Difficult Anniversaries

Some reflections from author Ellen Gable:

The end of June every year marks two very difficult anniversaries for me. On June 26th, 1986, I was rushed into surgery to remove a tiny baby from my right fallopian tube. This, after already miscarrying a baby from my womb. I woke up in the hospital with the knowledge that I had conceived twins…and I would be leaving the hospital with neither in my arms. (Read entire post.)

ALSO....

A message for grieving mothers from blogger Elena LaVictoire.

The loss of my child changed me permanently.  It made me stronger and gave me a different perspective on everything.  Nothing like finding the answer to "what's the worst that could happen?" to make everything else seem not so bad.  I found a new appreciation for the other people in my life and life's little tragedies just didn't seem as tragic. In many ways, living through a stillbirth made me wiser. (Read entire article.)

Share

Restaurant Service

Is it getting worse? According to Bon Appétit Magazine:

 When people complain about restaurants, it usually has nothing to do with the quality of the fritto misto. It's about the service. And these days, with more and more casual spots--think cash only, no reservations--becoming destinations, a service crisis is just around the corner. (Often, if you get a mere "hello" when you walk in, you're doing pretty well.) The surly server is nothing new--ever been to a diner?--but no matter how grumpy his or her delivery, at least you get your order quickly and without judgment. But now, when people will spend hours in line to try a much-tweeted taco, some too-cool-for-school restaurants have started believing their own hype and think that the basic rules of hospitality don't apply to them. Instead of an attitude of "We're so grateful you chose to spend your hard-earned money at our establishment," it's "You should be grateful you even got a table." (Read entire article.)

Share

A Rejoinder

To Straussians and Traditionalist Catholics from The New Beginning:

Both groups have accepted the Yankee nationalist myth, with the traditionalists criticizing the American founding accordingly.

Traditionalists see the United States as a "product of the Enlightenment" under the belief that rights can only be understood within the framework of liberalism, not as curbs on human legislative authority for a different reason. In this case, the Bill of Rights is a curb on the authority of the Federal Government. They do not acknowledge that the United States are more than the federal system. (Read entire post.)

Share

Sparkling Table Settings

Some ideas for entertaining from Southern Living. More on how to set a stunning table, HERE. Share

Edmund Burke and the Constitution

From Russell Kirk:

Constitutions are something more than lines written upon parchment. When a written constitution endures—and most written constitutions have not been long for this world—that document has been derived successfully from long-established customs, beliefs, statutes, and interests; it has reflected a political order already accepted, tacitly at least, by the dominant element among a people.

True constitutions are not invented: they grow. The Constitution of the United States has endured for two centuries because it arose from the healthy roots of more than two centuries of colonial experience and of several centuries of British experience. For the most part, the American Constitution expressed formally what already was accepted, practiced, and believed in by the people of the new republic. A constitution without deep roots is no true constitution at all.

In a symposium at Kenyon College, three decades ago, I expressed such views. Clinton Rossiter dissented. Why, a constitution can be created overnight, he said; just that had been done in many European countries shortly after the First World War and the Second World War.

"Where are those constitutions now?" I inquired. And today one might ask, with equal pertinence, "Where are now the constitutions of the emergent African states, so grandly promulgated in the 1950s and 1960's?" The framers of a successful constitution must take into account the history, the moral order, the resources, the prospects of a country—and much else besides. Those framers must be endowed with political imagination—which is not at all the same thing as political utopianism—and with much practical knowledge of affairs. Otherwise a constitution may live no longer than a butterfly. (Read entire article.)

Share

The Savage Truth

Journalist Nat Hentoff speaks of the unspeakable.

On the one hand, I cannot vote to re-elect President Barack Obama, who more than any other president in our history continuously exceeds the constitutional limitations of the executive branch. For example – one of many I’ve documented – Obama, without going to a judge, regularly selects those who are to be assassinated from a “kill list”; this includes American citizens suspected of being associated with terrorists.

But I have other reasons for not possibly voting for him. One is that no previous president has been so radically pro-abortion as Obama, who, when he was in the Illinois Senate, voted three times against the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act. The bill would have ensured that if a live baby fully emerged before an abortion was successfully completed, he or she was to be saved.

To let this legislation die would be an act of infanticide, but it did not pass while Obama was in the Illinois Senate. (Read entire article.)

Share

Wrapped Up: God's Ten Gifts for Women

Wrapped Up by Teresa Tomeo and Cheryl Dickow is a book for quiet reflection, focusing on ten aspects of the spiritual journey, including God's love and forgiveness, a joyful attitude, suffering and the sacraments. Each chapter is divided between the two authors, as Cheryl shares insights about the matriarchs of the Old Testament and Teresa provides data and anecdotes about the struggles faced by contemporary women. Both writers include snippets from their lives and how they have each found deeper peace in their vocations as Catholic women through becoming open to the gifts which God gives.

Teresa comments on the discouragement with which so many women must contend, and which can be an obstacle to having a healthy spiritual life.

In addition to the personal baggage we carry, the other signals constantly received or detected on the private sonar remind us that unless we can feed the family with  a fabulous 'yummo' Rachel Ray dinner in thirty minutes or less, raise perfectly polite and poised Harvard-bound children, look like Angelina Jolie, and earn at least a six-figure income, we might as well throw in the towel....(p.9)

Teresa cites several studies which show the steady decline of self-esteem in women and girls, especially in how they view their bodies. With all that is now available to women and all the "freedoms" we have, we are still miserable about how we look and how we live, more miserable than ever. It is a sad commentary about our modern world.

The answer, of course, is found only in acknowledging that we each have worth in the eyes of God and are part of His infinite plan. As Cheryl says in the chapter on the gift of suffering:

I am very conscious that, without my illness, I probably would not be in pursuit of knowing, loving and serving God — all in spite of my sins and shortcomings. It was how God called me to himself. Through my suffering, Christ allowed me to discover the richness of my Catholic heritage and develop a personal relationship with him. I persevere toward heaven with confidence, knowing that I am a loved sinner with a place in God's kingdom. (p.53)

Peace is to be found only in doing God's will, not in the vain and fleeting phantoms of worldly happiness, by which we are so often deceived. It appears that more than ever women are led astray by the siren songs of earthly achievement as being the purpose of living; it is only through a strong interior life that we can remain grounded in the realities that are everlasting.

I can see this book provoking lively discussions in a women's prayer group or book club as well as being useful on a private retreat. A Companion Journal is also available in order to hone one's growth experiences and record personal reflections.

(*NOTE: This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Share

Richard III and the Lost World of Greyfriars

Author Nancy Bilyeau shares a fascinating history.

The benefits' bestowed by the Franciscans are beyond question. They espoused the importance of fresh water and built conduits to their friaries, shared by citizens in half a dozen cities. In 1256, they intervened along with the Dominicans to protect a group of Jews who were accused of crucifying a Christian child. As a result, a chronicler said, Londoners gave the Franciscans less alms.

What is interesting is how often the Franciscans interjected themselves into politics. Simon de Montfort, the founder of Parliament and thorn in the side of Henry III, was advised by Franciscans. In a later reign, the friars based in Leicester got into even more serious trouble. They openly supported the deposed Richard II instead of the new king, Henry IV. When word got out, a group of nine were brought to London, tried, and executed. It would not be the last time the Franciscans paid a terrible price for being on the losing side.

But these episodes were nothing compared to what happened after the creation of the Observant Friars of Greenwich. A movement had sprung up in Europe calling for greater asceticism in the Franciscan Order.  King Edward IV, despite his devotion to wine, women and the latest fashions, approved, and  in 1480 Pope Sixtus IV sanctioned the foundation of a friary specifically for the Observants in Greenwich. "The proximity of the Observant Franciscans to what was a much-used royal palace gave them an influence and a prominence far beyond what might have been expected," wrote G.W. Bernard in The King's Reformation.

There is no record of what Richard III thought of the Franciscans, Observant or otherwise, but considering that they braved a ferocious political climate to give him Christian burial, the relationship could only have been good. His successor, Henry VII, rather surprisingly, held the friars of Greenwich in the high esteem as well. He confirmed their grant, arranged for the installment of stained glass in their church, and left them 200 pounds in his will as he "knew that they had been many times in peril of ruin for lack of food."

But perhaps the greatest sign of Henry VII's regard for the Observant Franciscans is that he chose to have his second son, the future Henry VIII, baptized in their chapel at Greenwich. (Read entire post.)

A Nevill Feast features a summary of her studies on Richard III. To quote:

At fourteen, I might have been enthralled by the portrait of a young man, deeply loyal to his family, deeply faithful to the woman he loved and married (and kind to the young girl who was once his mistress), strong in war, soft in love… But the older I get, the less that satisfies me. He was a man who married his wife at least in part for her property, who connived in the financial ruin of his mother-in-law in the process, who took his nephew’s throne (whatever the pretext, and however valid this pretext was), who ordered the executions of several men without trial, whose loyalty to Edward IV didn’t survive his death, who faced rumour, rebellion and invasion during his short reign… a man I want to get to know better, and not through biassed sources (one way or the other). I’d also love to discuss all this without feeling that I’m stepping outside received dogma. I was likened to an atheist not that long ago, someone who comes into a church and announces loudly that God is Dead. Apart from the disturbing image of an interest and support of Richard III as a religion, I don’t know enough to announce anything except: I don’t know.

I don’t know if Edward IV’s relationship with Eleanor Butler included a marriage, or precontract; I don’t know if this was enough to have his children declared illegitimate; I don’t know what happened to the boys. I’m reliably informed that, one night, a barge came up the Thames and the boys were taken aboard and sent to safety in Flanders. Without anyone knowing except those involved, and without any of them telling anyone else about it. Ever. And without either of the boys resurfacing in adulthood. (Perkin Warbeck, in my considered opinion, wasn’t the young Richard Duke of York. And, even if he was, he said that his brother had been murdered on Richard’s orders. This is not good news in light of Richard’s reputation. I’ve never understood how anyone can reconcile these two things: wanting Perkin to be young York, yet dismissing his own words regarding the fate of his brother.) I don’t know if they were spirited away to Flanders. On balance of evidence, it would seem not, and those who favour this theory have no evidence of it. I’m equally reliably informed, on an equal lack of evidence, that sir James Tyrell slipped into their quarters one night and smothered them both with a pillow, after which they were buried in the Tower, under a staircase. I don’t know if that happened, either.

I do know that William Hastings, Anthony Wydeville, Richard Grey and Thomas Vaughan were executed without trial. I do know that the young princes disappeared on Richard’s watch. I do know that he colluded with his brothers and his wife to have his mother-in-law financially ruined and declared dead. I also know he was a good soldier, that he and his queen seemed to have a good marriage, that he took care of his illegitimate children and loved his only legitimate child, that he had the makings of a pretty good king. And I want to know more. (Read entire post.)

Share

Vienna Before the War

As seen through the eyes of a milliner. To quote:

In the 1930s, Demel's pastry shop and chocolatier on the Kohlmarkt in Vienna was the height of Austria's beau monde. Its little round tables were made of marble, the walls were of blue silk and magnificent crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. To it came women on shopping trips, courting couples and gentlemen and their lady friends, to gossip and eat Sachertorte and buy the violet sweets so beloved by Empress Sisi. One regular customer was Trudi Kanter, a young milliner whose showroom was not far away.

Trudi had bright red hair, often tucked into one of her chic little hats, and she was very beautiful; her business prospered. She filled her apartment above the showroom with Biedermeier furniture and kept two ornamental love birds in a gilt cage. In her showroom she employed 12 girls of whom she was very fond; the atmosphere was one of warmth and gaiety. Many of her rich and elegant customers, all part of Vienna's charmed life, were friends. Trudi was Jewish.

And then, in March 1938, the Germans marched in, bringing with them Nazi hooligans, oppression and anti-Semitism. There are some scenes, some historical events, that only memoirs can convey with real immediacy. Trudi Kanter's "Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler" is full of them. As befits a milliner, she has a remarkable eye for detail, the precise color of the plumes on her hats, the texture of the cakes at Demel's, the fold of the dresses her customers wear. Of a group of girls in the streets, she writes: "They are slender and well- coiffed, have clear, petal-smooth complexions, wear tiny hats, veils, camellias in their buttonholes." She uses this gift to describe, without hyperbole, what followed.

Hitler sent 100,000 soldiers into Austria. She listened to them arrive, the thud of perfectly marching feet, as she crouched in the dark in her apartment. Within hours, they were rampaging around Vienna, seeking out Jews. Houses and businesses were looted. The headquarters of the Vaterländische Front, the nationalist party that had opposed the Anschluss, was smashed to pieces just opposite her showroom. Later, when anti-Nazi slogans appeared on the pavements, Jewish men and women were made to scrub them off, on their hands and knees, using acid that burned their skin raw. Vienna was soon in the grip of informers, janitors paying off old scores, maids telling on their employers. (Read entire article.)

Share