Religion vs Religiosity

Father Jim Tucker at Dappled Things posted one of his beautiful homilies from the other day. It is a great meditation for the beginning of the New Year. Share

Book Review: 8 Ways to Run the Country

Another compelling article from Lew Rockwell.com in the form of a book review by Thomas E. Woods of Mitchell's 8 Ways to Run the Country. Yes, there are problems with both the right and the left.... Share

The Music of Hitchcock's films

For those of us who are Alfred Hitchcock fans, here is an article about the music used in his films from Lew Rockwell.com. Share

Lady in the Water (2006)

Where Lagan stream sings lullaby

There blows a lily fair

The twilight gleam is in her eye

The night is on her hair

And like a love-sick lennan-shee

She has my heart in thrall

Nor life I owe nor liberty

For love is lord of all.

M. Night Shyamalan's film Lady in the Water (2006) received some pretty harsh reviews. I had decided not to see it, but my brother happened to have the DVD on hand; he prevailed upon me to watch it over the holidays. I was enchanted. It reminded me of the old Irish songs and fairy tales. Fairy-tales traditionally were not only for the entertainment of children but helped people of past times to confront their fears and face their realities. The Irish novel I am working on has led me to explore Celtic folklore; so many fairy-tales have a pattern similar to the story of Lady in the Water. A mortal man encounters an entity from the fairy realm, usually a bewitching maiden, falls in love with her, and his life is transformed forever. Instead of the characters being from an ancient Celtic clan, they are the motley denizens of a Philadelphia apartment house. Each person has a gift, even the faults and annoying habits can be turned to a useful purpose. There is the unkown hero of high destiny whom the fairy-maiden inspires by a single glance. One can apply many of the incidents to spiritual truths; each person has a purpose from God, and it is the mission of the angels to help and inspire. Evil lies in wait, however, but it can be overcome, like the beast in the film who stalks the fairy/narth. It recalls a passage from "The Sea-Maiden," in which a hero kills a terrible beast.

But here was rejoicing, that she should come home alive and whole, and this great captain with the beast's head full of blood in his hand. On the morrow they went away, and there was no question at all but that this hero would save the king's daughter.

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/st-patricks-day/short-stories/the-sea-maiden.html

It also reminded me of the song, "Castle of Dromore."

Bring no ill wind to hinder us, my helpless babe and me
Dread spirits all of black water, Clan Owen's wild banshee
And Holy Mary pitying us to Heaven for grace doth sue.

Usually the hero goes off with the fairy, as in the story "Connla and the fairy-maid."

When the maiden heard this, she answered and said "The ocean is not so strong as the waves of thy longing. Come with me in my curragh, the gleaming, straight-gliding crystal canoe. Soon we can reach Boadag's realm. I see the bright sun sink, yet far as it is, we can reach it before dark. There is, too, another land worthy of thy journey, a land joyous to all that seek it. Only wives and maidens dwell there. If thou wilt, we can seek it and live there alone together in joy."

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/st-patricks-day/short-stories/connla-and-the-fairy-maiden.html

In Shyamalan's film, however, the hero must stay behind, yet in spite of the past tragedies, he is transformed by his encounter with the creature from another dimension.

Her welcome, like her love for me

Is from her heart within:

Her warm kiss is felicity

That knows no taint of sin.

And, when I stir my foot to go,

'Tis leaving Love and light

To feel the wind of longing blow

From out the dark of night.

(from the song "My Lagan Love")

I recommend the film to all who possess the child-like sense of the mystery latent in the created world.

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France is No Longer a Catholic Country

Not that this surprises anybody. Soon it is going to be a Muslim country, just like the rest of Europe, unless the demographic trend changes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/10/wfra10.xml Share

The Courage of Louis XVI

Louis XVI was 'brave' on the scaffold, wrote executioner
By Robin Stummer
Published: 09 April 2006

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article356654.ece

The last words of King Louis XVI - uttered only moments before a revolutionary guillotine removed his head - have come to light, more than 200 years after the monarch's ignominious death in Paris.

Although one of the most significant events at the dawn of the modern period of European history, Louis's execution for high treason has long been overshadowed by the beheading nine months later of his beautiful wife, Marie Antoinette.

Now, a first-hand account by a witness who should know better than anyone else - the monarch's executioner, Charles Henri Sanson - has come to light. Sanson, chief executioner in Paris during the bloody years of the French Revolution, penned a letter to convey what he called "the exact truth of what happened" weeks after he had presided over the beheading on 21 January 1793.

Writing to a revolutionary newspaper, Sanson - who oversaw nearly 3,000 executions - said Louis had shown considerable bravery and calmness of mind.

The Sanson manuscript is being auctioned by Christie's in June, and will be displayed between 30 May and 7 June in London. The letter is expected to sell for between £80,000 and £120,000.

See Also:

http://ledejeunersurlherbe.blogspot.com/2006/05/louis-xvis-last-words-before.html


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French Manners

My husband sent me this BBC article before Christmas and I just now found it in my Inbox. It is an amusing account of an English lady's misadventures at a Parisian high society dinner party. (Actually, an American might fare better since the French do not expect us to have any manners at all.) I felt inspired to do more research on the subject, and so here are some links about French manners, for those of us who are fascinated with different customs and cultures.
http://www.paris-anglo.com/dedent/dedent.php?request=guide/understand/howParisianslive/91.php Share

The Pamphlet Conspiracy

The article below was in the news last fall, but I wanted to post it here since Dr. Burrows' book sounds very interesting. It seems that some conspiracy theories are real.

Sex, Lies, and the "myth" of Marie-Antoinette
by Nigel Bunyan
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/30/wmarie30.xml

For generations of history students Marie Antoinettewas the sexually depraved queen who helped spark theFrench Revolution by joking that her impoverished citizens should "eat cake" during a bread shortage. Documents from the time suggested that prior to her date with a guillotine the Austrian-born queen had a voracious sexual appetite encompassing both men andwomen. Indeed, it is this racy image that will be perpetuated yet again next month when Sofia Coppola's cinematic homage to her, Marie Antoinette, premieres in Britain.

However, a British expert on the French Revolution is claiming that the "evidence" of the queen's reputation for debauchery is a tissue of lies, thought up by London-based criminals intent on blackmailing the French royal family. Printed in a series of ribald pamphlets, it was only read by the Paris mobs after the fall of the Bastillein 1789. Dr Simon Burrows, of Leeds University, argues that instead of distributing the pamphlets, they invited Louis XVI to pay for their destruction. He did so, apparently handsomely, and in return they burned them - except for around 30 copies which were duly seized when the prison was stormed. Dr Burrows agrees with the consensus view that even Marie Antoinette's famous remark, in which she allegedly suggested that starving peasants should eat cake, is a lie. Lies or no lies, the pamphlets did for Marie Antoinette. Share

More on Tolkien

Another great article from the archives of the NOR, this time about J.R.R. Tolkien. I understand how scholars of Tolkien were upset about the movie because it is how I feel when I see gross historical liberties taken with Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette in various films and novels. I did enjoy the Jackson film trilogy, though. Share