miniZibaldone

He is present here and now: here and now!  Emmanuel                           Nothing is useless; nothing is extraneous                                                                                               you become tireless  

“In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium — that is, of any extension of ourselves — result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. [. . .] The instance of the electric light may prove illuminating in this connection. The electric light is pure information. It is a medium without a message, as it were, unless it is used to spell out some verbal ad or name. This fact, characteristic of all media, means that the “content” of any medium is always another medium. [. . .] Let us return to the electric light. Whether the light is being used for brain surgery or night baseball is a matter of indifference. It could be argued that these activities are in some way the “conten...

(PDF format) https://english.clonline.org/cm-files/2020/08/05/radianceinyoureyes-english.pdf (ePUB format) https://english.clonline.org/cm-files/2020/08/14/radianceinyoureyes-english.epub

  From the general audience Taking care of those who are sick, of those who are in need, of those who are cast aside: this is a human, and also Christian, wealth. To emerge from a pandemic. . . Contemplation, which leads us to an attitude of care, is not a question of looking at nature from the outside, as if we were not immersed in it. But we are inside nature, we are part of nature. Rather, it is done from within, recognizing us as part of creation, making us protagonists and not mere spectators of an amorphous reality that is only to be exploited. Those who contemplate in this way experience wonder not only at what they see but also because they feel they are an integral part of this beauty; and they also feel called to guard it and to protect it. And there is one thing we must not forget: those who cannot contemplate nature and creation, cannot contemplate people in their true wealth. And those who live to exploit nature end up exploiting people and treating them like slaves. T...

In Search of a Human Face A Festival of Humanity

Fear governs the world. Power by its very nature avails itself of fear. Human society was built up on fear and, therefore, it was built up on lies, for fear is the father of falsehood. [. . .]   Fear always conceals truth and truth tends to reveal itself when the experience of fear lived through, leads to the overcoming of it, to emancipation. Fear is connected not only with falsehood but also with cruelty. It is not only those who inspire fear who become cruel, but also those who feel it. The masses are not only governed through fear but the masses themselves govern by fear. Fear in the life of society is the mistrust of man; and fear is always conservative although outwardly it has at times been revolutionary in form. . . . Anxiety, insecurity of life, in the last resort give rise to fear. But what is most serious is this; fear distorts thought and hinders the knowledge of truth. . . . Fear lowers the dignity of man, the dignity of free spirit. Fear has always been regarded ...

From the homily Let us never forget: the Mass is the Memorial that heals memory, the memory of the heart. The Mass is the treasure that should be foremost both in the Church and in our lives. Through the Eucharist, the Lord also heals our negative memory , that negativity which seeps so often into our hearts. The Lord heals this negative memory, which drags to the surface things that have gone wrong and leaves us with the sorry notion that we are useless, that we only make mistakes, that we are ourselves a mistake. Jesus comes to tell us that this is not so. He wants to be close to us. Every time we receive him, he reminds us that we are precious, that we are guests he has invited to his banquet, friends with whom he wants to dine. And not only because he is generous, but because he is truly in love with us. He sees and loves the beauty and goodness that we are. The Lord knows that evil and sins do not define us; they are diseases, infections. And he comes to heal them wi...

from  english.clonline.org What We Are Learning: Our Silent World Letters by witnesses “ Life Changes ” : a conversation with Italian author Maurizio Maggiani “ The Renewal of My Humanity ” : Giorgio Vittadini reflects on the temptation to cling to all sorts of  “ have to be ’ s ” “ In the Right Place ” : cardiologist Francesco Rotatori talks about what is happening in New York “ A Continuous  ‘ Here I Am ’ ” : monk Sergio Massalongo on  his experience of “our yes to Christ is, before all else,  our contribution to the salvation of every man and woman today.” “The Touch of the Mystery ” by Luigi Giussani

from  english.clonline.org : COVID-19 has become a shared experience. Everyone, in one way or another, is trying to see how he measures up to this unexpected event that has burst into our daily lives, imposing drastic changes in lifestyle and awakening pressing questions we cannot ignore. What kind of answers are adequate to such a situation? Available in PDF and ePUB format.

from: Balthasar, Hans Urs von.  Light of the World: Brief Reflections on the Sunday Readings . San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993.

continue reading:  https://english.clonline.org/news/culture/2020/04/01/pasolini-my-foot-caught-in-the-stirrup

continue reading:  http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200327_omelia-epidemia.html

continue reading:  https://english.clonline.org/news/current-events/2020/03/03/carr%C3%B3n-on-coronavirus-this-is-how-we-learn-to-conquer-fear-in-times-of-difficulty

continue reading:  https://english.clonline.org/news/current-events/2020/03/13/faith-puts-fear-in-its-proper-place

continue reading:  https://english.clonline.org/news/current-events/2020/03/16/magatti-hope-that-resists-despair

continue reading:  https://english.clonline.org/news/current-events/2020/03/20/stanghellini-an-opportunity-to-become-aware-of-ourselves

Continue reading:  https://english.clonline.org/news/church/2020/03/16/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god

From the audience “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5) There is no land more beautiful than the heart of others; there is not territory more beautiful to gain than peace found again with a brother. Meekness is manifested in moments of conflict, seen is how one reacts to a hostile situation. Anyone can sow meekness when all is calm, but how does one react “under pressure,” if attacked, offended, assaulted? In Scripture the word “meek” also indicates one who does not have earthly property; therefore, we are struck by the fact that the third Beatitude says, in fact, that the meek “shall inherit the earth.” So, the meek is he who “inherits” the most sublime of territories. He isn’t a coward, a “weak” person who finds an expedient morality to remain outside of problems. Quite the contrary!  Here we must make reference to the sin of anger, a violent motion, whose impulse we all know. Who hasn’t been angry sometime? All. We must reverse the...

Gentle Regrets by Roger Scruton Sexual Desire Roger Scruton

You’ve said that at both the University of Sydney and the University of Cambridge, you were “a bad student” who consistently read off-course. To the ears of my  contemporaries, reading off-course is the sort of procrastination that qualifies being a good student. Now, with the internet, we have so many distractions that is  almost impossible to stay focused on any one thing at a time, and work is scarcely one of them. Do you worry about the future of literature in this virtual  environment? Literature will win through the way it always has, by being too valuable to be ignored. All you have to do is write something as good as  Pride and Prejudice . A  cinch. Finally, do you have any advice for young writers? When the young writers ask me for advice, I give them the same advice as I give my niece: stop right now if you can. The Meaning of Recognition by Clive James Flying Visits Clive James