Feed by Mira Grant My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’m a bit tired of the zombie genre, however, this was of interest because of the large part that blogging plays in the story. In fact, blogging is the reason for the story, as it turns out. And that is the reason my friend pressed the book upon me, as he knew my long time blogging and podcasting habits. Set in 2040, the world has seen the zombie apocalypse thanks... Read more
MARK 2:13-14 Thinking of how we feel about the IRS, we can understand why Matthew was not well liked. Then add on the facts we see below, which is that tax collectors could line their own pockets with whatever they could get away with … well, I feel the crowd’s astonishment when Jesus calls Matthew to follow him. Matthew was a well-hated man. Tax-gatherers can never be a popular section of the community, but in the ancient world they were... Read more
MARK 1:40-45 I am so used to thinking of Jesus healing lepers that I really have never given a second thought as to just what leprosy is … except that I knew there is (or used to be?) a leper colony on Hawaii and eventually bits of you would fall off. Here we have the whole agonizing description of the three types of leprosy. It gives me an entirely new appreciation for the unbelievable suffering lepers endured and the fact... Read more
“From Hell’s heart I stab at thee…” Yes, we watched The Wrath of Khan (Star Trek II). All so glorious that we just keep talking and talking at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. With guest Heather Hutchinson Ordover from Craft/Lit and Just the Books podcasts. Read more
From the Paris Review Daily – Paint Samples, suitable for the home, sourced from colors in literature. For example if you want to see that gray green greasy color of the river Limpopo, this is where you’re gonna go. “Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, ‘Go to the banks of the great gray-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.’ ” “The Elephant’s Child,” Rudyard Kipling. I noticed that one of the people credited... Read more
MARK 1:21, 22 Having seen how the Torah was viewed, we can now see why the scribes were so important. Someone had to tell everybody what was right and wrong for everyday living. After reading about how the scribes’ systems worked it is clear why Jesus’ teachings were so startling. To give this study [of the Torah] … a class of scholars arose. These were the Scribes, the experts in the law. The title of the greatest of them was... Read more
MARK 1:21, 22 It is important to understand what perspective the Jews had that they heard Jesus’ teachings as such a revelation … and not like the scribes. First we must look at how they viewed the Torah (the Law). To the Jews the most sacred thing in the world was the Torah, the Law. The core of the law is the Ten Commandments, but the Law was taken to mean the first five books of the Old Testament, the... Read more
… including a Happy Catholic book signed by me as well as books by Amy Welborn, Mark Shea, and Brandon Vogt (among others). Other giveaways include chocolates, jewelry, frames prints, rosaries, and more. Susan Windley-Daoust (Ironic Catholic) has done a fantastic job of recruiting wonderful prizes. And the money all goes to a very worthy cause … helping unite a little girl and the parents wanting to adopt her and give her the home she’s been longing for. Check out... Read more
MARK 1:21, 22 I read this and realized that I have a tendency to think of the synagogue as just the local version of a church with the Temple being the big “headquarters” in Jerusalem. Not so at all as William Barclay points out. There are certain basic differences between the synagogue and the church as we know it today. (a) The synagogue was primarily a teaching institution. The synagogue service consisted of only three things — prayer, the reading... Read more
Papal Encyclicals Online is a simply terrific resource where you can find and read an astounding number of documents from the Church’s history. It’s where I first found and read the Vatican II documents, which I need to reread, but you can find encyclicals going back to 1227 and the documents of all the Church councils. Most of the encyclicals on this site come from the 5 volume set, “The Papal Encyclicals 1740-1981” published by Pierian Press. Not all, however,... Read more
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