Plug

I order my scapulars from the Sisters of Carmel in Colorado. They make really good scapulars. Brown. 100% wool.

I`m not associated. Just wanted to let anyone know, if you want good scapulars, they`re great.

Beautiful Middle-Earth Art

Along with Cor Blok and Sergei Iukhimov, Jef Murray is my favourite living Middle-earth artist. Unlike the two former, Murray is solidly in the western-baroque tradition. I find his images are literalist but "with space". In many of his images there is a meditative quality - even when they are gloriously lavish with sensual light and thundering waves and powerful mountains - that keeps them from being illustrative; they draw upon the books, but in a deep sense, so that they exist as images in their own right. He's able to dramatize without killing the image. His paintings explore from the inside.

This is also the reason why the commentary he writes for each image gives a narrative as though he was actually present in what he has painted. And in a way, he has been.

I always look forward to his latest work. Among his most recent batch there is this image of a giant with a club - entitled "Forest Dweller" - that I found mesmerizing and frightening (in the best way). It could be a troll from The Hobbit.

If you haven't been, do check out his work, and sign up for his newsletter.

For Book Lovers

For book readers, and anyone really, there's this new quarterly out started by Colin Kerr called The Catholic Review of Books.

Check it out! Subscribe and/or submit!

Quote

"If I have found any fruit, it has mostly come from home-schooling families."

--Fr. Sauppe in his article, You’ve contracepted our parochial school out of existence

H/T: Domine, da mihi hanc aquam!

333

6B Pencil 

Hello.

This is this blog's three hundred and thirty third drawing post.

That's 3-3-3.

And what does that mean?





Everyone who looked at that drawing was like:





Anyways, since this post will receive more hits than any of the others, I thought I would take this opportunity to draw your attention to some artists that I like to keep updated on:

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE 

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

Of course there's a bunch more of them. You can find all of them on the sidebar under "Artist Studios and Blogs".

And if you know of other artists that aren't there please let me know in the combox so I might add them. Thanks.

Christopher Tolkien's Interview

"Invited to meet Peter Jackson, the Tolkien family preferred not to. Why? "They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25," Christopher says regretfully. "And it seems that The Hobbit will be the same kind of film."

This divorce has been systematically driven by the logic of Hollywood. "Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time," Christopher Tolkien observes sadly. "The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away.""

--From the first ever press interview of Christopher Tolkien by Le Monde

The Pope's New Year Message

Did the Pope attack Capitalism as we know it? Yep.

Pope Benedict's New Year's Day message can be read in full here.

Here are some things he said (my emphasis in bold):

"It is alarming to see hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism....

".... Peacemakers must also bear in mind that, in growing sectors of public opinion, the ideologies of radical liberalism and technocracy are spreading the conviction that economic growth should be pursued even to the detriment of the state’s social responsibilities and civil society’s networks of solidarity, together with social rights and duties. It should be remembered that these rights and duties are fundamental for the full realization of other rights and duties, starting with those which are civil and political

"One of the social rights and duties most under threat today is the right to work. The reason for this is that labour and the rightful recognition of workers’ juridical status are increasingly undervalued, since economic development is thought to depend principally on completely free markets. Labour is thus regarded as a variable dependent on economic and financial mechanisms. In this regard, I would reaffirm that human dignity and economic, social and political factors, demand that we continue “to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.” If this ambitious goal is to be realized, one prior condition is a fresh outlook on work, based on ethical principles and spiritual values that reinforce the notion of work as a fundamental good for the individual, for the family and for society. Corresponding to this good are a duty and a right that demand courageous new policies of universal employment."

Uh oh. How about that, eh? The Pope also said this at the beginning of his message (my bold):

"Fifty years after the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, which helped to strengthen the Church’s mission in the world, it is heartening to realize that Christians, as the People of God in fellowship with him and sojourning among mankind, are committed within history to sharing humanity’s joys and hopes, grief and anguish, as they proclaim the salvation of Christ and promote peace for all."

Thank God for the Second Vatican Council. If it was not for the Church's mission in the world, perhaps we would have lost the liturgy.

Also, thank God for Venerable Pope Paul VI.

Here is some more of what the Pope said (my bold):

"In many quarters it is now recognized that a new model of development is needed, as well as a new approach to the economy. Both integral, sustainable development in solidarity and the common good require a correct scale of goods and values which can be structured with God as the ultimate point of reference. It is not enough to have many different means and choices at one’s disposal, however good these may be. Both the wide variety of goods fostering development and the presence of a wide range of choices must be employed against the horizon of a good life, an upright conduct that acknowledges the primacy of the spiritual and the call to work for the common good. Otherwise they lose their real value, and end up becoming new idols.

 

"In order to emerge from the present financial and economic crisis – which has engendered ever greater inequalities – we need people, groups and institutions which will promote life by fostering human creativity, in order to draw from the crisis itself an opportunity for discernment and for a new economic model. The predominant model of recent decades called for seeking maximum profit and consumption, on the basis of an individualistic and selfish mindset, aimed at considering individuals solely in terms of their ability to meet the demands of competitiveness. Yet, from another standpoint, true and lasting success is attained through the gift of ourselves, our intellectual abilities and our entrepreneurial skills, since a “liveable” or truly human economic development requires the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity and the logic of gift. Concretely, in economic activity, peacemakers are those who establish bonds of fairness and reciprocity with their colleagues, workers, clients and consumers. They engage in economic activity for the sake of the common good and they experience this commitment as something transcending their self-interest, for the benefit of present and future generations. Thus they work not only for themselves, but also to ensure for others a future and a dignified employment. 

"In the economic sector, states in particular need to articulate policies of industrial and agricultural development concerned with social progress and the growth everywhere of constitutional and democratic states. The creation of ethical structures for currency, financial and commercial markets is also fundamental and indispensable; these must be stabilized and better coordinated and controlled so as not to prove harmful to the very poor. With greater resolve than has hitherto been the case, the concern of peacemakers must also focus upon the food crisis, which is graver than the financial crisis. The issue of food security is once more central to the international political agenda, as a result of interrelated crises, including sudden shifts in the price of basic foodstuffs, irresponsible behaviour by some economic actors and insufficient control on the part of governments and the international community. To face this crisis, peacemakers are called to work together in a spirit of solidarity, from the local to the international level, with the aim of enabling farmers, especially in small rural holdings, to carry out their activity in a dignified and sustainable way from the social, environmental and economic points of view."

 

O'Brien Talk

An interesting talk given by O'Brien with the interesting title, Catholic Fiction and Restoring Culture in an Age of Escapist Illusions.

Michael O'Brien's site here.

The rabbit hole goes way back

Catholic Memes

Card. Turkson on GMOs and High-tech Agriculture

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If farmers in Africa had greater access to fertile, arable land safe from armed conflict and pollutants, they would not need genetically modified crops to produce food, said the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Making growers reliant on proprietary, genetically modified seeds smacks of "the usual game of economic dependence," which in turn, "stands out like a new form of slavery," said Cardinal Peter Turkson.

The Ghanaian cardinal's comments came in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano Jan. 5.

It is "a scandal" that nearly 1 billion people suffer from hunger, Cardinal Turkson said, especially since there is more than enough food to feed the whole world.

Crops and livestock are destroyed because of strict trade restraints or in order to keep food prices high and, in wealthier countries, edible food "is thrown in the garbage," he said.

"All it would take is a little bit more solidarity and much less egoism" and there would be enough food to nourish even twice the current world population, he said.

The cardinal said high-tech agricultural practices and techniques are all but useless in areas of conflict and areas that are ravaged by the exploitation of natural resources.

"In searching for and extracting petroleum, gold or precious minerals present under African soil, multinationals cause enormous damage: they excavate large pits and irreparably devastate fields and forests," he said. Whether such areas would ever be arable again is uncertain "even if one relied on genetically engineered plants."

Cardinal Turkson said some multinational companies are actively engaged in trying to persuade bishops in Africa to support greater use of genetically modified organisms.

"I think that the real issue is not being for or against GMO," he said.

There would be no need for such crops if African growers had access to fertile land that was "not destroyed, devastated or poisoned by the stockpiling of toxic waste" and if growers were able to benefit from the fruits of their labors by being allowed to set aside enough seeds for planting the next year and not be forced to continually buy genetically modified seeds from abroad, he said.

"Why force an African farmer to buy seeds produced in other lands and by other means? I'm beginning to wonder if behind this there isn't the usual game of maintaining economic dependence at all costs," he said.

Cardinal Turkson said he is not opposed to scientific and technological progress, but it's important to evaluate whether there is a real need for genetically modified crops.

He said people should "honestly ask themselves whether it's more about business trying to make somebody rich," which was "a reasonable suspicion" given the many examples of similar exploitation in Ghana.

The rest at: CNS

H/T: Spirit Daily

Plug

New scapulars came. I figured if I'm ordering one I may as well order a couple more at the same time.


The oldie (it lasted years),


goes to the garden.

***

Good Brown Scapulars

made by the sisters at Sisters of Carmel.

SS. Peter and Paul Dappled Things

Cades Cove, Tennessee, By Whitney Wolf

The Summer Dappled Things is out.

Twilight Series

"Here, then, is the embedded spiritual narrative (probably invisible to the author and her audience alike): You shall be as gods. As with Harry Potter, you shall be as nice gods. You will overcome death on your own terms. You will be master over death. Good and evil are not necessarily what western civilization has, until now, called good and evil. You will define the meaning of symbols and morals and human identity. And all of this is subsumed in the ultimate message: The image and likeness of God in you can be the image and likeness of a god whose characteristics are satanic, as long as you are a “basically good person.”

In this way, coasting on a tsunami of intoxicating visuals and emotions, the image of supernatural evil is transformed into an image of supernatural good."

From The Twilight of the West, by Michael D. O'Brien.

Heroic Act of Charity

From fish eaters:

An "Heroic Act of Charity" is the offering of the satisfactory value (not the merits) of all of our sufferings and works of our rest of our lives and of any time we may spend in Purgatory for the relief of the souls in Purgatory. We do this by first deciding to do so, and then praying (using our own words or the more formal prayer below) to offer these things to God through Mary's hands.

Doing this is not a matter of taking a vow; it doesn't bind under pain of sin, and it is revokable (unless one vows never to revoke the Act). But it is a tremendous sacrifice, hence the name. It is truly heroic, a giving up of one's own earned relief from the temporal effects of sin -- even relief of the sufferings of Purgatory -- for the good of others.

In addition to asking God to use their satisfactory works for the souls in Purgatory, those who make this Act also receive a plenary indulgence (under the usual conditions) for the souls in Purgatory each time they receive Communion, and each time they hear Mass on Mondays for the sake of the departed. Words to a formal Act of Heroic Charity are as follows:

O Holy and Adorable Trinity, desiring to aid in the relief and release of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, through my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I cede and renounce, on behalf of these souls, all the satisfactory part of my works, and all the suffrages which may be given to me after my death. In their entirety, I offer them to Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, that she may use them, according to her good pleasure, for those souls of the faithful departed whom she desires to alleviate their suffering. O my God, deign to accept and bless my offering which I make to Thee through the most august Queen of Heaven and Earth. Amen.

Bottleneck the common people; grant access for the rich

Nationalized healthcare in pratice is probably the best example of how all government is in so many respects fundamentally limited in its actual abilities; and that all programs thus brought about, seek, by their very nature of ineffectiveness, to severely limit actual people in order to make the program "work", rather than changing the program to make people "work".

All protocol, or what have you, is merely an extension of that inherent limitation.

Really, "nationalized" and "healthcare" is an oxymoron. How can a system, a bureaucratic system, ever hope to meet the unforeseeable, multiple and ever multiplying, changing, immediate, ongoing health needs of human beings, and that effectively?

The only system capable of that task is no system at all; and not only no system but the instituted assurance that no system will ever take over; that it is continually broken down into ever multiplying, and thus healthily competing, enterprises of self-reliance.

Canada is proof that nationalized healthcare (go to Steve Crowder video) not only does not work but creates a worse situation than before.

Dark Ages: full of colour

"These magnificent buildings retain their grandeur, but their walls, faded to plain gray stone, would have been unacceptable to mediaeval men. Sadly, the monochromy of surviving Gothic architecture has given many contemporary men the misconception that Gothic architecture is not supposed to be painted. A Gothic church in full color is difficult to find nowadays; those that exist are so striking as to be presumed exceptional." --Daniel Mitsui, who has posted photos of the High Gothic Amiens Cathedral, its facade bathed in spotlights and laser beams to give us a vivid jolt as to what such cathedrals would have actually looked like in their day.

Mitsui also has an earlier post on the Priory of St. Mary at Binham, in Norfolk. There was a rood screen and its panels were painted with holy images of Our Lord and His saints. Then reformers whitewashed them (typically they would just tear out the rood screen altogether), and over the whitewash they painted biblical texts (because the reformers were so fecund with creativity). Now some of the whitewash has been peeling off over time, revealing images of rather buoyant verve; images light and deep and alive, some of their colour still intact.

One wonders if the Protty whitewash inadvertently helped to preserve some of the images.

Be sure to go also to the Norfolk Churches website.

A new drama that will change your life

Chariots of Apocalypto from Jeremiah Lewis on Vimeo.

Latest Dappled Things

DappledThings has the Lent/Easter issue out.

MacArthur's poems stand out and Miller has another strong sonnet and Bluett has a striking "concrete" poem. There's a couple of good short stories, of what can be read on-line.

Chichikov

O PARADISE
By Pavel Chichikov

The redbud tree
Whose unearthly purple blossoms
Grow on Earth,
Outlined arms of April
Lit along the branches,
Cressets on the streets of paradise—

We look, and only see
The color not the street
Ascending from that place

Then look twice—
O city without end
O paradise


RECEIVE
By Pavel Chichikov

To give us wine the grape is crushed
To give us bread the wheat is threshed
So did the Lord of blood and flesh
Make joy and light of what He wished

As from dark chaos He made Earth
As from the moon He made the month
As from the sun He made the Sabbath
As from the word He made the truth
As He made Easter out of death

He harvested as we should live
To grow to harvest is to give

At Cana it was wedding wine
On Golgotha your life and mine

The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov

Chichikov

WHO UNDERSTANDS?
By Pavel Chichikov

The severed branch the wind threw down has shown
Green sprouting leaves where nothing should have grown
Without a root, green petals from a stem—
Who would have guessed the green and spring of them?

Jonathan, from what root were you raised
The four and one year life of your decades?
A gale of wind to break you where you grew;
Who would believe a green and spring of you?

Who would have guessed that severed branches green
Can grow another leaf—what can this mean?
What practice of a sign can make such things?
Who understands these likenesses of spring?


WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?
By Pavel Chichikov

Rain-soaked trees, the owl calls,
Clouds resist the setting sun,
Long to wait the daylight falls,
No shadows on the hillsides run,
Who would have guessed he would not be
Here among the rain-soaked trees?

Though the trees and streams defer
To dying, see the kingfisher
Dart and bank a way upstream,
Sky-blue, swift as any dream,
Who would have guessed he would not be
Here among the rain-soaked trees?

The sky departed into night,
It is a rhyme that God recites,
Fleeing fleeting metaphor
That what He takes He can restore


READY
By Pavel Chichikov

Are you ready for a sleep?
Yes I am, for I would meet
The one who came before me
May I rest beneath your gracious tree
Until he comes this way?
May he not delay

Time is neither long nor little
In this deep shade, nor is there trouble
My leaves are sleep and rest
You are my guest
My garden has no wall
Or gate impregnable

He was my son who died with You
By suffering his spirit grew
In courage, spirit he
Attains the comfort of this tree
The deep recumbent shade
Where life once more is made

The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov