“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Posted on 12 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The Gospel reading for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost (Vetus Ordo) was from Luke 10.  It begins with verse 21 in which the Lord rejoices in the Holy Spirit and thanks His Father in Heaven.   However, when we read our readings during the week before Mass, and for a few days after Sunday to refresh and deepen, we should also include context, that is, start reading a bit before and a bit after the assigned reading (pericope).

In Luke 10, the 70 Christ had sent out have returned.  The Lord says:

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

As I sit in an airport lounge waiting for my next flight, I pick up this on Twitter.   Mind you, I did not watch the closing of the Olympics (first time in my life I didn’t watch any):

I’m sensing a theme with the opening blasphemy.

Coincidence?

Posted in Semper Paratus, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices | Tagged
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My View For Awhile: downhill

Posted on 12 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

The return trip has already had one adventure, which I never like. I like boring trips best. After checking in at zero o’clock and using the double quick security line, the teeessay guy said my eyedee and the airline info for me didn’t match. Present at the booth was a new machine I haven’t seen before. I had to go back to the counter and get an agent to update my information. Crazy. I fly pretty often and I’ve not had this one before. At least I was able to return past all the lines and get cleared.

It occurred to me during this annoyance that there are people who don’t want anyone to be eyedeed before they VOTE.

Meanwhile I’m optimistic that my headphones are packed in my checked bag.

My reading …

more later

UPDATE

One advantage to a really early morning flight is that you often get to your (domestic) destination with some productive daylight remaining.

I hope the crew isn’t as gabby as last flight. The announcements were incessant. Not that it makes a lot of difference on this B712 rattle trap. I thought the last one was going to shed parts as we taxied. There’s no “in seat” entertainment to interrupt.

UPDATE

They have gotten us back and forth from the gate three times. First to check “fluids”. Then to check fuel. Then they didn’t have the numbers of the amount so we had to go back. Then we had to wait for water.

I am not kidding. This has been a clown car, lacking only the oogq-horn.

We are over two hours late and we just started to taxi… again.

Posted in On the road |
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Matthew Hazell on the Fishwrap’s defense of the Parisian Blasphemy

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Matthew references the piece at the Fishwrap.  It is deeply crass.  Here’s a quote:

Da Vinci’s painting is not a religious object anyway, and is part of the cultural public domain.

The dopey writer cites other examples of appropriated of Christian symbols, some disgusting.  I, also, thought of moments in TV or movies when there was a clear visual reference to da Vinci’s Last Supper, such as a scene near the end of the movie Larry Crowne.  However, they were sugar and spice compared the dreck and bile of the Olympics.

BTW… “da Vinci” isn’t Renaissance Banksy.  He painted his Last Supper in the refectory in a religious convent (for readers of the Fishwrap, that’s a place where people like nuns and friars live… remember them? You might have heard of Friar Tuck, right?  And Tuck is not short for Tucker, which in Australia can mean “food”.  Your version might be older women with short hair who belong to the LCWR).  Moreover, it was painted in the convent’s refectory, where the professed religious took their meals, one of the vital areas of the convent, where it was important… now pay attention, Fishwrappers… important to relate even the taking of food to the salvific work of Christ and not focus on mere bodily satisfaction.  Foreign notions, I know, but bear with me a moment.  The Last Supper is not merely “part of the cultural domain”.  It is also a profoundly religious object, both by intention and by historical-cultural significance.

 

Posted in Sin That Cries To Heaven, What are they REALLY saying?, You must be joking! | Tagged
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SAVE THE LITURGY – SAVE THE WORLD … GOAL: 1700 more priests who can celebrate Mass the Roman Rite, Usus Antiquior

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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Posted in ACTION ITEM!, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Save The Liturgy - Save The World |
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11 August: Feast of St. Philomena

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My good friend Fr. Finigan – His Hermeneuticalness – posted about St. Philomena some time ago, which he links here.

Posted in Saints: Stories & Symbols |
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Daily Rome Shot 1095 – 50 years ago

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

In chessy news… well… not so much chess, but, yes, chess….

Some of you readers will remember like yesterday the events that culminated in the resignation of Pres. Nixon, 50 years ago on 8 August.  You probably remember the speech the night before and the famous walk to the helicopter.

A friend clued me in on a riveting interview done by Tucker Carlson with Geoff Shepherd, who was a staffer in the Nixon administration. Shepherd produced three books about the deep state coup that brought Nixon to resign 50 years ago this week, one “concentrating on the Kennedy people and how they orchestrated this, one is concentrating on the Leon Jaworski’s internal files that describe all these secret meetings, and one centers on the road map and the fact that the Congress was lied to.” The interview is two hours and it is utterly fascinating. Set aside what you thought you new about Watergate.

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Shepherd lays out the story of the dem machine coup that brought down Nixon, but along the way he also makes an analogy:

Let me let me read you the definition of Greek tragedy Poetics Aristotle’s book. He defines the ideal tragic hero as a man who’s highly renowned and prosperous but not one who is preeminently virtuous and just whose misfortune is brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of judgment or frailty … and that’s Nixon. And then there’s the interpretation of Shakespearean tragedy which envisions a setting in which a moral order reacts violently and convulsively against certain infractions from this reaction comes the calamity which befalls the hero, frequently way out of proportion to the infraction itself. And within this calamity there is a dominating impression of waste. Now you could say that that’s Watergate too.

White to move and mate in 5.

And… on the importance of keeping your data private and secure…

If you have a business or site using “Software as a Service”, and you don’t at least look into what Federated offers… well… good luck.  I aim this especially at Church institutions even to the level of DIOCESES.  Really.

 

Posted in SESSIUNCULA | Tagged
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A new/old book about Martin Luther

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Having started out Lutheran-ish, the figure of Martin Luther has been of occasional interest for me.  I recall rather hagiographical descriptions from my youth which were subsequently corrected sharply by other, more objective (and some not so objective) accounts.

An new/old book about Luther was brought to my attention.   It was written by someone just a couple decades after Luther, hence firmly within living memory.  It was originally in French, vetted by the University of Paris, and then Latin.

The title (with apologies to a priest friend and piper) is perfect.

The Devil’s Bagpipe: The True Life of Martin Luther by James Lang (Author) and Fr. Robert Nixon (Translator)

US HERE – UK HERE

It is a short read, but packed, as is consistent with writers before the age of word processors.

 

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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Your Sunday Sermon Notes – 12th Sunday after Pentecost (N.O.: 19th) 2024

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Too many people today are without good, strong preaching, to the detriment of all. Share the good stuff.

Was there a GOOD point made in the sermon you heard at your Mass of obligation for this 12th Sunday after Pentecost, or the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time?

Tell about attendance especially for the Traditional Latin Mass.

Any local changes or (hopefully good) news?

A couple thoughts about the sign of the cross: HERE  A taste…

[…]

To summarize, Christ, who when His public ministry began had been tempted by Satan (Luke 4:1-13, etc.), and who had just said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18), was goaded by a lawyer, whom Christ brought down to earth.

What can we take from this?

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
3 Comments

VIDEO: Oxford Emeritus Professor of Mathematics John Lennox gave a public lecture about belief in God

Posted on 11 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Oxford Emeritus Professor of Mathematics John Lennox is a Christian apologist. He gave a talk about belief in God in a public lecture at Oxford Union.

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Posted in Just Too Cool | Tagged ,
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Daily Rome Shot 1094

Posted on 10 August 2024 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Thank you, Lord, for this day.

Welcome Registrant:

BigMac715

White to move and mate in 3.

NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.

Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE

Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links.  US HERE – UK HERE  WHY?  This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc..  At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.

A word of thanks to those of you who are now using Zelle for donations.

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