Ellicott City

December 7, 2024 Peace and Good, I hope you are all well. I have been at home these days, mostly working at the Shrine. We have an hour of confessions every day between Monday and Saturday. There are usually two or three confessors on call each day, and there are almost always line waiting for confession. It is a very good ministry. I was in contact with the provincial of our province in Kenya and I was asked to begin another series of articles for their magazine on the Penteteuch. I have outlined the topics, and it works out to about 25 articles. I will be getting to that this week when the inspiration hits me. I usually brook over a topic for a couple of weeks, and then one morning the first line of the piece comes into my head and from there it is off to the races. The weather here has been very cold, but nothing like Buffalo as been getting in these days. I tell my friends that the one consolation for Buffalonians in these days is that Watertown (at the other end of Lake Ontario) is getting more snow. I will be here in EC all this week, but next week I am going to go to the shore to the appartment the friars have there. I finished some reading and listening: How the Bible Saved Civilization by Ian Boxall These presentations from Learn25 do not really match the title. What the author does is explain various scenes, people, and topics and show how they are still important in our world and in the world of art, drama, music, etc. Boxall is a good, creative presenter. Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer This is a relatively short presentation by an Evangelical author who speaks of the need for art and beauty in our lives and our faith. He is attacking a tendency to see something wrong in painting, statues, music, poetry, etc. He takes many of his argumentation from the Bible itself (e.g. how God created the beautiful, how God ordered Moses and David to make beautiful decorations for the cult, etc. New Amsterdam by Charles River Editors This is the history of the arrival of the Dutch in the New York area and the years of their early colonization up to the time of the British who took the colony over after Holland’s defeat in the mid-17th century. The Sicilian Method by Andrea Camilleri This is the account of the murder of a very mysterious figure who staged improvisational plays in the town where Inspector Montalbano lives. The plot is intricate and possibly a bit confusing. I did not like this volume as much as Camilleri’s others for the hero dumps his long distance lover for a young and strange young woman, chalking it up to a mature man’s last adventure. This aspect was almost adolescent in its approach. Thunder Point by Jack Higgins This is an action novel about the recovery of secret documents brought by Martin Borman to the Caribbean when he supposedly escaped at the end of World War II. (There have long been theories that he escaped and lived in Latin America). The documents would incriminate key British politicians and royalty, and the team (Ferguson and Sean Dillon, an ex-IRA gunman) seek to find them before a group of Nazi collaborators can discover where they are and recover them. The Middle East by Philip Robins This is a presentation of the history, politics, and cultures of the countries of the Middle East. It naturally leans towards the Islamic countries, but it does not ignore Israel. The author is quite good, and he is honest in his approach (not looking for a villain in his account. Women who made Science History by Leila McNeill This is a short course from the Great Courses on significant women in science from the Renaissance to the modern era, leaning very heavily toward the modern. McNeill speaks of the lives and contributions of a number of famous and not so famous women scientists, and especially of their difficulty to have their contributions to science recognized because of the anti-woman bias in many fields of research and many institutions. Innocent Man by John Grisham This is a true life story of two men who were falsely convicted of rape and murder in a small town in Oklahoma. The prosecutors broke a whole series of laws in their case. The particular difficulty in proving one of the men innocent was his mental illness and tendency toward alcoholism. The innocent project eventually was able to prove their innocence after many years of often cruel incarceration. Hans Urs Von Balthasar by Kevin Mongrain Von Balthasar was a key thinker in the process of leading up to Vatican II, but his specialty was in patristics and mysticism, especially in rediscovering that which is truly beautiful (in nature, in revelation, in the incarnation, etc.) His writings are notoriously difficult to understand, so I took this first step of listening to this Learn25 course to get an initial idea of who he was and what he taught. At the end of this course, I can say I have caught a glimpse of what he believed and shared. The Gospel of Mark 101: How to Read and Understand the Gospel of Action by Ian Boxall This is a course on the Gospel of Mark from the Learn25 series. I found the course very informative, reinforcing that which I knew and making me see a few things in a way from which I had never considered the material. I plan to listen to whatever other courses this professor has produced. Chaucer by Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd is a tremendous author about all things Brittanica. This book speaks of the life and writings of Chaucer, placing him within his historic and literary environment. The author constantly quotes Chaucer’s writings, first in the English used at Chaucer’s time (the late 14th century) and then in modern English. There are many things that are not known about Chaucer, but Ackroyd masterfully pieces together those things which we can know. The Mughal Empire by Charles River Editors This isa short account of the Mughal empire in India. A lot of the book is a presentation on the history of Islam, and then when the author gets into the part about India, it is a mix of wars between this or that power or palace intrigues. I cannot say that I know that much more about this empire after finishing this read. The Norsemen-Understanding the Vikings and Their Culture by Michael Drout This is a course from Modern Scholar about the Vikings and especially their culture and their literature. While there is not an enormous corpus of writings, nevertheless the professor is able to explain the intricacies of what they wrote, both from a literary and mythic point of view. Ironically, the most important collection of writings were produced by a Christian author so that his contemporary authors would understand some of the mythic references in their own language. Tutankhamun: The Mystery of the Boy King by Zahi Hawass This is a firsthand account of the examination of the Tutankhamun mummy in order to understand more about his lie and his death. It is only a short book, but it was enjoyable and informative. The Bad Popes by E.R. Chamberlin This is a treatment of popes who were disastrous in their personal conduct and their leadership of the Church from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance (and the time of the Protestant Reformation). While the accounts of some of the popes were incredibly scandalous, the author tries not to be a rumor monger but rather to present the popes with their flaws and sometimes their virtues. It is a good read. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude