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I’ll be in Living Faith on Sunday. Go here for that.
This Sunday, which is, of course,Septuagesima Sunday. Read more about that here.
From a 1947 7th grade religion textbook:
What I particularly like is the long paragraph on p. 146. I’ll type some of it out here:
Thousands and thousands of people upon the stage of lief are adjusting themselves to their roles in this drama — this drama which is real life. Old men are there and old women, youths and maidens, and even little children. From all parts of the world they come and from all walks of life — kings and queens, merchants and laborers, teachers and students, bankers and beggars, religious of all orders, cardinals, bishops and parish priests, and leading them all the Vicar of Christ on earth. All are quietly taking their laces, for all re actors in the sublime mystery drama of our redemption.
We, too, have our own parts to play in this living drama. And there is no rehearsal. We begin now, on Septuagesima, following as faithfully as we can the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which comes to us particularly in the Mass and the sacraments.
It would be very clear, wouldn’t it, to the twelve-year old reading this, that he or she is not waiting to be a real, active Christian – the time is now, and the Spirit is active in the lives of all the baptized. Rather stirring, isn’t it? You’re young, yes, but you’re not an extra in this – you are all in.
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Please that this book won an award!
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Today’s Gospel reading is the narrative of the beheading of St. John the Baptist. From Seville, this past summer.
In the Museo Bellas Artes de Sevilla. Originally in a convent, as I recall.
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“Everyone sacrifices for each other, and it really builds a lot of strength,” Beachy says. He talks about young people whose lives crumble because they stray from the social stability of the church and its guidelines: “A huge principle in our lives is that it’s not just ‘me, me, me—what feels good for me?’”
Reynolds—who has bushwhacked and toiled and shivered underneath a tarp for 14 hours in order to slide on snow—says, firmly “Skiing is not important. It’s fun, but not important.”
Beachy explains, “We’re not looking to the mountains to fill this huge, empty hole inside of us… I could happily live my life without going to the mountains ever again. I would hate to, because it wouldn’t be as fun. But I could live a very fulfilled life. A very contented, happy, peaceful life. Someone who has true inner peace can just sit back and relax, and know, confidently, without, a doubt, their salvation is assured.” Kakache is “not where our ultimate fulfillment lies, anyway.”
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The Book Thief of Monastery Mountain:
In August 2000, he walked up the stairs to the library and found the door open. He came back a few days later, riding his bicycle in the summer heat. He made his way to the library. “I found myself alone,” Gosse recounted to investigators. His hand felt for a latch through the loose chicken wire covering the bookcase doors. He picked six books, including a 15th-century Bible, and one incunabulum. “He stole in no logical order,” recalls investigator Schackis. Later, Gosse went to the national library in Strasbourg to read about what he had appropriated. After that, “I was tempted to steal incunabula,” he told the police.
He didn’t go back until November 2000, this time driving his car. He found the library door open. One golden plate affixed to a lower bookcase simply read: “Incunabula.” He had already stolen one during his previous theft, and now the remaining nine ended up in the two bags he’d brought with him. Gosse, who declined to be interviewed for this story, described the thefts to the investigators with a wealth of details, but the interrogation records fail to mention how he felt perpetrating them. By his own account, he left around midnight, driving away in the cold night.
For several months, it seems, Gosse was content with the books he had collected. In the summer of 2001, however, he went back again. This time, he found the door closed and locked. Would it stop him? He returned the next day with a hand drill. How thick was the door, he wondered, and could he pick the lock? After drilling a 3-millimeter hole, he gave up. He was no professional thief, after all. He had to find another way in.
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There’s a lot of Pope talk these days, not only because of the news-grabbing nature of the current papacy, but because of Popes on Film. (No, I still haven’t gotten beyond episode 2 of The New Pope – I’ve read summaries of episodes 3 & 4 and am having a hard time convincing myself it might be worth my time to watch them. We’ll see. And no plans to watch The Two Popes.)
If The Two Popes interested you and you want to know more about Pope Benedict XVI, well, of course, there’s no lack of resources that actually reflect his thoughts in a direct way, rather than filtered through fictionalized filmmaking and acting. There are loads of online homilies and speeches, several interview books, and there’s even an autobiography.
If you don’t want to spend money and would like something succinct, how about my Come Meet Jesus? I had sort of forgotten that I have it online for free, and so here it is. Download as you wish – either go to the website here and get some background with your pdf, or download directly here.
For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain’t the Lyceum!