miniZibaldone

In the library: http://bookslibrarycebu.blogspot.com/2016/04/books-sorted-novel-literature-Flannery-OConnor-Walker-Percy.html An essay by Amy Welborn in The Catholic World Report , " Walker Percy at 100 ."

The dynamic unity in Christian life, the signs of which are living memory, the prophetic spirit, and the sure horizon of hope. From the homily The leaders of the people, in particular, are interested in erecting a wall of laws, a “closed juridical system”, and nothing else: “Memory is no concern: as for prophecy, it were better that no prophets come; and hope? But everyone will see it. This is the system through which they legitimate: the lawyers, theologians who always go the way of casuistry and do not allow the freedom of the Holy Spirit; they do not recognize God’s gift, the gift of the Spirit; and they cage the Spirit, because they do not allow prophecy in hope.” ...  “Do I have the memory of the wonders that the Lord has wrought in my life? Can I remember the gifts of the Lord? I am able to open my heart to the prophets, i.e. to him, who says to me, ‘this isn’t working, you have to go beyond: go ahead, take a risk’? This is what prophets do: am I open to that, or am I a...

Available in life, meek of heart and in constant dialogue with Jesus, you will not be afraid to be servants of Christ, and to encounter and caress the flesh of the Lord in the poor of our time. From the homily One who serves cannot hoard his free time; he has to give up the idea of being the master of his day. He knows that his time is not his own, but a gift from God which is then offered back to him. Only in this way will it bear fruit. One who serves is not a slave to his own agenda, but ever ready to deal with the unexpected, ever available to his brothers and sisters and ever open to God’s constant surprises. One who serves is open to surprises, to God’s constant surprises. A servant knows how to open the doors of his time and inner space for those around him, including those who knock on those doors at odd hours, even if that entails setting aside something he likes to do or giving up some well-deserved rest. One who serves is not worried about the timetable. It deeply troub...

It is Jesus who blesses and breaks the loaves and provides sufficient food to satisfy the whole crowd, but it is the disciples who offer the five loaves and two  fish. From the homily Jesus wanted it this way: that, instead of sending the crowd away, the disciples would put at his disposal what little they had.  And there is another gesture: the  pieces of bread, broken by the holy and venerable hands of Our Lord, pass into the poor hands of the disciples, who distribute these to the people.  This too is the  disciples “doing” with Jesus; with him they are able to “give them something to eat”.  Clearly this miracle was not intended merely to satisfy hunger for a day, but  rather it signals what Christ wants to accomplish for the salvation of all mankind, giving his own flesh and blood (cf. Jn 6:48-58).  And yet this needs always to  happen through those two small actions: offering the few loaves and fish which we have; receiving the brea...

Prayer is not a magic wand. It helps to keep faith in God and to entrust ourselves to Him, even when we do not understand His will. In this Jesus Himself – who  prayed so much! – is our example.  From the audience God truly saved Jesus from death giving Him complete victory over it, but the way followed to obtain it passed through death itself! The reference to the  supplication that God heard refers to Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. Assailed by imminent anguish, Jesus prays to the Father to let the bitter chalice of the Passion  pass from Him, but His prayer is pervaded by trust in the Father and He entrusts Himself to His will without reservations: “Nevertheless – says Jesus – not as I  will, but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). The object of the prayer passes to the second plane; what matters first of all is His relation with the Father. See what  prayer does: it transforms the desire and moulds it according to God’s will, whatever it is, because one w...

For several months now I’ve had a copy of Nietzsche’s The Will to Power (unabridged edition), but I haven’t succeeded in reading it through. Along with astonishing fragments, dozens of hodgepodge sentences, dreadfully mediocre. All that he writes about (or rather against) religion, Christianity, Buddhism, is external, badly informed, feeble; it’s as though I’m reading a commonplace atheist. The theoretical level is that of a Socialist of 1880. I am amazed at Nietzsche’s capacity to resist symbol, myth, mystery. The genius sees nothing in religion other than what his contemporaries could see—men whom he, with good reason, despised. — Mircea Eliade

Holiness is a journey; holiness cannot be bought.  It can’t be sold. It cannot be given away. Holiness is a journey to God's presence that I must make: no one else can do it in my name. I can pray for someone to be holy, but he’s the one who has to work towards [holiness], not me. Walk in God's presence, in an impeccable way. From the homily "Jesus’ Kingdom of Heaven," the Pope stressed, is for "those who have the courage to go forward" and courage, he observed, is generated by "hope," the second element of the journey that leads to holiness. The kind of courage that hopes "in an encounter with Jesus."  The third element of this journey towards holiness, the Pope observed, appears in Peter’s words: "Put all your hope in that grace:”  "We cannot achieve holiness on our own,” affirmed Pope Francis.  “No, it is a grace. Being good, being saintly, going every day a little 'a step forward in the Christian life is a grace of ...

     

No Christian can exist without joy. Christians live in joy and amazement because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. From the homily "A Christian is a man, or a woman, of joy: a man and a woman with joy in their heart. There is no Christian without joy!”  You may be told that there are many such Christians, the Pope warned, but  “they are not Christians! They say they are, but they are not! They are missing something.” “The Christian identity card is joy, the Gospel’s joy, the joy of having been chosen by Jesus, saved by Jesus, regenerated by Jesus; the joy of that hope that Jesus is waiting for us, the joy that - even with the crosses and sufferings we bear in this life - is expressed in another way, which is peace in the certainty that Jesus accompanies us, is with us. " "The Christian,” he added,   “grows in joy through trusting in God. God always remembers his covenant." And in turn, "the Christian knows that God remembers him, that God loves him , ...

Simple take by two Latin Americans about politics and the importance of dialogue and identity. Different context, the same reality Dialogue with the world around us (Pope Francis)   We do well to recall the words of the Second Vatican Council: “The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well” ( Gaudium et Spes , 1). Here we find the basis for our dialogue with the contemporary world. Responding to the existential issues of people today, especially the young, listening to the language they speak, can lead to a fruitful change , which must take place with the help of the Gospel, the magisterium, and the Church’s social doctrine. The scenarios and the areopagi involved are quite varied. For example, a single city can contain various collective imaginations which create “different cities”. If we remain within the parameters of o...

The Spirit guides us in new existential situations with a gaze fixed on Jesus and at the same time, open to events and to the future. He helps us to walk in history,  firmly rooted in the Gospel and with a dynamic fidelity to our traditions and customs. From the angelus But the mystery of the Trinity also speaks to us of ourselves, of our relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In fact, through baptism, the Holy  Spirit has placed us in the prayer and the very life of God, who is a communion of love. God is a “family” of three Persons who love each other so much they form a  single thing. This “divine family” is not closed in on itself, but is open. It communicates itself in creation and in history and has entered into the world of men  to call everyone to form part of it. The trinitarian horizon of communion surrounds all of us and stimulates us to live in love and fraternal sharing, certain that  where there is love, there is God. Our b...

 

We might think that slaves no longer exist: they exist. It’s true, people no longer go to Africa to capture them in order to sell them in America, no. But it is in  our cities. And there are these traffickers, these people who treat the working people without justice. From the homily When riches are created by exploiting the people, by those rich people who exploit [others], they take advantage of the work of the people, and those poor people  become slaves. We think of the here and now, the same thing happens all over the world. “I want to work.” “Good, they’ll make you a contract, from September to  June.” Without a pension, without health care… Then they suspend it, and in July and August they have to eat air. And in September, they laugh at you about it. Those  who do that are true bloodsuckers, and they live by spilling the blood of the people who they make slaves of labour.  We consider this drama of today: the exploitation of the people, the blood of...

Philippine Star  "Sustain the momentum" Nearly two weeks after election day, the 12 winners in the Senate race were proclaimed yesterday by the Commission on Elections. The proclamation crawled along like  a graduation ceremony, raising fears that 13th placer Francis Tolentino, former chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority, would have enough time to stop  the proceedings with a court restraining order.  There was no TRO, however, and the Comelec completed the proclamation. At least one candidate groused about being cheated, but did not plan to file a formal protest.  Two groups have filed a complaint for electoral sabotage against officials of the Comelec, poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and  automation service provider Smartmatic. The criminal complaint stemmed from Smartmatic’s change of the hash code of the transparency server used in the PPCRV’s  unofficial quick count for the national races.   [full ...

Remembering Evelyn Waugh a half century after his death Click him smoking for full text

Sun.Star Cebu's  Carvajal: "From the bottom up" PHILIPPINE democracy is hardly that because colonial masters handed it down on a people steeped in a comprehensively authoritarian culture. To this day, in fact, all  basic social institutions around a so-called democratic government are authoritarian in degrees ranging from mild to despotic. The Filipino family is authoritarian. Not-so-authoritarian parents simply do not bother to consult much less consider the opinion of children while despotic parents  impose their iron will on children, choosing professions and even spouses for them.  Schools are no less authoritarian. Most are run as business concerns by profit-oriented stockholders. More to the point, professors and teachers simply dole out  knowledge to their students and demand that such be regurgitated back to them at exam time. A good memory is all you need to get through an authoritarian school  system. Catholic Churches are even more authoritari...

We must not wait for prodigious events to be converted, but we must open our heart to the Word of God, which calls us to love God and our neighbor. The Word of God  can make an arid heart revive and heal it of its blindness. From the audience Jesus says that one day that rich man will die: the poor and the rich die, they have the same destiny, as do all of us; there are no exceptions to this. And then  that man turns to Abraham, begging him with the appellation of “father” (vv. 24.27). He claims, therefore, to be his son, belonging to the People of God. Yet in life  he showed no consideration to God; instead, he made himself the center of everything, shut-in in his world of luxury and waste. Excluding Lazarus, he did not take  into account either the Lord or His Law. To ignore the poor is to scorn God! We must learn this well: to ignore the poor is to scorn God. [...]  There is a particular point in the parable to be noted: the rich man does not have a name...

This is always painful to me. I am bewildered. I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world... On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton.

Two essays about writing and the English language by Tim Parks in  The New York Review of Books Why Write in English? Tim Parks Why not write in a foreign language? If people feel free to choose their profession, their religion, and even, these days, their sex, why not just decide which language you want to write in and go for it? Ever since Jhumpa Lahiri published In Other Words, her small memoir in Italian, people have been asking me, Why don’t you write in Italian, Tim? You’ve been in the country thirty-five years, after all. What keeps you tied to English? Is it just a question of economic convenience? That the market for books in English is bigger? That the world in general gives more attention to books written in English? Is that it? Certainly economics can be important. And politics too. Arguably, these were the factors that pushed Conrad and Nabokov to abandon their Polish and Russian mother tongues. If it is not possible to publish at home, or to publish the...

W hereas Jesus was warning his disciples about his coming humiliation and death, they [apostles] were concerned with worldly matters such as who would become the most powerful among them. From the homily Pope Francis reminded of Jesus' warning to his disciples that "if anyone wishes to be first he shall be the last of all and the servant of all."  “Along the path where Jesus shows us to journey, the guiding principle is service. The greatest is the person who serves most, who serves others most, not the person who boasts, who seeks power, money… vanity, pride. No, these people are not the greatest. And this is what happened here with the apostles, even with the mother of John and James, it’s an event that happens every day in the Church, in every community. ‘But which of us is the greatest? Who’s in charge?’ Ambitions: there is always this desire to be a social climber, to have power, in every community, parish or institution.” [...]  “Vanity and power …  and how and...

Most of us want to be esteemed more than we deserve. Take Facebook profile photos: most don’t necessarily reflect what a person really is, but rather what he or she would like to seem . It is a small and absolutely pardonable vanity, but it unveils a way of being that eats away at friendship, that very communion that we most desire. Through these little insincerities comes a mentality in which appearance is more important than truth, and that is an obstacle to love. — Jonah Lynch

For Jesus to feel mercy was equivalent to sharing in the sadness of the one He met but at the same time working personally to transform it into joy. From the audience Among the many aspects of mercy, there is one that consists in feeling compassion or being moved in face of those who are in need of love. Pietas – piety – is a  concept that was present in the Greco-Roman world, where, however, it indicated an act of submission to superiors: first of all the devotion owed to the gods, then  the respect of children for their parents, especially the elderly. Today, instead, we must be careful not to identify piety with that rather defused pietism, which  is only a superficial emotion and offends the other’s dignity. In the same way, this piety is not to be confused either with the compassion we feel for the animals  that live with us, and remaining indifferent in face of the sufferings of brothers. How often do we see people attached to cats and dogs, who then leav...

Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat David Amram Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work Jackson Benson  Hidden History Daniel Boorstin  The Air Show at Brescia Peter Demetz  A Family of Readers Roger Sutton  The Quest for Corvo A. J. A. Symons  A World Waiting to be Born M. Scott Peck  The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness Kevin Young  

This common belonging, which flows from Baptism, is the breath that frees one from self-reference that isolates and imprisons From the speech Our priest is barefooted in respect to a land that persists in believing and considering itself holy. He is not scandalized by the frailties that shake the human  spirit, aware that he himself is a cured paralytic; he is removed from the coldness of the rigorist, as well as from the superficiality of one who wants to show  himself accommodating to a good market. Instead, he accepts to take charge of the other, feeling himself participant and responsible for his destiny. [...]  With the oil of hope and consolation, he makes himself a neighbour to everyone, careful to share with them abandonment and suffering. Having accepted not to dispose  of himself, he does not have an agenda to defend, but every morning gives his time to the Lord, to allow himself to meet and encounter people. So our priest is not a  bureaucrat or ...

I am free! — Me

If we wish to apprehend the postmodern God, we have, then, to investigate the project of modernity with reference to the shapes it gave to time, space, and bodies. For these shapes portrayed the face of modernity’s god—the god whom Nietzsche (following a suggestion by Hegel) pronounced dead. — Graham Ward

The central purpose of Jesus mission, which culminated in the gift of the Holy Spirit, was to renew our relationship with the Father. From the homily The Spirit is given to us by the Father and leads us back to the Father. The entire work of salvation is one of “re-generation”, in which the fatherhood of God,  through the gift of the Son and the Holy Spirit, frees us from the condition of being orphans into which we had fallen. In our own day also, we see various signs of  our being orphans: in the interior loneliness which we feel even when we are surrounded by people, a loneliness which can become an existential sadness; in the  attempt to be free of God, even if accompanied by a desire for his presence; in the all-too-common spiritual illiteracy which renders us incapable of prayer; in the  difficulty in grasping the truth and reality of eternal life as that fullness of communion which begins on earth and reaches full flower after death; in the effort  t...

O ur condition of children of God is fruit of the love of the Father’s heart; it does not depend on our merits or our actions and, therefore, no one can take it away, not even the devil! No one can take away this dignity. From the homily How beautiful is the Father’s tenderness! The Father’s mercy is overflowing, unconditional, and it is manifested before the son speaks. The son certainly knows he  has erred and he acknowledges it: “I have sinned … treat me as one of your hired servants”(v. 19). But these words dissolve in face of the Father’s forgiveness. His  Father’s embrace and kiss make him understand that he was always considered son, despite everything.  This word of Jesus encourages us never to despair. I think of mothers and fathers in apprehension when they see their children distancing themselves, entering  dangerous ways. I think of parish priests and catechists who sometimes wonder if their work was in vain. But I also think of those who are in pris...

I would like to say to the young men and women of nowadays who don't feel at ease – (who say) ‘But I’m not that happy with this consumerist and narcissistic culture ….’ ‘But look at the horizon! Look who’s there, look at our missionaries!’ Pray to the Holy Spirit who compels them to go far away, to consume or burn up their lives. From the homily He noted that Paul acknowledges the absolute mastery of the Spirit over his life who has always pushed him to announce the gospel despite the problems and  difficulties. I believe, the Pope said, this excerpt evokes for us the life of missionaries throughout the ages.  “They went forward compelled by the Holy Spirit: a vocation!  And when we went to the cemeteries in those places, we see their tombs: so many of them died at an  early age before they reached 40.  The reason is because they were not used to and couldn’t recover from the diseases present in those places. They gave up their  young lives: they had...

Wuthering Heights Emile Bronte  The Other Side Mary Gordon  The Messiah of Morris Avenue Tony Hendra  Love and Modern Medicine Peri Klass  Various Pets Alive and Dead Marina Lewycka  Beloved Toni Morrison  The Comfort of Strangers Ian McEwan   Sir Thomas More William Shakespeare  The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash