Faith Filled Friday: Denzel Washington and the Bible

I’m always surprised when some celebrity reveals he’s a faithful Christian.  I don’t know why I should be.  They are human beings like the rest of us.  In this from CNS  Denzel Washington explains why he reads the Bible.  

In an interview about an audio Bible that Denzel Washington and his wife, Pauletta Pearson Washington, had worked on several years ago, CBS reporter Tracy Smith asked, "Why do you two think the Bible is the best seller year after year after year that it is?"

Denzel Washington said, "I think that because inside of every one of us, we have something tugging at us, telling us to believe in something, to have faith in something bigger than ourselves. I think that that -- that we're born with that. I think that's natural, that's the God in us."

"And some people get misguided as to what it is," he said,  "and they start believing in, you know, playing [Tarot] cards or whatever it is they're going to believe in."

"But that thing is gnawing at each and every one of us," said Washington. "We all have that. So we all search, hopefully, and this [the Bible] is a part of that."

"This is actually the answer people are looking for, they just don't know it," he said.  "Listen to it [audio Bible]. Give it a shot, is what I'm saying. Okay?"

The article goes on to say Washington and his wife are Pentecostal Christians.  Interesting.  I wouldn’t have guessed.

Two years ago I mentioned Mark Whalberg is a practicing Catholic, but I came across another article where he is very devout.  From an interview in Parade: 

How do you spend Sundays?

If the kids are good, I’ll have doughnuts for them at 6:30 in the morning, and I’ll say, “You guys gotta let Mommy sleep in!” I’ll go to church at 7:30 and everybody will be eating breakfast when I come home. Then we’ll go to church again at 10:30, if things aren’t too hectic. Or if one of the kids has a game we’ll watch them play. It’s a nice family day.

Faith is obviously a big part of your life.

It’s the most important part of my life. I don’t try to push it on anybody and I don’t try to hide it.

Twice on Sunday.  I wondered why at first and then realized.  Going to church with four kids makes it difficult to absorb the holiness.  I have one kid with me and there are too many distractions.  Completely understand.

Word of the Day: Progymnasmata

I just came across this word.  You won’t find it in a dictionary.  I’m not even sure on how to pronounce it. 

pro - gym - nas - ma - ta

It’s a Greek etymology and comes from the ancient world.  From Richard Nordquist at the About.Com’s Grammar and Composition site comes this definition: 

The progymnasmata are a series of exercises that introduce students to basic rhetorical concepts and strategies. Instructors looking for effective approaches to teaching composition or speech might find some fresh ideas in these assignments, even though they were developed over 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece and Rome.

I had never heard of this, and so I looked it up in various dictionaries.  Nothing to be found, but have no fear Wikipedia had an entry on it.  (The people who put down Wikipedia are all wrong; it’s a great site, and unless you’re dealing with a very controversial issue it’s very accurate, even more so than standard encyclopedias.)  Here’s the history: 

Composition was not a primary subject taught in schools until the fifth century. In fact, the term “progymnasmata” first appeared in Chapter 28 of Rhetoric to Alexander, most likely written by Anaximenes of Lampsacus in the late fourth century. This work is preserved alongside those of Aristotle, yet he never mentions the use of preliminary exercises. But Aristotle does touch on the rhetorical forms, which became an aspect within the nature of progymnasmata. The use of preliminary rhetorical exercises is discussed briefly in some Greek and Roman dialogues, but all handbooks from that time remain lost today. There are only four known surviving handbooks of progymnasmata. The earliest one is that of Theon, written some time during the first century A.D. In his introduction, Theon addresses teachers rather than students and criticizes students who skip out on these preliminary exercises. The second handbook is attributed to one of the most influential rhetoricians of the second century, Hemogenes of Tarsus. But there is no preface to his work and the exercises are brief; therefore, many doubt its authenticity.[2] But the third handbook is attributed to Apthonius of Antioch, student of the great sophist Libanius during the second half of the fourth century. This is the most widely used and referenced handbook that became the standard on the practice of progymnasmata. His treatises were combined with rhetorical treatises of Hermogenes on stasis theory and style to create the “Hermogenic Corpus.” The final handbook is attributed to Nicolaus of Myra, who taught rhetoric in Constantinople during the late fifth century.

Now I find this fascinating.  I may be in a minority on this, but I believe the ancient and medieval world had better approaches to writing and rhetoric than we do in the modern world.  Progymnasmata is a process on which a student goes through a series of exercises to develop his writing and oratory skills.  Both Nordquist’s post (you can sign up for email delivery of Grammar and Composition links, and they are excellent) and Wikipedia’s entry describe the list of exercises.  Here is the list preserved from Aphthonius of Antioch book, per Nordquist.

1. Fable, or retelling of a folk tale.

2. Narrative, either fiction or nonfiction.

3. Chreia or anecdote, a story based on amplification of a famous statement or action.

4. Proverb, which asked students to amplify by arguing for or against some maxim or adage.

5. Refutation, which disproved the persuasive point of a narrative.

6. Confirmation, which proved the persuasive point of a narrative.

7. Commonplace, which amplified on the moral qualities of some virtue or vice, often as exemplified in some common phrase of advice.

8. Encomium or praise, which expanded on the virtues of some person or thing.

9. Invective, which censured some evil person or thing.

10. Comparison, which compared two people or things and explored their comparative merits and shortcomings.

11. Personification, the characterization of some fictional person by the use of appropriate language.

12. Description, which created intense and graphic depictions of a subject.

13. Argument, which created and supported a thesis or some general question, such as, "Is town life superior to country life?"

14. Legislation [or deliberation], in which the student argued for or against the goodness of a law.

I feel deprived not having had these exercises in school.  What the heck do they teach in High School to develop writers?  I don’t remember a single exercise, except once where we had to write a makeup news article.  I wrote a baseball article of a fictionalized game, and the teacher thought I had copied it out of a newspaper.  He accused me of plagiarizing.  Ultimately he retracted and gave me a good grade.  I have nothing but bad memories of pre-college writing.  We need to go back to classical writing!

Faith Filled Friday: Why I Remain a Catholic

There has been a meme around the Catholic blogosphere lately on stating why one remains a Roman Catholic.  It comes in response to what I think is an exaggerated Pew Poll showing a declining Christianity in the United States, an especially a shift of Catholics away from their cradle or chosen faith.  I’m not going to get into why I think the results of the poll has been exaggerated (too controversial for this blog and no one wants to filter through a statistical analysis), but I do want to contribute to the meme and state why I remain a Catholic.

First, if you want, the Anchoress on two posts from her blog states her reasons, and more importantly, provides links to a slew of Catholic blogs who take on the meme.  You can find those posts here and here.  It makes for great reading. 

Second, as some have pointed out, G. K. Chesterton—one of the most important converts to Roman Catholicism—actually took this meme up in an essay back in 1926.  You can read that essay from the American Chesterton Society (ACS) site here.   But it is worthy to quote that well known first sentence:

The difficulty of explaining “why I am a Catholic” is that there are ten thousand reasons all amounting to one reason: that Catholicism is true. I could fill all my space with separate sentences each beginning with the words, “It is the only thing that…” As, for instance, (1) It is the only thing that really prevents a sin from being a secret. (2) It is the only thing in which the superior cannot be superior; in the sense of supercilious. (3) It is the only thing that frees a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age. (4) It is the only thing that talks as if it were the truth; as if it were a real messenger refusing to tamper with a real message. (5) It is the only type of Christianity that really contains every type of man; even the respectable man. (6) It is the only large attempt to change the world from the inside; working through wills and not laws; and so on.

I have to say, I’ve grown to love Chesterton since I’ve read a few of his works.  A couple of years ago I read his novel, The Man Who Was Thursday, which I posted on my blog here, and after reading Orthodoxy earlier this year, and which I excerpted a passage here.  I hope to do a fuller post on Orthodoxy in the future; it’s truly the great dissent to the modern age and I need to explain that.  But though coming late in life to the man, I can now see why he’s regarded so highly by so many.

So why do I remain a Catholic?  As Chesterton says, there are ten thousand reasons which add up to the one, truth.  But I’ll elaborate with two short answers.  First through a list of Catholic attributes which you cannot find elsewhere.

1.      The true presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

2.      Real confession that is not a superficial mumbling to one’s self.

3.      The saints as guides and brothers and sisters on our journey.

4.      The mythic as part of our everyday life.

5.      The use of reason to understand the natural world as a scientific phenomenon without stripping it of faith.

6.      The Blessed Virgin as a go to advocate as the mother of Christ and the Queen of Heaven.

7.      It has a deep history having integrated the Classical world with the Judaic world, while developing the Christian world.  The superficial platitude that the Church caused the Dark Ages is all wrong; the Church saved civilization.

8.      The sheer beauty of it: the literature, the philosophy, the art, the music, the liturgy, all summing up to reflect the beauty of God.

9.      It is Apostolic and started by Christ handing the keys of His church to Peter.

10.  It doesn’t change with the times; there is a guiding Magisterium.  

The way I like it said is that Catholicism is the fullness of Christianity.  Only the Eastern Orthodox churches would have similar attributes, but then they wouldn’t have been started by Peter.

The second answer will be a paraphrase of a quote by St. Catherine of Siena my patroness: my Catholic faith is in me as a fish is in the sea and the sea is in the fish. Of course it's true. I breath and swim in the truth that is Catholicism, and that truth is infused in me. You can't leave that.

Lines I Wished I’d Written: Jean Valjean Meets Cosette, from Les Misérables

I finished reading Volume Two ("Cosette") of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and I wanted to highlight a passage to show the brilliance of this work.  There are many to choose from.  I was especially struck by the scenes with Cosette at the Thenardier’s home.  Cosette was placed in their care by Fantine, her unwed mother, so Fantine could eke out a living.  Fantine died before Valjean could bring Cosette back (see my previous excerpt), and so he vowed to raise the girl himself.  Unfortunately he was imprisoned before he could get her, but he has now escaped and the authorities presume he’s dead.  The Thenardier’s are the scum of society, and treat Cosette, though she’s just eight year’s old, as a slave.  This is the scene where Jean Valjean meets her for the first time.  Actually he doesn’t even know it is Cosette, but surmises it as the scene develops through the conversation.  It is the wee hours of the morning, and Cosette has been awakened to fetch water for the horses.  She has to walk a quarter of an hour to reach the spring and then she has to carry back in a heavy bucket.  From lack of nutrition she is an underdeveloped eight year old, and even if she were totally healthy the weight of the bucket is extraordinary for a small child.  Vajean had no idea the Thenardier’s were abusing the child in this way.  He meets the little girl while on his way to the Thenardier’s.  He walks up to help this little girl in the dark.

Cosette, as we have said, was not frightened.

The man accosted her. He spoke in a voice that was grave and almost bass.

"My child, what you are carrying is very heavy for you."

Cosette raised her head and replied:--

"Yes, sir."

"Give it to me," said the man; "I will carry it for you."

Cosette let go of the bucket-handle. The man walked along beside her.

"It really is very heavy," he muttered between his teeth. Then he added:--

"How old are you, little one?"

"Eight, sir."

"And have you come from far like this?"

"From the spring in the forest."

"Are you going far?"

"A good quarter of an hour's walk from here."

The man said nothing for a moment; then he remarked abruptly:--

"So you have no mother."

"I don't know," answered the child.

Before the man had time to speak again, she added:--

"I don't think so. Other people have mothers. I have none."

And after a silence she went on:--

"I think that I never had any."

The man halted; he set the bucket on the ground, bent down and placed both hands on the child's shoulders, making an effort to look at her and to see her face in the dark.

Cosette's thin and sickly face was vaguely outlined by the livid light in the sky.

"What is your name?" said the man.

"Cosette."

The man seemed to have received an electric shock. He looked at her once more; then he removed his hands from Cosette's shoulders, seized the bucket, and set out again.

After a moment he inquired:--

"Where do you live, little one?"

"At Montfermeil, if you know where that is."

"That is where we are going?"

"Yes, sir."

He paused; then began again:--

"Who sent you at such an hour to get water in the forest?"

"It was Madame Thenardier."

The man resumed, in a voice which he strove to render indifferent, but in which there was, nevertheless, a singular tremor:--

"What does your Madame Thenardier do?"

"She is my mistress," said the child. "She keeps the inn."

"The inn?" said the man. "Well, I am going to lodge there to-night. Show me the way."

"We are on the way there," said the child.

The man walked tolerably fast. Cosette followed him without difficulty. She no longer felt any fatigue. From time to time she raised her eyes towards the man, with a sort of tranquillity and an indescribable confidence. She had never been taught to turn to Providence and to pray; nevertheless, she felt within her something which resembled hope and joy, and which mounted towards heaven.

Several minutes elapsed. The man resumed:--

"Is there no servant in Madame Thenardier's house?"

"No, sir."

"Are you alone there?"

"Yes, sir."

 

Another pause ensued. Cosette lifted up her voice:--

"That is to say, there are two little girls."

"What little girls?"

"Ponine and Zelma."

This was the way the child simplified the romantic names so dear to the female Thenardier.

"Who are Ponine and Zelma?"

"They are Madame Thenardier's young ladies; her daughters, as you would say."

"And what do those girls do?"

"Oh!" said the child, "they have beautiful dolls; things with gold in them, all full of affairs. They play; they amuse themselves."

"All day long?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you?"

"I? I work."

"All day long?"

The child raised her great eyes, in which hung a tear, which was not visible because of the darkness, and replied gently:--

"Yes, sir."

After an interval of silence she went on:--

"Sometimes, when I have finished my work and they let me, I amuse myself, too."

"How do you amuse yourself?"

"In the best way I can. They let me alone; but I have not many playthings. Ponine and Zelma will not let me play with their dolls. I have only a little lead sword, no longer than that."

The child held up her tiny finger.

"And it will not cut?"

"Yes, sir," said the child; "it cuts salad and the heads of flies."

They reached the village. Cosette guided the stranger through the streets. They passed the bakeshop, but Cosette did not think of the bread which she had been ordered to fetch. The man had ceased to ply her with questions, and now preserved a gloomy silence.

When they had left the church behind them, the man, on perceiving all the open-air booths, asked Cosette:--

"So there is a fair going on here?"

"No, sir; it is Christmas."

As they approached the tavern, Cosette timidly touched his arm:--

"Monsieur?"

"What, my child?"

"We are quite near the house."

"Well?"

"Will you let me take my bucket now?"

"Why?"

"If Madame sees that some one has carried it for me, she will beat me."

The man handed her the bucket. An instant later they were at the tavern door.

Excerpt taken from The Literature Network. 

Matthew Monday: Strange Bedfellows

Our adorable little kitten, Tiger, has taken to our home.  He loves exploring it all; that is, all he's allowed to explore.  He is, however, afraid of Matthew.  Matthew handles him a little too roughly and doesn’t exactly hold him in a secure and comfortable manner.  So Tiger runs from Matthew when he approaches.  At one point Matthew broke into tears crying that Tiger doesn’t love him. 

Well, Tiger proved him wrong.  First, the two of them share the same bedroom.  We keep Tiger in Matthew’s room, though he gets free roam of a good portion of the upstairs.  One night, past midnight, I went to check in on Matthew as I usually have done, and now have a quick play with the kitten.  To my surprise I found Tiger cuddled into Matthew.  And not just that one night.  Here are pictures from several nights.  These pictures are taken in the complete dark, and the light comes only from the flash.

These first are from  a sleeping bag type of thing that Matthew sometimes sleeps on the floor with.

Those are from the same night.  Here’s from another.

I thought when Matthew got back to sleeping on the bed, Tiger wouldn’t be able to get up there.  The bed height is still higher than his extended height on his rear legs.  But somehow he’s able to get up there and snuggle up.

Faith Filled Friday: The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost Sunday, which makes it today for this year.  If you want to read about the Sacred Heart, go here.    

I am particularly drawn to this devotion.  Christ’s heart is the center of endless compassion and mercy. 

Almighty and eternal God, look upon the Heart of Your most beloved Son and upon the praises and satisfaction which He offers You in the name of sinners; and to those who implore Your mercy do You of Your great goodness grant forgiveness in the Name of the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns world without end. Amen.

Literature in the News: Dante Alighieri’s 750th Birthday

In my last post I mentioned I wanted to celebrate the 750^th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s birth.    I also mentioned there that the exact day of Dante’s birth is unknown, but from a reference in The Divine Comedy we know he was born under the sign of Gemini, and therefore we can bracket from May 11^th to June 11^th. 

The celebrations in Italy for the occasion must have been stunning.  Both a the actor Robert Begnini and an emissary for the Pope spoke in honor of the great Italian poet in the Italian parliament.  From the English version of the Italian news, ANSA. 

(ANSA) - Rome, May 4 - Oscar-winning actor Roberto Benigni received a standing ovation Monday as he read from Dante in the Italian Senate and Pope Francis praised the medieval poet as a "prophet of hope" as the nation marked the 750th anniversary of his birth.

    Benigni received a standing ovation after his reading from Dante's Divine Comedy in the Upper House of parliament, which was attended by President Sergio Mattarella and broadcast live to the nation by state-run RAI radio.

    The program also included a new musical homage to the poet by renowned composer Nicola Piovani.

    The pope's message said that Dante's works announced the "possibility of redemption and liberation" for humanity with his works that affirmed the love of God and the hope for a new life.

    Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi delivered the pope's message that described Dante as "one of the most illustrious figures of all humanity".

    The pope's message added the Florentine was an "artist of the highest universal values who still has much to say and to give through his works (to those who are) willing to follow the way of true knowledge, the discovery of self and the world".

    Benigni, who read from the XXIII canto of Dante's Paradiso, said: "The Divine Comedy is a miracle, a work whose beauty takes your breath away".

The article goes on to say that 187 events will occur across Italy in commemoration of his birth, and another 173 outside of Italy by Italian cultural institutes.  I wonder if any will occur here in New York City since we have such a large Italian-American population. 

So how should I commemorate the occasion?  Let’s start with the first 39 lines of that Paradisio Canto XXIII that Benigni read.  This is the spectacular moment that Dante the character sees Christ, the light of the world.  I’ll copy over from the Princeton Dante Project  which includes the Hollander and Hollander translation.  I’ll post the Italian and the English side by side.

Come l'augello, intra l'amate fronde,  1          As the bird among the leafy branches that she loves,

                                                                         

posato al nido de' suoi dolci nati        2          perched on the nest with her sweet brood

                                                                         

la notte che le cose ci nasconde,         3          all through the night, which keeps things veiled from us,

                                                                         

    che, per veder li aspetti disïati        4          who in her longing to look upon their eyes and beaks

                                                                         

e per trovar lo cibo onde li pasca,       5          and to find the food to nourish them --

                                                                         

in che gravi labor li sono aggrati,        6          a task, though difficult, that gives her joy --

                                                                         

    previene il tempo in su aperta frasca,          7          now, on an open bough, anticipates that time

                                                                         

e con ardente affetto il sole aspetta,   8          and, in her ardent expectation of the sun,

                                                                         

fiso guardando pur che l'alba nasca;   9          watches intently for the dawn to break,

                                                                         

    così la donna mïa stava eretta         10        so was my lady, erect and vigilant,

                                                                         

e attenta, rivolta inver' la plaga           11        seeking out the region of the sky

                                                                         

sotto la quale il sol mostra men fretta:            12        in which the sun reveals less haste.

                                                                         

    sì che, veggendola io sospesa e vaga,         13        I, therefore, seeing her suspended, wistful,

                                                                         

fecimi qual è quei che disïando           14        became as one who, filled with longing,

                                                                         

altro vorria, e sperando s'appaga.        15        finds satisfaction in his hope.

                                                                         

    Ma poco fu tra uno e altro quando, 16        But time was short between one moment and the next,

                                                                         

del mio attender, dico, e del vedere   17        I mean between my expectation and the sight

                                                                         

lo ciel venir più e più rischiarando;     18        of the sky turned more and more resplendent.

                                                                         

    e Bëatrice disse: "Ecco le schiere    19        And Beatrice said: 'Behold the hosts

                                                                         

del trïunfo di Cristo e tutto 'l frutto    20        of Christ in triumph and all the fruit

                                                                         

ricolto del girar di queste spere!"        21        gathered from the wheeling of these spheres!'

                                                                         

    Pariemi che 'l suo viso ardesse tutto,          22        It seemed to me her face was all aflame,

                                                                         

e li occhi avea di letizia sì pieni,          23        her eyes so full of gladness

                                                                         

che passarmen convien sanza costrutto.          24        that I must leave that moment undescribed.

                                                                         

    Quale ne' plenilunïi sereni   25        As, on clear nights when the moon is full,

                                                                         

Trivïa ride tra le ninfe etterne 26        Trivia smiles among the eternal nymphs

                                                                         

che dipingon lo ciel per tutti i seni,     27        that deck the sky through all its depths,

                                                                         

    vid' i' sopra migliaia di lucerne        28        I saw, above the many thousand lamps,

                                                                         

un sol che tutte quante l'accendea,     29        a Sun that kindled each and every one

                                                                         

come fa 'l nostro le viste superne;       30        as ours lights up the sights we see above us,

                                                                         

    e per la viva luce trasparea  31        and through that living light poured down

                                                                         

la lucente sustanza tanto chiara           32        a shining substance. It blazed so bright

                                                                         

nel viso mio, che non la sostenea.       33        into my eyes that I could not sustain it.

                                                                         

    Oh Bëatrice, dolce guida e cara!     34        O Beatrice, my sweet belovèd guide!

                                                                         

Ella mi disse: "Quel che ti sobranza    35        To me she said: 'What overwhelms you

                                                                         

è virtù da cui nulla si ripara.    36        is a force against which there is no defense.

                                                                         

    Quivi è la sapïenza e la possanza    37        'Here is the Wisdom and the Power that repaired

                                                                         

ch'aprì le strade tra 'l cielo e la terra,   38        the roads connecting Heaven and the earth

                                                                         

onde fu già sì lunga disïanza."            39        that had so long been yearned for and desired.'

How about a post some statues of Dante from across the world.  Here is the most famous I think, from the UffiziMuseum in Florence, Italy, the city that banished Dante during his lifetime.

This also in Florence at the wonderful Santa Croce Basilica.  

I’ve been there but I can’t remember the statue.  I do remember the one at the Uffizi.

Here is one in Verona, Italy.

And then one in Naples, Italy. 

I wonder if every city in Italy has a statue of Dante.  Let’s come over to the United States and there is this one in Washington, DC.

And then there is this one in New York City.  This is off my personal camera.  I took it on Memorial Day when Matthew and I were on a bus.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get a good angle, and the bus was moving.

OK, that didn’t really capture it.  Sorry it was the best I could do from the bus.  Here’s an image of it off the internet.

Actually it looks exactly the same as the one in Washington.  So which do I like the best?  I’d go with the one at the Uffizi.

Happy Birthday Dante!