Saturday, March 07, 2009
Thursday, March 05, 2009
2 Corinthians 1:10
From such mortal peril God delivered us; and he will deliver us again, he on whom our hope is fixed. Yes, he will continue to deliver us.
(Revised English Bible)
(Revised English Bible)
Cardinal Mahony on Williamson
Oy.
Williamson "never can be a member" of the Catholic Church? News to me.
As someone noted, wouldn't it be nice if American bishops could get worked up about the holocaust of the unborn, and maybe start excommunicating some prominent "practicing Catholics" who promote abortion?
I'm not fond of the SSPX, and can't condone Williamson's "revision" of history, as some have euphemistically called it. But Cardinal Mahony's rhetoric here verges on the ridiculous. A plague on both their houses.
Williamson "never can be a member" of the Catholic Church? News to me.
As someone noted, wouldn't it be nice if American bishops could get worked up about the holocaust of the unborn, and maybe start excommunicating some prominent "practicing Catholics" who promote abortion?
I'm not fond of the SSPX, and can't condone Williamson's "revision" of history, as some have euphemistically called it. But Cardinal Mahony's rhetoric here verges on the ridiculous. A plague on both their houses.
Monday, March 02, 2009
The cinema
I would see this film, based on Enbrethiliel's excellent review, and good word of mouth from TS, but ... (a) it seems depressing, and (b) I'm not the hugest Eastwood fan.
But I enjoyed reading the review!
But I enjoyed reading the review!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
An Orthodox archbishop
Just as Christ has both a divine and a human nature, so has the Church. On its human side the Church is susceptible to errors, weaknesses and failings, but it has consolation in the promise: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Mt. 16:18)
Archbishop PAUL of Finland, The Faith We Hold (SVS Press, 1980), p. 16
Not to get overly polemical, but the first part of the quoted Scripture is conspicuous by its absence: "Thou art Peter," etc.
Archbishop PAUL of Finland, The Faith We Hold (SVS Press, 1980), p. 16
Not to get overly polemical, but the first part of the quoted Scripture is conspicuous by its absence: "Thou art Peter," etc.
Attributed to St Brigid
I would like to have the men of Heaven in my own house:
With vats of good cheer laid out for them.
I would like to have the three Marys, their fame is so great.
I would like people from every corner of Heaven.
I would like them to be cheerful in their drinking,
I would like to have Jesus too here amongst them.
I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings,
I would like to be watching Heaven's family, drinking it through all eternity.
With vats of good cheer laid out for them.
I would like to have the three Marys, their fame is so great.
I would like people from every corner of Heaven.
I would like them to be cheerful in their drinking,
I would like to have Jesus too here amongst them.
I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings,
I would like to be watching Heaven's family, drinking it through all eternity.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Diseases of the left and of the right
Many years ago, George Will wrote of a film, "It was made by the type of people who think they are virtuous because they are not Richard Nixon," diagnosing with particular acuity a syndrome of the Left. But I wonder if there isn't a similar malady on the Right, people who think they are virtuous because they are not -- who? Ted Kennedy? one of the Clintons? Nancy Pelosi? the current President?
Don't get me wrong. I do not mean to heap praise on any of those figures mentioned, just as Will did not mean to praise President Nixon. But it occurs to me, and to Will, that virtue, be it civic virtue or moral virtue, consists in something entirely different from hating the right people, or merely voting for the right candidates. Anyone can do that.
Inchoate thoughts, these.
Don't get me wrong. I do not mean to heap praise on any of those figures mentioned, just as Will did not mean to praise President Nixon. But it occurs to me, and to Will, that virtue, be it civic virtue or moral virtue, consists in something entirely different from hating the right people, or merely voting for the right candidates. Anyone can do that.
Inchoate thoughts, these.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Caryll Houselander on notorious sinners
Caryll Houselander, the British Catholic author (1901-54) who wrote The Reed of God, a marvelous if somewhat slender book about Our Lady, deeply poetic, had a memorable and beautiful quotation about how the Christian should approach notorious sinners. I believe the quotation comes from the book mentioned above, and since that book is, alas, no longer in my library, I must rely on memory. So what follows is a paraphrase.
Houselander writes that if the sinner in question is not a baptized Christian then one should lament the fact that he has not yet received the gift of faith. If the sinner in question is a baptized Christian then one should approach him with all the reverence due to the Holy Sepulchre because in him the dead Christ lies entombed.
Houselander writes that if the sinner in question is not a baptized Christian then one should lament the fact that he has not yet received the gift of faith. If the sinner in question is a baptized Christian then one should approach him with all the reverence due to the Holy Sepulchre because in him the dead Christ lies entombed.
Nevertheless
Nevertheless to condone frailty by comparison with yet greater frailty is not profitable.
Marianne Moore, from The Complete Prose, p. 207
Marianne Moore, from The Complete Prose, p. 207
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Mickey Rourke, Catholic
This I found fascinating. Fascinating and hopeful. And not quite what I expected!
And has anyone seen the twenty-year-old film in which he portrayed St Francis of Assisi? (If so, was it any good?)
And has anyone seen the twenty-year-old film in which he portrayed St Francis of Assisi? (If so, was it any good?)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Memorization as meditation
The blogger at Summa Minutiae has begun to memorize the Psalms. He has the first two psalms committed to memory!
I'm trying to memorize Psalm 51 in the Coverdale version. My modest goal is the first seven verses by the day after tomorrow.
If I succeed with this psalm, I may try a few of the shorter psalms.
I used to memorize things with great facility -- the poetry of Dylan Thomas and E E Cummings, most notably -- but now the mind's powers grow feeble, I fear.
I'm trying to memorize Psalm 51 in the Coverdale version. My modest goal is the first seven verses by the day after tomorrow.
If I succeed with this psalm, I may try a few of the shorter psalms.
I used to memorize things with great facility -- the poetry of Dylan Thomas and E E Cummings, most notably -- but now the mind's powers grow feeble, I fear.
Highlight of the 81st Academy Awards
Accepting his award for best animated short, La Maison en Petits Cubes, the Japanese filmmaker Kunio Kato offered halting thanks and then, apparently running out of English, quoted the old Styx hit and quipped, "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto."As described here.
A libertarian's opinion
Yes. I agree. I think that what you say is so. (On Attorney General Holder's "cowards" crack.)
(HT: Conservative Blog for Peace.)
(HT: Conservative Blog for Peace.)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Quotation of note
Those who realize they have this interior leprosy come together in a leper colony, called the Church. The Church is filled with spiritual lepers who welcome one another, care for one another, and turn to Jesus, the Divine Physician, for cleansing, through prayer, worship, and the sacraments. The Church is then a hospital for the sick, not a country club for the spiritually sleek. We belong to the Church, not because we're saints, but because we're sinners, not because we're proud, but because we're humble, not because we want to do God a big favor, but because we need a big favor from God. ... See you at Mass.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee
(Posted at Communio. HT: Clairity Daily.)
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee
(Posted at Communio. HT: Clairity Daily.)
I can't believe ...
... it's not butter!
(I shouldn't be watching this show, but this bit is harmless.)
(I shouldn't be watching this show, but this bit is harmless.)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Angelou beats Alexander
In terms of the sales of Inauguration Day poetry, Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day" has failed to magnetize the book-buying public. Six thousand copies sold, contrasted to over a million for Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of the Morning."
I still maintain that Ms Alexander's poem is better.
(HT: Poetry Foundation.)
I still maintain that Ms Alexander's poem is better.
(HT: Poetry Foundation.)
Last Marianne for a while, methinks
I'd do away with forced retirement. I would let people work as long as they can. The country needs their knowledge and experience, and they should have the joy of being productively employed, useful.
Pure water and pure air seem to me needed above all else. This would require vigorous efforts toward pollution control.
Some women are overlooked who have capacity for service -- as mathematicians, as scientists. I wish this could be given intensive thought.
I would encourage more government support of projects to save or restore historic houses and landmarks. Road and tree care seem important. Mrs. Johnson has aroused much incentive toward making scenery inspiring. I wouldn't overlook the beauties of Brooklyn. There, Mrs. Millar Graff's appeal for aid to historic trees has borne fruit by salvaging the beautiful Camperdown Elm in Prospect Park, planted in 1872.
The government is doing much for musicians, composers, and writers. I'd continue this help.
In response to a 1968 McCall's questionnaire asking, "What would you do if you were president?" From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore (Penguin Books, 1987), p. 691
Pure water and pure air seem to me needed above all else. This would require vigorous efforts toward pollution control.
Some women are overlooked who have capacity for service -- as mathematicians, as scientists. I wish this could be given intensive thought.
I would encourage more government support of projects to save or restore historic houses and landmarks. Road and tree care seem important. Mrs. Johnson has aroused much incentive toward making scenery inspiring. I wouldn't overlook the beauties of Brooklyn. There, Mrs. Millar Graff's appeal for aid to historic trees has borne fruit by salvaging the beautiful Camperdown Elm in Prospect Park, planted in 1872.
The government is doing much for musicians, composers, and writers. I'd continue this help.
In response to a 1968 McCall's questionnaire asking, "What would you do if you were president?" From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore (Penguin Books, 1987), p. 691
Friday, February 20, 2009
Marianne Moore for Friday
When I wake at six or seven -- I drink a glass of water -- write a résumé in a little 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 Swiss calendar-diary, given to me by a friend, of the previous day, any special name or fact I mustn't forget -- hang on my trapeze for a moment or two -- whether infirm or not, read a few lines calculated to counteract infirmity, from the Bible usually, as stabilizing "the innocency of our lives and the constancy of our faith" -- impatient to work but pause for breakfast -- bring it to my room -- half a grapefruit or orange juice, honey, an egg, hard-boiled or scrambled, a piece of Pepperidge white toast -- may eat a chocolate leaf if I have one -- in winter, dark hot chocolate with marshmallow or whipped cream, in summer perhaps no egg -- hearing meanwhile what Bob Hite has to say about the weather -- dress and go on answering correspondence of the day before, interrupted constantly by the telephone.
"How They Start the Day," originally in the September 1963 Glamour. From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, pp. 660-1.
"How They Start the Day," originally in the September 1963 Glamour. From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, pp. 660-1.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
November's antics
Don't fiddle with the gadgets in the pantry;
Go scrape the ice from birdbaths and tree-houses.
In the town of Marblehead, denizens are spry --
The water-works, the mine-shaft, what else gives?
Woods were foliate, back when, with veined nouvelles
At seven-three-thirty, at fourteen-five-point-six.
Night practices her scales, the lissome singer,
When insular starlight glozes our dismay.
The repertoire's impertinent : loose change,
Moon over Winnipeg, astral patty-cake.
Is this production feeling its oats? We need perchance
Full recompense for all those graceful oafs
And two-bit, three-bit players -- they gave us much :
Bright colors and a cheerful mise-en-scène.
An echo of a celibate shibboleth,
Eerie and wan, sneaks in beneath the harsh
Snarl of neighbors bickering over snowbanks,
Drifts of the white stuff blocking the Johnsons' driveway
Through which a snazzy Merc Cyclone is wont to roll.
The argument makes a crumpled, dusky din;
Trees overlook the ringing ... Time out! Zut! We need
A respite from rambunctious hoi polloi,
Drawn-out retreats at abbeys 'mid whose groves
Howl wolves, wail owls; every now and then
Wafts the lyric plaint of Philomel, alias Biffo Bailey,
On a leafless bough, alas, or winging high above
The wounded earth, with its parties and its rhetoric,
Breeze of a charlatan, jocular, sublime.
2001
Go scrape the ice from birdbaths and tree-houses.
In the town of Marblehead, denizens are spry --
The water-works, the mine-shaft, what else gives?
Woods were foliate, back when, with veined nouvelles
At seven-three-thirty, at fourteen-five-point-six.
Night practices her scales, the lissome singer,
When insular starlight glozes our dismay.
The repertoire's impertinent : loose change,
Moon over Winnipeg, astral patty-cake.
Is this production feeling its oats? We need perchance
Full recompense for all those graceful oafs
And two-bit, three-bit players -- they gave us much :
Bright colors and a cheerful mise-en-scène.
An echo of a celibate shibboleth,
Eerie and wan, sneaks in beneath the harsh
Snarl of neighbors bickering over snowbanks,
Drifts of the white stuff blocking the Johnsons' driveway
Through which a snazzy Merc Cyclone is wont to roll.
The argument makes a crumpled, dusky din;
Trees overlook the ringing ... Time out! Zut! We need
A respite from rambunctious hoi polloi,
Drawn-out retreats at abbeys 'mid whose groves
Howl wolves, wail owls; every now and then
Wafts the lyric plaint of Philomel, alias Biffo Bailey,
On a leafless bough, alas, or winging high above
The wounded earth, with its parties and its rhetoric,
Breeze of a charlatan, jocular, sublime.
2001
Marianne Moore por jueves
No, but I am conservative; opposed to regimentation.
Response to a questionnaire asking, "Do you take your stand with any political or politico-economic party or creed?" From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 674
Response to a questionnaire asking, "Do you take your stand with any political or politico-economic party or creed?" From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 674
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
Shakespeare's sonnet 2. Here.
I'm pondering a parody:
When forty harvests shall expand my gut
And cause a paunch where once was slenderness ...
I'm pondering a parody:
When forty harvests shall expand my gut
And cause a paunch where once was slenderness ...
biglatinwords
Respice. Adspice. Prospice. A new Catholic blog from the Philippines!
Quotation of note therefrom:
(HT: Sancta Sanctis.)
Quotation of note therefrom:
Martha was doing a lot of things FOR Christ, so it wasn't her running around that didn't set well with the Lord. It was her running around without listening to Him first that caused the whole scene. If Mary, who had sat at Christ's feet and listened to Him, had gotten up and fixed the house, she would probably have done a much better job than Martha. On the other hand, Martha could have done a thousand different chores for the Lord, but she would end up feeling fatigued, disoriented, and possibly even disappointed right afterwards.
(HT: Sancta Sanctis.)
Marianne Moore per mercoledì
The surrender of life doesn't seem to be demanded of me.
In response to a questionnaire from The Little Review, the last question of which was, "Why do you go on living?" From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 673
In response to a questionnaire from The Little Review, the last question of which was, "Why do you go on living?" From The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 673
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Marianne Moore for Tuesday
I am not voracious, eat regulation food, meat, cheese, vegetables and an additive when needed -- brewer's yeast, powdered alfalfa, watercress, dehydrated potato and tomato as convenient -- fisheggs of all kinds, raisins, honey and anything that purports to "make powerful animals." As for spirits, loyalty to brandy and whiskey, and certain wines, in signal emergencies, subdues intolerance on my part to alcohol, but I am simultaneously addicted to what Randall Jarrell in his book, The Lost World, calls "clear water, cold, so cold."
from The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, pp. 599-600
from The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, pp. 599-600
Monday, February 16, 2009
As another blogger might say ...
If only women could be Protestant pastors! If only Protestant pastors could marry! Then we wouldn't see stories like this.
Oh, wait ... Never mind.
Oh, wait ... Never mind.
Marianne Moore für Montag
I see no revolution in the springs of what results in "poetry." No revolution in creativeness. Irrepressible emotion, joy, grief, desperation, triumph -- inward forces which resulted in the Book of Job, Dante (the Vita Nuova, Inferno), Chaucer, Shakespeare -- are the same forces which result in poetry today. "Endless curiosity, observation, research, and a great amount of joy in the thing," George Grosz, the caricaturist said, explained his art. These account for many other forms of art, I would say.
from The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 592
from The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 592
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Marianne Moore pour dimanche
A narrow sheath or pant (if I may use the word) does not set a hippomoid figure off to advantage.
from The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 616
from The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore, p. 616
Thursday, February 12, 2009
W. H. Auden
Dante
Was utterly enchanté
When Beatrice cried in tones that were peachy:
Noi siamo amici.
from "Academic Graffiti"
Was utterly enchanté
When Beatrice cried in tones that were peachy:
Noi siamo amici.
from "Academic Graffiti"
Monday, February 09, 2009
Sublimity now!
An Inside Catholic column by Eve Tushnet. It speaks to me, because, in part, it deals with the difference between a beauty that is merely cutesy-pie (a beauty that one can master) and a Beauty that is as "terrible as an army with banners" (a Beauty that masters one).
About six years ago, on this blog, I tried to categorize the different types of beauty, and came up with four "beauties": the Awesome, the Pretty, the Gorgeous, and the Cute. I blush to recall the absolute silliness of my attempt at being, what? serious? philosophical?, but I think I might have hit on something akin to the Sublime when I was writing about the Awesome. (The Gorgeous, if I remember correctly, was also a kind of beauty that masters one, but it lacked the element of holiness or purity that the Awesome possessed.)
I don't know if there was a difference, or can't remember what the difference was, between the Pretty and the Cute. But it seems that both of those beauties were of the type that one could possess or master. It was a beauty that delighted and charmed, not a beauty that terrified or thrilled or caused one to seek divine help to keep from fainting.
Anyway, go read Eve's column, as it will edify far beyond anything I have to say.
About six years ago, on this blog, I tried to categorize the different types of beauty, and came up with four "beauties": the Awesome, the Pretty, the Gorgeous, and the Cute. I blush to recall the absolute silliness of my attempt at being, what? serious? philosophical?, but I think I might have hit on something akin to the Sublime when I was writing about the Awesome. (The Gorgeous, if I remember correctly, was also a kind of beauty that masters one, but it lacked the element of holiness or purity that the Awesome possessed.)
I don't know if there was a difference, or can't remember what the difference was, between the Pretty and the Cute. But it seems that both of those beauties were of the type that one could possess or master. It was a beauty that delighted and charmed, not a beauty that terrified or thrilled or caused one to seek divine help to keep from fainting.
Anyway, go read Eve's column, as it will edify far beyond anything I have to say.
Understatement
Being reborn in Jesus is not rapid for many of us.
Jean Vanier, via February's Magnificat, p. 119
Jean Vanier, via February's Magnificat, p. 119
5.43 am
Last night I read nearly half of David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day. Literary junk food. Uproariously funny. Occasionally the sarcasm becomes wearisome, as in the chapter about performance art and drug use (although it's good to be sarcastic about performance art, I suppose), but oftener than not I'm laughing out loud, whether it's guitar lessons or speech therapy or his vulgar-mouthed younger brother he's writing about.
:: :: :: :: ::
The Boston mayor's race is getting crowded. The sixty-something thick-tongued incumbent, Thomas Menino, may run for a fifth term. But there's a moderately progressive former city council president, 39-year-old Michael Flaherty, and an ultraprogressive city councilor at large, thirty-something Sam Yoon, who'll be opposing the mayor. I say good on both of them. Although Menino is still fairly popular and (depending on who you talk to) effective, I'm not sure a twenty-year mayoralty is something desirable for anyone other than the mayor. Menino's immediate predecessor, Ray Flynn, served nearly ten years, and Kevin White, before Flynn, served sixteen. So Boston has had only three mayors since 1967, when Lyndon Johnson was president.
If I were still living within the city limits of Boston, I'd probably vote for Flaherty.
:: :: :: :: ::
There was a crane collapse near the beloved Brattle Book Shop. One man was killed. The crane landed in the discount book lot next to the bookstore, the $1 to $5 shelves. Customers were browsing the outdoor shelves at the time (I think), but no one on the ground was injured. A lot of inexpensive books were destroyed, but of course, that's of no consequence compared to the loss of a human life.
:: :: :: :: ::
My favorite morning news reporter is back from vacation! Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum! A half-hour ago she wasn't wearing a hat. Now she is.
It's 28 degrees in Boston, a bit of a cooldown after yesterday's relative warmth. It hit fifty but stayed quite breezy, so there was something of a wind chill. The wind made one's eyes water as one was walking from the church to the pharmacy.
But the point is, I don't blame her for putting the hat on.
:: :: :: :: ::
I've never met a Methodist I didn't like. (More on this later, maybe.)
:: :: :: :: ::
Dentist tomorrow to get a filling "re-done." They never give me enough Novocaine; I always feel the drill. This time, I will be politely emphatic in my request for enough Novocaine.
:: :: :: :: ::
Time to start the coffee, methinks.
:: :: :: :: ::
The Boston mayor's race is getting crowded. The sixty-something thick-tongued incumbent, Thomas Menino, may run for a fifth term. But there's a moderately progressive former city council president, 39-year-old Michael Flaherty, and an ultraprogressive city councilor at large, thirty-something Sam Yoon, who'll be opposing the mayor. I say good on both of them. Although Menino is still fairly popular and (depending on who you talk to) effective, I'm not sure a twenty-year mayoralty is something desirable for anyone other than the mayor. Menino's immediate predecessor, Ray Flynn, served nearly ten years, and Kevin White, before Flynn, served sixteen. So Boston has had only three mayors since 1967, when Lyndon Johnson was president.
If I were still living within the city limits of Boston, I'd probably vote for Flaherty.
:: :: :: :: ::
There was a crane collapse near the beloved Brattle Book Shop. One man was killed. The crane landed in the discount book lot next to the bookstore, the $1 to $5 shelves. Customers were browsing the outdoor shelves at the time (I think), but no one on the ground was injured. A lot of inexpensive books were destroyed, but of course, that's of no consequence compared to the loss of a human life.
:: :: :: :: ::
My favorite morning news reporter is back from vacation! Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum! A half-hour ago she wasn't wearing a hat. Now she is.
It's 28 degrees in Boston, a bit of a cooldown after yesterday's relative warmth. It hit fifty but stayed quite breezy, so there was something of a wind chill. The wind made one's eyes water as one was walking from the church to the pharmacy.
But the point is, I don't blame her for putting the hat on.
:: :: :: :: ::
I've never met a Methodist I didn't like. (More on this later, maybe.)
:: :: :: :: ::
Dentist tomorrow to get a filling "re-done." They never give me enough Novocaine; I always feel the drill. This time, I will be politely emphatic in my request for enough Novocaine.
:: :: :: :: ::
Time to start the coffee, methinks.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Poetry question : Vernon Watkins
Maybe readers from the UK can help. I have an imperfectly remembered poem going through my mind. I'm certain the author is Vernon Watkins (1906-67). Can someone provide the title, or maybe even the rest of the poem?
Wits that learn from mother-wit are keenest
Nor is there nobility of style
Till the proud man kneels to help the meanest
Those who justify themselves are vile
Wits that learn from mother-wit are keenest
Nor is there nobility of style
Till the proud man kneels to help the meanest
Those who justify themselves are vile
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