Ellicott City - Ocean City

Peace and Good April 20, 2026 I just got back from several days at the friar's place in Ocean City, MD. A few minutes of hearing the waves is all I need to feel the peace descend over me. I do not go to the beach as much as take long walks and just try to live with a very loose schedule. During those days I was able to do a bit of writing, a bit of taping. Not too much, but enough to get caught up with a few projects. I am back in Ellicott City these days. A lot of spiritual direection appointments, and helping out at the shrine. About 10 days ago I got my hearing aids. I was having more and more difficulties following conversations, and getting the aids has helped a lot. I am still getting used to them - e.g. hearing sounds like my feet walking and the wind blowing. The friars had a meeting to get ready for our Provincial Chapter (a week in May and a week in July). We meet every four years to plan the future of the province. The assimbly we had a couple of weeks ago had a very good spirit. We have re-elected our proviincial for another four years. He is doing a great job. Last week here in Baltimore was nice and hot, and then it disappeared for a few days of cold. I finished some reading and listening: Agent 110 by Scott Miller This is the story of the World War II career of Allen Dulles whose codename while he worked for the OSS was agent 110. He served as the agent in chief in Switzerland and obtained important information from the Allied cause, especially from a German spy named Fritz Kolbe. He was not the most moral of men, especially in terms of marital infidelity. He would eventually come to be the director of the CIA, working closely with his brother who was Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. Thurgood Marshall: Mr. Civil Rights and the Fight for Racial Justice This is a Learn25 course on Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice of the Supreme Court. It follows his education and his early career as a civil right lawyer. It deals with his career which began with him being a civil rights lawyer. One of the most important cases he worked upon was Brown vs. the Board of Education. He was named a circuit judge by JFK, then Solicitor General and then Associate Supreme Court judge by LBJ. The tone of the presentation is a bit too adulatory, but the material is very good. The Novel that Invented Modernity: Don Quixote de La Mancha by Illan Stavans This is a Modern Scholar course on the content and import of the story of Don Quixote. Stavans investigates the culture of Spain at the time that Cervantes wrote his novel. He speaks of the various characters and the roles that they both play on the surface and the deeper meaning of their depiction. He presents some of the inside jokes and irony that Cervantes uses in his story. The course is very well done. 5 Lessons from Seneca by Oswald Sobrino This is a series of short books by Sobrino in which he takes five ideas of a major thinker and then applies them to our modern situation. Seneca is a Roman philosopher of the Stoic school who happened to be a mentor of the infamous emperor Nero. This volume speaks of everyday topics such as friendship, aging, etc. It is very well done. The African Experience from ‘Lucy’ to Mandela by Kenneth Vickery This is a Great Courses Presentation by a scholar who has studied Africa (and especially Zambia) extensively. He gives a good outline of pre-colonial empires, colonialism, and post-colonialism. He speak of the politics, warfare, culture of the peoples of Africa. He makes very clear that there is not just one stereotypical Africa, but rather many variants upon the continent. The Doubting Disease: Help for Scrupulosity by Joseph Chiorrochi This book deals with the question of scrupulosity and its psychological sources and its possible treatments. This deals both with secular and religious forms of scrupulosity. The author is a well known psychologist, and he offers pertinent diagnostic material as well as powerful insights to possible treatments. He is very respectful to the religious dimension of many of the manifestations of the problem. Black Heroes: Inspiring Stories of Resilience by Ahoy Publications This is one of the books presented by Ahoy Publications which normally produces books on trivia, but in this case it presents a series of short biographies on important individuals who fought for their own rights and the rights of the Blacks in America and also in Africa. The volume is a bit breathy at times (marveling at how good the individuals were and the depths of their struggles), but it is well worth reading. Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Billy Wellman This is a rather short but good presentation of the pharaonic era in Egypt from its origins to its death at the end of the reign of Cleopatra. The author packs a tremendous amount of information in a very short format. The Italian Renaissance by Kenneth Bartlett This is a tremendous course from the Great Courses on the birth, duration and death of the Renaissance in Italy. The author deals with the politics, the involvement of the great powers of the time (e.g. France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Vatican, etc.). It covers the important city states, e.g. Venice, Florence, Milan, etc. The professor is informative and insightful. I would highly recommend this particular course. 500 Interesting Facts about Denmark by Ahoy Publications This is one of those volumes of trivia about a certain topic, in this case the land and people of Denmark. The book is not a great revealer of insights, but it does give a lot of information that is interesting. The Civil War Anaconda Plan by Bill Wiemuth This is a short account of the project of the Northern forces during the Civil War to cut off ocean and river commerce to the South in order to starve them out of supplies. Most of the content of this book is on the efforts in the Mississippi River. The Acts of the Apostles by Laurie Brink This is a Learn25 course on the Acts of the Apostles. It gives a good outline of the material contained in this book, but I would not really say that I learned anything new from the presentation. It served more as a review of material already studied. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude