Happy Catholic, Introduction

This is my first book and has been out of copyright for several years. Finding fewer and fewer at used bookstores when I wanted to give one to a friend, I decided to get it ready for a second edition. There won't be too many changes. I'm just doing the formatting now. I thought you guys might like seeing the pages now and then so am going to include some every week. This is the introduction.

Getting Here From There

I was sitting in my car yesterday morning praying. Living that joyous sorrow I’ve been given. “I’m sorry for it, for the hatred and contempt, the cross, the whip, the nails...” And Jesus says to me with great joy, “I’m not! I’m not sorry at all! I did it for you; you’re worth it. For I have made you so.” I do not look around and the world is made new; the world is the same as it ever was. But I am a new creation and I look around with new eyes. This is what my God has given me, this is what His church has given me...

New convert and commenter, Easter 2008,
Catholic and Enjoying It blog

Precisely.

The blinders have fallen from my eyes and I can hardly believe the depth and layers of meaning that are in evidence all around us.

Why did it take me so long to see the truth that floods through every day life? Every time I look back at where I began and where I am now, I am astounded.

My parents were what I think of as the good, old fashioned sort of atheist. Religion was silly superstition so why argue about it? We were taught to be good people and that as long as you didn’t break the law or hurt anyone, what you did was your own business.

This didn’t mean that I didn’t wonder if God existed. I just didn’t know how anyone could ever be sure that God was real. I grew up, married, and had children. The whole time I kept wondering.

Then, God used what I cared about most to get my attention.

Halfway through our oldest daughter’s kindergarten class irreconcilable differences between Hannah and her teacher required leaving public school. (Don’t ask. Just know that it wasn’t the 5-year-old’s fault.) She began attending the local Catholic school. One day the religion teacher told the children that anyone who wasn’t attending Sunday Mass needed to go home and tell their parents that they needed to attend. Hannah did not simply pass the message on. As only a kindergartner can, she dug in her heels and insisted on proper behavior. Pretty soon we were attending weekly Mass at St. Thomas.

Now I really couldn’t avoid the question of God’s existence. Most of the “proof” I ever heard seemed like simple coincidence to me. Weekly Mass gave me plenty of thinking time and finally I came up with a plan to force God’s hand.

We desperately needed a larger house but no one would even make an offer on ours. Kneeling at Mass I made God a deal. All He had to do was to get a me a new house as a sign. Then I’d know He was there. And I’d have a new house. Clever, eh?

Of course, nothing happened. Finally, after about a year had gone by, I realized that something inside me had changed. It wasn’t because of any dramatic feeling or discovery but I didn’t need that proof I had wanted. Kneeling at Mass once again, I told God that I’d just take His existence on faith. I told Him that He didn’t need to pay off. I was fine as I was.

The next day our new accountant found major tax errors that garnered a refund big enough for a new house. We found a perfect house that had been on the market for months with the price just lowered to what we could afford. Two weeks later our house was sold without ever going on the market. The buyer was was determined to have a house with exact specifications like ours, within a six block area that we were smack dab in the middle of. All the realtors said they had never seen anything like the smooth progress of the sale and our purchase.

I don’t believe in coincidence any more.

Five years later, I went through RCIA and became Catholic during the Easter Vigil of 2000. I love it. I love the traditions, I love the saints, I love the Eucharist … I love being Catholic.

One of the things that made my conversion so powerful to me in retrospect is that it was so personal. This was all just between God and me. I didn’t discuss it with my husband and I didn’t even read any books about religion. In fact, although I’d always been an avid reader, it never even occurred to me that they had books about religion.

After my confirmation, though, I was given a Catholic book and that began a reading frenzy. I began seeing a pattern of truth and beauty that I never knew existed. Soon, everywhere I looked, I recognized the pattern. Books I read, movies I watched, songs I heard were reflecting bits of the Truth that was God. I realized that this reality had been there all along. I just couldn’t see it before. It made everyday things glow. I couldn’t hold in my delight and began emailing friends with my discoveries. The emails turned into a blog, Happy Catholic, that reflected everything I loved about being Catholic every day.

This book continues that sharing.

We see echoes of Heaven all around us, sometimes without ever knowing what we are seeing. I have a passion for quotes that point toward those truths. That passion turned into short reflections on some of my favorite quotes. You’ll find everything here from movies to television to Scripture, from humor to seriousness to optimism and joy. In short, everything that draws back the veil and let us connect with God. I hope it delights you as much as it does me.

Julie Davis, written on the Feast of St. Martha

(my patient patron)

Halloween

Halloween, Grandma Moses
via WikiArt

You know, I've never been a Grandma Moses fan. However, I do love this painting because of all the little details of what the community is doing for Halloween. And that made me take another look at more of her paintings. Along that same line of thinking, I actually can appreciate them more now. Go to the link to see more of her work. And take a look at this one up close. Very enjoyable and Halloweeny.

Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle. N. C. Wyeth, 1921
via Books and Art

In October  my thoughts naturally turn to Washington Irving's masterpieces The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. And I don't think anyone ever illustrated them better than N.C. Wyeth. Or maybe that comes of having books with covers like these scattered around my grandparents' house.

Carlo Acutis — Computer Geek, Gamer, and Saint

I was at the Fullness of Truth Conference in Plano this weekend and they had reproductions of some of the panels Carlo put together about Eucharistic miracles. They were really interesting. That makes today's feast day even more relevant for me.

Carlo Acutis (1991-2006)

 You can hardly get a more modern saint than Carlo Acutis whose mother said, "Carlo led a normal life: He went to school, he played sports, he played video games, although usually just one hour a week because he understood that one could be enslaved by video games."

He also loved soccer, comics, and movies. His true nature was reflected when he defended kids from bullies, comforted friends whose parents were divorcing, created a website cataloguing Eucharistic miracles, and volunteered among the homeless.

I love this saint whose hobbies and modern life remind me so much of my nieces and nephews, not to mention those that my grandchild and grand-nieces and nephew and godchildren will doubtless love. I hope they also have Carlo's love of God and of his fellow man.

Pope Leo canonized him Sept. 7, 2025, so some of the linked stories may talk about "Blessed" because it's such a recent change.

Here's a brief summary of his life from Franciscan Media's saint of the day:

Born in London and raised in Milan, Carlo’s wealthy parents were not particularly religious. Upon receiving his first communion at age seven, Carlo became a frequent communicant, making a point of praying before the tabernacle before or after every Mass. In addition to Francis of Assisi, Carlo took several of the younger saints as his models, including Bernadette Soubirous, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, and Dominic Savio.

At school Carlo tried to comfort friends whose parents were undergoing divorce, as well as stepping in to defend disabled students from bullies. After school hours he volunteered his time with the city's homeless and destitute. Considered a computer geek by some, Carlo spent four years creating a website dedicated to cataloguing every reported Eucharistic miracle around the world. He also enjoyed films, comics, soccer, and playing popular video games.

Diagnosed with leukemia, Carlo offered his sufferings to God for the intentions of the sitting pope—Benedict XVI—and the entire Church. His longtime desire to visit as many sites of Eucharistic miracles as possible was cut short by his illness. Carlo died in 2006 and was beatified in 2020.

As he had wished, Carlo was buried in Assisi at St. Mary Major’s “Chapel of the Stripping”, where Francis had returned his clothes to his father and began a more radical following of the Gospel.

Among the thousands present for Carlo’s beatification at Assisi’s Basilica of St. Francis were many of his childhood friends. Presiding at the beatification service, Cardinal Agostino Vallini praised Carlo as an example of how young people can use technology to spread the Gospel “to reach as many people as possible and help them know the beauty of friendship with the Lord.” His liturgical feast is celebrated on October 12.

Read more at the links below:

• 17 Things Every Catholic Should Know About Carlo Acutis
  
• Blessed Carlo Acutis: his life, his miracles and his legacy
  
• Wikipedia entry
   

Fall Landscape

Julian Onderdonk, Fall Landscape

Only For Today: the daily decalogue of Pope John XXIII

It's the feast day of Pope John XXIII so this is the perfect time to consider this decalogue which is so practical and down-to-earth. I love the practicality of these ten resolutions and when I've remembered them, my life has been easier and happier.

In looking around, I was interested to see that this comes from a homily by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone who helped John XXIII organize and run the second Vatican council. He must have known the pope well and so this means all the more.

The daily decalogue of Pope John XXIII

1) Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.

2) Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behaviour; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.

3) Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.

4) Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.

5) Only for today, I will devote 10 minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.

6) Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.

7) Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.

8) Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils: hastiness and indecision.

9) Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances, that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this world.

10) Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12 hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.

A delightful year of reading, watching, and talking awaits us!

 Here's the 2027 schedule for A Good Story is Hard to Find!

Double Date

Double Date, Karin Jurick

The Bells

Because Halloween is this month! When better for bells and Poe! Read it aloud for best effect.

The Bells

by Edgar Allen Poe

I
Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II

Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III

Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV

Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people- ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Julie has the perfect lab space if Scott can find the body parts.

 A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast - Episode 389: Frankenstein (2025), directed by Guillermo del Toro

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.

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!

Autumn Maple Trees

Autumn Maple Trees, a screen painted by Tawaraya Sōri, late 1700s.
Via J.R.'s Art Place.

Click the link to see it larger. I love Japanese Maples.

And the Winner is — 1948

 Our family is working our way through Oscar winners and whichever nominees take our fancy. Also as they are available, since some films are hard to find. 

Because we'd seen these before, we didn't rewatch the winner, Gentleman's Agreement, or two other nominees - Miracle on 34th Street and The Bishop's Wife. However, there were two others we were interested in. How did they fare in our estimation? See below!

WINNER

A journalist pretends to be Jewish to research an exposé on the widespread antisemitism in New York City and affluent nearby communities.

This was controversial in its day and back when we saw it we thought it charmingly old fashioned. Sadly, since then the ugly head of anti-Semitism has reared its head again, although by no means entirely under wraps as the movie portrays. A social issue movie that the Academy couldn't resist.

 NOMINEES

A classic for a reason. Natalie Wood really shines as the cynical, modern kid who doesn't believe in fairy tales ... or Santa Claus.

When Dudley, an angel, is sent to help a bishop regain his vocation the bishop begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace him, both at work and in his family’s affections, as Christmas approaches.

A minor classic and a really fun Christmas movie with great actors all hitting their marks just right.

A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?

Anti-Semitism was a huge theme that year, understandably so since the Holocaust and WWII was fresh in people's minds. This was a B-movie, noir style, and tolerable but not great. Stick with the winner for a much better, nuanced movie on the topic.

In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman.

Called by many critics the best of all Dickens movie adaptations. We truly enjoyed this and it should have won Best Picture. I especially enjoyed Alec Guiness as Herbert Pocket. He was like an early Bertie Wooster. It made me want to reread the book.

=======

All the Oscar viewing is here.

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.

Spooky Art from Victor Hugo

 Victor Hugo was a prolific writer, but also a prolific artist with around 4,000 pieces of art to his name. Click through on the link to see more selections of his spooky art thanks to J.R.'s Art Place.

The Autumn People

For some, autumn comes early, stays late through life where October follows September and November touches October and then instead of December and Christ's birth, there is no Bethlehem star, no rejoicing, but September comes again and old October and so on down the years, with no winter, spring, or revivifying summer. For these beings, fall is the ever normal season, the only weather, there be no choice beyond. Where do they come from? The dust. Where do they go? The grave. Does blood stir their veins? No: the night wind. What ticks in their head? The worm. What speaks from their mouth? The toad. What sees from their eye? The snake. What hears with their ear? The abyss between the stars. They sift the human storm for souls, eat flesh of reason, fill tombs with sinners. They frenzy forth. In gusts they beetle-scurry, creep, thread, filter, motion, make all moons sullen, and surely cloud all clear-run waters. The spider-web hears them, trembles -- breaks. Such are the autumn people. Beware of them.

Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

Proof that horror fantasy can also be poetic.

It's October! The Garden of Death

The Garden of Death by Hugo Simberg, 1896.

Typically symbols of death, these skeletons are instead gardening - which is a symbol of life.

Feast of the Guardian Angels

Another of my favorite feast days. 

A statue of an angel at a cemetery in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana

Devotion to the Guardian Angels goes back to the beginnings of Christianity. Pope Clement X proclaimed the feast a universal celebration in the seventeenth century. The Guardian Angels serve as the messengers of God. The Almighty has allocated a Guardian Angel to each one of us for our protection and for the good of our apostolate...

We have to deal with our Guardian Angels in a familiar way, while at the same time recognizing their superior nature and grace. Though less palpable in their presence than human friends are, their efficacy for our benefit is far greater. Their counsel and suggestions come from God, and penetrate more deeply than any human voice. To reiterate, their capacity for hearing and understanding us is much superior even to that of our most faithful human friend, since their attendance at our side is continuous; they can enter more deeply into our intentions, desires and petitions than can any human being, since angels can reach our imagination directly without recourse to the comprehension of words. They are able to incite images, provoke memories, and make impressions in order to give us direction.

In Conversation With God : Feast Days July - December 

As devoted as I am to the Archangels, I am especially fond of my Guardian Angel. He is always there when I need him and has a wicked sense of humor. Perhaps wicked is not the right word. He must, therefore, have an angelic sense of humor! This is one of my favorite feast days.

For my personal angel stories, as well as some general information, you can read more here and here.

Prayer to One's Guardian Angel

Dear Angel,
in his goodness God gave you to me to
guide, protect and enlighten me,
and to being me back to the right way when I go astray.
Encourage me when I am disheartened,
and instruct me when I err in my judgment.
Help me to become more Christlike,
and so some day to be accepted into
the company of Angels and Saints in heaven.
Amen.

1930's Modern Publicity

Via BibliOdyssey

Many more images from this early commercial art magazine may be found at BibliOdyssey.