Benedict on Holy Saturday

We have all experienced that terrifying feeling of abandonment, which is why we fear death—similarly to how, ‘as children, we are afraid of being alone in the dark, and the only thing that can comfort us is the presence of a person who loves us.’ And that is precisely what happened on Holy Saturday, he said. Even in the darkest of times, ‘we can hear a voice that calls us and find a hand that takes ours and leads us out.’ If love can penetrate to the very depths of hell, we are never alone or hopeless.

A piece I wrote for First Things, recalling Benedict XVI’s moving meditation on Holy Saturday, which he delivered after praying before the Shroud of Turin in 2010.

Bluth Family = Brothers K?

Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, unless the family consists of a morally depraved patriarch and three highly differentiated siblings who, after years out of contact with each other, convene at the family home for a slowly escalating mess made inevitable by their respective and collective dysfunctions, in which case that family is unhappy in the same way as the Karamazovs.

Is Arrested Development actually just a 21st-century take on the Brothers K? Helen Rittelmeyer outlines the uncanny similarities between the Fox sitcom and Dostoevsky’s classic novel.

Life in Italy

When you work with your hands, he says, the less you see, the more you feel. This could be true. Whenever he sees me, he somehow manages to truly see me, zeroing in on my flea-like worries and ladybug joys with the perception of a man whose main concerns are tiny stretches of smoothness and stubborn bits of rough.

While living in Italy, I developed a love for Linda Falcone’s clever commentary on daily life there. Her first book, Italians Dance and I’m a Wallflower, made me laugh so hard I cried. Today, I indulged in a belated catch-up on her column for The Florentine magazine.  The excerpt above is from one of my favorites, titled “A craftsman and a count.”

Falcone writes as an Italian-American who has been living in Italy for more than twenty years, and her love of language makes her an absolute delight to read. Her approach to writing is characterized by an attention to the small details of Italian life that provide a lens into broader truths about the culture as a whole (and especially Tuscany).  Often she’ll focus on one particular idiom or expression and what it reveals about the Italian mentality. Her observations are not only spot on but also charming and veritably insightful. Alright, enough gushing from me. If you have any kind of fondness for words or Italian culture, look her up subito!

 

 

Tolerance vs. freedom

In direct relation to the previous post: an interesting piece that challenges the consistency of the liberal credo of tolerance.

Religious freedom

Religious liberty includes your freedom of belief, speech, and worship. But it also protects action—the freedom to serve the common good in accordance with your faith. It means that you and your community—not the government—define your faith. It means the freedom to help the needy in accordance with the principles of your faith…. Nobody should be forced to act in a manner contrary to their own religious beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, unless it is necessary to keep public order.

A new website has been launched to create awareness about threats to religious freedom, both in the U.S. and internationally. The site, sponsored by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, serves as a hub of information regarding religious freedom for all faiths, and at all levels of government.

All Souls Day

Marcellino D’Ambrosio reflects on what today’s feast says about life after death, using some helpful analogies to shed light on the Catholic belief in purgatory.

Good deeds, wrong reasons

Do the right thing, and ask God to help your heart catch up with your hands.

Catholic blogger Simcha Fisher writes a down-to-earth post on how having bad motives to do good things can still entail a step in the right direction.

Swoon-worthy supercar

The Huayra aero-stabilizes…. What does that mean? It means that when you’re ripping around the Italian countryside like a fleeing bank robber, with the Huayra’s turbo wastegates exploding, tearing the veil with the sound of angels having a mid-air collision, there is somehow a deft, invisible finger holding the car to the pavement.

For some seriously swoon-worthy eye candy, check out these reviews and photos of the 2013 Pagani Huayra. WSJ, quoted above, provides a more succinct summary with more lyrical (and less technical) prose, while the Car and Driver review offers a more detailed run-down of the art and science involved in this masterpiece of a supercar. (The latter also features a larger photo gallery).

Looks like we’ll have to content ourselves with pictures and videos of this gorgeous gullwing. The Huayra takes its name from the Andean wind god, and in this form the god requires an offering of about $1.2 million for domestic worship.

President of Baptist seminary writes on role of saints

We are encouraged by the witness of those who have gone before. We remember their lives and cling to the hope of resurrection together.

Baptist professor Molly T. Marshall gives her take on the communion of saints celebrated on today’s Catholic solemnity, drawing on scripture, pastoral experience, and the thought of Jürgen Moltmann.

All Saints Day

This is not the stuff that usually makes history; this is the stuff that makes history real—to give love in the time and place and with the very people found in the space of one’s life.

Leonard DeLorenzo—a friend of mine and the director of the Notre Dame Vision program—reflects on doing God’s will daily, in the context of All Saints Day (Nov. 1st).