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Still there… still making good coffee. Still building their amazing monastery in Wyoming. Right now they have their “Pascha Java”.
The American Cup is underway. $400,000 prize fund. Just players playing under the US flag. Format: matches – four games between each pairing over two days. After a classical game comes rapid with blitz for tie breaks. Fabi and my guy Wesley (yay!) both prevailed to move on in the bracket. Levon Aronian had a couple of terrifying blitz tie breaks after 6 hours of play to move ahead over Sam Sevian, who drops into the lower bracket (double elimination).
In the women’s section, Krush crushed Zoey Tang and 14 year old Alice Lee moves forward with a draw against Tatev Abrahamyan so she’s tied with “Begim”. Hostilities resume today at 14OO EST (1900 CET).
Meanwhile, on Day 1 Sam Sevian lost to Levon Aronian after missing a forced checkmate. Can you find it? (Easier if you know it’s there, harder if you are on the clock.) How long did it take you? Look at their time!
White to move.
The wonderful monks of Le Barroux make good wine from the ancient vineyards of the Avignon Popes. You should try some and lend the monks a hand by doing so.
The other day I had supper with priest friend who celebrates the Vetus Ordo. He told me that he would be teaching a class in the parish on the Johannine books. As soon as I got home, I got on Amazon (using MY LINK!) and ordered up this book for him.
What a book.
This book just keep rewarding and rewarding.
In the Beginning Was the Word: An Annotated Reading of the Prologue of John by Anthony Esolen
Every priest who celebrates the TLM should have this book. It is good for lay people who attend the TLM too, though it will make you punch above your weight.
Do your priest a favor and get this book for him for Easter.
Final question: Since it is “Pi” day, to how many digits do you know this mysterious number?
Did you know?
NASA only uses 15 digits of ? for calculating interplanetary travel.
At 40 digits, you could calculate the circumference of a circle the size of the visible universe with an accuracy that’d fall off by less than the diameter of a hydrogen atom.#piDay2024 pic.twitter.com/RBw75hHDVE
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 14, 2024
Ceterum censeo Alirezam delendum esse.
UPDATE
As I was getting ready for Mass I reviewed the texts for some notes in case I wanted to say a few things on the private stream. You might be interested in seeing some of my notes.
Today’s Mass and tomorrow’s are a pair of cufflinks, both deal with the Lord’s miracles of raising people from the dead. In today’s Mass we hear about the raising of the son of the widow by Elisha the Prophet and then in the Gospel the Lord raising the son of the widow of Naim. Tomorrow, we have the account in John 11 of the raising of Lazarus after three days. These two Masses come on the heals of the Wednesday which, before Lent was lengthened, had been the mid point. It was the Wednesday when, at St Paul’s outside the wall the catechumens were subjected to the rites of opening of the mouth and ears, with the placing of salt in the mouth and touching the ears, the ephphatha, and then 5 exorcisms. These rites remain in the traditional form of baptism.
Today and tomorrow, the Mass readings address two categories of people for whom Lent is especially important: the catechumens, who seek to enter the Church and penitent who seek reconciliation. Both categories are spiritually dead in mortal sin, Original Sin and then actual, committed sin. Both seek resurrection through what are often called the Sacraments of the Dead, Baptism and Penance because they are given to the spiritually dead.
Today, the readings seem to be aimed more at penitents. Why? The figures of the mothers weeping over their children are symbolic of the Church weeping over her fallen children. In the case of the non-baptized, they are not yet her children, there is no mother figure, though there are sisters of Lazarus. In the case of tomorrow’s Mass, Lazarus has been dead three days, really dead, in other words, deader even than the other two from yesterday. In this case the Mass texts are aimed primarily at catechumens, who are still in the state of Original Sin, not yet baptized, not connected to Christ.
March 10th, 2024
I have great affection for St. Frances of Rome, Santa Francesca Romana.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on ROME 26/10 – Day 30: With apologies to the Bard: “Tacens stat ursus. Turrim spectat clericus. Quis sapit magis?”
