Christmas Books

Every Christmas, relatives and friends gift me with books.

Some of the books are ones I've indicated in not always subtle ways that I want. This year, for example there was one particular book (involving Chesterton, I might add) that I really wanted. When a catalog from a well-known Catholic publisher arrived, I searched through it until I found the title, folded the catalog open to the right page, circled the book several times, and sang some Christmas carols with an earnest smile.

I got that book.

Other times people give me books based upon my particular interests. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi, poetry, and Dickens are among the interests addressed this year.

Some people knowing my quirky sense of humor give me books they think I will find amusing. This year, a relative who moved to Utah, a state that, to be honest, has never been of the slightest interest to me, although I do like Marie Osmond's version of a Dada poem, sent me a book about Utah curiosities. I've already discovered one story in it about a woman who uses cow pies - yes, those "pies" - to make clocks, and picture and mirror frames.

A keeper.

The books end up either next to my bed in the pile of books to be read, or outside the "reading room."

This year's additions:

In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton. Circles and Christmas Carols do work.

The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis by Paul Sabatier. Chesterton's biography is the essential one, in my opinion, but this modern examination of his life looks like it has much to offer.

Surpassing Pleasure by John Slater. A contemporary Cistercian poet: I can't wait to test those verbal waters.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. I'd actually read many of these poems long ago and enjoyed them, so it's wonderful to have them before me again. Plus, it's nice to be reminded that Eliot didn't always write as if he had spiritual heartburn.

How to Do Everything (From the Man Who Should Know) by Red Green. Red Green is a Canadian comedian who is an acquired taste, and a taste that I acquired long ago.

The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. A book that examines how Dickens helped to save Christmas from those who would downplay the celebration of it, and, in the process, apparently saved his own career. I've always loved Dickens and his Christmas tales, so this should be an intriguing read.

Utah Curiosities by Brandon Griggs. Cow pies. Need I say more?

Much reading to do.

Oh joy.

I've been remiss: Merry Christmas

Happy Feast of St. Stephen.

I realized today I had not posted here in about three months. Chesterton deserves better than that!

This Christmas I gave a copy of Chesterton's Irish impressions to an Irish friend. And then (after some not so subtle hinting on my part), on Christmas morning my dear bride presented me with a copy of In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G. K. Chesterton.

It's wonderful to find some of may favorite essays - "A Piece of Chalk," "What I Found in My Pocket," "On Lying in Bed," "Cheese," and more - all in one place. And there are many other essays I haven't read yet conveniently waiting for me.

I just have to finish Ron Hansen's Exiles, and then I dig into this treasure trove.

As for my Chesterton endeavors, I'll be sending in to Gilbert a batch of clerihews my students wrote, and scribbling a few more of my own. Plus, I've decided to give a more prominent role to the Chesterton-based character in that novel I've been writing forever.

Tally ho!

St Bernard on All Saints Days day

"Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints. But our dispositions change. The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it. The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent. The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory. Until then we see him, not as he is, but as he became for our sake. He is our head, crowned, not with glory, but with the thorns of our sins. As members of that head, crowned with thorns, we should be ashamed to live in luxury; his purple robes are a mockery rather than an honor. When Christ comes again, his death shall no longer be proclaimed, and we shall know that we also have died, and that our life is hidden with him. The glorious head of the Church will appear and his glorified members will shine in splendor with him, when he forms this lowly body anew into such glory as belongs to himself, its head.

Therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire. That we may rightly hope and strive for such blessedness, we must above all seek the prayers of the saints. Thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession."

"Holiness is not about what you do but with how much love you do it."

Do not seek to be like the Saints - seek what they sought.

In case you were wondering if Catholics were Hard Core or not - wonder no more

And this is not the only one

good reminder for All Souls day and yes it is only the living that scare me.

After a year of research and preparation, the giant screen film JERUSALEM advanced into production with an unprecedented aerial shoot throughout Israel and the West Bank. Scheduled for worldwide release in 2013, the film will take audiences on a spectacular tour of the Holy Land and the city once believed to lie at the center of the world.

From Chesterton's The New Jerusalem:

"As I tried to explain this eccentric sentiment to myself, I was conscious of another which at once completed and contradicted it. It was not only like a memory of Rye, it was mixed with a memory of the Mount St. Michael, which stands among the sands of Normandy on the other side of the narrow seas. The first part of the sensation is that the traveller, as he walks the stony streets between the walls, feels that he is inside a fortress. But it is the paradox of such a place that, while he feels in a sense that he is in a prison, he also feels that he is on a precipice. The sense of being uplifted, and set on a high place, comes to him through the smallest cranny, or most accidental crack in rock or stone; it comes to him especially through those long narrow windows in the walls of the old fortifications; those slits in the stone through which the medieval archers used their bows and the medieval artists used their eyes, with even greater success. Those green glimpses of fields far below or of flats far away, which delight us and yet make us dizzy (by being both near and far) when seen through the windows of Memling, can often be seen from the walls of Jerusalem. Then I remembered that in the same strips of medieval landscape could be seen always, here and there, a steep hill crowned with a city of towers. And I knew I had the mystical and double pleasure of seeing such a hill and standing on it. A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid; but it is more strange when the hill cannot anywhere be hid, even from the citizen in the city."

In contrast to this common perception of capitalism, Chesterton defines it as, "that economic condition in which there is a class of capitalists, roughly recognizable and relatively small, in whose possession so much of the capital is concentrated as to necessitate a very large majority of the citizens serving those capitalists for a wage."

"The present problem of capitalist concentration is not a question of law but of criminal law, not to mention criminal lunacy."

"Now what is the matter with the financial world is that it is a great deal too full of imagination, in the sense of fiction."

Roll Over Bethoveen

Happy 85th birthday Chuck

Steve Jobs was adopted. His life, passion, and vision inspired many. God our Father, Your power brings us to birth, Your providence guides our lives, and by Your command we return to dust

Rochester Chesterton Conference

The Rochester (NY) Chesterton Conference was, like the previous seven held here, a delight.

We enjoyed presentations by Dale Ahlquist, Dr. Tom Martin, Joseph Pearce, and Kevin O'Brien. Oh, and a visit by Hilaire Belloc!

Rochester Chesterton Conference

The Rochester (NY) Chesterton Conference is tomorrow at St. John Fisher College. The usual gang will be there - including me. I'll take some pictures, keep some notes, and maybe write a clerihew or two.

As a side note, I'm teaching a writing class at my high school. I just introduced the students to clerihews. They have to write some of their own for next week. I hope to submit some of theirs to Gilbert - or at least post some here.

Arcade Friday

Diamond Hollow II

As one reviewer wrote, here's the thing about this game: "...it tricks you into playing it because it has the word 'diamond' in the title. You think it's going to be pretty and nice and kind of glamorous and ladylike and sweet smelling, like a gardenia. But then it's just like any game. You're supposed to kill stuff and collect points but the primitive animation makes it hard to tell the difference between the diamonds and the bad guys so you get confused and die many times over. Then you just give up.

Also, the diamonds in this game are the color brown."

What fun.

Chesterton had alot to say about Margart Sanger and her club. He was one of the early voices to sing out against her type of progresive madness. “Progress,” G.K. Chesterton observed, “has discouraged anybody who had anything to say in favor of man, in his common relations to manhood and motherhood and the normal appetites of nature. Progress has been merely the persecution of the Common Man.”

He, of couse, was right. So why did hardly anyone listen. Sanger, long before Rules for Radicals was written, employed what Saul Alinsky wrote in the beginning of his book:

“What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.” Here is an excellant article of how she do the voodo she do so well.

Speaking of progress:

Mrs. H. Clinton, accepting Planned Parenthood’s highest honor, the Margaret Sanger Award, said “I want to assure you that reproductive rights. . .will be a key to the foreign policy of this administration.” For our little Hillary the taking of innocent life gets the same priority as issues of war and peace.

Secretary Clinton also told her adoring audience, “I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision,” and “Margaret Sanger’s work is not yet done.”

Oh yes her work is not yet done because the one she worked for is not done the father of lies, the great accuser, that talking snake.

On this the feast day of the Arch Angels let us call them back to battle. Especially Michael

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards could not have been happy on September 15 when she was served with a letter from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce announcing the opening of an official investigation and demanding financial and other documentation dating back 20 years in an effort to ascertain if the company is misusing federal funds and violating the law regarding the reporting of suspected sexual abuse and the aiding and abetting of sex traffickers.

My prayer now is that this is not just an other episode of political theatre.

This is a good beginning for 40 days of life.

JUST A HEADS UP

Father Barron's Catholicism TV series starts next week, (check your local PBS listings). I bought the book last week and although I am only a little way into it I would like to note two things:

The first is that Father Barron has so far quoted GK Chesterton and CS Lewis at least once per chapter.

The other is, if this TV series is only half as good as the book be prepared for bulging RCIA classes.

As Marc Barnes said, "The things we do should be fantastic. We’re not just anyone, we’re Catholics! What we do reflects our Church, and our Church is the only sane thing left in the world! Strive for excellence then, glorify God by using every drop of talent He’s given you, because I do believe that—now more than ever—our Church needs to reaffirm that we have brought the world the best literature, art, architecture, music and life it has. And that we still do."

doodlers of the world unite

I feel so much better now.

I am so glad the era of the "angry white chick" is over.

"What could it hurt?"

Brian Brown is the president and spokesman for National Organization for Marriage. NOM is working the front lines in the war on marriage. He is doing good work and I do not envy him. This video below shows you one of his skirmishes.

He lost this round not because he was wrong, (he was the only one in the room that was right), but he did not know how to state his point. He relied on common sense and obvious truths, stuff that was throw out decades ago.

“...the reason the government is involved in marriage is that taxpayers and society have a key interest in bringing together mothers and fathers to raise their children together”.

Brian, you need to articulate that interest.

“The government obligates third parties to respect and recognize your marriage, it does not merely enforce your private and personal agreements”.

Brian, why does it obligate any one to recognize that union?

Brian was out gunned and out maned. Some one needs to give him better sound bites. If I could think of any I would send them.

This just reminded me of the time before the roe v wade decision came down. No one thought it would happen the way it did - it just wrong and 'everyone' knew it. Surely the highest court in the land would see that, so no worries. Now 40 million babies later..........

I hope Brian succeeds I don't want anyone blogging 30 years from now saying. "How were we to know?!?".

The Ruth Institute is doing very good work as well.

"We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain us from bad laws." GKC

"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable", GKC. When they agree on what activity is excusable it becomes law. When an activity becomes legal it then becomes normal and then it becomes moral. It does not matter if that activity is intrinsically evil or not the pattern is the same, (they sometimes switch out the words its moral for its a right). Judith Reisman and Mary Mcalister have done a great job in connecting the dots.

When a law is evil the mental gymnastics needed to keep convincing yourself its moral is something you need to do every day and leads to a society that borders on insanity.

The only entity that keeps us tipping completely over the edge is the Catholic Church. Or as GKC said "We do not really need a religion that is right where we are right. What we need is a religion that is right where we are wrong."

Chesterton on Orthodoxy

“There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy.” - GKC

Take Your Magic Elsewhere Holy Man

Remember Fr. Judge? There were prayers that day. Lots of them. But Bloomberg does not want that messing up his event to remember 9/11.

"No, Michael Bloomberg’s Super Colossal, Low-Salt 9/11 Memorial and Networking Event is a big-ticket item for the the ones who can be tapped, later, for their money or their influence — the most important sorts of people.

And of course, some of the families of the dead will be allowed in. One does need them for the pictures, after all.

First Responders and Clergyfolk are not very important to the powerful and the enlightened."

And as everyone knows those first responders don't dress very well.

"This is America, and to have a memorial service where there's no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me," said Mr. Washington, former dept mayor to Giuliani