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The Seditious Catechist provides a fine list Scriptural resources.

The Church and the Market

...is a book from Thomas Woods that came out earlier this year. The first review, by a Steve Jackson, makes an interesting read:

Professor Thomas Woods is an interesting author: a traditionalist Catholic who is also a supporter of the free market economy....The book ends with a strong critique of distributism, which seeks a larger distribution of private property in the hands of workers. Chesterton and Belloc, among others, advocated distributism. Many traditionally minded Catholics see distributism as a "third way" between capitalism and socialism. But as Prof. Woods points out, the only institution which has the power to redistribute property on a massive scale is the state.

Fried Chicken Tender Salad

I've had a lifelong love affair with food.

My first diary, written at the age of nine, mostly recounts what we had for dinner. There are rhapsodies there that sound foreign to my current palate: "Oh cereal night! I love cereal nights!". (But some things haven't changed. Pizza is, was, and presumably always will be one of the four food groups.)

As a freshman in college, my first English composition concerned the joys of McDonald's Quarter Pounders, equating them with filet mignon. Like the rap music fan who believes Beethoven was no better than P. Diddy, I inadvertently argued for the relativization of values, in this case the food values. My English professor turned out to be a gourmand (later he brought in sushi for the class to "enjoy"), so I received a C. It began to dawn on me that I was writing for an audience of one and if you don't please that audience...

So what does all this have to do with the price of gasoline in Ohio? Well today I was at the cafeteria gathering up chicken tenders for my salad. I love fried chicken salad. This is actually the second time I've written about it, which must be some sort of blog record. And this post occurred to me as I observed the tender takers. The rulz are you get three tenders, which tend to vary in size. Here on the types of folks you might see at the make-your-own-salad counter:

The Jesuitical Tender Picker - he picks tenders which appear to the naked eye to be an accidental conglomeration of two tenders. He defines "tender" as one piece, even if it is actually two conjoined like Siamese twins.

The Rich Man Tender Picker - the rich man simply buys his way out of the problem. Extra tenders can be had for 85 cents a piece.

The Sane Tender Picker - the sane one simply takes the three pieces most easily accessible.

The Saintly Tender Picker - picks the smallest ones in order that those behind him might have larger ones.

The Uplift of Being Noticed

My sister-in-law is involved in the production of the annual Alcoholics Anonymous's production of "A Christmas Carol". Many of the actors are recovering alcoholics and most are good at acting - at least to my untrained, naked eye. They spend a lot of time rehearsing and I get the sense that all the energy that once went into drinking and becoming the butt of stories at the local bar now goes into drinking Pepsi and telling other people's stories on a stage. There might be something of the ham in these folks, a desire for attention that is partially satisfied by the existence of this theatre troup.

MSNBC's head ham is Chris Matthews, and he recently said that he quit drinking eleven years ago just "when you started to hear about me." He explained that being noticed lessened his need for the uplift of spirits. Did he trade a drug for a drug? Does blogging serve a similar desire for attention?

God & a General

Watched the DVD "Gods And Generals", a film which consists mostly of interminable battle scenes punctuated by Robert Duval as General Lee uttering profundities from behind a fake mane-like beard. Apparently the idea was to do a Civil War movie in real time. After viewing this film I have 50% less desire to see an actual Civil War re-enactment.

The best part of it revolves around the story of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Jackson was a devout Christian and in the special features part of the disc a biographer gives surprising emphasis to his spirituality (though perhaps not so surprising given how religion was the guiding force in his life). The documentary mentions reasons why he became a Presbyterian rather than a Catholic. One was that Jackson was an informal man who had a natural dislike of hierarchy and thus responded to the more "democratic" Presbyterian church. The other reason was the doctrine of predestination. He found this a very comforting doctrine since he was surrounded by death from a very young age and it seemed everyone he grew close to died. Instructed that everyone's death has been preordained from the beginning of the world, he felt fearless on the battlefield.

Pope Benedict's Bible Study

Parts of the Pope's Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith: The Church as Communion read like a bible study! Very rich. On 1 Cor 6:12-19:

According to this text, receiving the Eucharist means blending one's existence, closely analogical, spiritually, to what happens when man and wife become one on the physical-mental-spiritual plane. The dream of blending divinity with humanity, of breaking out of the limitations of a creature - this dream, which persists through all the history of mankind and in hidden ways, in profane versions, is dreamed anew even within the atheistic ideologies of our time, just as it is in the drunken excess of a world without God,--this dream is here fulfilled. Man's Promethean attempts to break out of his limitations himself, to build with his own capacities the tower by which he may mount up to divinity, always necessarily end in collapse and disappointment - indeed, in despair.

This blending, this union, has become possible because God came down in Christ, took upon himself the limitations of human existence, suffering them to the end, and in the infinite love of the Crucified One opened up the door to infinity. The real end of creation, its underlying purpose - and conversely that of human existence as willed by the Creator - is this very union, "that God may be all in all."

To Error Is Human

A small group of us were talking to the Byzantine priest after Liturgy today and the name Thomas Merton came up, who, while obviously a far greater soul than I, seemed to have somewhat lost his way in his later years. The padre agreed but ascribed it to the times and to the fact that pioneers, which Merton was to some extent (which he elaborated on), often are seen as off the path only in hindsight. The nature of pioneering is that you're going to provide good things and less good things but that doesn't invalidate the value of theological pioneering. The Church is like the master of the household in Matthew 13:5 who "brings out of his treasure what is old and what is new." As Fr. George Haydock puts it in his scripture notes:

"It is the perfection of Angels never to err; it is a human imperfection to fall into error, but a diabolical crime to so love our error, as to divide the Church by schism, or to leave it by heresy: this love of self is the most dangerous idolatry."

And that certainly could not be said of Thomas Merton.

Random Thoughts

Today's gospel wake-up call includes these words of our Lord: "So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn." In light of Peter's subsequent denial the inclusion "cockcrow" seems non-concidental. If non-concidental, it gives a greater "ouch".
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"The greatest graces are but subjects of alarm, unless our life correspond with them." - Rev. George Haydock

Journal Excerptables

“Win an argument lose a soul" said Bishop Sheen, but I've never not tried to win an argument and I’m no better at throwing arguments than Homer Simpson is at resisting a Krispy Kreme. I've found myself simply avoiding controversial aspects concerning religion at family gatherings. First, do no harm.

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I must’ve hit the wrong combination of keys ‘cuz that awful Office Assistant has visited my Word document. He (she?) is in the form of a paper clip and darned if I’m not having a hard time right-clicking him to oblivion. Those hang-dog eyes. Maybe I’ll keep him around like a pet while I’m writing.

Uh-oh, the bastard is starting to wear out his welcome. He just got this distracting yellow light bulb over his head. I click it and it says that "Word can finish words for you". Why doesn't he mind his own bidness? Maybe I like typing! Go back to sleep doggie, I mean clippie.

***

Been reading a pleasant mix of books. “Sin Killer” by Larry McMurtry, Chesterton’s biography of Francis, "1916: A Novel of Irish Rebellion" and “Separated at Birth”, concerning the two Koreas. Want to get back to the Jeff Davis bio and finish that one this decade.

From the Monthly EWTN Newsletter...

Deacon Bill Steltemier writes:

The clarity and intensity of Mother Angelica's faith has always boggled my mind. What she believes in faith is as real to her as something that she holds in her own hand. As a matter of fact, it is more real. Anyone who has seen Mother pray understands what I mean...I remember a story Mother once told about King Louis of France. A servant came to tell him of a Eucharistic miracle that had just taken place. The holy King reverently acknowledged this miracle but was not as impressed as the servant had expected. When questioned on the matter, the King explained that he had attended Mass that very morning and he too saw Jesus Christ in the flesh..for he saw the Sacred Host, which faith tells us is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. For King Louis, faith and reality were totally united. He did not need external manifestations of the reality he gazed upon with faith's eye. He knew what he believed was true. How awesome!

We are all called upon to share this marvelous faith. Christmas is a wonderful time to allow God to work on refining our faith. For passers by, the babe that lay in the manger looked like every other newborn child. A poor lad wrapped in swaddling clothes...is that what we see? Yes. Yet we know that poor lad is God indeed, the Word made Flesh, our Savior! To think of Bethlehem is to be animated with wonder, when we look with the eyes of our faith, when we ponder with the heart of a child. Perhaps the question we ought to ask ourselves this Christmas is: "Is my faith strong enough to see the Babe of Bethlehem and say 'Behold the Lamb of God?"

Around the Globe

"She must think what the court tells her to think."
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Diary vs. Blog?
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Joseph Bottum recently asked on C-Span whether the American ideal of land ownership is reflected even in cemeteries where we "claim" a plot of land even after our death. I can see that, but the recent popularity of cremation and mausoleums has struck me as not wanting to be reminded of death. In a youth-worshipping society wouldn't visible markers of a cemetery be unwelcome? Cemeteries also remind us to pray for the dead which presumes a belief in Purgatory.
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I'm relieved that I wasn't the only one bowled over by Walk the Line since I was thinking I must be getting soft in my middle age or something. Via The Daily Eudemon. (Also here's the USCCB review.)

St. Catherine of Alexandria Feast Today

I recall reading a book of anti-Catholic polemic from John Adams's library back in September when I was in Boston. And one of the author's main points seemed to be his discomforture, to put it mildly, with saints who were apparently of legendary status. How could you trust the Roman church if they had fake saints on their calendar?

As if answering these seventeenth century critics posthumously, the Second Vatican Council eliminated many of the old saints on the liturgical calendar in order to make room for new ones. According to the Magnificant, "saints Christopher, Valentine, Linus, Maurice, Edward the Confessor and saints like Catherine were eliminated...and yet St. Catherine remains a potent female figure, so much so that she was recently reinstated on the liturgical calendar."

The author of the Magnificat article is not burdened with historicity concerns. He commented on a rich medieval panel painting of St. Catherine from medieval times that too often the "stories and symbols of a rich Catholic heritage drift slowly into obscurity." I guess you might say great art covers a multitude of historical exaggerations.

Traveling Down the Road...

...I encountered a car driven by a strict constructionist with respect to the interpretation of road signs. 35 mph was thirty-five miles per hour.

Hit Me Like a Freight Train...

...the new movie "Walk the Line" that is. I tend to have low expectations of movies but this one, the story of Johnny & June Cash, was superior. If Hollywood can't make anything original it certainly can do biographies.

Joachin Phoenix as Cash portrayed the singer as utterly abject in his love for June. She was country gentry, he was poor country coupled with a weakness for drugs and alcohol and his father's withheld love. And besides raw talent he had a couple other things going for him: one, a lack of pride that made him beg for her, and dogged determination in the face of her refusals. You might say he received the grace of final perserverance because June eventually said 'yes' and married him. They were married 35 years; he died just four months after she did.

That Adam Sandler Beer

My sister-in-law phones my wife. She's bringing drinks to the party and is thoughtfully inquiring as to my taste in beverages. As reported by my wife:

"What kind of beer does Tom like?"

"He likes dark beers."

"Oh, like Adam Sandler beer?"

"Adam Sandler!? Oh [breaks up laughing] you mean John Adams beer."

Now that's comedy! Who knew Adam Sandler is only two degrees of separation from this brewmeister?