Ellicott City - Ocean City, MD

June 2, 2025 Peace and Good, This has been a very busy period with service at the Shrine and the St. Joseph Rest Home, along with spiritual direction. I am now taking a week at a condo that the friars have at Ocean City. I do not really go to the beach. I end up walking along the sidewalks while I listen to my MP3 with books on tape. I also sit reading and listening to the waves. The sound of the waves calms me down in an instant. I have been able to get ahead in my taping of podcasts on the daily readings for the Mass. I am working right now on editing a couple of books that people have asked me to examine. I am also reading to get ready for a few presentations that I will be doing at the end of the month. I have also given a few presentations to fraternities of the Secular Franciscans. We friars have a profound obligation to work together with the Seculars, but we often do not do enough to walk with them on their spiritual journey. I have finished some reading and listening: The Psalms: Your Model and Guide to Prayer by Michael Guinan This is a Learn25 course on the psalms. The presenter gives many aspects to the composition and use of the psalms, but some of his lectures left me wanting to hear more. He has the tendency to fill in a good amount of time by citing the verses of psalms, something that I felt I could have done on my own. A Franciscan Retreat by Bill Short Bill Short, OFM, is a great Franciscan scholar. This presentation from Learn25 is a series of 12 lectures on Franciscan spirituality as applied to our everyday lives. It is well done, both from an accurate presentation of what Francis and Clare said and did, and from the application of their insights to our daily life. It was a joy to listen to his lectures/conferences. White Collar Criminal Law Explained by Randall Eliason This is a course presented by a federal prosecuting attorney who deals with while collar crime. He describes the various forms of criminal activity, the pertinent laws involved, the cases that helped refine the application of the law (e.g. Supreme Court Decisions), etc. The course is very informative and well presented. Secrets of the Occult by Richard Spence This is a Great Courses presentation on occult practices throughout the ages. Spence has tons of information, but he has the uncomfortable tendency to unite facts that could easily be coincidences and then imply that one proved the other. He always gives a disclaimer when doing this, but then he makes it clear that he really does not intend the disclaimer. Nevertheless, he does deal with some topics about which I knew very little before this presentation. Our Night Sky by Edward Murphy This is a Great Courses video presentation. The professor is a great fan of astronomy, especially at the amateur level. He explains how to do one’s observations of the stars, what one will find at different times of the year and the night, and even the mythological background for the names of various constellations. Savage Continent by Keith Lowe We tend to think that with the fall of Nazi Germany, the violence and disruption of World War II ended quickly. This book shows that this was not the case. There were millions of displaced people wandering over a devastated area. There were ancient and recent hatreds and attempts at revenge. There were the attempts to settle with those who had cooperated with the Germans. While Lowe goes out of his way not to create an exaggerated account, his information nevertheless is quite disturbing. Greek Tragedy by Elizabeth Vandiver This is a course from the Great Courses company on Greek tragedy: why, how, who, etc. Vandiver goes through the most important of the remaining plays and speaks of how they relate both to other works and to the myths upon which they are almost always based. The presentation is very good, and the professor brings out interesting side points that help to complete the picture of what was really going on. Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor This is a series of humorous stories about growing up and living in a somewhat isolated community in Minnesota. There are a couple which are more cynical than humorous, but for the most part they are good and entertaining. The material is part of the Prairie Home Companion series. The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper This is an account of the last days before Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. It is based upon eye-witness testimony of those who survived those days. It is horrific to see how the madness of the regime could reach this level. It is not an entertaining book, but informative. Greece against Rome by Philip Matyszak This is an account of the relationship between Rome and the Greek successor states to the empire of Alexander the Great. It is an incredibly confusing period (especially since so many of the characters insist on having the same name generation after generation). Yet, Matyszak manages to tell the story in an entertaining way, especially throwing out comments that lighten the tedium. War and World History by Jonathan Roth This is a very long Teaching Company course on the interplay between war and culture throughout recorded history. It is an odd sort of a collection, very often dealing with topics that have little to do with war as such. Yet, the lectures were always interesting, and the professor’s conclusions were quite insightful. I think one of the most important insights that I gained was the interplay between military preparedness and the economy of the nation state. How the Spanish Civil War Became Europe’s Battlefield by Pamela Radcliff This is a tremendous course from the Teaching Company on the Spanish Civil War. The presenter is fair to all sides, and does not accept easy conclusions on the causes, conduct and effect of the war. She even speaks about how the memory of those events are still unsettled in the minds and the hearts of the Spanish people today. Reconsidering JFK by Michael Shelden This is a Teaching Company course on the presidency of JFK. It is a very fair evaluation, showing his incredible political talents but also his incredible self-destructive attitude toward his sexual liaisons. The account is at its best in the treatment of crisis moments in the presidency, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Geneva summit with Kruschev, and the Cuban missile crisis. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude