Friday Frivolity: Pick-me-up Videos
No, not that kind of picking-up… 😉 These are my favourite YouTube videos which pick me up when I’m feeling down…
Category: Catholicism
“This requires ceremony…”
The other night I went to see the movie Courageous with a bunch of other guys on a “man trip” ;-). I’ve written about this movie before, but over the next few weeks I’d like to mention a few other thoughts which came to mind while watching the film…
The Resolution
In the story, a group of four men decide to sign a Resolution, a statement of conduct (derived from Scripture) which they promise to follow as both men and as fathers.
In a certain scene, one of the men shows a copy of the Resolution to his wife. She gets really excited and then starts asking him lots of questions. What will the final Resolution look like? What is he going to wear when he signs it? etc. The man gives his wife a look of complete incomprehension and confusion. It’s clear that he hadn’t even considered these things. To this she responds:
“If you’re gonna do this, then do it right. Something like this requires…ceremony!”
I had to smile at this, since, to my Catholic ears, I heard:
“If you’re gonna do this, then do it right. Something like this requires…liturgy“ 🙂
The Liturgy Ceremony
Later in the film we see what this ceremony looks like…
All the men are wearing suits and their family members are present, also in formal attire. They meet in a beautiful park underneath some trees. A long-time friend and minister to one of the men officiates, calling each of the men forward one-by-one. Each man then repeats the Resolution out loud in the presence of his family and pastor, after which he signs a framed copy of the Resolution written in beautiful calligraphy, which he later hangs in a prominent place in his home.
“Why doesn’t that nice Catholic boy ask me out?”
Over the last year and a half of blogging I’ve pretty much restricted myself to theological issues. However, today I’ve decided to take my life into my own hands and finally start to address a question that I’ve often heard among my female friends: “Why doesn’t that nice Catholic boy ask me out?”
Sunday Lectionary: Jehovah Jireh
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time: October 9th, 2011
The Gospel passage this week is a continuation from last week’s Gospel Reading. It takes place the Wednesday before Good Friday and, oh dear, the Jewish leaders are in trouble again with Jesus! For the last few weeks we have heard Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven using the image of a vineyard. This week, Jesus uses an alternative image, that of a banquet…
Ch-ch-chain…Chain of Fathers*
A while ago I wrote a post where I listed all the resources I draw upon each week in the composition of my commentary on the Sunday Mass Readings. I realized today that I forgot to mention one very important resource: the “Catena Aurea”.
So what is this “Catena Aurea”? I first heard about it on an episode of the world’s greatest podcast, “Catholic Stuff You Should Know”. The Catena is a book, a Scriptural commentary whose name, when translated from the Latin, means “Golden Chain”.
Mr. T pities the fool who don’t read the Catena!
Why Catholics aren’t afraid of power cuts…
A few weeks ago we had a power cut which took out a large chunk of California and Arizona for about 24 hours. Our parish’s Bible study that night continued as normal.
Powercuts are God’s way of telling us that we should be lighting more candles 😉
Favourite People: Kahlil Gibran
I haven’t done one of these in a while so I thought I would share another of my favourite people…
Today’s favourite person is Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese poet, writer and artist who died in 1931. I’ve generally found that most of my friends haven’t heard of him, which is a bit odd considering that the New Yorker says that he’s the third best-selling poet of all time.
I first encountered Gibran shortly before I was to move away from England. Cheltenham had been my home for the previous six years, but I was soon to start working for Cynergy in the United States. One lunch break, shortly before leaving England, I wandered into a second-hand bookstore. I was rifling through a pile of books when I came across Kahlil’s most well-known book, “The Prophet”. I flicked it open and then began to read. I found it was poetry, something I hadn’t read since school. Here is who the book begins:
Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved…. had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth…
He climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld the ship coming with the mist. Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.
But he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart: How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city… It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands. Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.
Yet I cannot tarry longer. The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.
I was moved. Gibran’s words articulated exactly what I had been feeling for the previous few weeks as my time in England drew to a close.
In the book, the inhabitants of Orphalese come to the Prophet and ask him to speak to them on various subjects and many of them put me in mind of something from the Psalms or the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Some of these discourses are wonderful (well, except the one on marriage). Here’s my favourite:
Then a woman said, “Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.”
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight…
Gorgeous.
If you would like to read more of Gibran’s poetry, his works are available online, but next time you’re in a second-hand bookstore I’d encourage you to look in the poetry section as you’ll probably be able to pick up one of his beautiful works.