THE SEA

Before our dreams (or terrors) persisted
in mythology and cosmogony,
even before time coined itself in days, there existed,
already, the sea. It was. Who is that old, undisciplined,
violent creature, who's gnawing away under
the pillars of the earth, who's also chance and wind,
one and many oceans, and abyss and wonder?
Staring upon the sea, we see it as though
for the first time, sensing the splendor of all free
and elemental things: like afternoons, the glow
of the moon, or a blazing fire. But who is the sea?
And who am I? In time, when my days are passed,
and my final agony's done, I'll know, at last.

-Jorge Luis Borges (translated by William Baer)

There's Something Oddly Appealing...

     ...about A "Papist Trucker Hat"

Via The Ratzinger Fan Club. If your taste is more animalistic, try Reginald.

Et Tu Fox News?

Meanwhile...the cover-up of the homosexual angle of the scandal is mentioned by newspaperman Rod Dreher:

...your comment did bring to mind something a Fox News staffer told me at the Dallas bishops’ meeting two years ago. I told this person that Fox should find and interview Michael S. Rose, whose “Goodbye Good Men” had just come out, and who could illuminate a key aspect of the scandal that most media wouldn’t touch. The staffer told me that they had orders from the very top of the network not to touch homosexuality in their reporting from Dallas.

It's Always About Faith

Dom reports there's a bad moon on the risin'. Don't know about you, but I'm suffering from "shock fatigue" when it comes to scandal revelations. The troubles ultimately come down to a lack of faith, as Ratzinger said. But why should that be surprising? Jesus asked if there be faith in this world when He comes again. And Randall Sullivan, author of "The Miracle Detective" detected this too:

One thing that was troubling was that so many people I dealt with in the Vatican in positions of authority seemed almost half-hearted about it. I was more reverent in a lot of ways than they were, and more able to see the absurdity, the limitations of an overly rational, skeptical, scientific perspective. These limitations were more obvious to me than to many of them. But that is really about the Church as a human institution, but the faith itself, the Catholic Church is still for me the ultimate guardian of the faith, it’s closer to the origin of the faith. That’s what I’m pulled back to.

Walker Percy writes about the lack of faith in "The Thanatos Syndrome":

"But when he invited me to serve Mass routinely, I refused. I told him the truth: that since I no longer was sure what I believe, didn't think much about religion, participation in Mass would seem to be deceitful.

He nodded cheerfully, as if he already knew. 'Don't worry,' he said, doing a few isometrics in the hall, pushing and pulling with his hands. 'It is to be expected. It is only necessary to wait and to be of good heart. It is not your fault.'

'How is that, Father? I ask him curiously.

'You have been deprived of faith. All of us have. It is part of the times.'

'Deprived? How do you mean?'

'It is easy enough to demonstrate," he says, shrugging first one shoulder high, then the other.

'Yes?'

'Sure. Just consider. Even if the truths of religion could be proved to you one, two, three, it wouldn't make much difference, would it? One hundred percent of astronomers have discovered that the universe was created from nothing. The explanation is obvious but it does not avail. Who can handle it? It does not signify. It is boring to think of. Ninety-seven percent of astronomers are still atheists. Do you blame them? They are also boring. The only thing more boring would be if the ninety-seven percent all converted, right? It follows that there must be some other force at work, right?"

"Everyone who would live piously in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution" - 2 Tim 3:12

There's a tendency to swing towards one extreme or another with regard to suffering - either loathe it and avoid it at all costs or see it as an end in itself.

A quote from Wilde in "The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde" (written while in prison):

'Sorrow, then, and all that it teaches one, is my new world. I used to live entirely for pleasure. I shunned sorrow and suffering of every kind. I hated both. I resolved to ignore them as far as possible, to treat them, that is to say, as modes of imperfection. They were not part of my scheme of life. They had no place in my philosophy.'

Joseph Pearce continues:

Each individual passion play of each individual life was but a dim shadow of the Passion Play enacted at Calvary...[But Wilde's De Profundis] overstates in its sorrow the place of the Passion, ignoring the Resurrection. The crucial nature of the Crucifixion is seen by Wilde almost as an end in itself and not as a means to an end. Yet the Passion of Christ, properly understood, pionts always to the Resurrection. His mysterious Sorrow carries with it the promise of a mysterious Glory. In his suffering Wilde allows the darkness of the sorrow to eclipse the brightness of the glory. The means eclipse the end.

Saying the Surprising

Hokie Pundit has left the building, or at least his current blog, in search of a bit more camouflage.

Part of the appeal of reading blogs, or books, is to see the universality of the human condition by hearing what we might be thinking but were unable to articulate for one reason or another. Maybe we didn't even know we thought it.

But this universality can be experienced only when the writer is honest and blogs are often that. Bloggers are also willing to surprise. Where else would you hear someone say they'd happily repeal the 19th Amendment, as Jeff Culbreath wrote? So Robert of HP seeks a place where he can surprise more often. Happy Trails RB!

Ode to a Donut

I've decided to live for awhile off the capital of the physical activity I did at the beach last week by starting every morning with a donut to go with my coffee. The coffee is there out of habit; I started drinking it in the hope it would improve mental alertness in the morning. It now serves mainly as an oral pacifier. It's especially useful during meetings because you can disguise inappropriate emotions (such as anger or laughter) with a sudden lurch towards the cup. A co-worker refers to coffee as his "morning Guinness" but that is a tremendous insult to the Dublin brewer.

But this donut thing is new and entirely different. I don't know much about donuts, never having much of a history with them, but let me tell you: they are good. I had a white-topped one today with cream filling and the juxtaposition of textures and the symphony of sweetnesses is something hard to describe. I nearly swooned at the scent of vanilla that was unexpectedly encountered just before taking a bite.

Needless to say, I'd better grab the jogging shoes.

Update: Bill Luse dashes cold water via email: "Some people don't realize that the risen dough of a doughnut (of the kind, anyway, that most people scarf like popcorn) is not baked, but fried in deep fat like french fries. I'd advise not thinking about that while you're eating them."

Poem from a Nun

The Divine Poet

As she read,
she was simply ecstatic
"Shakespeare", she said
"it's a sonnet."
Words he had penned so long ago
And to this day
They overflow.

So rich this man's words -
They intoxicate,
Like rich liqueur defies the taste
Filled with the echo
of God's Grace.

But now,
not of Shakespeare
do I wish to speak -

I think of the
One Word
that speaks of Peace.

This Word,
as you may have already guessed
Was uttered but once,
One word, not a line -
Uttered by God, the Poet Divine
This Word is His Son
and this Word is now mine.

- Sister Mary of the Holy Spirit, O.P. via Disputations

A Click Away



via Half-baked 'taters

PKD & Artist Types

Bone and I were discussing and recussing Phillip K. "Don't Call Me..." Dick and his rather tragic end. Artists and poets tend to live short miserable lives often marred by addictions and mental illness. I finished the Oscar Wilde story and his end was likewise inglorious. For my lack of true creativity, thank you God. (Although thanking God for that which does not personally ail me, when it ails my brother, seems weak. Thanking Him for the gift of life and his life he offers all of us - those are treasured and savored.)

How long you live is obviously no indication of goodness but it is interesting that non-fiction writers live longer than fiction writers and fiction writers live longer than poets. Writers of non-fiction, it seems, have to go outside themselves. They have to do research and the job uses less of the right side of the brain. Poets tend to go inside themselves and use primarily the right brain.

Walker Percy blamed the short lives of poets on a "re-entry" problem; artists leave the world and receive a creative high in their poetry and when they return to the seemingly mundane they have trouble readjusting. This was the problem Ignatius Reilly of "Confederate Dunces" had in prayer. After spending time with Jesus, your neighbor can seem a letdown if that prayer wasn't truly for God and was not infused with the desire for service.

Quotes from Pearce's "The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde"

On the delights of the Greek NT in prison:

Every morning, after he had cleaned his cell and polished his tins, Wilde began to read the Gospels afresh from a Greek Testament, a dozen or so verses every day. 'It is a delightful way of opening the day...Endless repetition, in and out of season, has spoiled for us the naivete, the freshness, the simple romantic charm of the Gospels...When one returns to the Greek it is like going into a garden of lilies out of some narrow and dark house.'

On the Blessed Sacrament:

..'Rome Unvisited' is shrouded in the imagery of masks. There is, however, a crucial and fundamental difference. Whereas physical masks can be lies or distortions which conceal the facts, metaphysical masks can be signs or sacraments which reveal the truth. As Wilde would state many years later, 'the truths of metaphysics are the truths of masks'. Thus in 'Rome Unvisited', the Pope, in elevating the consecrated host, 'shows his God to human eyes / Beneath the veil of bread and wine'. The Blessed Sacrament is a mask which shows God to the people. It is a veil that reveals.

Hodge Podge of Discontinued Items...

Yahoo Headline says: "Court Allows 'Under God' on Technicality"

...God replied that he would allow the court to continue to exist, but not on technicality since His Mercy isn't a technicality.

*

Oscar Wilde's favorite Christian book was "The Imitation of Christ" when he was in his 20s and Dante's Divine Comedy when he was in his 40s (and in prison). Wilde ended up in poverty and his wife said that to give him money would only result in drunkenness and no work. I guess many writers (like Ham of Bone, whose unemployment stint resulted in three screenplays) need to have their back to the wall in order to work. I wonder how much art has been lost with the rise of the middle-class (and its attendent comforts). Not that I would trade.

*

Someone visted via the Google search:

"kathy shaidle jeff culbreath"

Something you're not telling us Jeff?

*
Who knew Newt was so busy?One of his reviews was for O'Reilly's "Those Who Trespass":

"It is a double-edged mystery with a clever New York detective and an attractive New York columnist, who, of course, fall for each other (actually told with more subtlety than I associate with O'Reilly). But the real entertainment is in the devastating description of television news and the maneuvering, commercial/careerist values, which dominate the profession."

Speaking of O'Reilly, I think he must be reading this blog. Yesterday he opined that Iraq will eventually have another blood-thirsty dictator because people get the government they deserve. Back here I suggested another thug may come to power but thugs are sane until proven insane, as Hussein was. Not that I'm taking any credit; pessimists will be proven right 70% of the time and are thus taking the easy way.

*

For Debate: Laura Ingraham is more attractive, truthful and fun than Ann Coulter.

*
Sent letter to the editor of our major metropolitan newspaper concerning recent frontpage headline that went, "Kerry Speaks Up For Middle Class". Used Reagan's line "there you go again" and said I was middle class and he wasn't speaking for me. The editor responded: "I was a bit surprised to see the headline yesterday morning. I've spoken with the headline writer about it. Kerry can claim to speak for anyone he wants to speak for, but the headline stated it as fact instead of a claim."

    Spanning the Proverbial Globe to Bring You the Constant Variety of Posts

I am deeply grateful, gentlemen, but I think I've seen my name cheek to jowl with "horse's ass" just one time too many. -Bill Luse, on defenders asserting on Paul Cella's blog that Bill is not a horse's ass.

Cella had the right idea, which is: don't feed the troll. Sorry to see that TSO, Chris, Culbreath, and Mr Luse himself violated this good advice. - Commenter Scott, reflecting on the wisdom of responding to ad hominems.

TSO, Chris, and Culbreath often set bad examples. I was just following along. - William Luse, serving up his own ad hominem *grin*

I remember the first "hobby" headstone I saw - a golf bag and clubs - in a Catholic cemetery, of course. I would say, THAT was so important? except that I spend a lot of time on the 80 or so blogs I regularly visit. How does one engrave a picture of the Internet on a headstone? - Robert Wenson via email

There is a sense in which the spontaneous outpouring of emotion at the passing of President Reagan is a great sign of hope for our country. That millions of Americans awash in the world of shock-jocks, shopping malls, and MTV can still muster this much respect and gratitude is a good thing in itself. If I may be so bold, this proves once again that even Americans are monarchists at heart: we instinctively long for that benevolent patriarchal authority that is represented by men such as Ronald Reagan. Perhaps all is not lost. - Jeff of ECR

Absence makes the writer blog longer - Jeff of Curt Jester

My Father knows what I need and if I humble myself before Him (and perhaps even if I don't) He will provide it. However, if I do humble myself before Him, I will begin to recognize what I need, embrace it, and live the life of joy that comes from true service and true alignment with God's will. So long as I continue in my prideful way, I will fail to see anything and continue not to be able to separate my needs from my wants--and this way is purgatory here and hereafter. Directionless, waffling, pushed by every minor breeze. And as a son of the Living God, I do not need to accept that fate. Instead I can claim my inheritance by relying upon His grace. - Steven of Flos Carmeli

The question shouldn't be, is there a rule against premarital sex in the New Testament or isn't there. It's, 'can a premarital sexual relationship image the love and faithfulness of Christ?' - Camassia

What comes after the good old-fashioned Catholic statement, "We have the Real Presence and Protestants don't."... "Ha ha!" is good old-fashioned Catholic triumphalism, and perfectly ridiculous when frankly expressed. "So what?" is religious indifferentism, and completely incompatible with a Catholic understanding of the Blessed Sacrament. "Let's pretend they have It." is religious liberalism, and fundamentally incompatible with a Catholic understanding of the Sacraments. "Let's give It to them." is, as standing policy, to seek a great good at the expense of a much greater good. "Oh no!" is, I think, a suitable reaction when you think about what, or rather Who, the Eucharist really is, and what it means to receive Holy Communion, and what it means to be unable to receive It. - Tom of Disputations

I had a consolation! (small "c"). I realized that being as overweight I am is actually conserving on WATER consumption! I don't have to fill the tub with hot water nearly as much as I had to when I weighed 130#! So. See? There's always a bright side! - Alexa of "Domestic Excellence"

Most things remind me of Belloc sooner or later, and Dvorâk does, unmistakably. Why? Perhaps it is the delicious mix of pathos and frivolity in his art - that, and his ability to drink everyone else under the table... - Basia me, Catholica sum (Kiss Me, I'm Catholic)

I remember reading an interview with Barney Frank in the Post a few months back in which he said that if you engage in political tactics that feel really, really good, it's probably not the right approach. - Patrick Rothwell on Disputations

They're being seeker-friendly at the cost of feeding the sheep they already have. And, to be honest, few seekers I've met are really interested in a church that has a rock-climbing wall. - Robert of Hokie Pundit on the tendency of some churches to go a little overboard

 My Precious

I tend to make purchases in $10-15 increments (i.e. books) so these bookends are out of my comfort zone price-wise. But I'm a sucker for artistic representations of the choice between good and evil, like the Bird Girl of Savannah. They are bracing images.

You Better Not Think...

They say the way to ruin your golf game is to think about your swing. And while that might not perfectly mirror the spiritual, Peter Kreeft makes a great point in his "Yes or No?" book using the Socratic method he favors:

Sal: Aren't we supposed to be thinking about our consciences, our sins?

Chris: Only to repent and confess and then to forget. If we keep thinking about how well we're doing, we won't do well. And we'll get into the trap of thinking one of three unhappy thoughts: either we'll think we're doing really well, and start feeling proud and self-satisfied and self-righteous, or we'll think we're doing badly and start feeling depressed and self-hating or despairing, or we'll think we're not particually good or bad, and start feeling bored and wishy-washy.

Sal: What's the way out? Those sound like the only three alternatives.

Chris: To stop thinking about ourselves so much. To forget ourselves and think about God and other people instead. That's heavenly.