Smashing the Iconoclasts

Bill Luse offers a potent and marvelously argued rejoinder to a St. Thomas More naysayer. On the line "the man for all season" being a poetic liberty, written long before Thomas More was martyred, Bill writes:

O'Connell admits that "the poet's ecstasy is infinitely more valuable than fastidious chronology...and yet the poet's method in this instance has its difficulties." In other words, what the professor cedes with one hand he will take away with the other. For one who pays apparent homage more than once to the "poetic experience," he seems immune to the poet's almost biblical sense that things are revealed in the fullness of time, that the martyr of More's end is to be found in the seed of his beginning.

On the difference perspective makes:

O’Connell has read the same biography as I, and concedes in his notes that it remains the best extant (and, I predict, shall remain so). So we both read it and come away with two different men as its subject. I saw the film first, and upon picking up the book had expected that my admiration for Thomas would have to be brought down to earth somewhat. This did not happen. I know more about him – his family, his professional life, the breadth of his learning, the regard of his fellows both at home and abroad, the incredible consistency of his character, and most especially about the depth of his faith, one in which he fancied that the dead, as our fellow citizens in God’s polity, prance about and move among us daily, interceding for us, though invisible to the human eye, a faith by which even Erasmus seemed greatly edified: "He talks with his friends in such a way about the world to come that you can see that he is speaking from his heart, not without good hope." How fitting that More laid his head down not merely for his own soul’s sake, nor as a witness to those still living, but that the voice of the dead might still be heard among us.

No, I will not be of those who bring him down to earth, but rather one (as unlikely as it seems) who would rise to the level of another in whom the perfection of God’s grace ran its course. There are Christian scholars in abundance who will perform the former duty; may they find much joy in the endeavor.

God of the Philosophers?

It's no wonder Pope John Paul II, in his encylical Fides et Ratio, urged a return to philosophy that took reason seriously. If Augustine christened Plato and Aquinas did the same with Aristotle, modern thelogians are left with nothing, literally.

Afterlife of Song in our Grade School Hymnal

From the funny and sad dep't: This song used to be one of the standbys in our Catholic grade school in the '70s. Now it's being used by Reverend Sun Myung Moon's group and the Unification Church.

Never a good sign when a "Christian hymn" is easily assimiliated by the Moonies!

Test Your Knowledge of the Catechism

Fictional Friday

Let no foreigner who has attached himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people’. Let no eunuch say, ‘And I, I am a dried-up tree’. (Is 53:2-4)

The trees - the trees! - wagged their skeltal winter fingers but we huddled against them and each other for warmth, the warmth of companionship and bonhomie against the frigid wind. Responsibility was a small herb in the kitchen garden then, not the huge shade tree it is now, now that we're battling demons both real and imagined.

We dabbled at irresponsibility beside the Village Green while our elders went about their bustle, their hustle, and you and I wanted to figure it all out beforehand, to walk into it prepared, with all of our equipment on, while never realizing for a moment that to wait to be prepared would be to wait forever.

The words of Isaiah sang to us, the scripture cribbed itself in our blood for we were foreigners in a foreign land and this was the first crack of sunlight. Youth we extended as far as we could, like gamblers who played till the money ran out. We never bought into the system because the system was flawed. How could we feel responsibility when the system was flawed? It never occurred to us that Someone bought into a flawed system. He didn’t wash His hands.

We tramped from Maine to California looking for authenticity while taking care not to infect it with our lack thereof. Wherever we found it we ran from it quickly less we corrupt it, but we saved the sliver we caught and had it laminated at the nearest Kinkos and carried it with us like a totem. We planned on collecting authenticities till we had a "set" although how do you collect a set that was limitless?

~

I once haunted the rail cars outside Kansas City looking for hobos since I'd read that such folks once existed and I wanted to meet the very last hobo if I could. And I came across an Irish troubador named Makem and I asked for some sort of proof, some sort of Hobo's Union card, and I wasn't sure if he was real shanty Irish. What if his brogue was affected and I didn't know it? How would I know it?

But he sang and talked, and talked and sang, and carried on deep into the night until a convergence of things made me think him real. There were echoes of the hard-living actor Peter O'Toole in his earthy blend of honesty and poetry. It didn't hurt that he was older than the hills since there is something authentic in someone so old, so close to the exit door.

He sang simple songs because he said God was simple and people were complex and he'd rather be close to God than people. I pondered that for a moment, pondered if I much liked simplicity. I thought if I'd had my druthers I'd druther God be complicated. But Makem said that once you go simple, you don't go back. I eventually agreed only because complicated wasn't much working...

Elusive Balance

Excerpts from Fr. Benedict Groeschel's A Still, Small Voice

None of us has a completely accurate picture of Christ; it is not possible. But the Christian Faith and the Scriptures present all that is necessary. The kindly, luminous, and airy picture of the Christ of the [New Age book] A Course in Miracles is only half the picture. One may be so attached to this consoling vision that one may forget the Christ who preached the Sermon on the Mount and who warned of eternal loss; the Christ who in agony sacrificed his life on the Cross for the salvation of the world.

The opposite...

The incredible blend of saccharine images of the Blessed Mother and the dire warnings that all but a few are going plumb to hell are the obverse of the New Age's false Christ. The one thing that they have over the New Age is a very powerful countercultural criticism which makes them a bit more interesting than the mawkish disciples of Mother Earth...It must be said for the disciples of the angry God and the anguished Virgin that they are Christians in the sense that they believe in all the doctrines of the Church. But they have an incomplete vision of Christ, an angry one which reflects their frustrations and desperation. Forgiveness is not their strong suit, and some followers of these angry people have moved away from them because of their complete ignoring of the counsel of Christ: "Judge not, and you shall not be judged" (Mt 7:1). Like the disciples of the New Age and many followers of A Course in Miracles, angry visionaries and their disciples have a problem way down inside with accepting leadership.

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Cat Actions

I make no apologies for this post since, as you know, the quality of posts at VMPDS decreases as the week wears on. Call it entropy but don't call me late to to dinner (rimshot!). But my wife has such a rich vocabulary when it comes to describing the actions and reactions of our cat that I'm sure you'll agree it deserves to be recorded for posterity's sake:

Head butt - cats, like high school football players, go around head-butting humans and various pieces of furniture for no apparent reason

Breadmaker - this is when they knead dough with their front paws, where the "dough" is a blanket, a pillow, or your groin

Long paw - this is when the cat lays down but has one paw lazily distended

Winky eyes - when they close their eyes and slowly re-open them in a sign that they approve of you and will let you keep them. For now.

Newspaper Assistant - this is the uncanny ability of cats to find the newspaper article you're reading at the breakfast table and set up camp there

Spleen - aka 'kitty spleen', this is when they make a sudden, inexplicable dash ending in a madcap Kramer-like "ta - da!" pose

Sabing - etymological root is 'saber saw', this when the cat drags its saber (canine) tooth against you

Commando puss - this is when you pet the cat and it dips low to avoid the petting, like a commando action figure

The Past As Foreign Country


Erasmus D. MacMaster

From the story of a 19th century college president:

In addition to a dramatically expanded curriculum and higher academic standards, MacMaster called for renewed emphasis on both moral and intellectual training of students. Instruction was not complete until the teacher had led his charges “to the confines of his science, and at least pointed out its connection with the great terminating science of Religion….” Although Miami was a state institution, MacMaster made it clear that some of her moral education should be overtly sectarian, proudly pronouncing that “God gave me birth as a Presbyterian; and I am not ashamed at my ecclesiastical lineage.”

Now we have the opposite extreme - secular presidents at Catholic institutions, promoting nonsense like the "Vagina Monologues". What a difference a hundred and fifty years makes. History seems a pendulum; we go from one extreme to another*. * - Credit: my dad.

You Might've Thunk...

...that the stork brings us memes, but Gregg the Obscure has created this one ex nihilo. The one thing that I'd like for Christmas from the Church is an encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI.

Discount Items

There are some thoughts hanging around that aren't good enough to make the majors as stand-alone posts but have spent enough time in double A ball to warrant a cup o' coffee. Though you can be the judge of that:

There wasn't anything like this when I lived in that dorm, and I went to a conservative Midwestern school. The poster also supplied condoms, which reportedly disappeared from the board quickly. What does it profit a man to prevent disease of his body while propagating disease of his soul?
_

When I was a child of four or five, stereos were the size of small boxcars and I thought midgets performed inside. Now, with iPods, the midgets must be the Honey, I Shrunk the Kid size.
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I hope country singer Martina McBride is doing well despite having uncharacteristically recorded an album of cheatin', crying-in-your-beer songs. Ever since Springsteen divorced shortly after his "Tunnel of Love" cd came out, you have to wonder at the connection between an artist's personal and professional life.
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I wondered if I might be able to tell whether I was a Thomist or an Augustinian by how many times I've mentioned each on this blog. According to the Google search Aquinas won 36-33. I was relieved by the other results: Christ 127, Jesus 117, Mary 30 (after weeding out non-Blessed Mother "Marys"), John Paul II 24, John Henry Newman 24, Mother Teresa 21, Padre Pio 17, Fulton Sheen 15, Thomas More 13
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In a celebrity-obsessed culture it's odd that the foreigner is rarely seen as a natural celebrity. I see them so, even if it be an exercise in romanticism. I always want to ask the Hispanic roofers and fast food cashiers inappropriate questions like if they are legal, if not, how did they make it over the border, whether coyotes involved, did they swim the Rio Grande, what's it like to be Catlick in a Catholic culture...
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The pentential aspect of Advent is ably enforced by the proliferation of Christmas parties my wife drags me to.
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Posting what you dreamt last night is so bloggishly "jumping the shark" that is almost spectrally beautiful in its purity of shark jumping-ness. So...I dreamt last night that I was hiking and a gigantic white bear happened in my path and my instinct was to run but the only avenue of escape was uphill so I didn't move and the bear came up to me and...licked me. Like a dog would.
_

Exercise in the morning and your metabolism will be higher throughout the day. Pray in the morning and your spiritual metabolism will be higher throughout the day.

Ch-Ch-Cha-Changes... (sing to David Bowie tune)

It's interesting how the personalities or roles of the apostles and saints changed after their conversions.

Paul, having been a Pharisee, becomes the anti-Pharisee, preaching faith instead of the works of Torah.

Peter, having been given tremendous authority but having failed to be a leader during the crucifixion by his betrayal of Christ, took such care not to lord it over his flock that one Baptist pastor told me that Peter didn't have authority since he so exercised it so sparingly.

Augustine, having been sexually promiscuous, became the champion of chastity, such that some think he went too far.

John, the apostle who wants to bring down fire from heaven for smote-ing purposes, becomes the apostle of love.

Mary and John the Baptist both seem to have had nothing to react against. One conceived without sin and the other gifted with the Spirit while in the womb, there seems a sublime consistency.

Read of the Perils...

...of putting off for tomorrow what you could do after you get done blogging. Btw, these are the sort of lines I would write if'n I could:

Scarlett O'Hara, who smashed hearts like pomegranetes,...

...wanting nothing but a Tangueray martini and a valium chaser.

Nice. Nothing spices up writing like interesting food and exotic drinks. "Scarlett O'Hara, who smashed hearts like grapes...wanting nothing but a Guinness and a valium chaser" doesn't have quite the same panache.

"The funny thing about lottery tickets," Mary mused as we waited in line at the cash register, "is that people keep buying them even if they never win. Week after week, month after month, year after year, still they never give up hope. But if they pray for something two or three times, they expect immediate results, and if it doesn't happen, then they say that God is unfair, disinterested, or dead. Why is it easier to keep believing in the lottery than in God?" - Diane Schoemperlen, via Julie of "Happy Catholic"

I went to Confession today and got a surprise. After confessing my sins, I told the priest: "I want to make a good Advent." And this 80+ priest gave me a good suggestion. He called it: "Filling Mary's basket"..." Picture yourself helping Mary on her way to Bethlehem... Fill it with stuff that will please both Our Lady, her husband...and most importantly, her Son! Write it down, said my confessor! What can you pack up for Mary as she's on her way to Bethlehem? A vow to avoid altogether those near occasions of sin? A plan to pray the Angelus every day? How about a promise to never gossip about another? The gifts we can put in our "Basket to Bethlehem" are endless. And fun! - The Pew Lady

I've really been avoiding most controversy or comment on controversies. They damage my weltanschauung to such an extent that all my zeitgeist is weltschmerz. - Steven Riddle, who also eschews schadenfreude

It does seem reasonable to think that the fact that women go through a physical change when they have children would change them in some way. When I was a child I watched our cat have kittens, and act a lot like my mom in some ways, with no socialization at all. I think that this goes with my observation of women I know (including my mom) being surprised by the impact motherhood has on them. Yet whether this change should be properly characterized as love, is an interesting question. The fact that Christians and Jews have traditionally identified God as Father suggests that they see paternal love as somehow more congruent with agape, maybe precisely because it’s less of an animal instinct …? Hmmm. - Camassia

So, today's [ten best things to buy] list was about DVDs--and it was broken down into...different categories. Want to know what was listed first under romantic? Sex and the City first four seasons DVD collection. Sex and the City? I can think of nothing less romantic than that. Has it come to this? A corruption of romance to the point where romance = sex? Bleah. - MamaT of Summa Mamas

The core of Christian remembrance is not individual prayer at home, is not a family meal, but joining oneself to the prayer of the Church. - Amy Welborn

The term "conservative Catholic" makes my teeth hurt. You're either a faithful Roman Catholic or you're not. This isn't a political situation...it's essentially a moral one. The rules are clear. The notion that following the rules makes one a "conservative" is as absurd as is the notion of breaking them makes one a "liberal." - The Pew Lady

He said: "I don’t know why you wear a bra…not like you have anything." She said: "Well, you wear pants don’t you?" Poor lad, didn’t stand a chance after that. - High school teacher Cowpi, reporting overheard conversation in lunch line

The Catholic rejects the doctrine of sola scriptura because it is contrary to God's word. To embrace it would, on the Catholic view, amount to subordinating God's word (what God has revealed about his truth and how it is presented in the Church) to what the Catholic regards as a human idea. This is also exactly why the traditional Protestant affirms sola scriptura and rejects Tradition and the Magisterium: he thinks that they elevate a merely human word over the divine word. Thus, the opposite positions Catholics and Protestants take on Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium are based on the same underlying principle, the supremacy of the divine word over the merely human word. The disagreement is over exactly how God intends the supremacy to be upheld. - Mark Brumley

I remember a few years ago, in one of the annual “consumerist Christmas” discussions, Richard Hall remarked that there’s nothing wrong in principle with celebrating Christmas somewhat carnally, since it is after all the feast of the Incarnation. The problem, he said, is the rest of the year — we indulge so much the rest of the time that Christmas turns into an orgy. Which I think is why I’ve found that as a grownup, Christmas is less and less about gifts and more and more about family. We mobile coastal Americans are to a great extent in the reverse position of our forbears. The premoderns were with their families all the time, but only on special occasions did they get to indulge in big meals and new possessions. People like me are drowning in stuff, but we only get to see our families once in a while. (Hell, this can be sort of true even when you live with them.) So holidays have, to a great extent, become occasions to see family — interruptions in all those other factors that keep families apart. There is, in fact, a great need for Get Together With Family occasions. But since that need is only recent, there are no new calendrical institutions for it, so they take over the old ones as the liturgical calendar recedes. I hope someday I can work out space in my life for both, but as it is, I make my choices. - Camassia

There are certainly risks in this Catholic imagination, superstition and idolatry among others -- though it does make the world a warmer and a more human place. Gibson's imagination is certainly Catholic, though perhaps with a certain masochistic twist. In his retelling of the Gospel in allegorical form, C.S. Lewis goes back to the miracle and morality plays of the Middle Ages, in a sense as if the Reformation never happened. However, I think someone should warn the evangelicals that they are playing with, one should excuse the expression, fire. They are drifting into an imaginative world where the Whore of Babylon lives and dominates. - Andrew Greeley

Actually, if I read "scratch an atheist and find a fundamentalist", I'd be thinking, "Yes, most of the atheists I know seem to interpret the Bible in a literal way." Which is odd, because most of them aren't from fundamentalist backgrounds. But most of them also don't seem to have gotten much in the way of Biblical or religious instruction in their youth, or they've ignored it in favor of some kind of science-based literalism. So perhaps the literal reading (a more literal one than most fundamentalists', since they really don't understand what the Bible's getting at) is the only one they have. - Maureen of Suburban Banshee

A true anti-liberal has to pretty well forswear the internet, as I do. Remember, these messages are all keyed in by Smogarian peasants and others who recieve my ink-bespattered parchments via carrier-pigeon. (The peasants are spared contamination as they cannot read in any language, and their keyboards have been alterred to harness the energy of their typing to power their community's hydroponic barley-farm.) - The New Pantagruel

Brumley's Quote

Elena brings news of harsh words directed at a Mormon blogger for no apparent reason. The attackee writes:

You can rip on my writing all you want and it won’t make me cry. But there are two things I must ask you never to do, post angry hateful things about my most sacred core beliefs or say horrible nasty things about my family.

Most of us can relate to her moving cri de coeur. I'm sympathetic and find her request reasonable. But in Mark Brumley's book about apologetics he says we shouldn't get defensive even though that is easier said than done:

Defending the faith is not supposed to be about us but about God and his truth. We should not defend Catholicism because our Church is being attacked; that is the attitude of the nationalist or sectarian. Still less should we be defensive because our personal beliefs are challenged - as if the Catholic faith were merely a matter of our private philosophy of life or personal theology. No, we should defend the Church because we love God and the Church belongs to him, and because we love our neighbors, and the Church - on the Catholic view - is the God-given means of bringing people into full communion with Christ, the only Savior.

The context suggests that those who attacked the Mormon blogger's beliefs were not doing so out of love.