7 Quick Takes

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In honor of May/Mary/Rosary/Consecration of the USofA to the Blessed Mother, etc, Mary and the Christian Life is free this weekend (from midnight PDT through Sunday night).Go check it out!

 

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Several blog posts this week (scroll back for them) and a Living Faith entry here. 

Another Living Faith entry coming next week – Wednesday. 

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Many of you (hopefully most of you) are familiar with artist Daniel Mitsui. In his latest newsletter, he offers some free downloadable coloring sheets, home altar cards and news of discounts on various prints. They make wonderful gifts for anyone – including yourself. 

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I am meaning to write something else about homeschooling in the present moment, but for now, read this far more knowledgeable piece. It’s good to pass on to skeptics who might be open to conversations on deeper principles.

Divergent educational philosophies underlie both the acceptance and the rejection of home education. A central political and philosophical issue surrounding the phenomenon is the proper relationship between individuals, families, and the state. Some political theorists assert that parents have an absolute right to control the education of their children. Others assert the absolute right of the state to control the education of the young, even against the wishes of the parents—so as to form citizens loyal to the state or to protect the rights of the children vis-à-vis their parents. Let us briefly examine this centuries-long debate from historical, philosophical, theological, and legal perspectives.

— 5 –

I read Washington Square over the past couple of days. I wanted to read an actual book on printed pages that I could turn, but I also didn’t want to spend weeks on it. I also had to go with what’s on hand, considering the libraries are closed. Forever, I guess. Who knows.

I think I’d read it as a teenager, and saw the film based on the popular play based on the novel starring Olivia de Havilland (who is still alive, you know!)  and Montgomery Clift, but that was an unimaginable number of years ago.

The novel was not quite what I expected. A very close character study notable for characters that remain, for the most part, rather opaque, or perhaps, in the end, just sketched. I thought the best  – most entertaining – character was Aunt Lavinia Penniman, the doctor’s sister who moves in with Dr. Sloper and Catherine. Feasting on drama and intrigue, she causes a great deal of trouble.

Here’s a great passage in which James expertly contrasts the nature of the silence and reserve each of three characters displays in a certain situation.

Mrs. Penniman, of the three persons in Washington Square, had much the most of the manner that belongs to a great crisis. If Catherine was quiet, she was quietly quiet, as I may say, and her pathetic effects, which there was no one to notice, were entirely unstudied and unintended. If the Doctor was stiff and dry and absolutely indifferent to the presence of his companions, it was so lightly, neatly, easily done, that you would have had to know him wll to discover that, on the whole, he rather enjoyed having to be so disagreeable. But Mrs. Penniman was elaborately reserved and significantly silent; there was a richer rustle in the very deliberate movements to which she confined herself, and when she occasionally spoke, in connexion with some very trivial event, she had the air of meaning something deeper than what she said.

“elaborately reserved and significantly silent…” 

Such expert characterization, efficient and pointed – but you know exactly what he means, and can picture it, easily.

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“Isata Kanneh-Mason was due to play Beethoven Piano Concerto no.3 at the Royal Albert Hall on the 18th Apr 2020 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Moritz Gnann. The concert was cancelled due to Coronavirus. The family (Braimah, Aminata, Jeneba, Sheku) decided to do a version at home on Facebook Live”

Here’s something for your Friday:

 

— 7 —

This coming Sunday is “Good Shepherd Sunday.”

When I wrote about Jesus as the Good Shepherd in the the Loyola Kids Book of Bible Stories, I focused on the passage that we will hear (or read)  in this Sunday’s Gospel, focusing on listening to the voice of Jesus who cares for us and rescues us – and being able to recognize that voice in the midst of all the other voices that call to us.

The excerpts below are just the first and last pages of the section – the first so you can see how they are introduced, and the last, so you can see how each chapter ends – with a tie-back into Catholic-specific stuff and then questions for review and reflection.

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Then, the first page of the entry on “Shepherd” from The Loyola Kids Book of Signs and Symbols. Remember how the book is organized – this first page has a basic explanation, and then the facing page has a more in-depth exploration of the symbol.

A reminder: I do have a few of these and some other titles in stock, here in my own bookstore. If you’d like a copy, please visit this page. 

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain’t the Lyceum!