{bits & pieces}
Shall we take a wee spin through the garden?
Coming along… Just after this I tied the tomatoes to their stakes/fencing — so satisfying. The eggplants are bearing little fruits! But they need to be watered. The birds are eating the raspberries, having had their fill of strawberries. Where is a cost-effective place to get the netting??
Bridget is working off her college education by doing heavy-duty yard work. It’s no joke to weed this hill. Wears me out in about a half-hour. She’s a trouper though… One day maybe the daylilies will triumph over the brambles.
I thwarted the bunnies with my make-shift fencing. Double rows of those little ineffective wire fences and a chicken fencing laid on top. Ha! (Not sure what I’ll do when these beans start bearing, which will be fairly soon.)
On to the links!
Dear Anne brought to my attention a singular recording of Allegri’s Miserere by a talented artist, Stacey Jackson, who turns out to be a classmate of Deirdre’s from Catholic University of America. You can read about this polyphonic chant here — it’s meant for the service of Tenebrae, during Holy Week, which of course makes this post somewhat out of season, but I couldn’t resist letting you enjoy it. (And actually, maybe we do need to dwell on the need for God’s mercy!)
The amazing thing is that all the parts are sung by Stacey! Considering the range involved, including the soprano part that soars above the rest in a manner usually best suited to a treble in a boys’ choir, her recording is quite a feat! It’s really beautiful.
Another game that your kids could play instead of drilling: Periodic Table of the Elements Battleship. (The very best thing about going to school is the incredible feeling of freedom when it’s over. Somehow, sometime, you need to give your kids this feeling. And if they happen, on those long, lazy days (after chores!) to play games that increase their skills, well, that’s not your fault!)
We need this chart to be laminated and posted somewhere prominent. Second cousins? Twice removed? I can’t tell you the arguments we’ve had about what the relationships in families are called. It’s the one conversation I just want to end. Now. Makes me crazy.
Bagpipes are a weapon of war; certainly, Bill Millin seems to have used his pipes to great effect in WWII. “The use of bagpipes was restricted to rear areas by the time of the Second World War by the British Army. Lovat, nevertheless, ignored these orders and ordered Millin, then aged 21, to play. When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: ‘Ah, but that’s the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn’t apply.’ ”
You can tell she’s deep into this Mom gig: Rosie is on the Lego issue: Cambridge University (yes, that Cambridge University) is establishing a Lego professorship.
On yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling:
The Supreme Court found a right to abort a child in the penumbra of an emanation more than 40 years ago. So let’s not be surprised by yesterday’s ruling finding a right to marry beyond the stars. However, let’s do educate ourselves as to why the ruling is wrong.
If you don’t really think it’s wrong, I understand — but I think that if you look into it more, you will change your mind. I recommend beginning with this article, Why Same-Sex Couples Possess No Conjugal Rights, which focuses on a well documented section of this book: What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense
.We must grasp is that marriage has a purpose, and that purpose is grounded in the physical reality of man and woman. Historically, marriage has not been ruled invalid if the couple could not conceive — but it has been if the couple could not have conjugal relations. Our own present day’s somewhat… eclectic… view of what constitutes sexual relations might obscure this simple fact. But its importance can’t be overstated. On the other hand, society always, until recently, understood conjugal relations to be procreative, and perhaps that is the root of what we are seeing now: the fruits, or rather withered fruits, of our own abdication of responsibility.
“The joining of husband and wife by matrimony is the greatest of all joinings, since it is a joining of soul and body, wherefore it is called a ‘conjugal’ union.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
For your super-long, super philosophical reading: The Road to Same Sex Marriage was Paved by Rousseau, by Robert Reilly. (Read his book Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything
.) “Rousseau described the accomplishment of this condition: ‘Each person would then be completely independent of all his fellowmen, and absolutely dependent upon the state.’ The state could restore a simulacrum of that original well-being by removing all of man’s subsidiary social relationships. By destroying man’s familial, social, and political ties, the state could make each individual totally dependent on the state and independent of each other. The state is the vehicle for bringing people together so they can be apart: a sort of radical individualism under state sponsorship.”For a quick round-up of articles I found helpful yesterday in thinking things through:
Why Catholics (or any Bible-believing person) can never accept gay marriage, from Ed Peters, canon lawyer.
The deeply emotional — and completely irrational — ruling that establishes a religion incompatible with Christianity, by David French, quickly becoming one of my favorite columnists.
Dissent is the highest form of bigotry (thoughts on the immediate announcement from a newspaper in Pennsylvania that they would not be publishing anti-gay-marriage letters) – a must-read.
Ross Douthat on some of the ways this ruling was prepared for by ordinary Americans getting comfortable with their own compromises with the institution in question.
When the weight of current events feels crushing, remember one thing that shouldn’t surprise you: The antidote to what is huge, overpowering, and violent is that which is small, meek, and humble. In this case, the remedy is found in the heart of your home. Your own prayer, the prayer of your family, the life you live in union with the Church — will save the world.
Don’t forget to get your copy of The Little Oratory by yours truly and David Clayton (with additional drawings by Deirdre!) so that you can get started now with your simple, beautiful, and peaceful prayer life at home. Our book teaches you exactly what to do — not only to make your Little Oratory, but to pray in union with the Church’s own liturgical life.
If you have a Little Oratory, prayer corner, home altar, or icon corner already, do be sure to share it on our “Your Little Oratory” page! We would love to see it!
The home becomes a sanctuary where we can meet with friends and say what’s really on our minds. The home opens out to the larger community and becomes a real force for good. The less welcome we feel to express our true thoughts in the larger arena, the more important it becomes to cultivate those “in real life,” open, and free conversations.
That is the idea behind the St. Gregory Pockets. While you might discuss a book, it’s not a book club. It’s the makings of a real community of people who enjoy each other, find friends for their kids, and help each other. Could you start a St. Greg’s Pocket where you are? Is there one you could join? Find out.
St. Cyril of Alexandria, you who defended the two natures of Jesus Christ, human and divine, and His one Personhood; and His mother as the Mother of the Whole Christ — Mother of God — pray for us!
Follow us on Twitter.
Like us on Facebook.
Habou’s Blog: Corner Art Studio.
Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
Rosie’s Pinterest.
Sukie’s Pinterest.
Deirdre’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Pinterest.
Auntie Leila’s Ravelry.
Auntie Leila’s Instagram.
Rosie’s Instagram.
Sukie’s Instagram.
Bridget’s Instagram.
