Wilted blossoms

 

After

cultivating

all those fears and complaints, 

she lived amid wilted blossoms,

alone.

Pax et bonum

Mr. Blue - a book for a young person

I finished Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly.

It's a short book, almost more of a parable than a novel.

I had actually read the book when I was in my late teens/early 20s, and even though I hadn't read it in decades, it still lingered in the back of my mind.

At the time I first read it, I was young and idealistic, and the romanticism of Blue appealed to me. I could dream of living like him, trying to be like him, trying to be a saint in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.

Indeed, I read the book around the time I saw Franco Zeffirelli's very romanticized bio pic of St. Francis, Brother Sun, Sister Moon.

This time, I found myself identifying more with the more pragmatic narrator, though some of his money and business comments grate. Given that I'm married, raised a family, pursued careers in journalism and education, that makes sense. Of course, I chose to pursue those careers as a religious journalist and a teacher in religious schools or ones working with troubled and inner-city youth.

And along the way I did become a Secular Franciscan.

So I think the path I followed lies somewhere between the idealism of Blue and the pragmatism of the narrator.

As a book, I enjoyed it. It brought back memories.

It was well worth rereading at my age, and it certainly contains ideas worth considering even at my age. We all need to be challenged.

Still, I think it's more of a young person's book.

Pax et bonum

Clerihews in Gilbert!

I got the May/June issue of Gilbert! and was pleased to see six of my clerihews published in the "Clerihew Corner." One of them was even a little political!

Alexa
seems to have a hidden agenda:
she'll respond to requests from you,
but sometimes also record what you say and do.
 

Ayn Rand
wanted to be a singer with the band.
Alas, her audition went badly,
because all she could sing was "Mi, Mi, Mi."

 

Geoffrey Chaucer
never drank tea from a saucer.
But this wasn't due to courtly manners, you see,
it was just that in his day England didn't have saucers - or tea.

One of the aims of ISIS
is eradicating Western sins and vices,
except, of course, for a select few
that they themselves like to do.

 

As a director, Ed Wood
was not very good.
But few men of his time looked better
in a cashmere sweater.

 

Elizabeth Warren
campaigned in the restaurant of a Salvadoran.
When she tasted a pupusa she said,
"Why, this is just like my mother's Cherokee fry bread."

 

It's the small things in life!

 

Pax et bonum

Epitaph

He came.
He saw. He left.
Those words on a tombstone
might be just the right epitaph
for me .

Pax et bonum

Taps

neighbors look up
as man down the street blows taps
Memorial Day

Pax et bonum

The Bible on Foul Language

One of the ways our culture is growing coarser is through the use of foul language.

Yes, foul language has been present throughout human history. But it was always deemed inappropriate and crude and ignorant. Now, however, even people who claim to be respectable - and Christians - use such language. There are some in Catholic circles who defend the use of such language.

But when we look at the Bible we see a clear condemnation of foul and inappropriate language.

“Their throat is an open grave, they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”    Romans 3: 13-14

 ^"If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1: 26-27

"And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell.  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind,  but no human being can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. " James 3: 6-10 

"Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear."  Ephesians 4: 29

 "I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; ³⁷ for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12: 36-37

"But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth." Colossians 3: 8

And there are more.

But it's not just me (or the Bible). Father William Saunders, for example points out that bad language is a sin.

Language is a beautiful thing - when used appropriately. But the devil, as he does with so many other beautiful things God gave us, twists it toward evil and perverse ends.

Pax et bonum

Pax et bonum

I interviewed Jane Roe - after she became pro-life

Back when I was a reporter/editor, I interviewed Norma McCorvey - Jane Roe. By that point, she had become pro-life.

http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/np00020006/1998-01-22/ed-1/seq-1/

Pax et bonum

Mr. Blue

I'm currently reading Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly.

Actually, it's a rereading; I read this book some 40 years ago. I had brought it to school to read to my students during a reading period, but they voted for the The Screwtape Letters instead. The pandemic ended school, so I finished Screwtape on my own, and, since Blue was in the pile of books I brought home, I decided to read it.

I am enjoying it. But it made me wonder: Given Connolly's successful film screenwriting career, was a movie ever made of this book. Or a play.

Hmmm.

Reading to continue - and maybe some writing?

Pax et bonum

FACT: Late-Term Abortions Are Never Medically Necessary

FACT: Late-Term Abortions Are Never Medically Necessary: For babies with abnormalities, for mothers whose lives are threatened by complications, and more, late-term abortion is not necessary.

Pax et bonum

Hat flies away

into the vast sky
the hat no longer
on my head

Pax et bonum

A Troll

A troll,
not content with
lurking under bridges,
discovered on the internet
a home.

Pax et bonum

Zoom founder signed letter calling pro-life laws 'bad for business'

A reason I try to avoid Zoom.

Bombshell: Zoom founder signed letter calling pro-life laws 'bad for business': Last year, the founder of video conferencing site Zoom - now used by so many during COVID-19 - signed a letter calling pro-life laws 'bad for business.'

Pax et bonum

From out of the mouths of abortionists

Dr. Curtis Boyd, abortionist

“Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that.”

 

Dr. Bertran Wainer, abortionist

“Abortion is killing. Nobody can argue with that. When the fetus is inside the uterus it is alive and when the pregnancy is terminated it is dead – that by any definition is killing. ... I think abortion is the destruction of something which is potentially irreplaceable, human and of great value, which is the tragedy of abortion.”

 

Dr. Lisa Harris, abortionist, about prolifers’ claims

“Given that we actually see the fetus the same way, and given that we might actually both agree that there’s violence in here. Let’s just give them all, ‘It’s violence. It’s a person. It’s killing.’ Let’s just give them all that.”

 

Cecili Chadwick, prochoice advocate

"Abortion undoubtedly ends life. I am not here to argue that today. Of course a fetus is a human being, of course a fetus is living and growing inside a womb."

 

Dr. Willie Parker, abortionist

“Abortion kills a human being.

 

Dr. Paul Jarrett, abortionist

“(I) looked squarely into the face of a human being — a human being that I had just killed.”

 

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, abortionist

“The unborn child is simply another human being, another member of the human community...indistinguishable in every way from any of us."

 

Dr. Leah Torres, abortionist

“Human beings are pregnant with human beings.”

 

Dr. Neville Sender, abortionist

“Of course we know it’s killing, but the state permits killing in certain circumstances.”

Judith Arcana, abortionist

 “We should never disregard the fact that being pregnant means there is a baby growing inside of a woman, a baby whose life is ended. We ought not to pretend this is not happening.”

 

Dr. William F. Harrison, abortionist

”No one, neither the patient receiving the abortion, nor the person doing the abortion, is ever, at any time, unaware that they are ending a life.”

 

Some sources -

https://www.liveaction.org/news/abortionists-agree-abortion-is-killing/

https://www.liveaction.org/news/abortionist-admits-babies-human-beings/

https://humandefense.com/prochoice-concedes/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork&fbclid=IwAR14bXQxUJ62LZDNRzaNeTZKh4Y7pV7F-B4Er4FLgvsIzHm3xbznH-KqvPY

Pax et bonum

Screwtape - The Road to Hell Is a Gradual One

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." - Screwtape

Pax et bonum

Screwtape - moderated religion

Pax et bonum

The devil, you say

At school, I had started reading The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis with my students during a homeroom reading period.

Then the coronavirus hit. No more reading with my students.

So after finishing Chesterton's The Innocence of Father Brown, I decided to finish Lewis's book. It's actually a rereading on my part, but it's been years since I read it.

One of the things I'm finding amusing is the number of pithy quotations one can draw out of it.

Here's a few of them:

“A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.”  

“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing."

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."

“Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see. "

I'm enjoying this rereading immensely.

Pax et bonum

St. Padre Pio Chapel

Pax et bonum

The Innocence of Father Brown

I decided to combine my love of mysteries and G. K, Chesterton and read The Innocence of Father Brown, the first collection of Father Brown stories.

I had read a couple of the stories before - "The Blue Cross" and "The Invisible Man" - but none of the others.

They were entertaining and amusing. But I will admit I figured out a couple of them before the end, and a couple seemed not to follow the fairness rules for detective fiction that Chesterton himself would later champion. *

Still - a good read. Well worth the time, I'll gladly read other Father Brown stories in the future.

* Detection Club Rules (circa 1930)

Club’:

1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.
2. All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.
3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.
4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.
5. No chinamen must figure in the story (today, sounds racially insensitive, but at the time too many pulp mysteries relied on racially stereotyped characters and villains, among them being the evil Asian ones).
6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.
7. The detective himself must not himself commit the crime.
8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.
9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.
10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

Pax et bonum

Great response to the prochoice suffering child argument

This woman nails it!

https://www.facebook.com/studentsforlife/videos/701499934009967/

Pax et bonum