Peony Moss: May 2009 Archives

http://www.kansas.com/news/breaking/story/833730.html

As troubled as I am by the notion that Christians should be unable to judge right and wrong in our lives and in our culture, simply because we are not exempt from sin, I am more troubled by the notion that Christian love is about reminding people of the law that's written on their hearts ad infinitum rather than practicing love that feels impossible, loving those who are most difficult for us to love. "OH! But that's what I'm doing when I admonish!" they say. "I can't let them go to hell! That would be unloving!" What I know about hellfire and damnation is that Jesus has the power to redeem us, and it is questionable how much power we have to save others from hell. What I know of admonishment, from admonishing my children, is that the more I admonish them, the further they run from me, whereas the more I love them, hold them close, show them affection, the closer they stay and the more likely they are to listen to my corrections. -- Betty Duffy, via TSO

Joy and gaiety were so much a part of [St. Philip Neri's] normal disposition that Goethe, who esteemed him highly, called him the "humorous saint." It was his gay, blithe spirit that opened for him the hearts of children. "Philip Neri, learned and wise, by sharing the pranks of children himself became a child again" (epitaph). -- via Julie

Skimming lightly, wheeling still,
The swallows fly low
Over the field in clouded days,
The forest-field of Shiloh -
Over the field where April rain
Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain
Through the pause of night
That followed the Sunday fight
Around the church of Shiloh -
The church so lone, the log-built one,
That echoed to many a parting groan
And natural prayer
Of dying foemen mingled there -
Foemen at morn, but friends at eve
Fame or country least their care:
(What like a bullet can undeceive!)
But now they lie low,
While over them the swallows skim,
And all is hushed at Shiloh.

Herman Melville

Hat tip: Julie, who passes on this prayer composed by Benedict XVI:

Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title “Help of Christians”, the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection. We come before you today to implore your protection. Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.

When you obediently said “yes” in the house of Nazareth,
you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb
and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.
You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,
until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,
standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.

From that moment, you became, in a new way,
the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.
Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed
with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.
Grant that your children may discern at all times,
even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.

Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,
who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.
May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,
and of the world to Jesus.
In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,
offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.
Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,
ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.
Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!

One of the many, many detestable habits of the chattering class kids is their trick of finding some eight-bit word (perhaps vaguely remembered from the days of Vocabulary for the College Bound) and then using, using, and using it again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

Remember "gravitas" in the late 'eighties or 'early nineties? So-and-so had "gravitas," so-and-so didn't. Did the candidate have enough gravitas? Who did have gravitas?

And what exactly was this gravitas they were all yapping about? It certainly wasn't "real" gravitas , which was and is a very unfashionable virtue. By "gravitas" they more or less meant "appearing serious, though not too serious, on camera" -- or, put another way, "not being like that uncool unperson Dan Quayle." It was a three syllable word for "approved." So "gravitas" was everyone's new favorite word, and it was all gravitas all the time for about eight months, and then all mention of gravitas ceased.

"Gobsmacked" was hip for a while. Now the fashionable word seems to be "nuanced" -- 2,770,000 hits on Google, with the very first hit after the dictionary entries appearing in the same sentence as "Obama." Every word the President utters is "nuanced", because he's sooo smart and all.

But what "nuance" are they talking about? I thought it meant "subtle, delicate shades of meaning." Is that really a positive quality in Presidential speeches? Am I just a barbarian for thinking that speeches should be clear and unambiguous? Or is "nuanced" just another word for "I like it"?

Now we learn that Charles Krauthammer's writing lacks "nuance" because his paraplegia prevents him from not being "able to see the situations he's writing about." Now, am I understanding Joe Klein's nuances correctly? Writing at a remove precludes subtlety of expression? If that's the case, those people Twittering in the movie queue must be pouring out torrents of nuanced eloquence.

Well, enough already. "Nuance" does not mean "hypnotic". It does not mean "sounds nice." It does not mean "equivocal", it does not mean "plausibly deniable." It does not mean "cool" or "approved" or "unlike those terribly dull people who keep wanting to bring divisive words like right and wrong into the discussion."

THEREFORE,

I hereby declare a moratorium on the use of the word "nuanced" by any organ of the major news media.

This includes, but is not limited to, daily newspapers, their websites, and all content published therein; news and commentary on broadcast and paid television, news and commentary on broadcast and paid radio, and news and commentary on major websites.

Offenders shall, for each use of this word, handwrite the following quotation fifty times, using correct spelling and punctuation:

"Ready acceptance of vogue words...stands for the herd instinct and lack of individuality." -- H.W. Fowler

Repeat offenders shall, in addition to the above, spend an hour in the pillory, during which they shall read aloud, slowly and clearly, "Politics and the English Language" (Orwell, 1946) in its entirety.

SIGNED BY MY HAND on the 21 of May, in the Two Thousand and Ninth Year of Our Lord,

PEONY MOSS

It's all about the photo op; the President got what he wanted. And as for "dialogue", what has Notre Dame as an institution done to clearly speak up for life, particularly in the actions-that-speak-louder-than-words line?

William McGurn:

In a letter to Notre Dame's Class of 2009, the university's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, stated that the honors for Mr. Obama do not indicate any "ambiguity" about Notre Dame's commitment to Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life. The reality is that it was this ambiguity that the White House was counting on; this ambiguity that was furthered by the adoring reaction to Mr. Obama's visit; and this ambiguity that disheartens those working for an America that respects the dignity of life inside the womb....

With its billions in endowment and its prestigious name, Notre Dame ought to be in the lead here. But when asked for examples illuminating the university's unambiguous support for unborn life, [University spokesman] Mr. Brown could provide only four: help for pregnant students who want to carry their babies to term, student volunteer work for pregnant women at local shelters, prayer mentions at campus Masses, and lectures such as a seminar on life issues.

These are all well and good, but they also highlight the poverty of Notre Dame's institutional witness. At Notre Dame today, there is no pro-life organization -- in size, in funding, in prestige -- that compares with the many centers, institutes and so forth dedicated to other important issues ranging from peace and justice to protecting the environment. Perhaps this explains why a number of pro-life professors tell me they must not be quoted by name, lest they face career retaliation.

The one institute that does put the culture of life at the heart of its work, moreover -- the Center for Ethics and Culture -- doesn't even merit a link under the "Faith and Service" section on the university's Web site. The point is this: When Notre Dame doesn't dress for the game, the field is left to those like Randall Terry who create a spectacle and declare their contempt for civil and respectful witness.

A lovely reflection at Catholic Exchange:

Psalm 139:13-16 rejoices, "My frame was not hidden from You when I was being made in secret ." Earlier in the chapter, verse 13 marvels, "You formed my inward parts; You knit me in my mother’s womb." This word "knit " is also sometimes translated "wove" or "woven." David sings that his being was woven together secretly by God. Often this section of Scripture is used by pro-life activists to emphasize the inherent sacredness of conception and birth, the invisible invasion of created body by God-breathed soul in the protected covering of a mother’s person. But more than a wonder, it is the holy preparation of God.

The word translated "knit" in Hebrew is sakak , meaning “covered.” This word is used almost exclusively in the Old Testament to describe the veiling of the presence of God from human eyes in the Holy of Holies....

So I came across this article by Harold McGee that described a way of making yogurt at home -- without a yogurt maker. My husband and I have been on a bit of a yogurt jag, so I decided to give it a try. I followed the method carefully -- twice -- and got nothing but milk.

Lemons:lemonade::failed yogurt:homemade sherbet, so that came out all right. Now I'm trying a crockpot method, so we'll see how that goes.

Do you make yogurt at home? Do you do it freestyle or with one of those cunning little yogurt makers? Any suggestions?

The Importance of Jack Kemp:

blockquote>...his lost presidential run in 1988 did land him in the unlikely spot of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. It was there that Reaganites huddled in what was generally viewed as one of the least important backwaters of the federal government, a place touched by scandal at that. Ignored by the powers of the Bush 41 administration, Kemp blew into this concrete box with the force of a category five hurricane. If you worked for him you were quickly a part of an ongoing tutorial -- done under the guise of a "brown bag lunch" -- that featured everything from Heritage Foundation policy wonks to Sir Martin Gilbert, the biographer of Winston Churchill, to Alex Kotlowitz, the author of There Are No Children Here. The last was a gripping tale of two boys growing up amid the abysmal failure of liberal urban policy, in this case Chicago's Henry Horner Homes. Also up for discussion was Assets and the Poor, a book about the failures of the welfare system.

It wasn't always tutorials, either. Kemp himself was not only out there in America's inner cities inspecting the failures of urban liberalism, he made damn sure his staff got out there too. I remember one particular tour of the Ellen Wilson project in Washington -- a serious disgrace surrounded in broad daylight by drug dealers that is, I believe, now gone. The entire department rocked, at times shell shocked, to Kemp's preaching of the gospel of capitalism and tax cuts.

The divo has fallen ill, but the show must go on. Who can take his place with only 45 minutes to rehearse?