Wrap your mind around this (can you see it?). It’s a Bornean Rainbow Toad. God, in His infinite wisdom and creativity, designed a panoply of creatures so diverse, so fantastic, so colorful, so… well, so HUNGRY. And because no one—not even a lowly amphibian—likes to be someone else’s lunch, God thought up a bunch of cool ways to hide. It’s called “cryptic camouflage” and it allows a toad or a moth or a caterpillar to blend into the environment so... Read more
After the vows of stability and obedience is the third vow of Conversion of Life. This is the part where the spiritual life gets some kick and zing. Obedience and stability seem dull and pedestrian, but conversion of life is what it is all about. Conversion of life is not just that a person seeks to be converted the way an Evangelical ‘gets saved.’ Its certainly a good thing to repent and accept Christ’s saving work, but for the Catholic... Read more
You probably know at least a little about Danish baroness and plantation owner Karen von Blixen-Finecke. She was the heroine (Meryl Streep) who had a passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter (Robert Redford) in the 1985 romantic drama Out of Africa. She was an author who wrote under the pen name “Isak Denisen.” But you may not remember that she was an agnostic. My husband and I recently pulled out our copy of the film... Read more
I organized my husband’s sock drawer yesterday. It had to be done, all those mismatched and threadbare tube socks emerging from the drawer making it impossible to close. I also went through his undershirts and put the dingy off-white ones in the washer with bleach. I might have made a bleachy paste to remove the underarm stains, if I knew how to do that. I could have looked on the internet for a bleachy paste recipe, but it seemed more... Read more
On March 8, 2011, feminists observed the centenary of International Women’s Day—a day when we remember the struggles of women in the fight against gender discrimination, and celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. I would like to dedicate this post to the smallest of women: those who have not yet seen the light of day, but for whom Jesus also died. These smallest women, still unborn, have been generated in the heart of... Read more
Mrs Brady is a sweet old thing. She qualifies as ‘steel magnolia’. Firm in her Catholic faith, she doesn’t tolerate fools, but she remains kind to all. Go here to meet her as she gives advice to one of her many visitors. Read more
Earlier in the week Kathy Schiffer mentioned the old woman who swallowed a fly… and tomorrow is St Blaise day with the blessing of throats–which you would need if you swallowed a fly or a bee, and now Fr. Z posts here on what a priest is supposed to do if a creepy crawly of some sort gets into the chalice after the consecration. It seems the old books tell you what to do, and Fr. Z–with his usual attention... Read more
Through the intercession of Saint Blase, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. — From the blessing of throats on the Feast of St. Blase, February 3 * * * * * It’s great to be Catholic—We have so many cherished friends crowding around the throne of God! Like our earthly friends... Read more
Here is a detail which fits with the Feast of Candlemass today and with my weekly theme of monasticism. I don’t now know where I first came across this, and I am happy to be corrected by someone who is more scholarly than I am, (like Taylor Marshall) and who is not sitting in a burger joint in South Carolina that has Wi Fi, but for some reason does not have a full set of the apocryphal writings of the... Read more
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined to be the rise and the fall of many in Israel, and a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.” The Gospel According to Luke, Chapter 2 It is odd that this feastday -The Feast... Read more
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