — Plea for Divine Assistance
• Psalm 36 — The Wicked and the Righteous
• Psalm 37 — Fret Not Because of Evildoers
  
• Psalm 38 — Prayer in Sickness
• Psalm 39 — To Know Gladness
• Psalm 40 — Waiting Patiently
• Psalm 41 — Prayer for Healing
• Psalm 42 — Thirsting for God
• Psalm 43 — Hope in God
• Psalm 44 — Prayer for Victory
• Psalm 45 — A Wedding Hymn
• Psalm 46 — God is Our Refuge
• Psalm 47 — God is Exalted
• Psalm 48 — The Power of Zion

Spiritual acts and practical resolutions

Meditation moves our will to make spiritual acts such a the love of God and neighbor, desire of heaven and eternal glory, or zeal for the salvation of souls; it makes us long to be like our Lord, awakens a sense of compassion, wonder and joy, or fear of offending God or of judgment and hell; it leads us to hate sin and have confidence in the goodness and mercy of God and to be ashamed of the sins of our past life.

...you must not dwell upon them to such an extent that you forget to make practical resolutions according to your own special needs; for example, the first words of our Lord on the Cross will surely arouse in your soul a desire to forgive your enemies and to love htem, but this is of little value unless it leads you to make a special resolution to that end, saying to yourself, "I resolve not to be annoyed any more by anything which so and so—perhaps a neigbor or a servant—may say to me, nor by any affront which some other person may offer me; on the contrary, I will say this or that to win him over," and so on. In this way, Philothea, you will correct your faults in a very short time; but if you rely upon your spiritual acts alone it will take you a very long time and be very difficult.

St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

A little more that grabbed me from my daily reading.

Thank You to Our Veterans

Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it… it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it. —Unknown

This is just so darned true. Our soldiers and veterans are so worthy of our thanks and pride. I think of my brother who has said several times, with becoming modesty, that he really just wanted to help other people. 

This moving photograph shows Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, superintendent of the 22nd Wing Medical Group at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas, holding an injured Iraqi girl. The picture was taken in October 2006, while Sgt. Gebhardt was deployed to Balad Air Base in Iraq. According to the Air Force Print News, the infant girl Sgt. Gebhardt held in his arms "received extensive gunshot injuries to her head when insurgents attacked her family killing both of her parents and many of her siblings." An Air Force Link article about the sudden fame he gained as the subject of this photograph reported that:

The chief had a knack for comforting [the injured Iraqi girl] and they often would catch a cat nap together in a chair. "I got as much enjoyment out of it as the baby did," he said. "I reflected on my own family and life and thought about how lucky I have been." While deployed to Iraq, the chief tried to help out any way he could. He figured holding a baby that needed comforting that would free up one more set of arms that could be providing care to more critical patients. "I pray for the best for the Iraqi children," he said. "I can't tell the difference between their kids and our kids. The Iraqi parents have the same care and compassion for their children as any American."

Source: Snopes

I haven't said it enough because none of us really can but to our veterans as well as those serving now ... thank you from the bottom of my heart.

A Saucer of Milk

 A Saucer of Milk by Carl Holsøe

Gospel of Matthew — Back in the beginning, a very good place to start

Matthew 28: 16-20

 I really love the point made about why Jesus called the disciples to meet him in Galilee. That never occurred to me before (as with so much in this brief look at Matthew over the last year).

Fresco in Bishop's chapel located in Cortona depicting the mission of the apostles

Placing the final scene in Galilee, Matthew brings the story full circle. This is where it all began, where Jesus grew into manhood, where the first apostles were recruited, and where the message of the kingdom first sounded forth. Readers have anticipated a return to Galilee since the prediction in 26:32 and the instructions given in verses 7 and 10. Galilee, the launching point for the Messiah's mission to Israel, is now to become the take-off poit for a mission to the whole world.

[...]

It is important to recognize that making disciples is not reducible to winning converts or ensuring that people get baptized. A disciple is one who listens to Jesus (17:5) and learns from him how to love (11:28-30), how to pray (6:9-13), and how to do what is pleasing to the Father (3:17). Christian discipleship is a total way of life, a commitment to pattern our daily actions and decisions after the example set by Jesus and his most heroic followers (see 1 Cor. 11:1). As important as it is to attend weekly Mass or to say one's bedtime prayers, something much more is called for in the Lord's mandate.

May we all become the disciples our Lord calls us to be! With this we end our look at the gospel of Matthew. 

Quote is from Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri.

A Movie You Might Have Missed #27 — Waking Sleeping Beauty

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll fall in love all over again with a little mermaid. Believe it or not, all from a documentary

The Black Cauldron is universally agreed to be Disney's lowest point in animated movies. This documentary takes us from the time that movie is being created in 1984 through Disney's golden animation renaissance that began with The Little Mermaid and ended with The Lion King in 1994. How the studio went in a  mere ten-year period the depths to the heights of animation is the subject of this behind-the-scenes tale from the point of view of the animators. Everything is told through stills and archive footage although with new audio interviews by several of the principal figures. Much of the footage shot by the animators themselves while at work.

The business side of the company is also examined, including what was really responsible for Disney's rise and subsequent fall after The Lion King, the monumental egos of Roy Disney, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenburg. Hearing the animators' side of these much loved movies is fascinating. The movie clips played remind us that it has been all too long since we watched The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. As well, you will appreciate Howard Ashman as never before for his creative genius and the passion he gave to his work. It is an engrossing and surprisingly fast-paced work that any Disney movie fans will enjoy.

We can't fight imperfections if we don't know what they are

The task of purifying the soul cannot, may not, end as long as we live; however, our imperfections should not make us anxious, for perfection consists in fighting against them, and we cannot fight them unless we see them, or overcome them if we do not face up to them.

Victory does not lie in being unconscious of them, it lies in not consenting to them, and we are not consenting to them as long as they displease us.

In fact, to learn humility, we must sometimes be wounded in this spiritual warfare, but we will never be defeated unless we lose courage or our life, and as our spiritual life is lost only by mortal sin and never by imperfection or venial sins, we have only to look to our courage, praying with David that God may rescue us from the fears that daunt us and from the storm around us. (Cf. Ps. 54.9)

Luckily, in this kind of battle, we shall always be victorious as long as we are prepared to fight.

St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

I've begun rereading  Introduction to the Devout Life, slowly — fortunately it comes in small doses and is perfect for that. Here's a bit that grabbed me.

A beautiful lady in a beautiful hat

Eula Wilson of Bowie, Texas circa 1900 (via Traces of Texas)

As stimulating as black coffee

Good conversation is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

This hits me where I live. It's why I have to have a slow-down time after my book club, for example. And even with that I often still can't sleep well all night because my brain is buzzing with all the talk and ideas.

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his gallery in Brussels

 Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his gallery in Brussels, c. 1647–1651

Click through the link to take a look at all the paintings in the gallery in more detail.

Congealing into one story only

A society in crisis teaches itself to congeal into one story only, and sees reality through very narrow glasses. But there is never only one story.

Amos Oz

Praying and Fasting for the President to Experience Conversion of Heart

Note: I've updated my First Tuesday fast to expand the scope beyond whoever is president to include our country's leaders. We need heroes, we need effective leaders, we need people who are self sacrificing and willing to put the needs of the people beyond their own political agendas (like re-election).

 Below is the original post.

Today on Morning Glory, guest Father Josh Johnson pointed out that we've never had a President who has become Venerable or Blessed ... or in other words, a saint. Duh, I thought. Then he startled me by enthusiastically recommending that we fast and pray for whoever becomes president to experience a conversion of heart and to get on track for sainthood. 

Wow. The fact that I was so startled by such an idea, initially thought it crazy, says something about how pragmatically I view our governmental system and politicians. I loved Father's passion and belief that God can do anything. And, let's face it, that would indeed be a real change for either Joe Biden or Donald Trump. It would make them into the people we wish they would be. What a witness that would be.

So I'm going to do it. I'm still considering how to do this. I already fast on every first Friday for the Church and our priests. So this needs to be a separate fast. Right now I am thinking about a small fast — breakfast or lunch or maybe only bread all day (which is a heckuva lot harder than you'd think) — on the first Tuesday of each month (election day in November!). 

It's wild. It's reckless. It's completely crazy. So that makes it a perfect thing for God to use showing his glory and power. And this is a way to do that.

Join me!

Source

Thank God in every instance

One of the great spiritual "secrets" that the saints teach is that we should thank God in every instance for every event in our lives. Even what has the appearance of undoing us can be turned to powerful graces when we offer it to God with thanksgiving for what he is doing in that very event. The worst event of history, the crucifixion of the Son of God, is now our Eucharistic feast! Let the Eucharist be the perfection of paying your own debt of gratitude.

Paul Jerome Keller, A Year with the Eucharist

Today, the day after the election, I think maybe a lot of folks are feeling we're facing a bad event of history. As hotly contested as this election has been it seems inevitable that about half of us are going to be upset with the results. We're waiting to see who will be elected president with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Hope that our candidate will be elected, trepidation that he won't.

If your candidate doesn't win, remember it is by no means the worst event. And also remember that the same God in whom we trust can and does bring good from things we don't like. We see this over and over in the Old Testament. Just one example is Joseph from Genesis, whose brothers sold him to a passing caravan? He underwent what must have seemed very much the "worst." Yet at the end, he told his brothers that God had allowed it in order that he might be placed to save his family in time of great need.

Wherever he put you, serve him there. I myself am very thankful not to be a politician but to simply be a wife, a mother, a daughter, a writer, a Catholic ... and to serve where I am.

 Be not afraid and remember to rejoice in our Lord — with gratitude for everything.

Gospel of Matthew — Peter's Staggering Honesty and Heroic Courage

 Matthew 26: 57-58, 69-75

Here we have Peter's famous betrayal of Christ three times before the cock crows. It wrings the heart. I've often felt sympathetic with Peter because I've found myself in similar positions, albeit not usually so publicly. I've also admired his honesty in telling the story. After all, no one else knew this — except Jesus, of course.

However, the points made here about Peter's courage and love hadn't occurred to me before.

Peter's Denial, Duccio di Buoninsegna

No one can read this passage without being struck with the staggering honesty of the New Testament. If ever there was an incident which one might have expected to be hushed up, this was it—and yet here it is told in all its stark shame. We know that Matthew very closely followed the narrative of Mark; and in Mark's gospel this sotry is told in even more vivid detail (Mark 14:66-72). We also know, as Papias tells us, that Mark's gospel is nothing other than the preaching material of Peter written down. And so we arrive at the amazing fact that we possess the story of Peter's denial because Peter himself told it to others.

So far from supressing this story, Peter made it an essential part of his gospel; and did so for the very best of reasons. ... We must never read this story without remembering that it is Peter himself who is telling of the shame of his own sin that all men may know the glory of the forgiving love and cleansing power of Jesus Christ.

And yet it is quite wrong to regard Peter with nothing but unsympathetic condemnation. The blazing fact is that the disaster which happened to Peter is one which could have happened only to a man of the most heroic courage. All the other disciples ran away: Peter alone did not. In Palestine the houses of the well-to-do were built in a hollow square around an open courtyard, off which the various rooms opened. For Peter to enter that courtyard int he centre of the High Priest's house was to walk into the lion's den—and yet he did it. However this story ends, it begins with Peter the one brave man.

[...]

What happened to Peter after [the cock crowed] we do not know, for the gospel story draws a kindly veil over the agony of his shame. But before we condemn him, we must remember very clearly that few of us would ever have had the courage to be in that courtyard at all. And there is one last thing to be said—it was love which gave Peter that courage; it was love which riveted him there in spite of the fact that he had been recognized three times; it was love which made him remember the words of Jesus; it was love which sent him out into the night to weep—and it is love which covers a multitude of sins. The lasting impression of this whole story is not of Peter's cowardice, but of Peter's love.

Just imagine being in the Mass where Peter preached the story of his betrayal of Christ! Wouldn't that have been something?

Quote is from Daily Study Bible Series: Gospel of Matthew, vol. 2 by William Barclay. This series first ran in 2008. I'm refreshing it as I go.

October

 Ok, this is titled October, but here in Dallas they would call it November because we don't have leaves turning fall colors until then usually. So I'm posting it now!

October, by Willard Leroy Metcalf, 1908. 

Via J.R.'s Art Place

The changing past

Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what [we] believed happened.

Gerald W. Johnson

A Movie You Might Have Missed #26 — Without a Clue

It's been 10 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Mystery and comedy. There may be no better combination, and certainly you won't find it done better than in today's movie.

Without a Clue features stellar teamwork by Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley, who are at their best here. Kingsley is Dr. Watson who actually is the genius at deduction. He has written his adventures as stories with a fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, so as to not hurt his chances at being named to a prestigious board. When the stories got so popular that people wanted to meet Holmes he hired actor, Reginald Kincaid to act the part. The problem: Kincaid is a two-bit, drunken, skirt-chasing actor (Caine) which causes no end of trouble and comic delight whenever "Holmes" tries to improvise his way through a case. 

 

It is a real delight to watch these two great actors throw themselves into their parts with wonderful comic timing. Caine gets a lot of mileage out of Holmes' efforts to appear a genius. This movie is especially good for any children who understand how twists work on the classic detective stories.

unstable Felicity by Cat Hodge

"Is Ohio your home?" Amita lit up. "Over Thanksgiving, I saw a Christmas movie set in a small town in Ohio, where the girl had to save her family's business by teaming up with the hot competitor, and he caught her when she fell off a ladder, and they got everyone to come together to fix up the old downtown. And then it snowed and they lived happily ever after," she sighed ...

===========

"Well, all your worries are over now! We'll straighten out your books, and then we're going to make the season merry and bright."

Oh, the season will be bright, Jill thought. That glow is just my family burning down.

Jill O'Leary hasn't been home for twelve years, except to attend her father's funeral. But now her mother's summoned her to help figure out the finances for the family's inn and Jill's all out of excuses. She's not sure what she dreads more — her demanding, self-absorbed mother or the White Elephant gift exchange.

Of course, her friend Amita has accurately predicted what we all expect in a Hallmark Christmas story and this book's got that and more. It also has elements of King Lear, which is a weird combination but it works. Somehow Cat Hodge delivers both a lighthearted, amusing Christmas adventure with the simmering rage, greed, and family dysfunction of Shakespeare for a very readable, funny story.

If a Hallmark Christmas and/or King Lear leave you cold, I understand. I myself avoid both. In fact, I had to look up the plot to King Lear online. But  this mashup is greater  than a sum of its parts. The elements that made it work for me were the results of Hodge's fertile imagination.

First, as I said, it is funny. Jill's machinations at the White Elephant exchange made me laugh. Quennedey's methods of squashing her mother's pretensions cracked me up. I loved Quennedey a lot. (When seeing how Quennedey's name is spelled, we understand exactly what her mother is like — a sign of Hodges' sly humor and intelligence.)

Second, there is a raw edge which opens up space for characters to grow. This mostly happens to the people around Jill but it is unexpected and interesting when it happens. This allows Hodge to  redeem a lot of the unlovable King Lear elements in a way that works for our modern times and that allow it to be a Christmas story.

I will say that I struggled in the beginning of this novella because I really disliked Jill and her knee-jerk rage. She definitely should have found a new therapist long ago. I was really shocked by one unrepentant action in particular.  It's a tough read when you don't like the main character. But I liked Kristin Lavransdatter and Gone with the Wind and really didn't like either of those main characters. As with those books, I just let this wash over me and enjoyed everything else. It also helped that it was kind of interesting to see the story once I realized that Jill was Lear's second daughter's — and she was not great (seriously, that online Lear summary really helped). So Jill was true to her origins.

You don't have to have seen King Lear or a Hallmark Christmas movie to enjoy this novel. The quirks, charm, and family drama are things we all understand and can appreciate. Get yourself a copy.

Pope Francis' homosexuality comments heavily edited in documentary

I was stunned, as was everyone to judge from the media headlines, when Pope Francis seemed to endorse same-sex civil unions in a documentary. However, I should have waited for the full context to be revealed.

Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports:

“Francesco,” a newly-released documentary on Pope Francis, contains comments from the pope on homosexuality and civil unions. Some of the remarks, however, are the result of editing distinct phrases from a papal interview and presenting them as a cohesive whole. ...

a CNA analysis of the interview’s transcript shows that other papal comments on homosexuality featured in “Francesco” were compiled by heavy editing of the 2019 interview’s video footage.

If you read the whole piece, CNA bolded the appearance of those words in an excerpted translation of the pope’s remarks during his 2019 interview. 

The Vatican still isn't commenting on the story and there may be further discussion to come, but it was nice to see the context for the Pope's comments.