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May 21, 2006
The Law of Diminishing Returns
About my own faith-life I have reached a conclusion that emphatically will not apply to all, but which may apply to others.
The more I worry about such important things as justification and the mechanics and details of atonement and salvation, the less capable I am of living anything like a life of faith and belief.
While there is no certainty as to the origins of the problem, it would seem to stem from an inability to atomize, to dissect, as it were, and to regard the object under the microscope as the living fabric of faith that it is. More simply stated, I cannot at once concern myself with these things that strike me as the mechanics and mechanisms of salvation and with the Person through whom redemption and salvation have come. The analytic intellect clicks in and all that looms large is the meticulous reality of the great machine that whirs and clicks away.
It's a shame, but the personal, in this small case in my life, means far more than the theoretical. And it's strange because in most other aspects, the exact opposite holds true. Calculus and higher mathematics were always a breeze so long as they were theory along, once they became "practical," they were a sheer muddle.
Not so in the encounter with the Savior. The Person of Christ looms large, and in that Person all that appertains; they are part and parcel and I need not try to fathom how one works within the Other. I need merely accept that the Person of my salvation cares about me with a love that transcends time and death.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:03 AM | Comments (7)
First Communion Day
Today is Samuel's First Communion day, please join family and friends in celebrations and prayers for Samuel's continued growth in the life of faith, and in his parents' ability to foster that growth.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:59 AM | Comments (7)
May 22, 2006
Sacramental Love
from Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl"Listen, Otto, if I don't get back home to my wife and if you should see her again, then tell her that I talked of her daily, hourly. You remember. Secondly, I have loved her more than anyone. Thirdly, the short time I have been married to her outweighs everything, even all we have gone through here."
Magnificent--that the love of a man for his wife can outweigh the terrors of years in a concentration camp. (This was said toward the end of his time in Auschwitz.) That is the sacrament of matrimony--that everything takes on meaning and all that we face diminishes in the face of the love one person has for another in the presence of the Holy Spirit and of Christ.
Magnificent.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)
First Communion Homily
Yesterday, in his effort to equate symbol and reality, our Priest contributed to a misunderstanding of the Eucharist that I used to have in the before times. He asked the children what the bread became, and he received the answer, "The Body of Christ" He then asked the children what the wine became. He received no answer because the Catechist who gave them these lessons never separated the two. She said that the bread and the wine become the body and blood of Jesus. She said that when you took the bread you took the body and blood of Jesus and that when you took the wine, you were reminded of the tremendous cost of this body and blood. Thus, she tried to make sense of the two species, but not to separate them in kind. The Priest, seeking to simplify, infinitely complicated matters for those of us who homeschool our children in religious education.
It is also one of the reasons that I am not very keen on reception under both species. In some cases the Catechises of adults is so poor that the misconception has remained that one MUST partake of both in order to receive both. This is not a reason for discontinuing the usage of both species, but it is a very strong reason for additional Catechesis in any parish where this will be the ongoing habit. Adults and children alike need to understand what the meaning of the species is and that reception of either one is still reception of the totality of the what the Lord offers us in the banquet of the Eucharist.
I'm not faulting the Priest who gave a very fine homily--merely pointing out the dangers of simplification. There reaches a point at which simplification is the delivery of incorrect information.
(In another realm--I have tried countless times to make clear that it is improper to convert from pounds to kilograms: one is a measure of force, the other a measure of mass. While it can be done at Earth's surface because the mass will be subject to the constant acceleration of gravity, that same 2 kg mass will have little or no-weight in free fall where forces act to cancel one another out.)
Posted by Steven Riddle at 2:24 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2006
The Abbess of Crewe
I had somewhat more difficult a time with this that with the other Muriel Spark I have read and enjoyed. Ultimately, I did enjoy this one, but I was thankful for its brevity. Both Satire and Allegory become tiresome at great length--they are best sustained over a short duration, and this was both forms, which requires even greater condensation.
The Abbey of Crewe is in trouble, someone has stolen Sister Felicity's silver thimble in the course of pilfering a stash of love letters in the false bottom of her sewing box. The Newly-elected Abbess of Crewe has her Nuns read from the Bible at the refectory. And after the usual scripture passages, she supplements their meditations with a reading from The Book of Electronics. Cameras, microphones, and bugs are to be found in every nook and cranny of the Abbey, including the poplar-lined lane down which the Nuns stroll in their recreational time. The traditional money-maker for the Abbey, sewing, has been abandoned for the new money maker--the devising and building of electronic devices, principally surveillance devices. One of the nuns is sneaking out at night and spending her time in a dalliance with a Jesuit novice and she comes back to the Abbey to spread the gospel of the love of freedom and the freedom of love. And Sister Gertrude spans the globe ecumenically crushing any practice she doesn't care for--at one point admitting a Cannibal tribe, with dietary dispensations, while crushing a vegetarian heretic sect--one suspects with the aid of said Cannibal cult. All of this right before en election. Sound familiar? Possibly because it is written from the political events of the time (another aspect that can just bore me silly, although it did not do so this time.)
Witty, sharp, satirical, even biting at times--Muriel did not look lovingly upon the characters of her Abbey and she shares them in all of their "splendor"--backbiting, petty, scandalous, scandal-mongering, lustful, disobedient, self-righteous. All of these flower bloom in the garden of the Abbey of Crewe.
Once again the prose is a delight, and I've shared one or two brief excerpts with you. Sister Winifrede comes in for the most biting of the jabs Ms. Spark makes at the characters.The dawn sun shone briefly in the troubled weather of her intellect. (It's a paraphrase, but it gets at the essence of the author's approach.)
The Abbess-to-be of Crewe gives a marvelous speech before the election which encourages the Nuns to be ladies and not the petite bourgeoisie that threaten the very foundations of the monastic order by their insistence on doing things by the book and their indulgence in petty crime and gross immorality.
In short, a magnificent short biting satire, still relevant today, although the figures and meanings need to be transposed a bit--nevertheless, as with any good work, the satire can remain effective even after the inspiring event is in the distant past.
Recommended particularly to people with an interest in politics and satire.
Next up A Far Cry from Kensington.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)
First Communion Day
I've thought a bit about what to report, and there really isn't too much. It was a first communion day like all have experienced and like all who have children will experience again.
However there are a few moments worth sharing. For example, Samuel did the second reading. "A reading from the First Letter of St. John" he intones solemnly after turning the page in the book and adjusting the microphone. Hardly necessary because the night before he had recited the entire reading to me.
He starts the reading, and then comes the portentous, "for GOD. . . IS. . . LOVE." Except for the fact that God was only one syllable rather than the requisite three, Sam could have been a Baptist preacher in full flower. At this point the DRE turned around with the broadest grin imaginable. She'd heard this in the rehearsals; however, she thought that when the actual event occurred he'd be too nervous to pull it off. A little later in the reading we got another slowing down and portentous, "For THIS IS LOVE." Earlier, at one of the practices, when asked to provide a summary of his reading, Samuel responded--"God is love." This summary he came up with himself--I was frankly astounded.
Later Father was asking children about manna in the desert. He said, "What do you think that white stuff was?" And Samuel raised his hand. Father asked, "What is your name?"
Sam gave him the full four name mouthful. When the Priest messed up the third name Samuel said quietly but firmly, "No, it's _______" The priest repeated it and same assured him that he was correct. "Yes."
"What was that white stuff in the desert?"
"The Body and Blood of Jesus."
The Priest laughed and said, "Not yet, you hold onto that thought."
A few minutes later he came back to same who provided the correct answer at the proper point in the homily.
Commenting on this later everyone remarked on his lack of fear in addressing and correcting the priest. One person said, "Yep. Seems the only think he's afraid of is not being noticed."
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:58 AM | Comments (0)
Best American Novel of the Last Quarter Century
What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years? - New York Times
The list is above.
I'm ambivalent about such lists and honestly don't know what to make of some of the works appearing on it. I've tried hard to read and appreciate anything by Don deLillo, and unfortunately, it seems beyond me. So too with Blood Meridian and both Sabbath's Theater and American Pastoral. I may try them again, but the first venture wasn't fruitful.
I can state without ambivalence that of the books I have read on the list, I have not enjoyed any of them. I may have admired them, liked them, or appreciated them; however, frankly I don't think the Rabbit books are Updike's strongest work. I do hold out hope for Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping which I bought at the same time as Gilead but have not yet read.
What do you all think was the best work of serious fiction in the last twenty-five years? Name a title and give a reason. I'd love to have some suggestions as to what to take up after my Muriel Spark streak fades.
Let me start the ball rolling by suggesting that the Tom More duet Love in the Ruins and The Thanatos Syndrome would certainly hover near the top of my list--and not necessarily for all the reasons that might normally accompany this judgment coming from a Catholic. Rather, Percy managed the apotheosis of the Southern Gothic remaining completely true to the very roots of the tradition, while still making relevant comment to the world at large on any number of issues. I include both in the same way that Updike's four novels are included as one. They are part and parcel, completing and complementing one another. I think I like Love in the Ruins better than The Thanatos Syndrome, but I do know that the book group I read it with hated it with a passion. That was my first indication that what was present was powerful. Anyway, there's one suggestion to get the ball rolling. I'd love to hear from others.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:54 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
May 24, 2006
Science Geeky Things--Giant Squid
Cephalopods are the coolest. This critter really could be the Kraken of Legend and that's cooler yet. And the photo is purely creepy. I love it. I also love the sheer mystery of it--that this creature has been known mostly from washed up carcasses and remains and here it is on film. Not clearly, but on film nevertheless. Long live the giant squid!
Posted by Steven Riddle at 2:20 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Rickaby et al.
Just one of the new batch at the Maritain Center of Notre Dame.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 8:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 25, 2006
More Geekiness--Living Fossils
French Scientists Find 'Living Fossil' - Yahoo! News
Today Neoglyphea tomorrow, who knows? Burgessia bella? Hallucigenia, Tullymonstrum gregarium, Dunkelosteus, Helicoplacus, Anomalocaris, or cornute and mitrate carpoids? Who can tell? The world is such an exciting place with news like this coming in every day.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 5:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 26, 2006
Christmas with the Kranks
Ugh. Tedious beyond the ability of words to express. And sad.
Highly NOT recommended.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 8:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Gratitude
First an apology: this theme has probably been beaten into the ground at this blog; however, it is so important and such a help to stability of faithfulness.
When a faith-life enters the doldrums, or even when it is humming along on an even if unenthusiastic keel, one thing which can be very helpful in ratcheting it up a notch is gratitude. Too often I am so self-centered that I forget to give thanks for the myriad of small things that make every day so wonderful and beautiful. Caught up in the tide of what needs to be done next and how do we manage this, that, and the other thing, and where is my next hour of entertainment coming from, and such like petty desires and thoughts, I forget the importance of being thankful and thus lose a certain graciousness, a connectedness that might otherwise blossom and grow more perfect.
Gratitude for small things inclines the heart to God, or at least so it seems. At very last gratitude for small things inclines the heart away from self and directs thoughts to another. Thankfulness for the courtesy of a held-open door or elevator; thankfulness for the smile on a small child's face, brought about by some trifling attention or by nothing at all; thankfulness for one's faithful and loving spouse, who while showing no great act of self-sacrifice or giving, shows constant self-denial and self-giving in the daily acts of living; thankfulness for gainful employment; thankfulness for sun when it's sunny, for rain when it's raining; thankfulness for the birds, the trees, the clear sky full of high white clouds, traffic lights, hibiscus in bloom, sundials, gardens, giant squids, and living fossils.
Thankfulness helps reignite a tepid faith life. Gratitude moves us from the central, fibrous core of self into the realm of God who grants all of these good things.
Gratitude. Thankfulness. Two indispensable words for one essential reality--recognition that everything I have comes to me as a gift from the fullness of the love of God. Even the words I read and write come to me from Another--One whose love completes me by helping to eradicate me and replace me, still myself, and yet now more Him.
Gratitude. Thankfulness. These too are gifts which may be had merely by thinking about them and inclining oneself to feel them. Grace makes this possible.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 8:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chestertonian Works On-Line
G.K.Chesterton's Works on the Web
I have to admit having not the least trace of enthusiasm for G.K. Chesterton--that gene was simply left out of my makeup. But what nature doesn't provide, perhaps nurture will, so I press on nevertheless.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chesterton Cont.
And then you come upon passages like this :
from The Victorian Age in Literature
G.K. Chesterton
What the Brontës really brought into fiction was exactly what Carlyle brought into history; the blast of the mysticism of the North. They were of Irish blood settled on the windy heights of Yorkshire; in that country where Catholicism lingered latest, but in a superstitious form; where modern industrialism came earliest and was more superstitious still. The strong winds and sterile places, the old tyranny of barons and the new and blacker tyranny of manufacturers, has made and left that country a land of barbarians.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack