God's distribution of talents

On coming into the world, man is not equipped with everything he needs for developing his bodily and spiritual life. He needs others. Differences appear tied to age, physical abilities, intellectual or moral aptitudes, the benefits derived from social commerce, and the distribution of wealth. The "talents" are not distributed equally.

These differences belong to God's plan, who wills that each receive what he needs from others, and that those endowed with particular "talents" share the benefits with those who need them. These differences encourage and often oblige persons to practice generosity, kindness, and sharing of goods; they foster the mutual enrichment of cultures...

1936-36, Catechism of the Catholic Church

I really love this and the way it elevates all our particular qualities for their place in God's plan. It really puts into perspective the fact that what we think are good or bad qualities are all being used for a purpose we can't see. In that way, for me, it links to "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Love of Winter

 

Love of Winter, George Wesley Bellows

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik is adept at weaving completely original and compelling stories from the merest thread of a fairy tale (Uprooted, Spinning Silver). Her Temeraire series is an imaginative telling launching from both the Master and Commander series and the Dragonriders of Pern series.

So when I was reading this book and the word "Scholomance" made me think of Dracula, I went looking for information. In this case, Scholomance originates in real folklore (read more about that here) that was used by Bram Stoker in Dracula. It's just a sentence or two about how Dracula essentially was schooled at, as a friend told me once, "the devil's Hogwarts" So I was thinking of that and ... found this from Dracula.

The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due.
...
He dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay.

What Novik has done with these beginnings is to turn the Harry Potter magical boarding school on its head. This is a school where there aren't any teachers, where supernatural monsters roam the halls, and where students form alliances hoping that they will survive graduation. There is a lot more to this magical world and, as always, Novik's world building is wonderful, with all the ramifications followed through to logical conclusions, sometimes in surprising ways. It is told by El who has the power to destroy multitudes but whose New Age mother taught to be respectful of life. Which really puts her in a bind when it comes to exercising enough power to pass her classes.

In many ways, this is a typical school scenario where the heroine is an outcast who has to gather a band of fellow students around her to accomplish their goals. There's a high level of angst which I found somewhat tiresome by the end. However, it is a great adventure told with humor, irony, and a certain innocence that worked for me. And, its heart is in the right place.

I’ve been taught any number of ways to manage anger, and they really work. What [my mother's] never been able to teach me is how to want to manage it. So I go on seething and raging and knowing the whole time that it’s my own fault, because I do know how to stop.

El's mother taught her well and El draws a number of thoughtful conclusions which enrich the story and give it a good anchor. I'm looking forward to the second part of the series.

Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris (World’s Fair) 1900

 

   Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Paris (World’s Fair) 1900

Psalm 9 — Confidence in God

When the enemy is being accused and creation saves, do not take the glory for yourself but know that this is the victory of the Son of God and sing to him in the words of Psalm 9.

Athanasius, On the Interpretation of the Psalms

This is one psalm in Greek but two psalms (9 and 10) in Hebrew. We follow the Hebrew numbering. The reasons for thinking of it as one long psalm are because psalm 10 has no title and seems to be loosely connected to the theme of psalm 9. Also the psalms actually form a single acrostic poem. Each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

This psalm is a real celebration of God from all angles even though the psalmist is still suffering and awaiting deliverance. But he is confident in God's faithfulness.

A shofar, symbol of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.
Verse 4 of psalm 9 is found in the repetition of the Amidah on Rosh Hashanah.

I like the mention above that part of this psalm is used in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. Because that is how we Catholics experience the psalms — as part of the liturgy.

On this psalm, Didymus the Blind is the one who caught my attention with the two points made below.

 9:10 Those Who Know God's Name

God Never Abandons Us. Didymus the Blind: Those who have a perfect knowledge of your name trust in no other thing. They are not abandoned by God. This word must be understood with wisdom and reverence, considering that one should not think that the person who lives rightly in his daily affairs is abandoned by God. One who thinks thus is deceived. Indeed several of the impious have thus believed. Some say that Abel, who was killed, was abandoned, as also the prophets and apostles, for these individuals were afflicted continuously, and many of them even murdered by people. With this distinction made, we say that the person who is with God up to his last breath is not abandoned, even if he suffers innumerable wounds from his enemies. Fragments on the Psalms

===================

 9:15 The Pit They Made

The Wicked Caught in Their Own Sin.. Didymus the Blind: Secretly [the wicked] build traps of deceit with their own plans and words, so they may seize someone unsuspecting. But by that very trap that they have hidden they are punished, for vindicators will keep those very ones they have caught. This punishment is done by the providence of God. For what other is the judgment of God than that the sinner is caught by his own deeds, because he holds the reason for his own condemnation for those who live unrighteously. This agrees with that which is said before: "He who has opened a pit for his neighbor will fall into it (Ps. 7:15)." Fragments on the Psalms

Psalms 1-50 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture)

Sources are here and an index of psalm posts is here. 

Some Good Pandemic News - For a Change

I receive The Dispatch's free morning roundup newsletter. It was so refreshing to read some of this good news, instead of continually being bombarded with gloom and doom. I'm not saying everything is sunshine and roses but it is really nice to look at both sides, because there is positive to go along with the unrelenting negative I see on the news.

I thought I'd excerpt it.

• If you’re looking for some coronavirus optimism these days, you don’t have to squint too hard to find it. On the infection and hospitalization data itself, just take a look at the chart above. Per our analysis, the seven-day rolling average of confirmed new COVID-19 cases peaked on January 11 at 257,927. Today, that number is 70,591—a 73 percent decrease in six weeks.
• It’s not just cases, either. The seven-day average of test positivity—another marker of virus prevalence—has dropped from over 14 percent in the first week of 2021 to 5.3 percent this morning. On January 6, 132,464 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. That figure has decreased for 40 straight days, and is now nearly 60 percent lower at 55,403. Deaths are a lagging indicator, but they, too, are beginning to fall off after a sustained plateau above 3,000 per day.
• And then there are the vaccines. Last March, you’d have been laughed out of many rooms if you said the United States would be on track to inoculate about 50 million people against COVID-19 by the end of February 2021. The laughter would have only grown louder if you added that those vaccines would be 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness, and close to 100 percent effective against hospitalization and/or death.
• In recent days, the news has only gotten better. One study found that Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine is up to 85 percent effective after a single jab, and that it doesn’t actually need to be stored in burdensome, ultra-cold freezers as previously believed. A second (preliminary) report from Pfizer, BioNTech, and Israel’s Health Ministry found the companies’ COVID-19 vaccine to be 89.4 percent effective at preventing infections, meaning the vaccine limits most asymptomatic transmission of the virus as well.
  
  
Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the news couldn’t be much better. “The two mRNA vaccines we have been using have 95 percent efficacy against all manner of disease: mild, moderate, and severe. And [they] may—likely, I think, probably—reduce shedding, it just hasn’t been studied carefully,” he told The Dispatch. “And to date in the preapproval studies, we couldn’t find any evidence for serious adverse events in tens of thousands of people. And now the vaccine has been in tens of millions of people, so you can say with some confidence that the vaccine doesn’t even cause a rare serious adverse event. So I’d say it’s remarkable. I don’t think anybody could have predicted this a year ago.”

A Movie You Might Have Missed #35 — Searching for Sugar Man

It's been 11 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. 

In America we've never heard of Rodriguez, an enigmatic rock musician from the early 70's whose two records flopped. In South Africa, his records are bigger than Elvis. The legend surrounding him always includes a colorful death on stage ... by self immolation, pistol to the head, drug overdose, etc. Two South Africans set out to find out how Rodriguez died.

Why Rodriguez is so well known in South Africa is worth a movie of its own. When you include the discovery made by the men tracking down his legend, it propels this story into the "truth is stranger than fiction" category.

The documentary is put together like a well told piece of detective fiction and we were riveted by the story of the American musician we'd never heard of before.

Le Songe de Jacob (Jacob's Dream)

Nicolas Dipre, Le Songe de Jacob, c.1500

 

Moët Chandon Crémant Impérial poster

Moët Chandon Crémant Impérial poster, Alphonse Mucha
via My Daily Art Display

 

Sin most clearly manifests during the Passion

It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas' betrayal - so bitter to Jesus, Peter's denial and the disciples' flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, (Cf. Jn 14:30) the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.

1851, The Definition of Sin section,
The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Of course, that makes so much sense and is so true.

I'm left with no insightful observations of my own because this is just something that never occurred to me. It is something I will try to keep in mind especially during Lent.

Stations of the Cross - Vatican, Bishop Barron

Sculpture at Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross, Jerusalem
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

It is traditional to reflect upon the Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent and especially on Good Friday. Most churches have them at 3:00 p.m. as that is the time that Jesus died.

My problem is that I find group Stations of the Cross to be anything but conducive to reflection. Most of the time the devotions read aloud are simply sappy and, though that can be a sincere form of devotion, it doesn't do much for me. I really feel that eye rolling during the stations isn't good for anyone's spiritual health so I tend to reflect on them at home instead.

In past years I've used various meditations from the Vatican index of past years from the Way of the Cross. You get a wide range from guest meditations to papal ones and there are English translations as far back as 2000.

Bishop Barron has a series of excellent meditations as either video or audio. You can download a print pdf from the page for the video link. They are excellent.

Flying Mink

Flying Mink, Remo Savisaar

 

Prayers during this cold, cold weather

 It's not news that in Texas ... and here in Dallas, of course ... we're suffering from extremely cold weather with temperatures way below freezing and a lot of people out of power. 

We ourselves are very lucky to have not suffered any power loss, although we've got friends and family within 5 miles who have. We're doing what we can in using a minimum of power. Hannah, Mark, and Andy are on their way over to shelter here until their power comes back on.

Please keep everyone in your prayers.

When "light sins" aren't so light

While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call "light": if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.
St. Augustine, quoted in #1863

===============

Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root. #1865

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church in the section looking at mortal versus venial sins.

I have to admit there is a certain comfort in knowing I'm clear of mortal sin. Unfortunately that gives a tendency to think of venial sins as light and not worth worrying about as much. Until we consider the points made above. I think of gnats which seem so little and "light" until one is caught in a cloud of them. What venial sins are clouding sight and mind until I can't even imagine life without them?

Avane Srimannarayana

In the pursuit of solving an ancient mystery of the small south Indian town of Amaravati, Narayana, a corrupt cop must battle the dangerous clan of dacoits [bandits] and it’s fierce leader.

This is a mashup of a Western, an action thriller, a swashbuckler, rivalry between murderous brothers, putting on a play, and an Indian mythological fantasy of sorts. If that sounds bonkers it is, kind of. But it is a kind of bonkers that I found really entertaining. A lot of the fun lies in all the genres that are ruthlessly shoved together with humor, excellent production values, entertaining dialogue, and engaging screen presence from Rakshit Shetty who portrays Narayana.

Despite all these elements it still remains unremittingly Indian as exemplified by four gunfighters who wear cowboy hats, leather dusters, and dhoti. And it works.

I'm pleased to hear that there is a spinoff being considered, featuring Cowboy Krishna, who is "protecting American culture" in the town with his saloon.

 This is not a Bollywood movie but a Kannada language film from "Sandalwood." (I love the creativity with the "wood" names.) 

It is a long film with a lot going on. The plot is complicated (although we kept up without more difficulty than occasionally losing track of who was who in the secondary characters. And it is loaded with visual jokes and references. Some of these are easy for Americans like the saloon and Western stuff and some are going to go right over your head (as they doubtless did for us). But it doesn't matter. The story works without getting everything.

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

Watch it on Amazon Prime.

 

Living Well with the Cardinal Virtues

To live well is nothing other than to love God with all one's heart, with all one's soul and with all one's efforts; from this it comes about that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence).

St. Augustine, quoted in 1809 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church

St. Augustine sums it up perfectly. Now, getting to the point where we can live the cardinal virtues that well is a lifelong task ... a.k.a. striving toward sainthood.

Go to The Virtues section at the link above to read about the cardinal virtues which is what leads up to this quote.

Dreams

Dreams, 1896, Vittorio Matteo Corcos

 

Metropolis — Nuts in a Good Way

 

I watched this 1927  silent film as part of my 2021 Book and Movie Challenge. I knew it was really influential. I knew it was a big story set in 2026 about the downtrodden workers under the city and the rich people living in a futuristic city of splendor. This made it seem as if it would be preachy and boring, although with gorgeous sets.

Forget all that. This movie was nuts. And I mean that in a good way.

Let's start with a sexy female robot, mad scientist, forbidden love, a rooftop chase with fistfight, a horrifying chase of the heroine through the catacombs, and a really effective double role for Brigitte Helm playing both the heroine and the evil robot. All set off with amazing style in which I could see influences for Frankenstein movies, Bladerunner, Star Wars, and a ton of other movies. All the times I'd read about this movie no one said it was science fiction. I was actually on the edge of my seat at times wondering where this crazy story would go next.

I was really surprised also to see a lot of religious symbolism throughout. This begins when the hero leaves his world to see what lies below and has a vision of the workers being fed to the demon Moloch. Numerous references to the Apocalypse, complete with Biblical readings, are accompanied by Dies Irae  music to carry the theme home. Crosses, the seven deadly sins, the Tower of Babel, a flood, and the importance of the coming of "the Mediator" are just a few of the other things rounding out the religious references.

There aren't tons of title cards telling us the dialogue but we usually know what everyone's talking about. As Norma Desmond said in Sunset Blvd., "We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!" Sometimes the acting is way over the top which is understandable since a lot of these actors came from theater where you've got to go big to reach the back rows. However, there was surprisingly subtle acting sometimes where closeups allowed. 

 In many ways I was aided by many years of watching indie or foreign movies where you learn to just let them wash over you in the hopes of the big reward by the end. And, I was helped by our Indian movie watching where you learn you won't catch every line or reference but you'll get most of it by the end. Also, Bollywood has trained me to be very tolerant of "big" acting.

As you can probably tell from what I've said, this isn't what you'd call a subtle movie but it is amazingly effective at being both entertaining and getting the point across.

The Morality of the Passions

The passions are natural components of the human psyche; they form the passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind. Our Lord called man's heart the source from which the passions spring.

There are many passions. The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed. The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it.

"To love is to will the good of another." (Cf. Mk 7:21) All other affections have their source in this first movement of the human heart toward the good. ...

In themselves passions are neither good nor evil ...

1764 - 1767, The Morality of the Passions
Catechism of the Catholic Church

I've been reading the Catechism very, very slowly over a few years now and have gotten to the Life in Christ section. I continually admire the clarity and depth with which the Catechism puts things. In this case I was really struck by the idea that the passions connect our sense and mind. Of course. That makes so much sense but I'd never really thought about it before. 

The whole section is worth reading if this also grabs your attention the way it grabbed mine.

Red Squirrel

 

Red Squirrel, Remo Savisaar

We've got plenty of squirrels but none with ears like those! Click through on the link to see this photo in full size glory.