Catholics are really good at looking unblinkingly at the dark. You don’t get through Lent and Holy Week without a deeper understanding of the struggle between good and evil. The Old Testament has horrors like the demon in Tobit, a plague of killer snakes in Exodus and a concubine hacked to pieces and sent all over Israel in Judges. Jesus spent plenty of time in spiritual combat as he went toe to toe with the devil and cast out demons.
With the arrival of Halloween, we’re given another way to consider good versus evil, the struggle for redemption and the cost of choosing the wrong side. Horror movies seem an unlikely venue for spiritual reflection, but the good ones make the darkness visible, give us a hero to follow and can help us face the battle.
Monday, October 17, 2022
My latest article for Our Sunday Visitor — Scary movies with Catholic themes to watch this Halloween
Here's just a bit. Then go read the whole thing at Our Sunday Visitor.
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Back from Florida!
My goodness this was a vacation full of great stories! We drove to Florida which is a two-day trip from Dallas because we like to have that time alone together and to see the countryside unfold. The purpose was to attend my nephew's wedding to a lovely girl of Bangladeshi descent.
About half of the stories are about the incredible inconveniences we encountered in travel, in lodgings, in things - essentially. Luckily, the other half of the stories — the more important half — are wonderful stories of all the people. We got to have a mini-family reunion with my brother and sister, with my sister-in-law's family who showed up in force (they are such great folks), and to spend quite a lot of time with the bride's family who were simply lovely and gracious. Those moments left us happy and with so many wonderful memories.
Thanks to modern technology, I was able to send my mother some photos every day for her "Skylight" - picture frame. She couldn't be there in person but she could follow along the activities a little that way. I never would have thought to take so many photos if I hadn't been wanting to let her share our experiences some. So that was beneficial in two ways!
We also discovered that having seen almost 200 Indian films gives you some credit that lets the conversations be very genuine and interesting. Which was also wonderful!
The happy couple is off to a good start and we came home with some very interesting stories!
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Off to Florida!
We're actually driving and not flying but I just love this old poster. My nephew is getting married next weekend and Tom and I are taking the opportunity for one of our favorite activities — a road trip!
Other than the October saint litany or feast day posts, I'll be off the air until next week. See you then!
The thing that keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities
Life is always a novel. ... Our existence is still a story. ...
But in order that life should be a story or romance to us, it is necessary that a great part of it, at any rate, should be settled for us without our permission. If we wish life to be a system, this may be a nuisance; but if we wish it to be a drama, it is an essential.... The thing which keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities is the existence of these great plain limitations which force all of us to meet the things we do not like or do not expect. ... Of all these great limitations and frameworks which fashion and create the poetry and variety of life, the family is the most definite and important.
G.K. Chesterton, Heretics
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Eye opening. And heart breaking. A must-listen.
The Sinister Plot of the Trangender Movement
Today’s children face many new adversities that past generations could never have imagined. Filmmaker, Don Johnson sits down to discuss his new film Dysconnected, and the truth behind this radical movement that is being pushed on our children.
We've seen a number of letters in the Wall Street Journal lately from women who are so happy that they weren't born recently enough to have their strong tom-boy tendencies seen as being a gender problem. That made me interested in listening to this piece which I highly recommend.
You can read the transcript at Catholic Answers Focus and find the link to the documentary there also.
Climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside.
Of course the family is a good institution because it is uncongenial. It is wholesome precisely because it contains so many divergencies and varieties. It is, as the sentimentalists say, like a little kingdom, and, like most other little kingdoms, is generally in a state of something resembling anarchy. ...
The best way that a man could test his readiness to encounter the common variety of mankind would be to climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside. And that is essentially what each one of us did on the day he was born.
G.K. Chesterton, Heretics
Monday, October 3, 2022
We have to love our neighbor because he is there.
I have seen the first line of quote interpreted, often by realtors, as meaning that our neighbors are a precious gift. And they are, but not in the sweetly sentimental way that the realtors put forward. We may, in fact, like our neighbors. But often our neighbors are a source of great trial. They are given to us by God in order to try us, to test us, to teach us.We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbor. ... That is why the old religions and the old scriptural language showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke, not of one's duty towards humanity, but one's duty towards one's neighbor. The duty towards humanity may often take the form of some choice which is personal or even pleasurable. ... But we have to love our neighbor because he is there — a much more alarming reason for a much more serious operation. He is the sample of humanity which is actually given us.
G.K. Chesterton, Heretics,
On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family
What is equally sobering is we are given to them, as their neighbors, for the very same reason.
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Bear Bottles!
These are so adorable. I came across them at Gandalf's Gallery where there's always something that catches my fancy.
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| Pair of Bear Bottles [c.1740-50] |
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| Bear Bottle [c. 1740-50] |
A Movie You Might Have Missed #76 — All of Me (1984)
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.
A screwball comedy that should be better known.
Rich, eccentric Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) plans to transport her soul into the body of a beautiful young woman. But it goes wrong. And Edwina's soul has accidentally taken over the entire right side of her lawyer, Roger Cobb (Steve Martin). He still controls what's left. Now, Edwina and Roger are living together in the same body. He's losing his job. He's losing his girlfriend. And he just can't seem to get her out of his system. No matter how hard he tries.
"All of Me" shares with a lot of great screwball comedies a very simple approach: Use absolute logic in dealing with the absurd. Begin with a nutty situation, establish the rules, and follow them. The laughs happen when ordinary human nature comes into conflict with ridiculous developments.
I'd forgotten just how funny this movie is. We saw this in theaters when it came out and I remembered the big plot points. However, I hadn't seen it for many years so that details of the physical comedy, timing, and the witty screenplay made me laugh out loud. In fact, we were all laughing out loud, which was a lovely way to begin the weekend.
This celebrates not only Steve Martin's acting but merges that with his gift for physical comedy in a way that really works. This really also benefits from the sharp comedic timing of Martin, Tomlin and director Carl Reiner.
The "life after death" theme and humor could put this into loosely into the same category as Ghostbusters if you want a light, non-scary Halloween movie. Though, of course, it is more about living than dying.
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
El Jaleo
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| El Jaleo, John Singer Sargent Isabella Gardner Museum |
I found this because I was reading about an exhibition about Sargent and Spain. Isn't it great? It's about 12 feet wide. Imagine the impact that would have on a room. Read more here.
Well Said: Quotations
I always have a quotation for everything -- it saves original thinking.Obviously, she and I are cut from the same cloth when it comes to loving quotations.
Dorothy Sayers
Monday, September 26, 2022
Ad Limina: A Novella of Catholics in Space by Cyril Jones-Kellett
I loved this book. The bishop of Mars has to take his regular trip to Rome to check in with the pope. This is a normal thing in the Catholic Church and I liked seeing it applied to the future when we've got colonies in outer space.
As the bishop makes his way through the vagaries of travel to Earth, he sees the wondrous things people have built, he meets people living under different political systems that dominate each society, and we see his inner growth. When he got to Earth, he had no idea what to expect and neither did I. What happened and the result was a surprise.
This book was a solid science fiction book anchored in Catholic teachings. Somehow it did it without being heavy-handed or preachy — at least to my eyes. It had moments that showed the author's real love of science fiction. The bishop's epiphany when he walked on the surface brought tears to my eyes, his difficulties adjusting showed Cy Kellet's ability to realistically consider the differences between growing up in space versus on Earth, and the bishop's ability to truly appreciate the positive about different cultures' accomplishments was evidence of his open mindedness.
Highly recommended.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Well Said: This One for China, Lord
It's a good reminder for me of just how much of my daily life can be offered for others in prayer.
When sister passed by she heard Sister Maier dedicating each onion to the cause. "This one for China, Lord. This one for India." This continued until the pan was empty and Inez had shed her last onion-tear for the missions.
Sr. Immolata Reida, Selfless
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
A Movie You Might Have Missed #75 — To Be or Not to Be (1942)
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.
This movie was highly controversial when it was released in 1942. That's hard to image watching it today but when the movie was released there'd been nothing but bad news from Europe, the U.S. hadn't entered the war yet, and nothing seemed to stop Hitler in his goal of world domination. This movie seemed in very bad taste.
But Ernst Lubitsch had an important message beneath the screwball humor — Nazis were not unbeatable superhumans, but simply deluded and incompetent human beings who chose to follow a ridiculous leader like Hitler. And they could be beaten — as a troupe of Polish actors shows us. And never more entertainingly so than in To Be or Not to Be.
It was remade by Mel Brooks in 1983. Don't waste your time on that version. The original is best.
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in efforts to track down a German spy.Jack Benny and Carole Lombard shine in this satire directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch, a master of screwball comedy. It is a unique movie in the way it alternates comedy with really poignant moments — the poignancy would have been more so in 1942 when the Nazis were in Poland. Watching this made me especially appreciate Lombard's acting skill. It was her last film and released a month after she died.
This movie was highly controversial when it was released in 1942. That's hard to image watching it today but when the movie was released there'd been nothing but bad news from Europe, the U.S. hadn't entered the war yet, and nothing seemed to stop Hitler in his goal of world domination. This movie seemed in very bad taste.
But Ernst Lubitsch had an important message beneath the screwball humor — Nazis were not unbeatable superhumans, but simply deluded and incompetent human beings who chose to follow a ridiculous leader like Hitler. And they could be beaten — as a troupe of Polish actors shows us. And never more entertainingly so than in To Be or Not to Be.
It was remade by Mel Brooks in 1983. Don't waste your time on that version. The original is best.
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