Behold the West 2

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets 

This past winter on successive Thursday evenings our parish showed the ten episodes of Catholicism, the series featuring Fr. Robert Barron. My Wife the Art Historian asked me if I wanted to go.

Well, I've seen a ton of Fr. B's bits on YouTube, and he's kinda overexposed there, y'know? And besides, isn't this for people who don't know squat about the Catholic Church? That includes us out. On the other hand, lots of my friends'll be there and we can schmooze. And the pastor will be leading some discussion after each episode. So even if none of it's new to me I can still have a good time; at least I can give the first Thursday a shot, right?

So we go to the first one...and it is the best. It's a spectacle of painting, theology, architecture, faith, music, philosophy, the Bible, sculpture, literature, saints; every spoke on the huge wheel of Catholicism, all treated as a one big thing, like a softly whirling spiral galaxy. Which Catholicism is: the complete foundation and underpinning of the West. But Fr. Barron isn't so obvious as to say so. He simply spends 10 hours (less, really) talking about the Catholic worldview so comprehensively that it'd be hard not reach that conclusion on your own.

And the wonder is that he does it so well in a mere 10 episodes. Janet & I discuss the problem: treat the faith in all its aspects in 10 hours, and speak to the well-catechized as well as the unchurched. What would I cover; what would I leave out; how many seconds to spend on each idea; how to knit the parts into a whole, etc.,etc. So I liked the series, and was better off by far for having seen it. Plus much of how he treated things reminded me of my class, which was gratifying in the shallowest way.

But here's the real surprise: Janet bought the DVD set, and we're watching it again. It's better the second time around. 

Galaxy photo by the European Southern Observatory

O Fortuna

 This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

A Little House

Most Americans have heard the song O Fortuna in the movies or on TV, although they may not know its name or its composer. It's one of a suite of poems from the Middle-Ages (Carmina Burana, Bavarian Songs) which were set to music by the 20th century German composer Carl Orff. Carmina's a terrific array of moods and musics: Fortuna is epic; others are reflective; some langorous; and some boisterous, once sung in medieval pubs. The drinking songs are grouped under the heading In Taberna, i.e., In the Tavern. In the English sense of a 'public house' being a place to buy a beer, a taberna is a house; or a shed attached to the side of the house as a store or shop.

If you ever get the chance to see Carmina live- do so.

New topic, sort of: you may recall that when the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reestablished his covenant with the Hebrews, he gave Moses very specific instructions as to how his dwelling, the Meeting Tent, should be constructed. In Hebrew, the 'tent' is ohel/ אהל;  the 'dwelling' is mishkan/ משכן  In the Old Testament their uses frequently overlap where the portability of a nomad's tent melds with the security and serenity of abiding within one's extended family.

In the New Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews uses the Greek word skene/σκηνή (skein, tent) to describe both God's earthly and heavenly dwellings.

When St. Jerome later translated the Hebrew and Greek Testaments into the Vulgate, he used the existing Latin word tabernaculum, the diminutive of taberna, for the assorted older terms. The Roman Army, which was certainly practical about its religion if not particularly pious, had for centuries built a tabernaculum augurale, a tent, a "little house," in all of its camps for checking the auspices. How nice of Jerome not to invent a new word, but to baptize an old one instead.

[Is augurale related to inaugural? Why, yes it is.]

And how nice that the Church applies that same term to the little houses in which the Lord has dwelled among his people these last two millennia. As the New Testament fulfills the Old, the Church extends and deepens the connection between God and his people.

The Catholic Church doesn't invent anything.

Greenville- Ephrathah 6

Tonight Li'l 'Phrathah hosts Transitional Deacon Jon Chalmers' ordination.
 

It's Bobby

 

People my age will remember that John F. Kennedy picked his younger brother to be his Attorney General. JFK joked about how he would make the announcement: "I'll open the front door of the Georgetown house some morning about 2:00 a.m., look up and down the street, and if there's no one there, I'll whisper, 'It's Bobby.' "

My book is out.

 https://www.createspace.com/3835986

Altarations Altered for Adults

The grownup version of the Altarations lesson is here.

Altarations

Hey y’all, for the next few classes we’re going to learn about things in church; what they’re for, where they come from, stuff like that.

Somebody tell me again where Abraham was from.  Mesopotamia!  That's right. What did Mesopotamians build? Ziggurats!  What were they for? I think people prayed there or something. Yes. Couldn't they pray on the ground? I guess so. So why'd they bother with ziggurats? 'Cause they're high! Yes…why does that matter? 'Cause if you're high you're closer to God?  Yes. People throughout history have tried to get closer to God by going up. 

Tell me about Aztecs. They had pyramids and they killed people on them. Well, it was more particular than plain-old killing. They sacrificed them?  Yes...to? The sun?  Yes. Was there a real sun-god?  No, they were pagans.  Yes. But they had the right idea about getting up closer to God. When people offer sacrifices, they are trying to make a powerful connection with God, much more than just a prayer.

Tell me about Abraham & Isaac.  Isaac was his only son.  And? God said Abraham had to kill Isaac. More specifically…he had to sacrifice him. Yes. Did Abraham build a ziggurat? No, I think he just went up a mountain. Yes, Mount Moriah.  If you live where there are mountains, do you need a ziggurat? No you just go up a mountain to get closer to God. Yes. So tell me about places that have pyramids or ziggurats. They’re flat!  Yes. Is toting a sacrifice up a mountain or a ziggurat easy? No, it’s hard. Yes. But suppose Abraham said, “God, I’m too old to get up Mount Moriah, I’ll just take care of this Isaac business behind my tent.” God wouldn’t like that. Right. God wants us to put some effort into making a special connection with Him: if we climb up as high as we can, then God will reach down the rest of the way. So when Abraham got to the top of Mt. Moriah did he throw Isaac down on the ground and cut his throat? No he made an altar. Yeah…what’s an altar? A big rock?  Yes, or a pile of smaller ones. What’s the point? Huh?  Is it ok to sacrifice on the ground?  No it’s dirty!  Right. It’s undignified; a sacrifice should be nice and clean. So being on the mountaintop isn’t enough: Abraham had to make an altar to get his sacrifice up off the dirt and one last bit closer to God.

So tell me about the altar in church. Like what?  Like anything.  It’s made of stone!  Yes, and? It’s up off the ground!  Yes. Is it on a mountain? Well, the church isn’t on a mountain. Yes…although it’d be nice if it were. But inside the church, is the altar at the same level as the pews? No, you have to go up some steps! Right. The altar sits a bit higher than the people.

So an altar is for…sacrificing!  Yes. But in a Catholic church we don’t actually kill a sacrifice, we only offer it. Our sacrifice was killed a long time ago…well? Is it Jesus? Yes, when? When he was crucified! Yes.

Good children!

Where the Wild Things Are

The Bunnies have returned to the Ponderosa.

A baby we've seen on the edge of the ivy a few times:

The daughter likes to write on the front porch, made that with her phone. The animal doesn't take exception to her.

We also have lots of hawks in our neighborhood. Yesterday the wife & daughter were sitting out when one pounced down at the ivy without scoring.

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Coda of Coincidence: today my poet friend Pavel Chichikov wrote this:

WILD RABBITS

We have wild rabbits in our yard
Pulling up the fresh young clover,
Each new rabbit is a ward
Beneath protection of our cover

The fir tree and the fig tree shade
The coverts that they use to hide,
For which at dawn and dusk they trade
The hazards of the open sky

See them mumble blade and stem,
Jaws rotating as they feed,
Green the pasture given them
Apportioned to a rabbit’s need

But overhead the red shinned hawk
The buzzard and the scavenge crow,
While in the alley something stalks,
A hunter that they do not know

We from vantage overhead
Can wish them every fortune fine,
Clover as we have our bread
And rainy weather for the wine


Pavel
May 5, 2012