A Monk's Life in a War Zone

 A Canticle for Leibowitz was such a pleasure to read, I thought I would read its sequel, Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horde Woman.  You can tell that this novel wasn't completed by its author, Walter M. Miller, Jr.  No way, would the same author let this so called sequel be released.  Whomever completed it, completed the story, but he didn't refine the writing.  This would have been the rough draft.

I'm surprised I persevered and finished the novel.  The characters were too numerous and confusing.  It was not unusual for a character to have three names!  The major character, Brother Blackfoot was also called Blacktooth St. George, Nimveh Blackfoot St. George, Nimmy, and at times he's the monk, the cardinal, the hermit. There is too much violence.  Everyone is at war and it's impossible to keep the combatants straight.

Surprisingly, besides the horror, there's humor in the story.  Blackfoot seems to always land on his feet even though those in authority are always trying to control him.  He's a loose cannon.  

The story starts with Brother Blackfoot in the Abbey of Saint Leibowitz.  He copies manuscripts and learns from them.  He's a nomad and speaks a few of the Nomad languages, which makes him valuable to those in authority.  Blackfoot is restless in the monastery and thinks of leaving.  He becomes a "pain in the ass" to the abbot, who is thinking of kicking him out.  Coincidentally, one of the conclavists, Brownpony, on his way to a papal conclave requires Blackfoot's skills. And so the adventure begins.  

They travel, they fight, they meet other characters, they have misfortunes and they plod on.  At one point, they run into the Pope's children.  These are malformed people who keep to themselves. There is a female there, AEdrea   who searches the travelers for weapons. When she searches Brother Blackfoot, she massages his genitals and gets an arousal.  Brother Blackfoot is alarmed.  He doesn't know what to make of it, but mostly he wants it to happen, again. In AEdrea's searching, she confiscated many objects, including Brother Blackfoot's rosary and guitar.  AEdrea,vixen as she is, refused to return them, unless he meets her in the barn's loft.  (Let your imagination roam free.)

These two characters, meet a few times, and although AEdrea's vagina has been sewed shut, she still gets pregnant.  Evidently, she wasn't circumcised, choosing to sew her vagina up, thinking that would prevent pregnancies.  She gives birth to twins who are given away for adoption and we never hear about them, again.  Would Walter M. Miller, Jr. have left that thread hanging?

Brownpony becomes pope.  Brother Blackfoot becomes a cardinal.  For awhile.  Warring hordes kill Brownpony and Brother Blackfoot wanders.  He wanders until he settles into a hermitage near Saint Leibowitz's Abbey.  There he dies an old man.

Sorry, this review is convoluted but so was the novel.

Hate is Human

 Judging is part of the human condition.  Depending on our background, everyone has biases.  Most of us try to eradicate them.  We certainly don't act on our biases.  When one of us does, it is called a hate crime.

One of my town's writing community, jamele adams, has been a victim of a hate crime.  Jamele is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion, for the town of Scituate. A makeshift tombstone with jamele's name on it, was found on a beach in Scituate.

This is just crazy.  Jamele's motto is e “always we, never me” . Why would a town employee cause someone to do this, especially one whose job is to spread love?  As I said, everyone has prejudice to one degree or another, but to act on it?  That takes a higher degree of prejudice than is normal.

We're supporting jamele.  

Christ's Hope for the Past and the Present

 Please read slowly and prayerfully John 14.

Latria

 Since "latria" is something I and many others do, you'd think this would be a common word.  It's new to me.  The definition is 

noun la· tria lə‧ˈtrīə plural -s Roman Catholicism : the supreme homage that is given to God alonedistinguished from dulia and hyperdulia Word History Etymology Medieval Latin, from Late Latin, service, worship, from Greek latreia; akin to Greek latron pay, hire Love words.

IOW, it is the worship we give to God, alone.  Simple.

But the Meriam Webster definition mentions dulia.  Well, as long as the google tab is open, I see that dulia is the veneration we Catholics give to saints.

Lastly, hyperdulia is a deeper veneration given to Mary.  This would be a veneration that is higher than dulia. 

Wow.  No wonder non-English speakers get confused.  I understand the difference between, worship, honor, devotion, veneration, and reverence, but would non-English speakers?  Maybe we should use the Latin: latria, dulia, and hyperdulia?

Image from Pinterest:  The Catholic Clips (FB pg) Prayer to God, Mary, and the saints.

Ellie Bumb

184 followers

Ape of God

 Tertullian was a writer in the early church.  He explains that Satan wished to be God and copied Him.  IOW, he "aped" Him, like a monkey will copy the people looking at him.  Tradition in Tertullian's time saw heretics imitating Christian sacraments, just like Satanists do now, e.i., black masses.

Maybe we should start calling Satanists, "Apes," when they hold their masses and baptisms and mimic the Eucharist.

                St. Dominic and the Devil by Pietro della Vecchiaabout 1630.

Conversational Prayer

 What else do you call it?  Heartfelt prayer--but isn't the Our Father prayer, heartfelt?  It can be.  

But what do you call it when you are riding in the car and carry on a conversation with God as if He were sitting in the passenger seat?

    What a beautiful day!  Thank you, Lord.

    Ooops!  There goes an ambulance.  Let's

    pray for the person in need, and also the

    loved ones of that person.  Oh look.  A 

    speed trap.  I'm inclined to pray for the

    cop not to catch anyone. But again, maybe

    catching someone speeding will save their 

    life or another's life.  You know best, Lord.

     I leave it up to you.

See.  That's what I mean as conversational prayer.  I do this all day.  My favorite prayer though is Lectio Divina.  Then there are rote prayers, like the Rosary, Litanies, Novena's and Chaplets.  Lest I forget the Mass.  During the Mass all the above prayers are used.  Plus music.  Since I'm not a music person, I never think of praying with music.  If it weren't for music during the Mass, I would never sing to God.  

I was telling this to God, the other day.  He said that He gave me a good voice.  I told Him that I didn't think so and if He did, why didn't He give me the talent to carry a tune?  

We argued about it for a while until I tried to sing Here I Am.  That abruptly ended the conversation.

Macho is Childish

 While in college, Ernest Hemingway was my hero.  I wanted to marry someone like him.  My friend gave me a pen and ink drawing of him.  It was on display like a sacred icon.

That was then; this is now.

I started to reread The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.  This time, fifty years later, I can't believe how naive I was.  The characters in The Sun Also Rises are a bunch of degenerates.  No wonder, they were called "The Lost Generation."  They were lost morally.  There only aim in life was self-indulgence.  They were always drunk.  The female character, Brett, had the morals of an alley cat. Whatever whim entered her empty head, she followed.  

The story is narrated by Jake, a journalist.  He and Brett are best friends.  Evidently, Jake is impotent; that's where the title of the novel comes in. Brett always calls on Jake to help her, like a big brother.  Brett is in love with a drunken Englishman, Mike.  Cohen is in love with Brett and she does indulge him and spends a weekend with him, but she drops him.  

When the group decide to go to Pamplona for the fiesta and bull fight, Brett falls for a matador.  But he's only 19.  Brett is in her 30's.  Uncharacteristically, she realizes that not only is she too old for him, plus her morals would also corrupt him and she sends him away.  

I see Hemingway's style is very descriptive.  He places the reader in the scene.  His diction puts the scene present.  The bull fight turned my stomach.  I don't remember it doing that when I read it the first time.  I've matured and my stomach is fussy, like my reading taste.

Myth Making

 Victory City by Salman Rushdie is a mythical fantasy.  The story involves a little girl who witnesses her mother's tragic death.  The little girl wanders alone into a hermit who takes her in.  Somehow the gods, this is India, bless or curse (depends on how you look at it) the little girl with tremendous power.  

She builds a city out of her mind.  She imagines it.  A good city, it is.  Of course, people spoil it.  Some are bad; some are good.  The girl is Pampa Kampana.  She also has a long life and outlives husbands, lovers, and children.

The story has a narrator.  He tells the story.  It is a good fable.

Tracing the Origins of the Mass

 Worthy is the Lamb by Thomas J. Nash is a good book for those who love to learn about how the Old Testament sacrifices and traditions are related to the Mass. The book is not an academic tome but it's not a casual read, either.  

The author starts in Genesis and explores its connection to the Eucharist. Old Testament sacrifices, Abel, Abraham, Passover, etc., are shown to prefigure the Mass. The book is divided into three sections.  The first section relates the Eucharist to traditions from the Torah.  The second section explains how the Old Covenant prefigured the Mass. Finally, the book concludes with Jesus transformed in our continuing Passover.  

Beginning each chapter are scripture and catechism references.  Of course, in the back of the book, the index is comprehensive.  There is a bibliography that will offer the reader more suggestions for personal scholarship.

Worthy is the Lamb is a keeper.

Pushing On

 What would you do if you're one of Jesus' disciples in the boat with Peter? Matthew 14: 22-33.

Peter tries to walk on water but when he feels himself sinking, he stops.  What would you do?

Think.

What do you do when you run up against obstacles?  You're knitting and you realize you've made a mistake.  Do you continue?  Rip it all out and begin again?  Throw it in the trash?  

I continue on and finish it, such as it is.

What do you do when you start a project that turns out to be too much?  Quit? 

I continue on to just finish, half-ass tho it may be.  It's done!

So to answer my question in the beginning.  If I were Peter and felt myself sinking, I would have thrown myself forward hoping to land within touching distance of Jesus.  No way would I have stopped and let myself sink. 

Till my dying day I will give it all away
I'll be pushing on
Till the rivers run dry I've got to try, try, try
I'll keep pushing on
When my soles wear through I won't be feeling blue
I'll keep pushing on (pushing on)
Till the rivers run dry I've got to try, try, try
I'll keep pushing on (pushing on, push, pushing on) ...                                                                              Lyrics to Pushing On Song by Jimi Jules and Oliver Dollar

Julian the Apostate

Three hundred years after the Roman destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Roman Emperor Julian set out to build a new Jewish temple.  Why?  He hated Christianity and wanted to destroy it.  Julian figured rebuilding the temple would reinstitute the Old Covenant sacrifices, and so nullify Matthew 24:1-2.  

The "gates of hell" would prevail.  The temple was never built.  During construction, an earthquake destroyed the structures.  Julian, himself, didn't live long enough to restart again.

Apparently, Julian held a grudge against Christians because Christian emperors killed his father.  As a child, he was educated in Greek philosophical teachings and picked up Greco-Roman polytheism. 

He is known as Julian the Apostate because of his opposition to Christianity.  He was the last pagan emperor.  

White Stands Out

 It's an unspoken rule for wedding guests to not wear white.  White is reserved for the bride.  It's her day, don't try to upstage her.

White stands out.  That's why the pope wears white, and no one else.  Think of the bride at a wedding.

So when you belong to a religious order, whose habit is white, you wear your black cloak over it.  That's why Dominicans wear their black cappa over their white habit when they are in the presence of the pope.  Now you know.

Fulfilling the Sabbath

 The Lord's Day is Sunday because Jesus' resurrection was on a Sunday.  CCC 2174.

The Sabbath is the last day of the week, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and the Lord's day traditionally started Saturday evening to sundown Sunday.  In Acts 20: 7-12, Paul celebrated Mass on the first day of the week--sundown Saturday, following the Jewish custom of measuring days.  This created a precedent for the Church to allow Saturday vigil Masses.

I've wondered where 4:00 PM Masses came from.

Monastic Science

 A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. is a novel about life after a nuclear holocaust.  The novel is divided into three parts.  The first section, life is similar to what I imagine Medieval times were like--before the printing press.  The setting for all three sections is a monastery.  

I wonder if people who aren't familiar to life in a monastery would like this book.  I'm a fan of Brother Cadfael mysteries, so I know pretty much what monastic life was like.  The monks' patron is Blessed Leibowitz.  Leibowitz was martyred for booklegging.  He was a secular engineer who converted to Catholicism and became dedicated to preserving knowledge.  Hence, he was booklegging.  

The focus is on a novice, named Francis.  He fancies that he met Leibowitz, but he was fasting out in the desert--it's Lent.  No one believes him and later on in the other parts of the story we find out who Francis really did meet.  In this part of the story, it doesn't matter.  Francis, finds a hidden stash of papers, books, and other relics that might have been Leibowitz's.  Here is more criteria to offer for the postulation for the cause of canonization of Leibowitz.  Francis is sent to New Rome to bring a blueprint signed by Leibowitz; proof for consideration of sainthood.  Francis witnesses the canonization.  

On his way to New Rome he is accosted by bandits.  Evidently, the land is riddled with bandits and bad people.  They steal a blue print and the hand copy of the blue print.  Since the copy was copied with gold ink and decorated with fancy doodads, the bandits thought it was more valuable and kept it.  They gave back Leibowitz's relic.  When Francis told them that it took 12 years to copy the original, the bandits said he could buy it back for two heklos of gold.  Providentially, the pope gives Francis the ransom.  Unfortunately, Francis is killed by the bandits on his way back.  That's the end of the first section.

In section two, we meet Thorn Taddeo.  Thorn seems to be a title for honor or some sort of distinction.  Taddeo thinks the monks are hoarding their knowledge and hence obstructing advancement because the monks won't send their Leibowitz reference material out of the monastery.  Interesting, the monks are preserving knowledge and Taddeo accuses them of hoarding it for themselves, alone. So, petulantly, Taddeo goes to study at the monastery.  The monks, because of their protected accumulated reference materials, have learned to make electricity.  Needless to say, Taddeo is impressed. 

Also, another character appears--maybe not.  He is known as the Poet.  At times, I thought he could be the man Francis saw.  There's also a hermit hanging around the monastery.  He's a Jewish hermit.  The poet and the hermit don't affect the story; they add commentary.

Lastly, the time is the future.  Space ship transportation is not new.  In fact, a war where nuclear bombs exploding in outer space seem to have occurred.  The land and its people, including the monks, are suffering from radiation.  

For me, this section held the most interest.  There is a lady living in a village near the monastery.  Mrs. Grales has two heads (radiation effects).  She calls her second head, her child.  She's always pestering the priest monks to baptize her daughter, Rachel.  The reason they won't was a catechetical lesson for me.  The abbot won't baptize because women aren't allowed in the monastery and the ministry really belongs to a parish where sacraments are recorded.  Mrs. Grales said the parish priest wouldn't baptize Rachel.  The description of Rachel explains why a priest wouldn't baptize her.  It's questionable whether the growth on Mrs. Grales' shoulder was even alive, never mind human.  No one wanted to hurt Mrs. Grales' feelings and tell her that she was crazy and that thing she called her daughter wasn't even a human being.  

Also, an important catechetical episode involves the abbot and a doctor.  Everyone is suffering from the effects of radiation.  The monastery is open to the public for succor.  The doctors are treating people the best they can.  Those that are beyond hope for recovery, are sent for euthanasia.  The abbot opposes this and the arguments between the head doctor and the abbot are interesting.  Even more so when you consider that the author, Walter M. Miller,  Jr., commits suicide at the age of 73.

The reader also indirectly picks up the importance of apostolic succession.  The abbot foresees the destruction of earth and sends the following out to alpha centuri or somewhere else.  The monks are on a mission to evangelize wherever they land.  Hence, on board were no novices.  Only essential people needed for colonization: scholars, janitor, cook, priests, bishops and cardinals--to secure apostolic succession.  You need bishops to ordain other priests.  Of course, the memorabilia from the monastery were on board the spaceship.  It takes off successfully.

The monastery was not so lucky.  An atomic blast blew the monastery up.  The abbot, before he dies, runs to the chapel's tabernacle and takes out the ciborium containing the Eucharistic hosts.  Everything collapses.  The abbot is stuck under rubble.  Before he dies, Mrs. Grales, or rather her daughter finds the abbot.  Mrs. Grales' head is dead, but the daughter's is alive.  The abbot baptizes her conditionally.  She opens the ciborium and gives communion to the abbot.  She then very reverently closes the ciborium and places it securely under some rocks.

The novel ends with the last monk entering the space ship.  Before he closes the door, he takes off his sandals and slaps the soles together.  "Sic transit mundus," he says. Luke 9: 5.

Power Politics

 Partisan politics and polarization have been around since Abel and Cain.  That's why Jesus said Matthew 16:18.  Jesus knew the pope would be attacked and the pope, himself, could be a degenerate, yet Jesus wins in the end.  

The church has been through crazy times.  I'm thinking of financial, immoral, sexual, scandals and whatever.  I often think it must have been really confusing when there were two popes! 

While looking up how that happened, I found that it involved "a slap."  Much more than that--the pope was kidnapped and brutally beaten and never fully recovered.  He died soon after being released.  

The pope was Boniface VIII.  Dante put him in hell.  But others called him  "magnanimus pontifex".  In contemporary times, think President Trump's supporters and detractors.  Now in Boniface VIII's time, leaders had a lot more power than rulers do today, and the pope had absolute power.  So, when the pope's detractors opposed him, refused to pay taxes, donations and contribute in anyway, the pope placed injunctions on them.  One of the most powerful enemies was Philip of France.  Another was in Italy--the Colonna family.  These powerful enemies opposed the pope.  Hostilities came to a head and the pope was attacked in the papal palace, led by Sciarra Colonna. Sciarra faced the pope and slapped him!  The pope was taken away and beaten.  

This marked the end of the absolute power of the pope.  It was also marked the beginning of the pope eventually going to France because he wasn't safe in Italy.  History tells that story.  My little post intended to show how fast power can change.

Ignorance is NOT a Valid Defense

 What came to mind when reading Apologist Dave Armstrong's answer, was that the same is true when it comes to taxes.  Back in the day, I worked in the tax office,  (Yes I know Jesus put tax collectors and prostitutes in the same category.😁) .  When people would say they didn't know they owed a tax, we responded that ignorance of the law was not an acceptable excuse. Sometimes, it was heartbreaking and sometimes the law would exemplify stupidity, but it wasn't my job to think or judge; it was to collect money.  I'd usually advise people to appeal to my superior.  Dave Armstrong's response amounts to the same principle.

Thank God, we have a God that is all merciful and not a tax collector.

Dave Armstrong

3h  · 

Question on Whether Ignorance of Mortal Sin is a Good Thing

[A person inquiring about the Catholic faith asked me this question]

Q: If you have to know that a sin is “grave” in order for it to be mortal (full knowledge and consent) then why would you want to tell someone that something is grave matter? Wouldn’t their ignorance of grave matter keep them from committing mortal sin and thus not endanger their salvation?

A: It's important that people are aware of what is a grave sin. Even if not knowing that sin x which has been committed is a grave matter and objectively a mortal sin (but not subjectively due to ignorance), a person is still harmed, as sin does no one any good and ultimately leads to spiritual death (Rom 6:16, 23; 7:11; 8:2; Jas 1:15; 5:20). Therefore, people ought to know what is considered serious sin, because habitual committing of such sins will eventually exclude one from heaven (see, e.g., Rev 21:8: "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death" [RSV] ).

The Surprise in Emmaus

 

The picture is from a diorama my grandchildren were playing to demonstrate the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  I always think of this story when people talk about others being rude.

My grandkids thought Jesus was being rude because He disappeared when breaking bread at the table.  "How rude!" they exclaimed, in the middle of supper!

In reading Luke 24:35 today, I noticed that the verse specifically said that the disciples came to know Jesus in "the breaking of the bread."

Duh!  Some Catholic I am.

Jesus is in the Eucharistic bread.  There's no need for a double Jesus.  When He broke the bread, He was present in the bread.  They were having a celebration of the Mass.  

Do You Doubt God's Power?

 One day when one of my grandchildren and I were walking around the church, I happened to point out the Tabernacle.  When I said that God was in there, the response was, "In a box?"

I didn't know how to respond.  How to explain "sacramentally," "spiritually," "accidents/substance," to a preschooler?  Adults grapple with the idea of God being in the Eucharist!  

Karl Keating says it bests when he says that if God can create the universe, then why couldn't He make bread and wine into His own Body and Blood?  He says He does in John 6: 55. Does Jesus lie?

But it still looks like bread and wine.  Yes, like I still look like me even when inside I've changed to a me that's in love, to a me that's been traumatized, to a me that's dying of sickness.  I may look the same but I'm not.

Don't limit God's Word to our limited human understanding.

Hypostatic Union

 This icon is known as Christ's blessing us.  Note his two raised fingers.  Whenever I explained the Trinity or hypostatic union, I'd show this icon, or one of the many other facsimiles of this depiction of Jesus.  Everyone in the class would immediately take out their pen and paper and take notes.

God is one divine being--a hand.  He also has two natures, human and divine; that's what the icon is telling you.  One God that has two perfectly complete natures--human and divine.  This is called the hypostatic union.

The other three fingers represent the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  That explanation has been attempted in other posts.

Indian Pipes

 No, these plants aren't smoked.  They are called Indian Pipes because they look like pipes.  Maybe Indigenous Americans ate them for medicinal purposes but they're not big enough to use as a pipe.  They're small clusters of white plants. They're white because they don't photosynthesize.  They have no chlorophyll.   Some people call them ghost plants because they have no color.

They're not mushrooms but their roots feed with a root relationship with fungi and trees.  So it's a parasitic existence.

If you pick them, they quickly turn black.  What would be the point?

Astronomy

 This goes as an addendum to my post about Aliens and the Catholic Church.

Pallium

 

I almost forgot about this tradition on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.  Pallium is Latin for shawl or whatever you call the material one puts over their shoulders.  It is made of wool, and shrunk down to be a symbol of what once probably was a clock, like a king or superhero would wear.  

Roman philosophers wore palliums.  So did St. Justin when he was martyred in 165 AD.  We next hear of it in the 6th century.  Pope Gregory bestowed it on bishops he wanted to honor. By the 9th century all metropolitans were wearing a pallium.

Even today, the tradition continues.  Two lambs are brought from Tre Fontane, the site of St. Paul's martyrdom, to the Basilica of St. Agnes. They are taken to the Pope, who blesses them and gives them into the care of sisters.  Before Easter, these lambs are shorn and their wool is used to make the pallium.

Six black crosses are on the pallium: front, back, shoulders and bottoms. A pin called a spinula is placed on the left shoulder to keep the pallium in place. It is worn over the chasuble.

Metropolitans wear pallium.  A metropolitan is a bishop over an archdiocese.

My Childhood Icon

 See this statue of George Washington.  How many times did I pass this statue, when I was a child?  It was on Lawrence Street, in my home town of Methuen, MA.  Lawrence Street is one of the main streets, in town.  I also went to Junior High right across the street, from the statue.  I must have stared at it hundreds of times.  Finally, I went to high school at Presentation of Mary Academy, just down the street from the statue.  Oh how I wished the gates and iron fence, surrounding the area around the statue,  weren't there.  Maybe then I could have cut across and taken a shortcut to school.  

Sometime, when I was in Junior High, I think, a school was being build there.  The church I went to was building a parochial school.  Then the statue was gone.

I always thought it was because it was in the way of the building.  Progress--and all. 

Now I read in The Pilot, the history of the statue.  It was moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.  The next time I visit my relatives in California, I going to see my childhood icon.