Worth a Thousand Words: Vase and Flowers

Vase and Flowers, Emil Carlsen

What return can I make to God for all his generosity to me?

What return can I make to God for all his generosity to me?

Psalm 116:12

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If I owe all for having been created, what can I add for being remade in this way? It was less easy to remake me than to make me. It is written not only about me but of every created being: "He spoke and they were made" (Ps. 148:5). But he who made me by a single word, in remaking me had to speak many words, work miracles, suffer hardships, and not only hardships but even unjust treatment. What return can I make to God for all his generosity to me?"

In his first work he gave me myself; in his second he gave me himself. Given and regiven, I owe myself twice over. What can I give God in return for himself?

St. Bernard of Clairveaux

via The New Jerusalem Bible, Saints Devotional Edition,
editor Bert Ghezzi

This is something I never thought of. All the work that God goes to to simply get my attention, much less remake me to be the better version of myself that I hadn't even imagined.

Philips, 1951

Philips, 1951

Arthur C. Clarke and Reader's Digest

I believe this [A Fall of Moondust] was probably Reader's Digest's first essay into science fiction, but I have never been able to bring myself to sample the result -- not because I fear that the Pleasantville editors may have butchered my deathless prose, but because I'm scared they may have improved it.

Arthur C. Clarke, introduction to A Fall of Moondust

RRR (Rise Roar Revolt)

It is a fictional story about two Indian revolutionaries, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Charan) and Komaram Bheem (Rama Rao), and their fight against the British Raj.

Rajamouli came across stories about the lives of Rama Raju and Bheem and connected the coincidences between them, imagining what would have happened had they met, and been friends. Set in 1920, the plot explores the undocumented period in their lives when both the revolutionaries chose to go into oblivion before they began the fight for their country.

Wikipedia

This is the director's dream about two revolutionaries who never met but might have been besties if they had. As we'd expect from the director of Eega and Baahubali, it has great choreography for singing and action, exciting dances, and a lot of heart. It delivers an over-the-top bromance the likes of which would be hard to top. It also embodies personal sacrifice and love of country, naturally, since these are celebrated revolutionaries who fought for India's independence. 

The over-the-top aspect also applies to the depictions of the British Raj which, to be fair, we've seen matches in some other South Indian films. The Raj are usually like the Nazis in our own movies — big, bad, and making you long for their demise. 

We could tell that Ram and Bheem were destined to be best friends from the moment they used sign language to set up a complicated plan to save a little boy. They were already reading each other's minds. From there it's an action packed movie that didn't quit entertaining for three hours.

I liked the way the director's imagination put these two together in a completely imagined story that still kept the essence of who they are and why they are admired. In that way it made me think of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter which took an absurd premise and delivered a fun movie which was still respectful treatment of the American legend.

We saw this at a local AMC where it was showing in the original Telugu or dubbed Hindi, both with English subtitles. Of course we picked Telugu so we could hear the actors' own delivery. There was a small Indian audience with us and that made it more fun. Later we went for Indian food (of course) where our waitress said she'd seen it and proudly proclaimed, "That movie is in my language! Telugu!" It was a wonderful theme evening.  

Rating — Introduction to Tollywood (come on in, the water's fine!) This one is more like a WWII Nazi movie in some ways than a purely Indian movie. If you like those, then give this one a try. Technically this is "Tollywood" not "Bollywood" since it is from South Indian cinema using the Telugu language.

Driving Home the Cows

Driving Home the Cows by Edward Mitchell Bannister, 1881.

I love these pastoral pictures.

Steampunk Keyboard

Steampunk Keyboard

The quote from Pope Paul VI today made me go looking for this keyboard which I originally featured way back in 2008.

Here's the source and they show the whole process, complete with videos, of converting a regular keyboard to this thing of beauty.

I wonder if it is as comfortable for typing as it is beautiful to the eye?

Technological society can multiply pleasure but not happiness

Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the occasions of pleasure, but finds great difficulty in giving birth to happiness. For happiness has its origin elsewhere: it is a spiritual thing. Money, comfort, hygiene, material security, etc., may often not be lacking, but nevertheless, despite these advantages, boredom, suffering and sadness are frequently to be supervening in the lives of many people.

Pope Paul VI, Exhortation, Gaudete in Domino
quoted in In Conversation with God: Lent and Eastertide

Pope Paul VI wrote this almost 50 years ago in 1975. With more technology at our fingertips than ever, we can see the truth of the Pope's words as we look back across the decades. Where am I allowing technology to take the place of something more personal and meaningful?

Starling

Starling, Remo Savisaar

 Our starlings never look like this. We've got the drabber version in Texas. Though I bet the mechanical sounding squawking may be the same.

Heaven's Hunter by Marie C. Keiser

This was a fast-paced adventure/detective story set in a future when Catholicism is banned because of their crimes against humanity. At least that's how most people understand it. When his best friend is killed by space pirates, Major Randall Yung sets out to avenge him. The trail leads to secrets that affect not just Yung but also the whole darned universe.

I was more caught up in this than I expected, reading it in one night. That is good because it means the story telling had a quick pace that kept my interest. However, the book did keep to the surface of the story a lot of the time. We are told of major changes in Yung's way of thinking without a lot of digging into what is really going on personally with him.

The Catholic element was such that non-Catholics would still enjoy the book (or so it seems to me), while Catholics will appreciate the understated way that the faith affects the main character.

I liked the themes that the author explores while telling an action-filled story. As a first book it was enjoyable. I look forward to seeing how the author does in other books.

Dasvi (Tenth)

Ganga Ram Chaudhary is an, uneducated, corrupt, charismatic politician who has everything his way until he's jailed for bribery. When a tough warden removes all his perks and piques his pride by calling him an uncouth bumpkin Chaudhary decides to take advantage of the prison's education program, both to finally get his high school education (passing the "tenth standard") and to avoid manual labor. 

In the meantime, his formerly meek wife has been deputized to fulfill his political duties. Acquiring a taste for politics, she begins her own campaign to stay in power. Chaudhary must outwit her plans while finding a way to absorb the lessons that baffle a brain unused to education. 

I have always enjoyed Abishek Bachchan's comedic roles more than the serious ones and this is no exception. This film avoids the common Indian comedic signals of sound effects and funny sidekicks to use the humor of the situation to full advantage. We clearly see the "education message" coming but the familiar beats are so skillfully done that it is a pleasure to watch. I especially enjoyed the special key to unlocking Chaudhary's intelligence. After all, he couldn't be such a successful politician without being smart but tangents and cosigns are beyond him until that key is found.

I also really loved the star turn from Nimrat Kaur as his wife Bimmo. I liked her in The Lunchbox and Airlift, but in this film she shows a sassy, more forceful side as she begins to hold power and enjoy being more than a housewife.

Dasvi is suitable for all ages. It is truly a family film that everyone can enjoy, although you may have to let some of the political details wash over you. They don't matter. We understand the main story. The joy is in watching how it is played out in this particular circumstance by these very talented actors.

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

Scottie Schefler: “The reason why I play golf is I’m trying to glorify God and all that He’s done in my life."

I really loved this quote from Scottie Schefler after winning the Masters Tournament.

Facing the world’s press, he offered this response to a question about his goals and motivations:

“The reason why I play golf is I’m trying to glorify God and all that He’s done in my life,” he said. “So for me, my identity isn’t a golf score. Like Meredith told me this morning, ‘If you win this golf tournament today, if you lose this golf tournament by 10 shots, if you never win another golf tournament again,’ she goes, ‘I’m still going to love you, you’re still going to be the same person, Jesus loves you and nothing changes.’ All I’m trying to do is glorify God and that’s why I’m here and that’s why I’m in this position.”

Sports Spectrum

Well, there's something you don't hear every day. Although, as it turns out, you might hear it a lot more from different sports figures if the media would faithfully report what they say instead of leaving the faith angle on the cutting room floor.

This is from a Get Religion piece which looks at which media faithfully reported what Scottie Schefler said and which ones decided to not mention religion or God. After all, what Get Religion does is to report on the way the media reports (or doesn't) on religion.

The question is not whether journalists should INSERT religion into a story about an event of this magnitude. The question is why journalists feel the need to edit faith material OUT of these kinds of stories if some athletes — when asked to explain What. Makes. Them. Tick — openly and consistently discuss the role that religious faith plays in their lives.

Terry Mattingly, Get Religion
That missing piece, again: Why edit the faith factor out of Scheffler's win at the Masters?

Go read the whole thing. You can follow it up with another example from Get Religion: What happened when this 2022 Final Four hero was asked to explain his heart, mind, and soul?

Palm Sunday

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Jesus and his apostles entering Jerusalem

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

"How different the cries," St. Bernard comments, "'Away with him, away with him, crucify him,' and then 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest!' How different the cries are that now are calling him "King of Israel" and then in a few days time will be saying, 'We have no king but Caesar!' What a contrast between the green branches and the cross, between the flowers and the thorns! Before they were offering their own clothes for him to walk upon and so soon afterwards they are stripping him of his, and casting lots upon them." (St. Bernard, Sermon on Palm Sunday)

The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem asks for loyalty and perseverance from each one of us, it calls us to depend in our faithfulness, and for our resolutions to be more than just bright lights that sparkle for a moment and then fade away. There are some striking contrasts in the depths of our hearts, for we are capable of the very greatest things and also the very worst, and so if we wish to possess the divine life and triumph with Christ, we need to be constant and through penance deaden within us anything that separates us from God and prevents us from following Our Lord unto the Cross.

In Conversation With God Vol 2: Lent and Eastertide

Pieta

Pieta by Le Pho, painting on silk, 1935.

Need a Gift for a New Convert? Here are Three Good Options.

I've written three books that are often praised for their accessibility. They are often given as confirmation gifts, used for RCIA classes, and given to converts/reverts.

Thus Sayeth the Lord: A Fresh Take on the Prophets - my latest! This is the one to make anyone less afraid of reading the Old Testament.

Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life - A prayer devotional to help draw closer to Jesus

Happy Catholic - Living everyday as a Catholic, with just enough pop culture to show you can do it without withdrawing from regular life.

One of the most terrifying religious paintings in the world

Fresco of the Deeds of the Antichrist (c. 1501) in Orvieto Cathedral.
Luca Signorelli

 I'd never have come across today's art if not for Bishop Barron's essay, excerpt below. Click on the painting to see it enlarged and make sure you can see the two people on the pedestal.

 Imagine a truly wicked person who is also very smart, very talented and very enterprising. Now raise that person to a far higher pitch of ontological perfection, and you will have some idea of what a devil is like. Very rarely, devils intervene in human affairs in vividly frightening and dramatic ways. But typically, devils act more indirectly and clandestinely, through temptation, influence and suggestion. One of the most terrifying religious paintings in the world is in the Cathedral of Orvieto in Italy. It is a depiction of the Antichrist by the great early renaissance painter Luca Signorelli. The artist shows the devil whispering into the ear of the Antichrist, and also working his arm through the vesture of his victim in such a way that it appears to be the Antichrist’s own arm, thereby beautifully symbolizing how the dark power acts precisely with us and through us.

Bishop Robert Barron, Vibrant Paradoxes

The spirit of penance

This week I'll do my confession before Easter. I'm definitely glad to have a parish where there are options practically every day for the next two weeks. That timing made this reflection hit home.

After its reconciliation with God, there are still left in the soul the remains of sin; a weakness of the will to abide in good. There will remain also a certain facility for making wrong judgements: a certain disorder in the sensual appetite ... They are the weakened scars of actual sin and the disordered tendencies left in man by original sin, which are brought to a head by our personal sins. It is not enough to remove the arrow from the body, says St. John Chrysostom; We also have to heal the wound caused by the arrow. It is the same with the soul; after we have received forgiveness for our sins, we have to heal the wound that remains through penance.

Even after absolution, John Paul II teaches, there remains in the Christian a dark area, due to the wound of sin, to the imperfection of love in repentance, to the weakening of the spiritual faculties. It is an area in which there still operates an infectious source of sin which must always be fought with mortification and penance. This is the meaning of the humble but sincere act of satisfaction [penance].

For all of these reasons we must put a lot of love into fulfilling the penance the priest gives us before granting absolution. It is usually easy to perform and, if we really love God, we will be aware of the great disparity there is between our sins and the penance we have been given. It is yet another reason for increasing our spirit of penance during this Lent, when the Church calls us to it in a special way.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God,
Lent and Eastertide, Fifth Monday of Lent

"The weakened scar of actual sin" isn't something I ever think of, but it does make sense that a spiritual wound leaves a spiritual scar. Not only do my disordered tendencies lead me to repeat my favorite sins (as much as I hate to call them that), but now I am a bit weakened. I certainly never thought of this application to my Lenten penance. 

It's heartening to read this for my home stretch of these last two weeks when, frankly, both the spirit and body begin to lag.

Interior with Portraits

Interior with Portraits by Thomas LeClear

 There is a lot going on in this painting and I encourage you to click the link above so you can see it more closely. There's a lot of humor in the idea of a painting of someone taking a photograph. Little touches are added in the clutter around the cleared photography space and the dog who has just shoved the door open and is barging in.

A Trompe L'œil with a Young Nun peeking out through a Shutter

A Trompe L'œil with a Young Nun peeking out through a Shutter

 I love trompe l'oeil where the painting makes you feel as if something is happening in the real world instead of the art. In this case the nun appears as if she is peering out of a real shutter towards us.

Things are not as they're supposed to be.

Things as they are, are not as they're supposed to be. You might be uncomfortable with that because it might fly directly in the face of what the culture tells us, like when the question is asked, "What's wrong with you?" We know the message is, "You're perfect just the way you are."

Really? Have you spent time with you? Because I've spent time with me and I know that "You are perfect, Father Mike, just the way you are" is not true. That is not even close to being true.

... This is what we all need to know. I am not perfect as I am but I am loved as I am. This is the key. This is what the culture can't offer us. That's why the culture has to keep saying "You're perfect as you are" because God himself says: "No, no, you aren't perfect as you are but you are loved as you are. No you are not perfect as you are, but you are called to be more than you are. And, no you are not perfect as you are, but you are fought for by a God who wants you as you are." This is the only thing they can't offer. This is what God offers.

Father Mike Schmitz, podcast, episode Undone: We've Come Undone