“Intellectual activity nurtures an inner life,” sums up Hitz, “a human core that is a refuge from suffering as much as it is a resource for reflection for its own sake.
Author: HEATHER KING
JAMES BOND, JOSEPH CORNELL, AND FR. WALTER CISZEK VS. GOD
This mischievous Pole, tender of heart and tough as nails, evokes St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Both were fiercely sure of their vocations; both underwent a decisive second conversion; both suffered long, hard, and humbly for love of Christ.
LOVE ON THE STREETS OF LA FOR THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE
“For me, she represents my culture. She represents cultural and social pride, my upbringing.”
WATCH, LOOK AND LISTEN
I have recently come across David Attenborough rendition of The Peregrine, J.A. Baker’s 1967 masterpiece of “nature writing” though it’s infinitely more and other and higher than mere nature writing.
ALL THE BEAUTY IN THE WORLD: THE MEMOIR OF A MET MUSEUM GUARD
There’s a wonderful chapter, called “Days’ Work,” on the drawings of Michelangelo and the Gee’s Bend quilters from rural Alabama, specifically Loretta Pettway who, like Michelangelo, found her work almost unbearably burdensome and did not especially enjoy it. And made quilts that were almost preternaturally beautiful.
EMPTINESS/FULLNESS
This longing for life to continue is one reason why the teachings of the Church on marriage and family make total sense. Those of us without children support–in a sense, lay down our lives–for other people’s families and children.
SERVANT OF GOD KIRSTEN BERT
So on All Souls, I honor Kirsten Bert, whose life touched mine ever so briefly, but on my part ever so deeply.
LOOK: HOW TO PAY ATTENTION IN A DISTRACTED WORLD
The beauty in such strange and singular little clubs, the delight in the face-to-face human encounter, the social aspect, the person-to-person sharing, the fun of the collective search: All this is lost on Madsbjerg.
A PATH IN THE WOODS
“[b] I still want to remain faithful
to my first astonishments
to recognize as wisdom the child’s wonder”…
THE CAPACITY FOR LITURGY
When I come across someone who is also hungry, searching, and soul-sick, and who also desperately wants to order his or her life to the highest possible plane, I need something way more solid than my own self-styled “spiritual” frolic.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
That is one thing I missed beyond belief—constant birdsong. The dawn and vesper choruses.
SIR ALEC GUINNESS: CATHOLIC CONVERT
Guinness played a priest in another, lesser-known film, “The Prisoner” (1955).
Adapted from a play by Bridget Boland and directed by Peter Glenville, the film considers such contemporary issues as public shaming, the surveillance state, and anti-Church sentiment.
PARTING SHOTS
So large does Gerard Manley Hopkins loom in my heart that it took me forever to find his grave because I assumed he would have a giant oh say winged statue or maye even a mausoleum all to himself.