Remembering MLK: In the Name of Love

Fifty years ago today, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by a racist shooter. Many cities burned, including Washington DC, in reaction to this murder.

One of the early anthems of the rock super-group U-2 is "Pride--In the Name of Love", which commemorated this horrible event as well as reinforcing the peaceful messages of the Reverend King. 

Celebrating Passover with Pesach Funk

What an exuberant way for Jews to celebrate their freedom for their bonds in Egypt!

Aside from the ritual Passover meal, observant Jews keep kosher by cleaning their kitchens of anything that is hametz (the fermented product from five grains: wheat, rye, spelt, barley and oats).  

 Many Ashkinazi Jews will also avoid eating kitniyot, foods that include corn, beans and lentil, as they expand when they are heated  Conservative rabbis overturned the kitniyot prohibitions in 2015. 

Such dietary conscientiousness stems from following the Torah and remembering that Jews needed to flee their slavery in Pharaoh's Egypt in haste with no time to allow for leavened bread to rise.

Matzah is kosher because it is a quickly baked cracker and has no time for fermentation leavening to occur.  

Some find keeping kosher for Passover to be more of a crunch than others. 

On Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah ("the head of the year") is the commemoration of the creation of Adam and Eve. Rosh Hashana serves as a day of reflection on deeds over the past year and to set the tone for the new year.

For Rosh Hashanah, symbolic foods are bread and apples dipped in honey to signify sweet wishes for the new year.  A shofar (a hollowed out ram's horn) is blown up to 100 times as sins are symbolically cast off by emptying one's pockets into a body of water.

Justin Timberlake does a mitzvah with a video celebrating the Jewish New Year. Happy 5777! 

L'shana tova. 

St. Dominic on Prayer

 As the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Dominic, it is worth remembering that this year is the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Order of Preachers (a.k.a. the Dominicans).

Artistic Impressions of the Agony in the Garden

Agony in the Garden, studios of El Greco (c. 1590s), National Gallery of Art, London UK 

Could ye not stay awake with me an hour,

You who by your consent would die for me?

Could you not stay awake with me one hour?

Look!

Judas--do not not see how he does not sleep,

But hastens to hand me over to the Jews?

Why are you sleeping?

Arise, and pray,

Lest you fall into tempetation.

Judas--Look!

       ~Sept répons des ténébres (1962)

         Francis Poulenc 

Commemorating Childermas

Say, ye celestial guards, who wait

In Bethlehem, round the Saviour's palace gate,

Say, who are these on golden wings,

That hover o'er the new-born King of kings,

Their palms and garlands telling plain

That they are of the glorious martyr-train,

Next to yourselves ordained to praise

His Name, and brighten as on Him they gaze?

But where their spoils and trophies? where

The glorious dint a martyr's shield should bear?

How chance no cheek among them wears

The deep-worn trace of penitential tears,

But all is bright and smiling love,

As if, fresh-borne from Eden's happy grove,

They had flown here, their King to see,

Nor ever had been heirs of dark mortality?

Ask, and some angel will reply,

"These, like yourselves, were born to sin and die,

But ere the poison root was grown,

God set His seal, and marked them for His own.

Baptised its blood for Jesus' sake,

Now underneath the Cross their bed they make,

Not to be scared from that sure rest

By frightened mother's shriek, or warrior's waving crest."

Mindful of these, the firstfruits sweet

Borne by this suffering Church her Lord to greet;

Blessed Jesus ever loved to trace

The "innocent brightness" of an infant's face.

He raised them in His holy arms,

He blessed them from the world and all its harms:

Heirs though they were of sin and shame,

He blessed them in his own and in his Father's Name.

Then, as each fond unconscious child

On the everlasting Parent sweetly smiled

(Like infants sporting on the shore,

That tremble not at Ocean's boundless roar),

Were they not present to Thy thought,

All souls, that in their cradles Thou hast bought?

But chiefly these, who died for Thee,

That Thou might'st live for them a sadder death to see.

And next to these, Thy gracious word

Was as a pledge of benediction stored

For Christian mothers, while they moan

Their treasured hopes, just born, baptised, and gone.

Oh, joy for Rachel's broken heart!

She and her babes shall meet no more to part;

So dear to Christ her pious haste

To trust them in His arms for ever safe embraced.

She dares not grudge to leave them there,

Where to behold them was her heart's first prayer;

She dares not grieve--but she must weep,

As her pale placid martyr sinks to sleep,

Teaching so well and silently

How at the shepherd's call the lamb should die:

How happier far than life the end

Of souls that infant-like beneath their burthen bend.
                               

It is easy to be so absorbed in the joy of Christmas to forget some of suffering and turmoil that was associated with the miracle of the Incarnation.

Childermas, or the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorates the massacre of all males under the age of two in Bethlehem ordered by Herod to preclude a rival king.

The Coventry Carol is a haunting hymn which mourns the loss of the first Christian martyrs in the form of a lullaby to the Holy Innocents. 

Scary Spiritual Costumes for All Hallow's Eve

The wag wearing the Spirit of Vatican II costume clearly is not a fan of the St. Louis Jesuits repertoire.  But the outfit does bring up a larger question in Catholic culture.  

Many of the changes to the Catholic Church post 1965 were not necessarily mandated by the Second Vatican Council but were enacted under the shaky assumptions of "The Spirit of Vatican II".   This is why during the 2012 "Year of Faith", then Pope Benedict XVI wanted people to contemplate the 50th anniversary of the start of Vatican II through a hermaneutic of continuity rather than a hermaneutic of rupture. 

Those who are not fond of some changes, like guitar masses, communion in the hand, and moving some feast days to Sundays rail through ridicule. 


Ironically, the musician who satirized Vatican II chose to make his point through a repetitious folk music setting which droned on the mundane rather than uplifting motifs. 

Nikita Khrushchev on God

On April 12th, 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in outer space as his Vostok I spacecraft orbited the Earth in a 108 minute flight.  Upon his return, Soviet Premier Nitika Khrushchev mocked religion by claiming that Gagarin announced: "I went up into space and did not see God anywhere." This was triumph for Soviet atheism at the height of the Cold War.

But like many aspects of the Soviet Space program, not everything was accurate.  Despite the brash bluster of Comrad Khrushchev, Gagarin was never heard uttering that controversial quip.  In addition, Gagarin was a baptized member of the Russian Orthodox Church who was actually quite devout (but privately so as not to scandalize the Soviet state and their scientific socialism hagiography).

Steve Martin: "Atheists Don't Have No Songs"

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers tried to bridge the gap between seemingly insurmountable points with their tune "Atheists Don't Have No Songs".  

Meditation on Christmas in Bethlehem

Os Guinness on Evil

Contemporary  language to describe ethics and evil  has grown uncertain and confused.  In the public square, those who speak unabashedly of evil are dismissed as simplistic, old–fashioned, and out of tune with the realities of modern life.  However Os Guinness contends that we must come to terms with our beliefs regarding evil and ultimately join the fight against it.  But to do so, we ought to understand three underlying approaches to evil in this world.

Guinness' talk for the Veritas Forum delineates the Eastern Approach which Hinduism and Buddhism is based, a Secularist world-view on evil and a Biblical approach as embodied in Judaism and Christianity. 

Guinness avuncular lecture elucidated a couple of things which are not ordinarily appreciated.  Many know that Buddists believe in reincarnation.  But what they aspire for is Nirvana, which seems a lot less appealing  per Os Gunniness' translation as "great deathless lake of extinction." 

 One thinks less of Nirvana's grungy collection of hit music and more about Kurt Cobain's suicide. Focusing on the metaphysical side,  this "lake of extinction" paradigm  tracks Buddhism's answer to Dukkah "suffering" to have freedom from individuality.

To face unspeakable evil from a biblical perspective, one must grapple with the "trilemma":

1.  Is evil very evil?

2.  Is God all good?

3.  Is God omnipotent?

CBS Late Night Spotlights Strident Iconoclast Alternative Rock Singer

CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson recently gave alternative rock singer Kristeen Young her American network television debut singing "Pearl of a Girl".

For those who found Young's singing to be more discordant disharmony rather than what NPR shills as "beguiling and visceral" singing, here are the lyrics to "Pearl of a Girl":

I never knew I was a girl until they stopped to tell me. 

I never knew I was disturbed until they dropped three volumes on me.

But in the Bible/Torah/Quran there are really no good roles for me except concubine and wash woman.

I used to be the sad one now I just want to stab them it's so severe, it's brutal.

They've needed to have the law so they can legally bind us.

They've needed the church so they can morally ground us.

They've needed to make the dough they've must be so scared of us.

So their stories are of ghosts.

I only wish the virgin would've had an abortion.

 Young's iconoclastic lyrics sought to condemn all major religions for centuries of religious persecution and keeping women in subservient roles.  Yet fashion and imaging for "The Knife Shift" goes out of its way to insult all of the Abrahamic faiths. And she does the Knife Shift to suggest that the Virgin Mary should have aborted the Christ child. 

For example, Young prides herself on creating her own fashion.  Young proudly describes a skirt that she designed which she painted on symbols of the three major religions which she intentionally defaced.  The cross and the crescent moon were positioned upside down and the Stars of David looked like it was a shirukin throwing stars.  

The iconoclast artist also claimed: "I feel like making and wearing something Satanic". This provocative fashion and lyric is a marked contrast to her avowed approach to art "the freedom and diversity of many styles grouped together".  Young not only felt compelled to shout her song from the rooftop but to insult all with whom she disagrees. So much for coexist. 


"The Pearl of a Girl" was not the 37 year old strident chanteuse's first foray into what charitably can be seen as clashing with religious and cultural constraints. In her six album discography, her tracks include "No Other God", "Commit Adultery", "Devil Girl", "The Devil Made Me", "Son of Man",  and "Protestant".  Somehow, it seems unlikely that one would hear tracks from "Music for Strippers, Hookers and the Odd On-Looker" (2009) on  a Praise music channel. 

Some interviews with Kristeen Young intimate a woman who was troubled by her youth in St. Louis where she struggled with religion and non-conformity.  But instead of fashioning these inclinations like Madonna, they manifested themselves like her estwhile mentor Morrissey with a panache of Lady Gaga.

It is not uncommon for rock musicians to push the envelope of taste and engage in épater le bourgeois.  After all, a famous Rolling Stones song is "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968) which attributes the tumult of the 1960s to the hellish anti-hero.  In addition, the Rolling Stones also issued a record: "Their Satantic Majestic Request" (1967), which was their only attempt at psychodelia.  Mick Jagger summed it up best: 

 "There's a lot of rubbish on Satanic Majesties. Just too much time on our hands, too many drugs, no producer to tell us, 'Enough already, thank you very much, now can we get just get on with this song?'"

Rather than adopt a anti-hero narrative or compose a session stoned, Kristeen Young consistently follows a world view that it ardently iconoclastic and anti-religious as most people of faith would understand it.

So why give Young the publicity which she cravenly covets?  It shows how CBS has stooped to conquer. When The Doors appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, they were asked to change the Robbie Krieger lyrics to "Light My Fire" so as not to sing "Girl we could get much higher".  Of course, Jim Morrison flouted this promise and The Doors got banned.  That same year, the Rolling Stones--the bad boys of rock and roll--changed the lyrics to a popular song to "Let's spend some time together" to not scandalize audiences.   

The CBS "Pearl of a Girl" spot exemplifies the mainstreaming of alternative lifestyles which the great silent majority finds alien and mildly offensive. This is a nation which is tolerant of a wide variety of views and lifestyles, but the Lamestream Media and the cultural intelligentsia is pushing a weltanschauung which excludes all but the politically correct perspective of the moment.   The episode underlines why Christians feel like they are under attack, albeit in this instance culturally. To change this cultural assault, the faithful must recognize the challenge in order to peacefully confront challenges. 

Considering his choice in guests, it is no wonder why Craig Ferguson was not fingered to be David Letterman's replacement.

Abbey Road on the Tiber?

The canonizations of Pope St. John XXIII and Pope St. John Paul II has been characterized as the day of four popes as Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI concelebrated the Canonization Mass with Pope Francis.

[L] Pope Francis and [R] Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI at Canonization Mass 27 April 2014 

One wag visually depicted this monumental moment in a homage to the Beatles.

As unprecedented of an occurrence as this "Day of Four Popes" was-- Sorry John (sic), it was not bigger than Jesus either.

Timothy Dolan on Hearts

God, our Father, I offer You my day. I offer You my prayers, thoughts, words, actions, joys, and sufferings in union with the Heart of Jesus, who continues to offer Himself in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world.  May the Holy Spirit, Who guided Jesus, be my guide and my strength today so that I may witness to your love.  With Mary, the mother of our Lord and the Church, I pray for all Apostles of Prayer and for the prayer intentions proposed by the Holy Father this month.  Amen.

Sign of Grace

This sign is epitomized in the life of John Newton, an Eighteenth Century Englishman Seaman involved in the slave trade.  Newton gradually experienced spiritual conversion which lead him to become an Anglican clergyman and hymnist.  But 34 years after leaving the slave trade, Newton became a prominent abolitionist, who renounced the wrongs of the the slave trade and buttress the case for passage of MP William Wilberforce Slave Trade Act of 1807.

Newton's resonating legacy is that he composed the hymn "Amazing Grace", a song which was made popular as part of the Second Great Awakening in America during the Nineteenth Century.  The lyrics were a  humble response to the   magnanimity of God's grace despite our sinfulness fused to the tune of a Negro spiritual, which Newton may have heard from the bowels of the slave ship. 

A Different Approach to Come My Way

Fr. Austin Litke, O.P. singing "Come My Way" at NYC Grand Central Station 

Pope Francis in Rio, 2013

During the 2013 World Youth Day celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pope Francis exhorted the youthful pilgrims to “I want you to take to the streets. I want the Church to take to the streets.”  BlackFriar Films, a project of the Dominican Friars based in New York City, interpreted this call to the New Evangelization by taking a different approach to the Christian patrimony and take it to the streets.

In the "Come My Way, My Truth, My Life" video, Fr. Austin Dominic Litke, O.P. sings the traditional Anglican hymn on the streets of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge while donned in his medieval Dominican habit.





The initial juxtaposition of ethereal beauty with the backdrop of the frenetic city which seemingly never sleeps underlines the timeless message which the George Herbert poem (1633) is based.

George Herbert (1595-1633)

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a way as gives us breath;
Such a truth as ends all strife,
Such a life as killeth death.

Such a way as gives us breath;Such a truth as ends all strife,Such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a light as shows a feast,
Such a feast as mends in length,
Such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:Such a joy as none can move,Such a love as none can part,Such a heart as joys in love.

By exposing youth to the beauty and truth to Christian tradition, Dominicans have experienced a boom in vocations.  Moreover, breathing life into tradition by taking it to the streets makes it contemporary and contemplative. 

Roger Waters Taps Into Anti-Semitic Imagery

Inflatable Wild Pig prop for Roger Waters The Wall Live (2013) a.k.a. "Pig Drone"

Considerable controversy has been sparked by "Pig Drone" which Roger Waters used as an inflatable prop during a concert in Belgium. Olon Anifus Asif, an Israeli living in Belgium, attended the Roger Waters European concert and noted: 

“I had a lot of fun, until I noticed the Star of David, on the inflatable pig. That was the only religious-national symbol which appeared among other symbols for fascism, dictatorships and oppression of people. Waters crossed the line and gave expression to an anti-Semitic message, beyond all his messages of anti-militancy"

The Elder of Ziyon blog posted a video of this spectacle on You Tube labeled "Pig Drone"

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, labeled the Waters blow up  wild pig as a "grotesque display of Jew-hatred."  Cooper inveighed: “With this disgusting display Roger Waters has made it crystal clear. Forget Israel, never mind ‘limited boycotts promoting Middle East Peace.’ Waters is an open hater of Jews.”

Roger Waters fans would rightly point out that Pink Floyd's album "Animals" (1977) featured an inflated pig.  Moreover, the prop was used during the "Run Like Hell" song from "The Wall" (1979), which was written from the point of view of an anti-hero who  imagines himself turning into a Nazi dictator. 

Todd Gutnick, the director of media relations at the British Anti-Defamation League, seemed unconcerned that the Star of David on Water's inflatable pig had an anti-Semitic intent.  Gutnick noted that Waters has been doing the same thing for years.  Gutnick  observed: "For this most recent tour, the pig appears to have numerous symbols, including a hammer, dollar signs, and sickle and a small Star of David."  Moreover Gutnick noted that in the filmed version of The Wall (1982), mobs raid and destroy the homes of blacks and Jews, so the imagery is consistent with the intent of the song.

Roger Waters in fascist costume during  a live concert of "The Wall"

Delving into the intent of the imagery, the symbols are supposed to represent fascism, dictatorship and oppression of people.  Of course, the Star of David was the only religious-national symbol.  These images displayed on dirgibles have not been static.  One former fan complained when "Bush" was scrawled on the porcine balloon during a prior US tour.  So to keep current and live on the artistic edge, Waters might have included a crescent to depict the authoritarian impulses of Islamists who seek to impose a sharia compliant Caliphate on the world. But that would be at varience with Waters' stated political opinions.

Roger Waters  has released "A Song For Palestine", which shows where he stands on politics in the Holy Land. Waters has been a vocal proponent of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions effort against Israel.  During an interview with Electronic Intifada in March, Roger Waters claimed that:  "[T]he Israeli government runs an apartheid regime in Israel, the occupied territories and everywhere else it decides.”  He has encouraged other artists like Beyonce to boycott Israeli appearances. But if Roger Water's animus is only against Israel as one of the powers that be , this distinction seems to be lost on the general public.

Some comments on the You-Tube "Pig Drone" video felt into typical anti-semitic smears.  This sort of reaction is unsurprising.  Rabbi Cooper opined that: “Waters deployed a classic disgusting medieval anti-Semitic caricature widely used by both Nazi and Soviet propaganda to incite hatred against Jews.”  The imagery may be old in basis and nothing new for Waters' theatrical concert experiences.  But at a time when the world is in turmoil with war on several fronts in the Middle East and a shaky financial system, many may look for scapegoats and Jews are easy targets.

h/t: The Blaze
        International Business Times-UK

Cookie Monster on Friends

Andrea Bocelli Sings Praises on Choosing Life

iHad his mother been let herself be steered by medical professionals for a simple solution to appendicitus during pregnancy, we never would have been blessed by the sweet sounds of Andrea Bocelli. Laus Deo that she chose life.

Energized by the Empty Tomb

Pope Francis' homily for the Easter Vigil considered the surprise and salvation associated with finding the empty tomb:

 In the Gospel of this radiant night of the Easter Vigil, we first meet the women who go the tomb of Jesus with spices to anoint his body (cf. Lk 24:1-3). They go to perform an act of compassion, a traditional act of affection and love for a dear departed person, just as we would. They had followed Jesus, they had listened to his words, they had felt understood by him in their dignity and they had accompanied him to the very end, to Calvary and to the moment when he was taken down from the cross. We can imagine their feelings as they make their way to the tomb: a certain sadness, sorrow that Jesus had left them, he had died, his life had come to an end. Life would now go on as before. Yet the women continued to feel love, the love for Jesus which now led them to his tomb. But at this point, something completely new and unexpected happens, something which upsets their hearts and their plans, something which will upset their whole life: they see the stone removed from before the tomb, they draw near and they do not find the Lord’s body.  

It is an event which leaves them perplexed, hesitant, full of questions: “What happened?”, “What is the meaning of all this?” (cf. Lk 24:4). Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us when something completely new occurs in our everyday life? We stop short, we don’t understand, we don’t know what to do. Newness often makes us fearful, including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the Gospel: often we would prefer to hold on to our own security, to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died, someone who ultimately lives on only as a memory, like the great historical figures from the past. We are afraid of God’s surprises; we are afraid of God’s surprises! He always surprises us!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we often weary, disheartened and sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him.
But let us return to the Gospel, to the women, and take one step further. They find the tomb empty, the body of Jesus is not there, something new has happened, but all this still doesn’t tell them anything certain: it raises questions; it leaves them confused, without offering an answer. And suddenly there are two men in dazzling clothes who say: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; but has risen” (Lk 24:5-6).

 What was a simple act, done surely out of love – going to the tomb – has now turned into an event, a truly life-changing event. Nothing remains as it was before, not only in the lives of those women, but also in our own lives and in the history of mankind. Jesus is not dead, he has risen, he is alive! He does not simply return to life; rather, he is life itself, because he is the Son of God, the living God (cf. Num 14:21-28; Deut 5:26; Josh 3:10). Jesus no longer belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the future; he is the everlasting “today” of God. This is how the newness of God appears to the women, the disciples and all of us: as victory over sin, evil and death, over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human. And this is a message meant for me and for you, dear sister, dear brother. 

 How often does Love have to tell us: Why do you look for the living among the dead? Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness... and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive! Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do.

 There is one last little element that I would like to emphasize in the Gospel for this Easter Vigil. The women encounter the newness of God. Jesus has risen, he is alive! But faced with empty tomb and the two men in brilliant clothes, their first reaction is one of fear: “they were terrified and bowed their faced to the ground”, Saint Luke tells us – they didn’t even have courage to look. But when they hear the message of the Resurrection, they accept it in faith. And the two men in dazzling clothes tell them something of crucial importance: “Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee… And they remembered his words” (Lk 24:6,8). They are asked to remember their encounter with Jesus, to remember his words, his actions, his life; and it is precisely this loving remembrance of their experience with the Master that enables the women to master their fear and to bring the message of the Resurrection to the Apostles and all the others (cf. Lk 24:9). To remember what God has done and continues to do for me, for us, to remember the road we have travelled; this is what opens our hearts to hope for the future. May we learn to remember everything that God has done in our lives. 

God of Resurrection and new life,

you whose dear Son, Jesus

broke open the tomb

and the clutches of death

help us to hear

today's Good News

with the enthusiasm of Mary Magdalene,

Peter, and the Beloved Disciple.

May we too run with energy,

pause with prayerful reflection,

and then believe as they did.

Help us hear "rumors of Resurrection"

everywhere we go -- and spread them.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,

your Son, who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God for ever and ever.

Amen.

h/t: Rich McKee
     Vatican Radio