miniZibaldone

  From 9-15-2023 Audience A Heart Expanded by the Unspeakable Sweetness of Love [B]y contemplating creation, by letting yourselves be challenged by daily events, by experiencing work as prayer, to the point of transforming the very means of your work into instruments of blessing, and finally through people, in those brothers and sisters whom divine Providence leads you to encounter. In all this, you are called to be seekers of God . [...] Indeed, nowadays, in a globalized but fragmented and fast-paced world devoted to consumerism, in settings where family and social roots sometimes almost seem to disappear, there is no need for Christians who point fingers, but for enthusiastic witnesses who radiate the Gospel “in life through life.” This is always a temptation: go from being “Christian witnesses” to “Christian accusers.” There is only one accuser, the devil. We should not assume the role of the devil but of Jesus. We are students of the school of Jesus, of the Beatitudes. [...] [Y...

I know what you mean about being repulsed by the Church when you have only the Jansenist-Mechanical Catholic to judge it by. I think that the reason such Catholics are so repulsive is that they don't really have faith but a kind of false certainty. They operate by the slide rule and the Church for them is not the body of Christ but the poor man's insurance system. It's never hard for them to believe because actually they never think about it. Faith has to take in all the other possibilities it can. Anyhow, I don't think it's a matter of wanting miracles. The miracles seem in fact to be the great embarrassment to the modern man, a kind of scandal. If the miracles could be argued away and Christ reduced to the status of a teacher, domesticated and fallible, then there'd be no problem. Anyway, to discover the Church you have to set out by yourself. The French Catholic novelists were a hero to me in this—Bloy, Bernanos, Mauriac. In philosophy, Gilson, Maritain an...

Reading is the first way to listen, and thus to learn. Invitation to read From  “ The Day After Redemption” “Where in your time, in your body has Jesus redeemed you? Show me where because I don’t see the place. If there was a place where Jesus had redeemed you, that would be the place for you to be, but which of you can find it?” At the beginning of Flannery O’Connor’s  Wise Blood , the would-be anti-Christ Hazel Motes says to Mrs.  Wally B. Hitchcock, a passenger seated in front of him on a train: “I reckon you think you have been redeemed.” Mrs. Hitchcock, clearly taken aback by the question, “snatched at her collar,” not knowing how to answer the question. “I reckon you think you have been redeemed,” Hazel insisted. “She blushed. After a second she said, yes life was an inspiration, and then she said she was hungry and asked if he didn’t want to go into the diner.” Thus begins Hazel Mote’s relentless efforts to expose Christian hypocrisy by founding ...

Reading is the first way to listen, and thus to learn. Invitation to read From the interview  “The Wound of Beauty ” “This book will break your heart, and will show you why your heart needed to be broken.” Thus a reviewer of one of the stories by Michael O’Brien, the Canadian painter and writer (author of  Father Elijah: The Apocalypse , among other works). His stories tell of men and women, often humiliated and injured, apparently of little importance, but whose “little” choices, whose journey toward love and truth, prove decisive for the destiny of the world, capable of leading others to love and freedom. O’Brien has been compared to writers like Flannery O’Connor, Graham Greene, and C. S. Lewis. During the last Spiritual Exercises, Fr. Carrón continually reminded us of our original dependence on the Mystery of God. He told us that every man is a “direct, exclusive relationship with God, and the reverberation of this is our being poor beggars.” You, o...

from the Guardian Brexit, pursued by a bear: Boris Johnson shelves his Shakespeare biography Originally scheduled for an October release, Johnson’s Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius has been put on ice due to its author’s new commitments Zounds! S’blood! BoJo’s Bard biog shuffles off this mortal coil! On Monday it was announced that Boris Johnson’s widely anticipated biography of Shakespeare is on ice, indefinitely. Originally scheduled for release this October – rather late for the 400th anniversary of the playwright’s death back in April – Shakespeare: The Riddle of Genius “will not be published for the foreseeable future”, says its publisher, Hodder & Stoughton. Regrettably for those inclined to schadenfreude, they declined to confirm reports that Johnson will be forced to pay back his advance. Et tu, Boris, et cetera. Among professional Shakespeareans – think the conspirators in Julius Caesar, only with sharper daggers – there has been a mixture of glee and remorse. ...

Philippine Star  "State of the nation" Rodrigo Duterte has inherited an economy that is the second fastest growing in the region after China. A framework for peace in Mindanao is in place. Business confidence has been high for the past six years, buoyed by policies that were anchored on good governance.  Last Saturday night, President Duterte signed a landmark order, implementing freedom of information throughout the executive branch. He is expected to push his congressional allies to pass an FOI law to promote transparency in the other branches of government.  The challenges faced by the nation remain daunting. The income gap is a chasm and economic growth has not trickled down, with about 40 percent of Filipinos classified as poor. The lack of decent employment continues to fuel the migrant worker phenomenon, opening Filipinos to exploitation and human trafficking overseas.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "Reviving “hablon”" HABLON sa Cebu” is a community’s ...

Apart from some visible walls, other invisible walls are being strengthened which tend to divide our continent. These walls are being built in people’s hearts. They are walls made of fear and aggression, a failure to understand people of different backgrounds or faith. They are walls of political and economic selfishness, without respect for the life and dignity of every person. From the video message Europe finds itself in a complex and highly mobile world, which is ever more globalised and therefore ever less Eurocentric.  If we are aware of these momentous issues, then we must have the courage to say: we need change! Europe is called to reflect and to ask itself whether its immense heritage, so permeated with Christianity, belongs in a museum or is still able to inspire culture and to offer its treasures to the whole of humankind.  You are meeting so as to look together at these challenges facing Europe and to highlight testimonies of life in society which enable netw...

From Notes Towards the Definition of Culture I said at the end of my second talk that I should want to make a little clearer what I mean when I use the term culture. Like "democracy," this is a term which needs to be, not only defined, but illustrated, almost every time we use it. And it is necessary to be clear about what we mean by "culture," so that we may be clear about the distinction between the material organisation of Europe, and the spiritual organism of Europe. If the latter dies, then what you organise will not be Europe, but merely a mass of human beings speaking several different languages. And there will be no longer any justification for their continuing to speak different languages, for they will no longer have anything to say which cannot be said equally well in any language: they will, in short, have no longer anything to say in poetry. I have already affirmed that there can be no "European" culture if the several countries are isolat...

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In the library: http://bookslibrarycebu.blogspot.com/2016/01/books-sorted-byon-library-CS-Lewis.html From Communio journal             [full text]

What has happened to you, the Europe of humanism, the champion of human rights, democracy and freedom? What has happened to you, Europe, the home of poets,  philosophers, artists, musicians, and men and women of letters? What has happened to you, Europe, the mother of peoples and nations, the mother of great men and women  who upheld, and even sacrificed their lives for, the dignity of their brothers and sisters? From the address We need to “remember”, to take a step back from the present to listen to the voice of our forebears. Remembering will help us not to repeat our past mistakes (cf. Evangelii Gaudium , 108), but also to re-appropriate those experiences that enabled our peoples to surmount the crises of the past. A memory transfusion can free us from today’s temptation to build hastily on the shifting sands of immediate results, which may produce “quick and easy short-term political gains, but do not enhance human fulfilment” (ibid., 224). [...]  Forms of reduc...

To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in supporting the life of our communities. From a message What does it mean for us, Pastors, that the laity is working in public life? It means to seek a way to be able to encourage, accompany and stimulate all their  attempts and efforts, which already today are carried out, to keep hope and faith alive in a world full of contradictions especially for the poorest, especially with  the poorest. It means that, as Pastors, we must be committed in the midst of our people and, with our people, sustain their faith and their hope – opening doors,  working with them, dreaming with them, reflecting and especially praying with them. We need to recognize the city – and hence all the areas where the life of our  people unfolds – from a contemplative look, a look of faith that discovers the God that dwells in their homes, in their streets, in their squ...

Humanum : Issues in Family, Culture & Science Spring 2013 - A Mother's Work Contents EDITORIAL Stratford Caldecott: Editorial: A Mother's Work FEATURE ARTICLES Margaret Harper McCarthy: A Mother's Work Is Never Done! Mary Eberstadt: The Real Trouble with Day Care WITNESS Nicky Rowdon: Witness: Motherhood – All Is Grace BOOK REVIEWS Micheala Van Versendaal: Modern Woman Crittenden, Danielle, What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1999, 191 pages). Carla Galdo: The Mother’s Mission Clarkson, Sally, The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child’s Heart for Eternity (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 2004, 224 pages). Stephen McGinley: Most Important Job in the World Crittenden, Ann, The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued (Picador, 2010, 322 pages). Catherine Sienkiewicz: Ru...

God’s glory is revealed, instead, on the cross: it is love, which shines there and spreads. It is a paradoxical glory: without noise, without profit, and without applause. But only this glory renders the Gospel fecund. From an address Unity. Jesus prays to the Father so that His own “may become perfectly one” (John 17:23); He wants them to “be one” (v. 22), as the Father and He . It is His last, most heartbroken request before His Passion: that there be communion in the Church. [...]  Every charism is a grace of God to enhance communion. However, a charism can deteriorate when it is closed or is boastful, when it wishes to be distinguished from others. Therefore, it is necessary to protect it. Protect your charism! How? By following the masterful way: humble and obedient unity....It is always necessary to watch over the charism, purifying eventual human excesses through the search for unity with all and obedience to the Church. [...]  This is the fecundity of the Chu...

H:aB1, H:hStb, H:bS3b A Positively Final Appearance by Alec Guinness Blessings in Disguise by Alec Guinness   My Name Escapes Me by Alec Guinness Reverence for Life by Albert Schweitzer  Albert Schweitzer: An Anthology 

No Bells to Toll by Barbara Bode   The Alps by Andrew Beattie The Atomic Bazaar by William Langewiesche   The Fall of the House of Credit by Alistaire Milne   The Unwinding: An Inner History of New America by George Packer   Human Smoke: Beginning of World War II by Nicholson Baker  

Democracy in America Vol 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville   Local History and the Library by J. L. Hobbs The Cathedral by J. K. Huysmans The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad Red, White, and Blue: Men, Books, and Ideas in American Culture Ward by John William The Discovery of Poetry by Frances Mayes Reforming Education Mortimer Adler Teacher in America by Jacques Barzun The Book of Ages by J. F. Bierline The Liberal Imagination by Lionel Trilling  Ideas and Beliefs of the Victorians Quality with Soul by Robert Benne 

Disappearing Ink by Dana Gioia On Art and Literature by Marcel Proust   Fragments of Grace: Search for Meaning at South Asia by Pamela Constable Bhagavad-Gita   The Wandering Scholars by Helen Waddell Liberty: Rethinking an Imperiled Ideal by Glenn Tinder  Small Is Beautiful by E. F. Schumacher The Closing of the American Mind by Anthony Bloom Where Have You Gone, Michaelangelo? by Thomas Day 20th Century Music: An Introduction by Eric Salzman Are Women Human? by Dorothy Sayers