Mark P. Shea's Blog, page 1331

Luke the Nordic Giant is having a good day

He writes:

I don't want to sound smug or superior, but sometimes it's kinda nice to find that you're WAY BETTER at some things than other people. In my defense, I've spent all but the last few years being WAY WORSE at everything than everybody. I think my time has come.

I have to concur that there are things he appears to be WAY BETTER at than most people, including me. For instance, here is a digital sculpture he just sent me of Werner Herzog's face (chosen because it is "interesting" quoth he).

First, the man himself:
Then, the digital sculpture Luke made:

The kid is good!  One of these day some smart cookie at PIXAR is going to snap him up!

Yay! Done!

Last night, I sent off the MSS of Our Father and Our Lady, a book that takes you on a very thorough tour of the two gems of Catholic prayer, the Our Father and the Hail Mary. After a suitable period of pushing and pulling on the MSS to make sure I don't say anything stupid, followed by typesetting, galleys, going over it with a fine tooth comb for mistakes and still missing things anyway, blurbification of the back cover, cool design for the front, and sundry other normal processes that are part and parcel of the Life of the Ink-Stained Wretch, the book should see print from Our Sunday Visitor by (I'm guessing) early next year.

In celebration whereof and in gratitude to God through Our Lord Jesus Christ for his helping me with this project, I give you the following from G.K. Chesterton, who once felt similar elation:

Irresponsible Outbreak of One Who, Having Completed
a Book of Enormous Length on the Poet Chaucer,
Feels Himself Freed from All Bonds
of Intellectual Self-Respect
and Proposes to Do No Work for an Indefinite Period

"Wot ye not wher ther stout a litel town,
Which that y-cleped is Bob-up-an-down."

The Canterbury Tales

They babble on of Babylon
They tire me out with Tyre
And Sidon putting side on
I do not much admire.
But the little town Bob-Up-and-Down
That lies beyond the Blee
Along the roads our fathers rode,
O that's the town for me.

In dome and spire and cupola
It bubbles up and swells
For the company that canter
To the Canterbury Bells.
But when the Land Surveyors come
With maps and books to write,
The little town Bob-Up-and-Down
It bobs down out of sight.

I cannot live in Liverpool,
O lead me not to Leeds,
I'm not a man in Manchester,
Though men be cheap as weeds:
But the little town Bob-Up-and-Down
That bobs toward the sea
And knew its name when Chaucer came,
O that's the town for me.

I'll go and eat my Christmas meat
In that resurgent town
And pledge to fame our Father's name
Till the sky bobs up and down;
And join in sport of every sort
That's played beside the Blee,
Bob-Apple in Bob-Up-and-Down,
O that's the game for me.

Now Huddersfield is Shuddersfield
And Hull is nearly Hell,
Where a Daisy would go crazy
Or a Canterbury Bell,
The little town Bob-Up-and-Down
Alone is fair and free;
For it can't be found above the ground,
O that's the place for me.

Easter in a Time of Scandal

...in which we discuss the ridiculous notion that the Church stands or falls with the "moral authority" of its members.

The story of Easter is the story of triumph, but not the story of the triumph of Peter's moral authority.

New York Times Journalists!

...your moral and intellectual superiors, get punked by the Onion.

Never Heard of Giovanni Papini before...

...but verily he rocketh!

Prayer Requests

Please pray for Jean Sweeney, the mother of of my old pastor, Fr. Michael Sweeney, who is dying. It is not unexpected, but her family could use your prayers.

Also, a reader writes:

Could you post a prayer for a family of four in our community. All four were killed Easter sunday coming home from visiting their family. A driver ran a red light and struck their car, killing the Mom and Dad, as well as their twin 13 year old boys. The boys were sweet kids, good in school, and good artists - their art was going to be featured in an upcoming arts show at the school. Prayers for them, their loved ones, and everyone who knew them would be appreciated.

Another reader writes:

Please ask your readers to pray for a man who came into our parish church yesterday afternoon and committed suicide. As far as we know, he was not a parish member, no further information, but please pray for his soul, his family, our pastor and parish. The archbishop came this morning to reconsecrate the church.

Another reader writes:

I have been hesitating because I do not know how to express it, but I think it is enough to say that there is a priest in our area who is finding himself in "hot water", partly through a lack of wisdom (in my opinion), but he needs help and prayers. So do his parishioners, one in particular who seems to be taking it very badly.

Another reader writes:

I've just learned that a law school classmate of mine's mother just passed away very suddenly. We are approaching finals and graduation, which should have been a joyous time for this classmate and her family. I ask for prayers for this woman and her family, and for her mother, that her mother be with God and her family be brought comfort in this very difficult time.

Father, we ask that through your Son Jesus, the Conqueror of Death, these people and those who love them would find life, mercy, hope, and peace. Mother Mary, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Trying to Fly with One Wing

Part 10. Check out the rest of the series.

Wasn't said by Kathy Shaidle, but should have been

"Ayn Rand is Nietzsche for stupid people." Short, sweet, to the point.

Two tokens of Christ's Easter Power at work in the world

The Christophers announced two special awards that will be given at the annual ceremony on Thursday, May 19th in New York.

Capt. Scotty Smiley will receive the 2011 Christopher Leadership Award. Capt. Smiley, who was nearly killed while leading his platoon on patrol in Iraq in 2005, is the U.S. Army's first blind active-duty officer. He opted not to retire from the Army, as is customary after a life-changing injury.

The Christophers is honoring 21 year old Shannon Hickey with the 2011 James Keller Award. At age 11, Hickey was inspired to help provide for the poor and homeless by the example of Father Mychal Judge, the New York City Fire Dept. Chaplain killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks.

He is Everywhere!

Ross Douthat impolitely mentions the possibility...

...of everlasting damnation and is roundly rebuked by comboxers who don't like to think about such matters.

The possibility of hell is part of the stakes we are necessarily playing for when we speak of a gospel that offers, but does not impose, the chance to enter freely into "participation in the divine nature". If we will not have that, then we necessarily choose the only alternative: dissolution and destruction since nothing in the created order lasts forever. Hell is, if you will, the state of having once been a human being. We see people, even in this life (sometimes ourselves in awful face-in-the-mirror moments), who appear to be well on the way to a post-human existence. Jesus offers us the chance to participate in his divinized human life. If we take it, with however feeble a grasp, he helps us toward his glorified humanity. If we obstinately refuse, we get what we want: ourselves cut off from the only source of life, love, and hope: aka, hell. We don't know if anyone has ever made that definitive irrevocably choice, and we pray for the salvation of all. But not to warn of it would be utterly irresponsible.