It's All Relative

...relatively speaking. In conjunction with an Easter trip home, I visited my pre-maturely born nephew (who has taken up residence at a Cincinnati hospital). Looks like he'll be there another four weeks, poor piker. But it's sobering to look around and see babies in worse shape than him, such as a baby named "Mryacle", which, as the name suggests, was born in big trouble at 1 lb and a some ounces and has made a "mryaculous" recovery so far.

Also had an exchange with a relative over the weekend concerning religion. Whenever that comes up I'm on edge since this - and only this - is truly important in life and I tend to say things unguarded and "without a filter", although I am getting better. "First, do know harm" is crucial.

The Church has such a difficult job with disciplinary practices, doesn't She? Too loose and the salt goes flat, too stringent and the salt despairs. Maybe we have to just be comfortable with failure (and putting it in the Lord's hands where it belongs) because I tend to think that our "good" Lents wouldn't reach the level of John Henry Newman's worst Lent, for example. Ideally, for me, fasting leads to more prayer and more spiritual reading in order to stay sufficiently motivated to keep the fast (however weakly 'the fast' is defined, emphasis on 'weak'). It becomes a "gracious cycle".

These thoughts were triggered by a family member who lamented the "hard" six weeks' of Lent just past. He complained about the fish on Fridays (he doesn't like fish). I tell him that this was nothing compared to the way it was in the past. Before Vatican II every Friday was a Lenten Friday. And he said he would surely become an Episcopalian if they still had that rule. I'm tempted to say, "That's why there was Vatican II...to keep us schlubs in the church." My father, unlike me, encouraged him. I told him basically, "you don't know easy we got it" and my father basically said, "well, you made it, good job". I think my father probably chose the better way.

But more in tune with the season is this wonderful Easter sermon from St. John Chrysostom (of all people!).. (link via Amy & Thomas):

Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!

You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Various & Sundry

On the origin of a favorite Easter hymn: Jesus Christ is Risen Today.

Times review of a new book about Mary Queen of Scots.

"Behold, I Make All Things New"

Christ freeing Adam and Eve from the grave

Maundy Thursday

Daily dust over the jagged
stair steps of toes, between the cracked
skin; heels bruised by heat,
small toes stoned by cobblestone.

The wrong one is kneeling,
sprinkling water over the wounded,
a stream of fingers cleaning disciples' feet
as boils and blisters burst with new
covenant balm of blood and bread.

Good Friday

Holes as oval as this
lopsided earth, the black skin
of space filling in with red
against the spike that fastens
tendon to tree, bone to board,
skin and sin to sacrifice and servant.

In the human/divine pores: pain,
prophecy, the prodigal and unrepentant.
Their sounds pound the galaxies;
nowhere to walk or run
but Thy will be done.

Holy Saturday

Now unnailed,
calluses washed clean
with the converted Centurion's crying,
arch and ankle wrapped
for the new tomb hewn
from a rich man's cave,
the Savior-slave rots,

descends to the depths
of paradox, cleanses
each brimstone foot
of the dead and damned.

Easter Sunday

Alive,
he has abandoned the sepulchre.
Clover between his toes,
he hoes the graveyard garden
waits for the women
to come with scents and spices.

The unrecognized one,
afterwards he watches them run,
hysterically hollering hallelujah!

--Marjorie Maddox

Haikus

Ash Wednesday
 
We wear black crosses,
Dismissed to a holy Lent.
How shall we keep it?
 
Palm Sunday
 
Today, Palm Sunday.
Then Good Friday five days hence.
Easter but a dream.
 
Maundy Thursday
 
Christ dies tomorrow.
Today we eat bread and wine.
The altar’s left bare.
 
Good Friday
 
The cross before us
Blocks out the rest of the world.
The Lamb of God dies.
 
Easter Vigil
 
We start in darkness.
New light proclaims the Good News—
Jesus is risen!

--Lionel E. Deimel

Book Tryouts

Haven't read too much lately other than some spiritual reading (though I haven't finished my Lenten commitment of Rev. PJ Michel's book yet). I've heard so many good things about "Death on a Friday Afternoon" by Richard John Neuhaus that I ought to read that too.

I picked up a few books at the library for post-Easter: "Jonathan Edwards: A Life" by George M. Marsden and "The Soul of Battle : From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny" by Victor Davis Hanson, "Chesterton on Dickens" and "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America" by David Hackett Fischer.

I'm ready with the brackets.

    Spanning the Globe to Bring You the Constant Variety of Posts

They give the sign of peace like they mean it. - Lee Ann of Literarium, on her parish

Man's natural instinct moves him to live in civil society, for he cannot, if dwelling apart, provide himself with the necessary requirements of life, nor procure the means of developing his mental and moral faculties. Hence, it is divinely ordained that he should lead his life-be it family, or civil-with his fellow men, amongst whom alone his several wants can be adequately supplied. But, as no society can hold together unless some one be over all, directing all to strive earnestly for the common good, every body politic must have a ruling authority, and this authority, no less than society itself, has its source in nature, and has, consequently, God for its Author. - Pope Leo XIII, via Bill of Random Notes

Abortion is a demonic, false liturgy wherein the child is offered up in celebration of the putative absence, or even non-existence, of God. The precise counter liturgy to abortion is baptism. - proposal of Thomas of 'Endlessly Rocking'

Steven, frankly, what I need to do is become holy, then report my findings. Watch this space. - Tom of Disputations

I find the interaction between you two, Tom and Steve, endlessly fascinating and instructive. - David on Tom of Disputations' blog. David, you're the one? Good Lord, don't encourage them.

[Lileks had] a great zinger on the generation gap between people like Kerry, who think that all of American history was preparation for -- and then commentary on -- the sixties and early seventies, and people of my generation and older, who just associate that time period with riots and ugly clothes and a bunch of pop music stars who are going to be eligible for Medicare soon. - Peony of "Two Sleepy Mommys"

Coeds in the Hands of an Angry God? -- Mark Byron on Hokie's blog, in reaction to Robert Bauer's line, "I don't want to go Jonathan Edwards on her, but I really feel like she needs to be shocked into action with evidence directly from the Bible."

It has been brought to my attention that I don't have a girlfriend. Upon having my secretary search through my records, this has been confirmed. - Robert of Hokie Pundit

Once again, a gaffe is defined as accidentally telling the truth. - Jonah Goldberg of "The Corner", on Paul Hornung's recent remarks

I'm a left-handed, Dvorak-typing, Natural-Family-Planning-teaching, old-time-radio-listening, book-devouring, movie-loving, number-crunching, happily-married, proud-papa, enthusiastically-Catholic average kind of guy. - Tom Bress of "A Thing Worth Doing"

Here´s what Federico Suarez says about Mary visiting Elizabeth [after the Annunciation] in his book "The Virgin, Our Lady,": 'But Our Lady didn´t do anything else but the vulgar and normal, something that millions of people do every day: She went to the house of a relative, to greet them, to smile, to help them out in little household chores... Really, what more could she do? It is very likely that the Lord doesn´t expect anymore of us than similar things. He doesn´t expect us do incredible or extraordinary actions, but to do the little, common everyday items, that are apparently monotonous, and which could include a greeting or a visit. But we, just as the Virgin Mary, are bearers of Christ, and therefore as instruments we have the quality that the Lord expects of us ...' - Robert Duncan of Santificarnos

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. --Mother Theresa, via Pigeon Pi

Three Books

The latest issue of Crisis has an irresistible column about a subject I'm a sucker for....which three books "would explain in clear, profound, and incisive terms the whole structure of human life, its destiny, and how it stands before God and the world"?

That's all I ask. Fortunately, Rev. James Schall is up to the challenge. Here's an excerpt:

I am aware that the disorders in the world stem mainly from the will, not the mind, even though a mind component is found in any disorder or sin. Often in my thoughts I mull over what I would recommend to someone who really wants to know the truth of things. What would I tell him? Where would I tell him to go? Whom should he consult? I have multi-lists of ten books, 20 books, 25 books. “Acquire these,” I tell anyone who will listen.

I know about Scripture, Aquinas, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and the rest. I have long given out lists of what I call “minor” classics, books that no one tells us about in the university or in the culture, but books that nevertheless explain the essence and right order of things. At the top of this list is probably, for me, Chesterton. Nothing is quite like him...

Read carefully and leisurely together, [the following three] books give a better and more coherent overall picture of the unity of intellectual things, the relation of reason and revelation, the order of knowledge, the meaning of modern thought, of virtue and vice, than anything else that one could read, except perhaps Chesterton.

These three books are the following: (1) Josef Pieper: An Anthology (the German book); (2) Peter Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien; and (3) Ralph McInerny, The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life. None of these books is very long. Each is relatively easy to read. All three are as profound as any book ever written. They all deal with what is.

These books cover every issue of any importance about how to live and what is true. Each of the authors knows classic and modern thought. None of these books intends to be apologetic; yet taken together, they constitute the finest apologetic imaginable. They are all lyrical. They deal with evil. They take us to the order of things in a way that nothing else will in quite the same way. “Read them!”

--Rev. James V. Schall, S.J., teaches political science at Georgetown University

Excerpt from Magnificat 'zine

What Judas refused wasn't the cross, but the laying down of his arms before forgiveness. It's no longer a question of being strong, but of being sufficiently humble for love to be able to triumph in our lives. Now, our strength depends much less on ourselves than does our humility and weakness. This is the secret of happiness, and this is the secret of the Beatitudes.

From "Pinball Wizard" - The Who

'How do you think he does it? I don't know!
What makes him so good?'

He ain't got no distractions
Can't hear those buzzers and bells,
Don't see lights a flashin'
Plays by sense of smell.
Always has a replay,
'n' never tilts at all...
That deaf dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pin ball.

Another thing about Gibson's movie was how ignored the devil figure was. For Jesus and Mary, the devil was a distraction from God the Father and Christ (respectively). Jesus doesn't even look at Satan, and when the Blessed Mother does (during the Via Dolorosa) she immediately looks away...

Magnificat Quote

From the Holy Week issue:

My judgments of other men are related, for the most part, to what I would like to be, and if they are cruel, it is because I am punishing myself in them...Every soul bears within it an aspiration which remains forever unsatisfied because the infinite is its aim. Consequently the man does not exist who is not conscious of his insufficiency; but sooner or later every other man shows him his, and the realization of this common weakness may become not only a double consolation, but a mutual stimulus. For I transcend myself the moment I go out from myself. The mere admission that I am not sufficient until myself, that you are not sufficient unto yourself, creates between us a communion which provides each of us with what he lacked when he was alone. To know that one's wretchedness is shared is to begin to overcome it. But this is not all: a moment ago I knew of no balm for my distress, but when I applied myself to bring you comfort in yours, I found my own comfort in the act.

--Louis Lavelle, prisoner of war in WWI and French philosopher

Opening Day

It’s spring and a semi-youngish man’s thoughts turn to baseball and Opening Day. We capitalize it in Cincinnati because the Reds are to Opening Day what Harry Caray was to the 7th inning stretch. Sadly, the long-held tradition of having the Reds open the season was dismissed a few years ago by those who would slough off tradition in the service of money.

I see that Ken Griffey Jr. isn’t playing and it irritates. Spring training did him in apparently. I struggle to banish negative thoughts - like the fact that surely he’d get injured picking his own nose. And don't get me started on the Red's pitching staff. You've heard of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain"? For the Reds it's just pray for rain.

Baseball is a sluggish game, delivered at a contemplative pace, so I supplement it with a stroll down memory lane with my baseball card albums. Imagine, I think, at having had the time to worry about how much my ’78 Topps Molitor rookie card was worth? Or better yet, the time in the late 80s spent traveling to baseball card conventions and wandering gape-jawed amid the offerings. For better or worse I seem to have lost the “collector mentality”. I collect books but for utilitarian reasons; any reading copy will do. I don't have any first editions. I haven’t bought a single baseball card since the last baseball strike, but that was just a welcome excuse. For a few years prior I was going through the motions.

But it was nice to re-visit the old cards. I hadn’t looked at them in three or four years and there was a freshness in returning to them. There is Harmon Killebrew again and damned if he doesn’t look sixty years old on his ’69 Topps! Baseball in the ‘70s seemed to span generations. Killebrew didn’t look like a father to his teammates, he looked like a grandfather. Balding with gray hair but only 33 years old, I guess everyone aged more quickly back then. I “killed a brew” in his honor.

I turn to Ferguson Jenkins, who with his sober mien and artistic pitching somehow reminded me of Langston Hughes. But his was no dream deferred, his string of 20-game win seasons was not only a marvel but a source of comfort. The security of changelessness always is, like Pete Rose’s magical array of .300 seasons. These were the saints of the baseball card world. But Dale Murphy lost his halo quickly. There was nothing more shocking than his descent from greatness, from sure HOF’r to solid big-league player. One minute he’s hitting 30 dingers and .280 a year to .220 and 10.

It's sure good to hear baseball Hall of Fame announcer Marty Brennaman again. The native North Carolinian still drops his g’s (“tyin’ run at third”) and I await, cringe at the ready, for his advertisement for a local restaurant in which he pronounces cuisine as “quee-zine”. Some things are timeless.

Nonsense While Jogging

Catching brill and rays
with the bill of my cap
on a sun-bint day
white ball
playing pinball
without a bumper cloud in sight.

Pounding the pavement,
punishing the 'phalt
hoarse-man pass by--
retiree with hoar-frost hair
struggles to say:
"You're in good shape young man!".

Barkeep, I'll have what he's having.

First Things reviews TPOTC:

Gibson says that he set out to “transcend language with the message through an image.” Chances are that even the film industry, skeptical and skittish about the project, will have to recognize his artistic triumph. How its millions of viewers will reckon with the movie is another story. We think that it will induce humility rather than triumphalism. The film is so enthralling that perhaps some viewers will have to remind themselves that it is just a movie and not a substitute for the New Testament, much less for sacramental liturgies or the stations of the cross familiar to so many Christians during Lent. If, having seen and endured the film, Christians are able in a fresh way to wonder at the vault of the Sistine Chapel, if they can humbly return to their churches to participate in the spoken and sacramentally enacted Word, then Gibson’s Passion will have proven to be something even better than what it certainly is—the best movie ever made about Jesus Christ.

Good News!

Thanks for all who prayed for my nephew born prematurely. He apparently does not have meningitis; there was no infection in the brain. Alleluia!