From "One Man's Meat"

I don't know whether I came to the country to live the simple life; but I am now engaged in a life vastly more complex than anything the city has to offer. -E.B. White

Horseshoes

Took some time Saturday afternoon to break out the horseshoes we got for Christmas. After a couple days of rain, it was a welcome sunny afternoon.

Many of our kids had never tossed horseshoes, or had tossed rarely. It was interesting to see the amazing progress in an hour of tossing them. Only three ringers in the hour, but I think we all had fun.

 

Finally, for supper Saturday we had one of my favorites: slow-cooked (albeit not on the grill) pork shoulder with Boston baked beans and hot brown bread-smothered in butter (and milk.) It doesn't get much better. Mrs. Curley was out of town (she doesn't like the beans or bread-the more for the rest of us!)

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

All the stuff I have been reading

I mentioned I have been reading Anthony Esolen's excellent book: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching. What I didn't know is that Mr. Esolen relies almost exclusively on many of Pope Leo XIII's writings-not just Rerum Novarum. Although I haven't finished yet (I got sidetracked on some other books), I have read 2 reviews of the book. One positive: at Front Porch Republic. This one in fact mentions one of my other all-time favorites: John Senior's Restoration of Christian Culture.

The second: at Solidarity Hall is critical saying:

Unfortunately, Esolen’s reclaiming of what we call now the life issues, including marriage, under the heading of CST includes practically no discussion of the issues of justice, equity and the guidelines for a political economy. In the somewhat maddening fashion of many culture warriors on the right, Esolen recuses himself from these “technical” issues, as though an ignorance of credit default swaps meant we laypeople simply could not comment on structural inequality or its role in creating a permanent underclass. As a result, this book on CST contains almost no consideration of the very issues on which most readers turn to CST for guidance—for example, human solidarity, the nature of work, the living wage or the common good.

I am about 80% through the book and don't agree with the critical assessment. Certainly Mr. Esolen does not present a comprehensive economic plan or so-called "Third Way", but a careful reading will reveal why. Mr. Esolen does (as the reviewer states) claim ignorance of detailed economics, but more importantly Mr. Esolen defines economy in terms of the family, not in terms of capitalism, socialism, distributism or the like.

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I was also given the novel Christopher by David Athley (Sophia Institute Press) for Christmas. After reading some many chapters I looked up some reviews of the book. It is either loved (enthusiastically) or hated. (4-5 stars or 1 stars.) Unfortunately I am of the latter and don't know if I will finish it. Perhaps I am unsophisticated. I could never understand Flannery O'Connor, but liked Edwin O'Connor (The Last Hurrah). I also  usually tend toward thrillers or mysteries in my fiction likes. Coming of age stories and the like usually can't hold my interest.

 

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Finally, my sister just sent me a used copy of E.B. White's One Man's Meat, which is a collection of magazine articles he wrote over a three to four year period. This is just after he quit the New Yorker and moved to a seaside farm in Maine. I have never read anything by White (although I have seen a movie rendition of Charlotte's Web.) It is interesting in that it gives one a glimpse of life during the pre-war years (I am at 1939 now, only 25% in.)

 

 

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Finally, (and having nothing to do with books-well may be the Great Books), have you heard of the new Catholic college: Northeast Catholic College in New Hampshire. It is an outgrowth of the College of St. Mary Magdalen. My son is there and is happy with the changes. Check it out!

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Some thoughts on marriage and culture which need more editting

An avid hiker and adventurer decides to hike the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, GA to Mount Katahdin, ME. This is not a journey for the faint of heart. There are many days of fatigue, sore muscles, blisters, rain, and cold. There are also moments and days of breathtaking beauty, accomplishment, excitement and ultimately triumph at the end of the trail. The excitement is sustained because of the goal and the commitment to the goal. This excitement is sustained through the fatigue and the rain and the cold. And note, the excitement comes not just at the triumph at the end, but also before and during the journey.

There are certain things you can’t measure based on any given instant in time. Happiness (or excitement) in marriage is such a thing. Yet present culture only measures the instant, as in, instant gratification. (You can't compare marriage to a long hike, but the analogy has some merit.)

For example, I heard a promo for a radio show a few months ago which promised to discuss why the rate of infidelity in marriage increases the longer couples are together. The stated premise of the radio guest was that a marriage cannot sustain excitement as the marriage progresses in time.

Mostly what we read about infidelity concentrates on the means and opportunity. Unfortunately, the means and opportunities have become more frequent and advanced with technology and culture.

But regardless of the means and opportunity, this doesn’t address the question of marriage. We can’t sustain happiness or excitement in marriage if we don’t understand what marriage is and what the purpose and ends of marriage are.  Of course these things are exactly what our present culture is confused about and struggling with.

Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical Casti Connubii wrote about marriage: Thus amongst the blessings of marriage, the child holds the first place. And: The second blessing of matrimony which We said was mentioned by St. Augustine, is the blessing of conjugal honor which consists in the mutual fidelity of the spouses in fulfilling the marriage contract, so that what belongs to one of the parties by reason of this contract sanctioned by divine law, may not be denied to him or permitted to any third person…

The Church teaches marriage has a procreative and unitive purpose as described as blessings by Pope Pius XI above.

Our present culture believes that everything boils down to sex. And I guess if that were true (or held to be true), most marriages would be doomed. The fact is, that marriage has a unitive purpose which is not all about sex, and a procreative purpose, which is also not all about sex.

One of Dietrich Von Hildebrand's theses in his book on marriage (Marriage - the mystery of Faithful Love [Sophia Institute Press]) is that the primary end of marriage is procreation, but the primary meaning of is love. But what is love?

Love is an act of the will-desiring the good for the object of our love. It is obvious from this definition that love does not have a time period. For if one desires the good for another, does one desire this good only for two years, or fifteen years? When you fall in love, do you put this time limit on how long you will love? Do our marriage vows have a time limit? What do the vows mean if they have a time limit? The answers to these questions, whether they concern love for a spouse, a child, or a friend demonstrate the willful aspect of love and the nonsense of the phrase “I have fallen out of love.”

Marital love has a special character in that it imitates God’s creative love. God’s love is so great He wants to share His life, so He creates Man. Man and woman love each other so much that they want to share their lives, so they procreate. But just as God’s love doesn’t end in the act of creating man, man and wife’s love can’t end in the marital act. God nurtures and cares for his creation. Man and wife must nurture and care for their creation. Caring for their creation involves both nurturing their offspring and, importantly, each other. Note that love again does not have limits and is not stingy, something to be kept between one or two people. By nature love shares and multiplies.

So what about this excitement! If the goal of the family is to journey together to Heaven, than the journey is one of both fatigue in daily tasks and tribulations, but also excitement at the daily fatigue and tribulations. The journey also has moments of intense beauty and enjoyment. There are always new challenges, some of them painful, but with perseverance for the goal, God helps us melt these challenges. Gold is purified by fire, the gold we seek with excitement

So what of the spouse seeks excitement elsewhere? He or she is doomed to failure because the excitement they really seek is not momentary-but that is all they get, a moment. Thus they will go on seeking, but never finding. Our hearts are truly restless until they rest in our Lord.

I end with words from Humanae Vitae:

Then, this love is total, that is to say, it is a very special form of personal friendship, in which husband and wife generously share everything, without undue reservations or selfish calculations. Whoever truly loves his marriage partner loves not only for what he receives, but for the partner's self, rejoicing that he can enrich his partner with the gift of himself.

Again, this love is faithful and exclusive until death. Thus in fact do bride and groom conceive it to be on the day when they freely and in full awareness assume the duty of the marriage bond. A fidelity, this, which can sometimes be difficult, but is always possible, always noble and meritorious, as no one can deny. The example of so many married persons down through the centuries shows, not only that fidelity is according to the nature of marriage, but also that it is a source of profound and lasting happiness.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

Received and Reading ...

Anthony Esolen seems to be everywhere. I read him at Crisis, see him in the Magnificat, and now am reading this wonderful book Mrs. Curley got me for Christmas. I will write more about is once I am further in. (I am still reading the Thomas More book, but I can handle both!)

Merry Christmas!

Oremus pro invicem!

Another book purchased and being read about Thomas More, by Peter Berglar (Scepter). I have read many books about More (notably, somehow I have missed Ackroyd's rendition.) So far so good. My favorites are by James Monti (Ignatius) and Gerard Wegemer (Scepter).

I finished Warren Carroll's final volume in his history of Christendom series a couple weeks ago. It took a year, but that was because it was interrupted by other book several times.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Started the week on December 8th at St. Ann's in Charlotte at a traditional Latin Mass. It was beautiful; a wonderful way to celebrate this great feast of our Lady. My son Matthew and I ended the week going to an Opus Dei men's evening of recollection, again in Charlotte, this time at St. Matthew's. If only every week could have such bookends!

Oremus pro invicem!

Many Republicans want to claim the mantle of Ronald Reagan, but few are qualified. These Republicans are usually hawks (always seeing use of the armed forces as the solution to foreign policy crises). But Reagan was no hawk. Sure he built up the armed forces capability, and he sent an occupying force to Lebanon (disastrously), and he raided Granada, but the greatest foreign policy conflict of his presidency was won without a shot fired by the US armed forces.

Let us look at some instances. First consider “star wars”, the program Reagan championed, intended to prevent Soviet warheads from reaching our shores. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was criticized from the beginning as being unrealistic and even unscientific. Without going into the merits of SDI and the success of some of the program (or failures), look at the rationale. Our foreign policy to prevent nuclear war had been mutually assured destruction (MAD) for many years; that is, that because both sides could destroy the other, neither the US nor the Soviet Union would dare launch a nuclear attack. I’ll bet most of us know of games of “chicken” which have gone bad. MAD was another game of “chicken” waiting to blow up. Reagan recognized this and thought there must be a better way, a defensive way while other avenues were pursued.

Reagan partnered with Saint Pope John Paul II, English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and others to bring down the Soviet Empire peacefully, through moral and economic pressure.

Reagan was patient. He wasn’t concerned about his legacy-that the Cold War would end during his presidency. He was content that the Iron Curtain would crumble someday, even on someone else’s watch.

Today’s politicians and so-called statesman should learn some lessons as we throw ourselves into more and more armed conflicts around the world which spawn even more conflicts. Just because we have the biggest and best fighting force in the world, not all the battles and wars can be won with them. (I recall what Saint Pope John Paul II said about war always being “a defeat for humanity”, and “Peace is not just the absence of war. Like a cathedral, peace must be constructed patiently and with unshakable faith.”

How many of our foreign military interventions in the past 20 years have built peace?

The anti-Federalists warned us over 200 years ago that a strong central government with a standing army was more likely to fight wars to settle disputes than any other way. Our history has borne this out repeatedly, and especially in the last 20+ years.
I am not strictly a pacifist; I believe there are times a country and a people must go to war. But I also believe fervently that often we use our armed forces simply because we have them. (I am not implying that we use them to justify large defense budgets, but perhaps the case could be made ….) It seems to me that our government (both the Administration and Congress for many years) lacks creativity in foreign policy.

As a nation and as a people, we suffer.

Oremus pro invicem!

Judicial Tyranny!

South Carolina Amendment 1 of 2006 amended the South Carolina Constitution to make it unconstitutional for the US state to recognize or perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. The referendum was approved by 78% of voters.

 

Who and by what corrupted authority does the judiciary to strike down the just will of the people!

 

We need to stand up for our rights! All across this nation courts manned by just a few (who are beholden to special interests and political favors) are once again changing the laws voted upon and written by great majorities of the people.

 

Freedom is being lost daily. Laws are being made for and by the rich and powerful special interests who only have their own interests and those of greed and power at heart.

 

Beware fellow travelers. The days are numbered....

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Crowders Mountain, NC

Matthew, Thomas, and I just got back tonight from an excursion to Crowder's Mountain State Park in NC. We had last been there in April 2007 (see the report here ).

I should have read about our previous trip before heading out yesterday. The firewood at the park was still unseasoned and hard to burn, and once again we forgot salt.

It was a great trip. We hiked into the campground (about 1 mile from the park office) around 4:00 PM. We cooked some pork plate steaks wrapped in aluminum foil on the coals, rounding the meal out with brown beans.

This morning we took the 2 mile hike to the King's Pinnacle. It was strenuous for this old man who is out of shape! I note though that the hike took the same amount time as it did 7 years ago (when I also complained I was out of shape.)

It is good to home and warm (It rained most of the night and was very cold this morning.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Yesterday (I seldom blog on the weekends) was the 15th anniversary of my father's death - Eternal Rest give to him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him!

Today you can find fishing stories-originally told in some form here (years ago) at  Those Catholic Men.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple:

They searched for Him for three days. (For 3 days His body lay in the tomb.)

The Christ-child knows His true Father in Heaven, yet He remains subject to Mary and Joseph.

The Fourth Commandment of God: Honor your father and mother.

Parents (me!) honor your children; Teach them the way of the Lord. Do not nag them lest they loose heart! (St. Paul)

Honor your God!

O Mary, bring the peace of the Holy Family to our home.

All Saints Day

So we travelled to Columbia for All Saints Day Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church. While some of Columbia was being snowed on, we got rained on while participating in the last day of a 40 days for life prayer vigil. We don't get much chance to pray outside of abortion clinics as there are none close to us (Thanks be to God!).

 

It was cold. I recall way back in the 70's when Ellen McCormick of NY was running in the Democratic Presidential primary on a pro-life ticket. We (my siblings and I) were volunteered to hold her signs at the polling place. It was February and it was cooooooold and snowing. I think I was partnered with my sister Judy. I recall my hands freezing, but we had a good time. And of course I was disappointed when she didn't win.

Here's another installment of a rosary meditation.

The Presentation of our Lord in the Temple:

Mary's joy, that has lived from the Angel's first visit through the birth of her Son, has a shadow of sorrow cast today. She is told a sword of pain and sorrow will pierce her heart as she will watch the suffering of her Divine Son.

Again the Cross. Most of us are born to live, but her Son is born to die on the Cross.

Can I accept God's will when it is not pleasant, or do I abandon my prayer when I am not consoled?

Go to the Mother of Sorrows and ask for strength.

Mary, my mother, pray for my perseverance.

Oremus pro invicem!

All Saints Day!!!!!

It is one thing to abrogate the obligation for a Holy Day of Obligation for certain reasons. It is another to move the Holy Day to a Sunday so that all can celebrate it. And while I might not agree with either of these options in general, what is happening this year is an outrage.

 

So the Holy Day obligation, All Saints Day, is abrogated because it falls on a Saturday. However, just because the obligation is gone doesn't mean the Holy Day is eliminated! Try to find a Saturday morning Mass this year in order to celebrate the Solemnity. We finally found one over 60 miles away-but the only reason they are having Mass is that it is 1st Saturday-laudable in itself, but it should be because of All Saints Day.

 

And to take the cake, this past Sunday at Mass they had a 2nd collection for All Saints Day (because there would be no Mass on All Saints Day to take up the collection.) So what exactly is the collection for?

 

I could make more comments, but I think the facts speak for themselves!

 

Oremus pro invicem!

My youngest daughter claims that the 3 most exciting material things are, "horses, guns and IV's".

Now to another rosary meditation;

The Nativity:

Joy to the world! The Savior is born!

The King is born alone in a stable, and He will die among thieves. But today is for joy.

God's love for us does not stop even to give us His only Son. God had asked Abraham for his only son as a test, but did not take him.

God gives Christ to us freely. We know how we treated this gift 2000 years ago. What about today? Do I give back what I have been given? How do I treat the gift of the Holy Eucharist?

Mother of our Savior, take us to your Son to worship and adore Him.

More Rosary

Since the beginning of September we have processed 6 hogs, the latest being this morning. Only 1/2 of them being our own. We know how to do it, so we help out friends when we can. But boy, I think we are a little tried of doing pigs, especially in this warmer weather.

But onto the next mystery of the rosary:

The Visitation

Mary is not pretentious or proud. Immediately after being told that she will be the mother of the Messiah, she goes to assist and to serve her cousin who is pregnant with John the Baptist.

The Mother of God serves. Her Son, the Divine Son, serves also-even unto death on a cross.

How do I serve? Does my position of authority at home and at work make me a servant or a tyrant?

O Mother of my Savior, help me to serve God and those in need for love of Him.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Holy Rosary-Meditations

Several years ago (more than 10) I used to pray the rosary on my commute home from work in the car. Distraction was king.

 

I decided to write out for myself some simple meditations for each mystery so I had something to grasp while I fought the distractions.

 

Over the next several days/weeks I will reproduce those scribbles here, one mystery at a time. They are nothing special, but they helped me then (and now) to focus on the mystery at hand.

 

 (I have nothing for the Luminous mysteries as these predate that time.) So here is the first.

 

1. The Annunciation 

 

Fiat - Be it done unto me according to thy word!

 

Total self-giving and commitment from a 14 year-old Jewish girl.

 

How is my commitment? To my marriage? To my children? To giving my time in prayer and works to God?

 

Can I commit my love and all of myself to God?

 

O Mary, conceived without sin, help me to accept God's will in my life and dedicate myself to Him.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Holy Matrimony

We are (and have been) in a crisis concerning marriage for many years, but the crisis is peaking. Yet at this critical time some bishops are seriously considering weakening the sacrament and institution of marriage in the Holy Catholic Church instead of standing firm and proclaiming the beautiful truth about faithful marriage.

Recall that only ONE bishop in all of Catholic England would stand for Truth in the time of Henry VIII. Do we have any courageous bishops today?

1. There is no mercy without Truth! Mercy is given to those who are sorrowful, not those who  persisting in sinful living.

2. There has been a proposal that divorced and remarried couples could come and be blessed at Mass instead of receiving Holy Communion. I wonder; my catechism said if you are not in the state of grace (and are in fact persisting in mortal sin), such a blessing has no efficacy.

3. Instead of making the obtainment of annulments easier (as some are proposing-further weakening the sacrament), why isn't the proposal made that uncatechized and/or immature couples would not be allowed to be married .... and then make a major and continuing effort to catechize the faithful on marriage.

4. Admittedly there are those whose spouse had abandoned them and their children. While no one wants another to suffer, we must realize suffering joined with Christ brings salvation. Yet some bishops would deny the innocent spouse the opportunity to further sanctify their life and join their suffering with that of our Lord, offering all for the offending spouse. This may be hard, but our Lord was clear that all of us must take up our cross. No cross - no crown!

5. The proposals which are being floated and discussed will make troubled marriages collapse all the sooner because their will be little incentive not to seek an easy annulment or 'regularize' a second marriage.

6. I just don't understand why the Church would help the forces of the evil one further destroy the domestic church. This is big and could rend the Church apart.

There is suffering; there is injustice; there is struggle. But if you believe in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, you must believe His promises. His promises involve the cross. His teachings are not always easy, but if we have faith and follow Christ, true, lasting joy will be ours.

We bring people to the fullness of Communion by giving everything we have and teaching the Truth-with gentleness and understanding (if not for the grace of God, there go I), not by making excuses and diluting the Truth.  Only the Truth will set us free.

Oremus pro invicem!

Busy week. We finally got all the peanuts harvest and put into "trees". Of course the first bunch is already dry and ready to separate the peanuts from the hay. But it will have to wait.

The sorghum was suddenly ready. I didn't think we had enough to bring to the farmer up the road to press, (drought, then tons of rain, then drought again, didn't produce the big stocks. For a while I thought we had lost the crop) so I looked for an alternative way to get a little syrup out of our best stocks.

What we did is take our best sorghum stocks and chop them up. We boiled the stocks in water to boil the syrup out. Then we removed the stocks and boiled the syrup down like one normally does. So far it is working well, but we have a ways to go.

Also getting everything in shape for our annual fall square dance, complete with pig roast. Our pig has been getting plenty of milk and should be great by the time its ready to harvest.

Oremus pro invicem!

The Daughters of St. Paul have a new digital magazine (I think the first issue was in August). They contacted me to write an article for the latest issue. Check out the whole magazine here.

Oremus pro invicem!