Trapped by Torture in Enmity with the World

Last updated on: December 10, 2014 at 12:29 pm By Leah Libresco

Reading over more details about the Torture Report, I was reminded of a passage I’d just read in Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, in which Jonathan Shay tries to put his finger on just what it is that makes torture an abomination, rather than ordinary roughness or ill use: American soldiers literally felt tortured by their Vietnamese enemy. Prolonged patrolling in Vietnam led to a decomposition of the normal, the familiar, the safe. Every familiar item... Read more

Torture Report Details Wounds to Prisoners and Guards

Last updated on: December 9, 2014 at 1:10 pm By Leah Libresco

The torture report (well, the unclassified executive summary) came out today, and the news is grim and gruesome. The Daily Beast has aggregated some initial lowlights: In Nov. 2002, a detainee who had been held partially nude and chained to the floor died, apparently from hypothermia. This case appears similar to the that of Gul Rahman, who died of similarly explained causes at a Afghan site known as the “Salt Pit,” also in Nov. 2002. The site was also called ‘The Dark... Read more

The Last 5 Years is totally our next Symposium topic

Last updated on: December 8, 2014 at 4:49 pm By Leah Libresco

Eeeeee! EEEEEEEE! Eeeeee! For folks who aren’t familiar with Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years, it’s a musical that covers the five year relationship between Cathy and Jamie, from the moment they meet, through their engagement and marriage, till the morning after Jamie leaves. The two leads alternate numbers, which respectively tell the story of their relationship in opposite directions. That means Cathy’s first song (also the first song of the trailer) is the one she sings when she finds... Read more

Is Your Christianity Ever Mistaken for Criminality? [Pope Francis Bookclub]

Last updated on: December 8, 2014 at 12:29 pm By Leah Libresco

In 2014, I’m reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio’s Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. In this week’s reading, Pope Francis points out that Christ was stripped of more than his clothes when he was executed on the cross: Jesus does not die in Jerusalem, nor is he stoned to death. He dies as one accursed, “hung on... Read more

My 10 Best Books of 2014

Last updated on: December 5, 2014 at 7:57 am By Leah Libresco

Every year, I like to make a list of my favorite books I read for the first time in that year. Thus, my ten best books of the year aren’t limited to those that came out in this year. In chronological order of when I read them, these are my favorites. Oh, and if you’d like to get once-a-month, behind the scene updates about my book, Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayer that Even I Can Offer, you can sign up here — my... Read more

Paying Penalties to Keep a Prayer Rule

Last updated on: December 4, 2014 at 10:49 am By Leah Libresco

Today, I’m over at the Beeminder Blog, with a guest post on ways to use Beeminder to help organize my spiritual life… without ending up with a weirdly corporate or Pharisaical vibe. Beeminder is a service that makes it easier to do in the short term what you mean to do in the long term, by letting you take out a contract on yourself, where you have to stick to a certain commitment of decades of the Rosary/week, time spent in bed/day, etc,... Read more

So, where should a gal go to meet some saints?

Last updated on: December 3, 2014 at 4:21 pm By Leah Libresco

A new month has begun, so I’ve popped over to Jen Fulwiler’s saint generator and spun up my final randomly chosen saint for 2014. But, before I do this again in 2015, I’d like to rejigger my approach, and I’d appreciate any advice, O Readers. The nice thing about using a random saint generator is that I keep finding saints I might otherwise not have run into and/or challenging myself to think about parts of the spiritual life that I... Read more

Avoiding Glib Grace-Notes in Advent

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 11:59 am By Leah Libresco

Yesterday I talked about trying to find an Advent discipline that wasn’t just hard-for-the-sake-of-hard, but that would form my conscience in some way. Here’s my attempt: I’m trying to undertake a conversational fast this Advent season. I want to avoid using any one-liners or other kinds of glancing, meant-to-be funny comments in conversation. It’s not that I want to make Advent humor-free — I’d still be allowed to tell a funny story or an actual joke — I’m looking to prune... Read more

Choosing a Prudent (not a ‘Tough’) Advent Fast

Last updated on: December 1, 2014 at 12:37 pm By Leah Libresco

In 2014, I’m reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio’s Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. In this week’s reading, Pope Francis’s discussion of Christ’s preparation for death nicely parallels Joseph Pieper’s chapter on Fortitude in The Four Cardinal Virtues. Here’s Francis: Jesus took his death seriously, as he did his life. Annointed by the Spirit, he was able to... Read more

“Safety” is a Piss-Poor Pitch for Chastity

Last updated on: November 25, 2014 at 2:18 pm By Leah Libresco

A recent First Things post aimed to arm its readers with a positive case for chastity, one that could appeal to non-Christian friends. But I struggled to find anything positive or invigorating in the sample arguments presented. For example: A case at University of Houston may serve. According to a legal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the facts aren’t unusual. One evening, after attending a UH event, a male student went to a nearby bar and met a female student for the... Read more