More Camino Films

While I was walking on the Camino, virtually everyone I met along the road had seen The Way, a movie which I reviewed when it first came out in 2011. I think it’s safe to say that this film did much to revitalize the pilgrimage and bring the Camino to a new generation.

However, it turns out that “The Way” is not the only movie produced concerning this ancient pilgrimage across Spain. Just before I left for Spain, I shared a link to Phil’s Camino, the story of a man with Stage IV cancer, walking along the Camino:

phil

I recently heard about A Way To Forgiveness, which is the video journal of a lady who decided to walk across the Camino, in an effort to find healing, following the breakdown of her marriage:

erin

I’ve also come across I’ll push you, which tells the story of two life-long friends making the Camino, one of whom has a progressive neuromuscular disease which keeps him in a wheelchair:

push-you

While I was on the Camino myself, I came across Camino Sin Limites, a team with two brothers, Oliver and Juan Luis who is also wheelchair-bound:

caminosinlimites

What is it about the Camino which inspires such journies?

Wise Words On Wednesday: Never be in a hurry

A couple of weeks ago I shared a quotation which is attributed to St. Francis de Sales and I thought given the events of the American Presidential election, it was time for another quotation…
francis

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”

– St Francis de Sales

There’s no such thing as a fertilized egg!

220px-married_bachelor_filmposterI’ve got a longer article in progress on the subject of abortion, but today’s post is an extremely short entry on a point I’ve been wanting to mention for some time…

Whenever you see an abortion debate, either in a formal setting or on Facebook, it’s not long before you hear someone, typically from the pro-choice side, talk about “fertilized eggs”. I only note this because I think it’s always worth pointing out that “fertilized egg” is something of a misnomer…

I say this because once an egg is fertilized, it ceases being an egg. It is now a new, distinct human organism. Calling it a “fertilized egg” is rather like referring to a man as a “married bachelor”. It’s nonsensical since, once married, a man ceases to be a bachelor. Likewise, we would never refer to someone being a “born fetus” because once the child is born it ceases to be a fetus.

That’s all for today 🙂

 

Music Monday: O Sanctissima

Today’s music is the Catholic classic, “O Sanctissima”:

O sanctissima, o piissima, dulcis Virgo Maria!
O most holy, o most loving, sweet Virgin Mary!
Mater amata, intemerata, ora, ora pro nobis.
Beloved Mother, undefiled, pray, pray for us.

Tu solatium et refugium, Virgo Mater Maria.
You are solace and refuge, Virgin, Mother Mary.
Quidquid optamus, per te speramus; ora, ora pro nobis.
Whatever we wish, we hope it through you; pray, pray for us.

Ecce debiles, perquam flebiles; salva nos, o Maria!
Look, we are weak and deeply deplorable; save us, o Mary!
Tolle languores, sana dolores; ora, ora pro nobis.
Take away our lassitude, heal our pains; pray, pray for us.

Virgo, respice, Mater, aspice; audi nos, o Maria!
Virgin, look at us, Mother, care for us; hear us, o Mary!
Tu medicinam portas divinam; ora, ora pro nobis.
You bring divine medicine; pray, pray for us.

It’s like Woodstock, but with more Bible

I spent some time today planning my travels for the next few months and I was delighted to look in my calendar and remember that the West Coast Biblical Studies Conference is on the horizon!

wcbsc

The two-day conference is at the end of January (27th and 28th) in San Diego. Once again it is being held at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, with the usual line-up of excellent speakers: Scott Hahn, John Bergsma, Michael Barber and John Kincaid. This year the focus will be on The Book of Acts: How the Holy  Spirit leads the Church through hard times.

Tickets are $50, but if you buy yours before 15th December, the price is reduced to $40. If you’re coming from out-of-town, be sure to let me know!

The Meaning of beauty

Since getting back from Spain, I’ve been catching up on my blog reading. Today I read an article by Maggie Kim, published on her husband’s website PJK Music, which is entitled “I lost all my hair but found the meaning of beauty”:

maggie

In the article Maggie, who has a head of hair which would put a L’Oreal model to shame, explains that while she was pregnant with her second child, her hair started falling out. She describes how she struggled with this and how her beliefs concerning beauty were challenged as she came to terms with the fact that before the preganancy would be complete, she would have lost all her hair…

Friday Frivolity: Evidence of Hoverboards in Nazareth long before 2015…

In the movie Back To The Future 2, Michael J Fox’s character, Marty, travels to the future to save his son. In so doing, Marty gets to experience the technological wonders of the year 2015. Among audiences, the most popular invention of this imagined future was, without a doubt, the hoverboard:

If only we had paid closer attention to the iconography of the Eastern Churches…

Hover Board

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