Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber

Carolyn Weber arrives at Oxford a feminist from a loving but broken family, suspicious of men and intellectually hostile to all things religious. As she grapples with her God-shaped void alongside the friends, classmates, and professors she meets, she tackles big questions in search of truth, love, and a life that matters. Surprised by Oxford chronicles her conversion experience with wit, humor, and insight into how becoming a Christian changed her.

Halfway through I was already recommending it to every Christian I know. Having finished it I am still doing so.

Great First Lines — The Haunting of Hill House

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

The opening paragraph from the book I consider to be the best ghost story ever written. A bold claim but true.

A Child That is Yours and Yet is Mysteriously a Stranger

There is nothing more thrilling in this world, I think, than having a child that is yours, and yet is mysteriously a stranger. You are the gate through which it came into the world, and you will be allowed to have charge of it for a period; after that it will leave you and blossom out into its own free life, and there it is, for you to watch, living its life in freedom. It is like a strange plant which you have brought home, planted, and can hardly wait to see how it will turn out.

Agatha Christie, An Autobiography

Someone asked me recently how it felt to cooperate with God to create your child. I never thought of it like that at the time because I wasn't Catholic or even Christian. 

We have two wonderful daughters and I love seeing the way they have blossomed out into their own lives. I watch our little grandson with the same interested anticipation that I had with our girls. We are often complimented and given much credit for how they have turned out. I hardly ever know how to take that because I feel it is more a matter of simply nurturing what was there already.

As always, my favorite Agatha Christie said it perfectly in her extremely readable autobiography quoted above.

The Litany of the Counsel of the Saints VI

Magnificat has this wonderful litany in month leading up to All Saints' Day. We've reached the end of it!

If any of these meditations spoke to you, take the time to look up a bit more about that particular saint. You might find a new friend to help you to a closer relationship with Christ.
This litany is a meditation on what some of the saints have spoken or written. As we listen to these saints, we pray for a deeper personal participation in their sanctity. This litany represents only a small sampling of the vast communion of the saints. Feel free to add your favorites to it. One option is to sing the litany and its response.

R. (Saint's name), pray for us

Saint John Eudes: "With his own hand God the Father has impressed on Mary's heart a perfect semblance of the divine qualities of his love." R

Saint Claude de la Colombiere: "My Jesus, let me live in your heart and pour all my bitterness into it where it will be utterly consumed." R

Saint Paul of the Cross: "The soul whom God wants to draw to deepest union with him by means of holy prayer must pass through the way of suffering during prayer." R

Saint Alphonsus Liguori: "We must love God in the way that pleases him, and not just in a way that suits ourselves." R

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton: "O Jesus, sure joy of my soul, give me but a true love of you. Let me seek you as my only good." R

Claude de la Colombiere

Saint John Vianney: "the soul can feed only on God; only God can suffice it; only God can fill it; only God can satiate its hunger. Its God is absolutely necessary to it." R

Saint John Neumann: "Though God hates sin more than any other thing, he loves us poor miserable sinners. He ardently desires the welfare of our souls as if his own happiness depended on it." R

Saint Therese of Lisieux: "You alone, O Jesus, could satisfy a soul that needed to love even to the infinite." R

Saint Bernadette Soubirous: "O Mary, Mother of Sorrows, I am the child of your sorrows. My tender Mother, here is your child, who can do no more. Have pity on me." R

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini: "Stretch every fiber of my being, dear Lord, that I may more easily fly towards you. May your Spirit, which once breathed over the chaos of the earth give life to all the powers of my soul." R

 

Detail of St. Therese a photograph
taken in the courtyard of the monastery of Lisieux
Easter Monday, April 15, 1894.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe: "Shall the urge for complete and total happiness, inherent to human nature, be the only ned to remain unfulfilled and unsatisfied? No, even this longing can be fulfilled by the infinite and eternal God." R

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: "Holy realism has a certain affinity with the realism of the child who receives and responds to impressions with unimpaired vigor and vitality, and with uninhibited simplicity." R

Saint Katharine Drexel: "May your faith be increased so as to realize the fact that you are never alone, wheresoever you may be, that the great God is with you, in you." R

Saint Faustina: "Jesus, I trust in you." R

Saint Pio: "If the soul longs for nothing else than to love its God, then don't worry and be quite sure that this soul possesses everything, that it possesses God himself." R

Saint Damien: "In the face of the too real dangers that surround me I repeat: 'Lord, I have placed all my hope in you. I will never be confounded.'" R

Padre Pio

The Litany of the Counsel of the Saints V

Magnificat usually has this wonderful litany in the month leading up to All Saints' Day. There will be a posting of part of this litany throughout October.

This litany is a meditation on what some of the saints have spoken or written. As we listen to these saints, we pray for a deeper personal participation in their sanctity. This litany represents only a small sampling of the vast communion of the saints. Feel free to add our favorites to it. One option is to sing the litany and its response.

R. (Saint's name), pray for us

Saint Angela of Merici: "Strengthen, O Lord, my senses and my affections that they may not stray into any betrayal of trust." R

Saint Francis Xavier: "God our Lord knows the intentions which he in his mercy has wished to place in us, and the great hope and confidence which he in his goodness has wished that we should have in him." R

Saint Ignatius of Loyola: "As long as obedience is flourishing, all the other virtues will be seen to flourish and bear fruit." R

Saint Teresa of Avila: "Be joyful for there is someone who loves your God as he deserves, who knows him as her only Son." R

Saint John of the Cross: "You considered/That one hair fluttering at my neck;/You gazed at it upon my neck/And it captivated You." R 

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga: "As God is above all created things, honors, possessions, so should our internal esteem of his Divine Majesty surpass our esteem or idea of anything whatever." R

Theresa of Avila, Peter Paul Reubens

Saint Philip Neri: "My Jesus, if you want me, cut the fetters that keep me from you." R

Saint Robert Southwell: "Jesus, possess my mind with your presence and ravish it with your love, that my delight may be to be embraced in the arms of your protection." R

Saint Isaac Jogues: "My hope is in God, who needs not us to accomplish his designs. We must endeavor to be faithful to him." R

Saint Peter Claver: "Man's salvation and perfection consists in doing the will of God, which he must have in view in all things, and at every moment of their lives." R 

Saint Vincent de Paul: "But for divine grace in would be in temper hard and repellent, rough and crabbed." R

 

St. Vincent de Paul

 

Mirror, Mirror on Halloween

In this 1904 Halloween greeting card, divination is depicted:
the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room
hopes to catch a glimpse of her future husband.

I didn't know there used to be Halloween greeting cards! I like the shadow of the witch on the wall behind her ... just for fun or a sly commentary on those who practice divination, however innocent seeming?

Wait a minute, what were we talking about? — Memento

Most of this review is from 2005 when we originally watched this movie. After rewatching it I thought I'd highlight it again. Back then no one knew who Christopher Nolan was. Now everyone does and it is interesting to see him break out with techniques and themes that we are much more familiar with in 2024. Plus — it's a super good movie.

This possibly may be the definitive film noir. We follow Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) as he tracks down the man who raped and murdered his wife. However, Shelby was left with permanent short term memory loss as a result of an injury when trying to defend his wife ... and thereby hangs a fabulous piece of movie making as well as a fascinating story. He can't make new memories so how can he investigate a crime? Or even keep track of his own life?

Director Christopher Nolan takes us through the movie backwards, beginning at the end and working his way to the beginning in short jumps of time. We are just in the dark as Shelby when he wakes each morning thinking, "Where am I? Hotel room ... ok ..." and begins to regain his place in time with the aid of body tatoos, polaroids with notes jotted on them, and various friends (or are they?) he encounters. At first the jumps cover comparatively long time periods to give us the knack of following the movie. Towards the end when we are in the rythym, the jumps become shorter and shorter as the essence of the mystery is revealed. 

When Leonard points out that memories lie and only documented facts can be trusted, he is right. He goes on to prove that point in a most unlikely way during the movie. But one must be sure they are not manipulating themselves, whether consciously or unconsciously. In some ways it is a fascinating look at one's capacity to lie to oneself and, ultimately, in how we deal with guilt ... whether we are consumed by it or whether we can accept reality as it is and move on to a better future.

There were a few plot holes but they may be forgiven considering the complexity of this piece. Indeed, they may be my own deficiency because this movie was moving so fast by the end (beginning?) that it occasionally was hard to think back and put various pieces in their proper places. Nonetheless it is still really wonderful.

The Litany of the Counsel of the Saints IV

Magnificat usually has this wonderful litany this month leading up to All Saints' Day. There will be a posting of part of this litany throughout October.

This litany is a meditation on what some of the saints have spoken or written. As we listen to these saints, we pray for a deeper personal participation in their sanctity. This litany represents only a small sampling of the vast communion of the saints. Feel free to add our favorites to it. One option is to sing the litany and its response.

R. (Saint's name), pray for us

Saint Gregory the Great: "We have been truly set free from subjection to sin because we are united to him who is truly free." R

Saint Maximos the Confessor: "God made us so that we might become partakers of the divine nature and sharers in his eternity, and so that we might come to be like him through deification by grace." R

Saint Bede the Venerable: "We should rejoice that the Lord deigns to visit our hearts, and that he deigns to illumine this Passover of our good actions by his benevolent presence." R 

Saint Bernard: "In the measure that grace's kingdom is extended, sin's power is weakened." R

Saint Dominic: "I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you more effectively than during my life." R

Saint Francis of Assisi: "May I feel in my heart, as far as possible, that abundance of love with which you, Son of God, were inflamed." R

Saint Anthony of Padua: "Let us pray that the Lord Jesus Christ pour his grace into us by means of which we ask for and receive the fullness of true joy. R 

Saint Clare: "Live and hope in the Lord, and let your service be according to reason." R

St. Dominic in Prayer, El Greco

Saint Thomas Aquinas: "The life of man consists in the love that principally sustains him and in which he finds his greatest satisfaction." R

Saint Catherine of Siena: "When we love something we don't care what sort of abuse or injury or pain we might have to endure to get it; we are concerned only with satisfying our desire for the thing we love." R

Saint Bernardine of Siena: "If we but recollect the name of Jesus, it is to fight with confidence -- for this name subjects all the fury of our enemies to us." R

Saint Catherine of Genoa: "God lets the soul share his goodness so that it becomes one with him. The nearer the soul comes to him, the more it partakes of what is his." R 

Saint Thomas More: "The brothers of the patriarch Joseph could never have done so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred." R

Thomas is girded by angels with a mystical belt of purity
after his proof of chastity.
Painting by Diego Velázquez.

A Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace in Israel

We ask that on Tuesday, October 17, everyone hold a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer. Let us organize prayer times with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the Rosary to Our Blessed Virgin Mary. Although most probably in many parts of our dioceses circumstances will not permit large gatherings, it is possible to organize simple and sober common moments of prayer in parishes, religious communities, and families.

Cardinal Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has put this call out for today. Read the whole thing here.

Snap-Apple Night

Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833,
shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie.

As you'd expect, this was tons of fun. I especially enjoyed the way Charlie's common sense and regular life experience gave him an edge in dealing with rival super villains.

I will say that the beginning seemed a bit slow, mostly because we already knew the "surprise" that was revealed in slow stages to Charlie — that his uncle was a super villain. I mean to say, it's in the title. And the book blurb. So I was a bit impatient over how slowly this was unrolled for us.

However, the pace picked up once those first few chapters were over and he'd followed the cat. It's perfect for those moments when you just want popcorn for your brain.

A Cloud and Landscape Study by Moonlight

A Cloud and Landscape Study by Moonlight, Johan-Christian-Clausen Dahl

This seems so evocative of autumn and also the upcoming celebration of Halloween.

The Litany of the Counsel of the Saints III

Magnificat usually has this wonderful litany this month leading up to All Saints' Day.  There will be a posting of part of this litany throughout October.

This litany is a meditation on what some of the saints have spoken or written. As we listen to these saints, we pray for a deeper personal participation in their sanctity. This litany represents only a small sampling of the vast communion of the saints. Feel free to add our favorites to it. One option is to sing the litany and its response.

R. (Saint's name), pray for us

Saint Athanasius: "It is the Father's glory that man, made and then lost, should be found again' and, when done to death, that he should be made alive, and should become God's temple." R

Saint Ephrem the Syrian: "O Jesus, in that hour, when darkness like a cloak shall be spread over all things, may your grace shine on us in place of the earthly sun." R

Saint Charles Borromeo: "The candle that gives light to others must itself be consumed. Thus we also have to act. We ourselves are consumed to give a good example to others." R

Saint Catherine De' Ricci: "You have been reborn with him through a holy desire to live a new life, looking at yourselves as reflected in his life." R

Saint Cecilia: "To die for Christ is not to sacrifice one's youth, but to renew it. Jesus Christ returns a hundred-fold for all offered him, and adds to it eternal life." R

St. Cecilia, Guido Reni

Saint Leo the Great: "Let us be raised to the one who made the dust of our lowliness into the body of his glory." R

Saint Patrick: "I arise today through the strength of Christ with his baptism, through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial, through the strength of his Resurrection with his Ascension." R

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque: "All my pleasure in this land of exile is that of having every other kind of suffering found on the cross, deprived of every other consolation except that of the Sacred Heart." R

Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort: "In Mary alone, by the grace of Jesus Christ, man is made godlike as far as human nature is capable of it." R

Saint Benedict: "What is more delightful than this voice of the Lord calling to us? See how the Lord in his love shows us the way of life." R

Saint Columba: "Loving Savior, inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God." R

Saint Benedict of Nursia by Fra Angelico

Excusing Hatred Against Jews

 Here's a solid chunk of the first piece of the Pillar's newsletter about attitudes toward Jews in this war between Hamas and Israel. This is what strikes me too. I am praying for peace. I am going to fast on the Oct. 17 day of fasting and prayer that has been called for. While all that's happening, do go read the whole thing that this extended excerpt came from.

My view is undoubtedly colored by all of this, but there are still some things I think can be seen clearly enough.

You can have your own opinions on the proportionality and even morality of Israeli policies and actions in Gaza over the decades.

And you can pray, like me, that somehow the Israeli government and military might be dissuaded, even now, from visiting total and indiscriminate revenge on the people of Gaza.

But no one celebrates the deaths of civilians in Gaza. When a bomb claims the life of a Palestinian mother or child, crowds do not gather in the streets of Paris and Vienna to revel in their deaths. After the attacks last weekend, in which murder and rape and carnage were livestreamed on social media, no one demanded a worldwide “day of rage” to legitimize and support Israeli violence.

They do gather and celebrate and seek to legitimize it all, though, when Jews are killed. Not Israelis, Jews.

People who celebrate such things are not motivated by grievance, or a frustrated sense of justice, but by hatred — hatred not of a system, or a circumstance, or a government, or even a nation. It is hatred of a people.

It is a hatred so deep and fierce and bitter that it moves them to shout victory slogans at the violent desecration of women and the literal slaughter of actual infants.

And yet this goes largely excused among us - however much we might bluster about some things being supposedly unacceptable.”

What Are Ghosts?

Without our action or invitation, the dead often do appear to the living. There is enormous evidence of "ghosts" in all cultures .... We can distinguish three kinds of ghosts, I believe. First, the most familiar kind: the sad ones, the wispy ones. They seem to be working out some unfinished earthly business, or suffering some purgatorial purification until released from their earthly business. These ghosts would seem to be the ones who just barely made it to Purgatory, who feel little or no joy yet and who need to learn many painful lessons about their past life on earth.

Second, there are malicious and deceptive spirits -- and since they are deceptive, they hardly ever appear malicious. These are probably the ones who respond to conjurings at seances. They probably come from Hell. Even the chance of that happening should be sufficient to terrify away all temptations to necromancy.

Third, there are bright, happy spirits of dead friends and family, especially spouses, who appear unbidden, at God's will, not ours, with messages of hope and love. They seem to come from Heaven. Unlike the purgatorial ghosts who come back primarily for their own sakes, these bright spirits come back for the sake of us the living, to tell us all is well. They are aped by evil spirits who say the same, who speak 'peace, peace, when there is no peace'. But the deception works only one way: the fake can deceive by appearing genuine, but the genuine never deceives by appearing fake. Heavenly spirits always convince us that they are genuinely good. Even the bright spirits appear ghostlike to us because a ghost of any type is one whose substance does not belong in or come from this world. In Heaven these spirits are not ghosts but real, solid and substantial because they are at home there: One can't be a ghost in one's own country.

That there are all three kinds of ghosts is enormously likely. Even taking into account our penchant to deceive and be deceived, our credulity and fakery, there remain so many trustworthy accounts of all three types of ghosts - trustworthy by every ordinary empirical and psychological standard - that only a dogmatic prejudice against them could prevent us from believing they exist. As Chesterton says, "We believe an old apple woman when she says she ate an apple; but when she says she saw a ghost, we say 'But she's only an old apple woman." A most undemocratic and unscientific prejudice.

Peter Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven

As we head closer to Halloween, this seems like a good topic. And so interestingly told as is everything that Peter Kreeft writes.

Reading Devotions to Grandfather

Reading Devotions to Grandfather, Albert Anker

This is just so sweet. The earnest concentration of the young reader, the half-asleep grandfather. I love it.

Couldn't Quit Listening — Third Eye by Felicia Day

Once upon a time, in the magical land of San Francisco, there lived a not-so-ordinary girl named Laurel Pettigrew. She was supposed to be the Chosen One. The plan was simple: she would vanquish the great evil Tybus in an epic battle. But destiny had other ideas, and Laurel's performance in the whole heroics department was a colossal flop.

Now, instead of being a legendary hero, Laurel's the resident pariah of the magic realm. Until a girl looking for a hero comes along some secrets that might just give Laurel a shot at redemption and a chance to rewrite her destiny.

Ever since seeing The Guild webseries I've been a Felicia Day fan. Here she combines tropes of fantasy quests where a Chosen One must vanquish the ultimate villain. When the Chosen One fails and winds up reading tarot cards in a seedy part of San Francisco is when the fun begins.

Whether you want something light and fun that will make you laugh or are just having a bad day, this is the book to pick up. It's quick, fun, and well acted by a star cast including Neil Gaiman as the Narrator, Wil Wheaton as the evil one's local enforcer, and Sean Astin as a less-than-complete vampire.  My favorite character was the morbid high school counselor who is otherwise normal but tailor-made for Frank the vampire. Just thinking about their courtship puts a smile on my face.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves, Edward Okuń

 It has gotten just a touch chilly for our morning walks. We won't have autumn colors until next month probably, but that's what paintings are for!

The 2024 Schedule is Here for A Good Story is Hard to Find

 We've got mystery, a novel from Japan, sci-fi, Shakespeare, a deal with the devil, and much more! We are proud to present the 2024 schedule for A Good Story is Hard to Find!

• Jan. 9 — Guest - Kim Lawler - book or movie TBD
• Jan. 23 — The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 
• Feb. 6 — Bholaa
• Feb. 20 — The Hedge Knight by George R. R. Martin 
• March 5 — Soul (Pixar) 
• March 19 — The Rosary by Romano Guardini 
• April 2 — Father Stu 
• April 16 — Passage by Connie Willis 
• April 30 — Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 
• May 14 — Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 
• May 28 — Dum Laga Ke Haisha 
• June 11 — Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance by Tobias Buckell 
• June 25 — The Bridge on the River Kwai 
• July 9 — Christy by Catherine Marshall 
• July 23 — Little Miss Sunshine 
• Aug. 6 — The Charwoman's Shadow by Lord Dunsany 
• Aug. 20 — King Lear by Willy Shakes 
• Sept. 3 — Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis 
• Sept. 17 — Mulk 
• Oct. 1 — Midnight Mass, Ep 1-3 
• Oct. 15 — Midnight Mass, Ep 4-7 
• Oct. 29 — The Wolf-Leader by Alexandre Dumas 
• Nov. 12 — Green Book
• Nov. 12 — To Know Christ Jesus by FJ Sheed 
• Dec. 10 — North by Northwest

Now those are some good stories!

Azuma Gorge

Azuma Gorge by Kawase Hasui

We don't have fall colors yet but this helps with my desire for them!