For Some Doll, A Twitter Take on Megxit

The Official Cartoonist of Wheat & Weeds & I amused ourselves on twitter last night. Gathering the results here.

With Apologies to Frank Loesser

Intro...[NICELY]

What's happening all over?
I'll tell you what's happening all over
Guy sitting home by a television set
That used to be something of a rover

That's what's happening all over
Love is the thing that has licked 'em
And it looks like Harry's just another victim

Verses: 

When you see a man Disrespecting his clan, Calling quits on the cushiest gig of all... Call it nuts, call it scary, but say goodbye to “Prince” Harry

Cuz the guy’s only doin' it for some doll.

When you see a gent Begging to pay the rent Paying back all those taxes he used to haul HRH isn’t smiling, but Meghan is so beguiling

And the guy’s only doin' it for some doll.

When you see a bloke Who is suddenly woke He'll renounce Buckingham palace for the mall Call it weak, call it simpy, or you simply might call it wimpy 

But the prince is only doin' it for some doll.

Bridge: 

When you see a Hal who has been a good egg
hop off one leg
as only a Hal could do for a Meg...

Verses: 

When you see a frail

Who can harpoon a Wale Even if it took the girl a second try Call her mean, call her callous, but the decision to leave the palace-- 

I bet she wan't doing it for her guy.

When the Duchess Megs Cuts her prince at the legs “Them or me” after hardly much at time at all Call it dumb, call it clever, Abdication’s forever! And the guy’s only doin' it for some doll.

Happy Epiphany, 2020!

(George) Valentine Sandberg, shamelessly pinched from here

For those of us on an academic schedule, it's back to the races this morning. May you find what you are seeking in 2020! Perhaps the example of the Magi will help. 

Meditating on the reading for the feast of Epiphany this year (Mt 2:1-12), I noticed something I don't recall noticing before. We tend to think of the Magi as "following the star," in the sense of seeing it. In fact, Matthew doesn't say that. He says they see the star "at its rising" and then seemingly not again (or at least only sporadically? I don't understand enough astronomy to know what "at its rising" means) until right after their meeting with Herod, when we are told: 

After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.

It seems stupid of me not to have noticed this before, and it answers a lot of questions, such as why other people weren't also following the star, and why the Magi needed to ask for directions in Jerusalem instead of just following it as they had been doing all along. It seems I've been letting Christmas cards and carols override what scripture actually says. In fact, it was not "by the light of that same star" that "three wisemen came from country far," but by the light of faith and hope and their own calculations based on something seen once for a time. (Left unanswered is just what they were seeing that would have led them to a specific place. In what sense does a "star" rest over a cave?) 

This reflection recalled to my mind the promise of God to Abraham, when He had Abraham look up into the bright noon sky and try to number the stars. 

At any rate, the Magi seem able to go only so far based on prophecy, faith, and reason, and eventually have to ask for help. They get as far as Jerusalem on their own, but to get to Bethlehem requires the aid of the priests and scribes. 

It is interesting that the priests and scribes knew the newborn king would be found in Bethlehem, or at least could find the answer upon searching the scriptures. But apparently they did not notice the special star at its rising, and felt no impulse to find the fulfillment of prophecy themselves. As Jesus will say later, in Mt 23, practice what they tell you, but don't follow their example, because they don't practice what they preach.  Perhaps here we see a danger of taking "religion" as your profession. You can know everything about it while ceasing to be a genuine disciple. The Magi announce that they have seen the star of the prophesied king and "come to worship." The religion professionals know just where he is to be found, but seem to have lost the impulse to worship. The Magi seem to have something to tell us about what it means to "keep watch," the nature of seeking in this life, the nature of priests and scribes, and perhaps the loneliness of discipleship. Perhaps Herod has something to teach us too: namely, to be wary when the state takes an interest in religion. 

I like to think about the excitement and delight that would have filled the kings upon seeing the star again at long last -- and then to find Jesus! The feast traditionally celebrates not only this first manifestation of Christ to the gentiles, but also other moments of "manifestation" -- the Presentation, the Baptism, the Wedding at Cana.  It seems at times in the spiritual life we are granted little flashes of insight into Who Jesus is, and we have to take those experiences deep within us and cling to them, because in a flash they are gone again and we have to go home and live by what we have seen without having it in front of us any longer. Having experienced the Epiphany, the Magi had to go Home by Another Way. 

Update: Homily of Pope Francis for Epiphany

Happy Christmas 2020, Day 12/ Epiphany Transferred

Anne Yvonne Gilbert from "Jesus is Born," shamelessly pinched from here

You know how sometimes the lyric of a Christmas carol suddenly pierces you through? That happened to me at Midnight Mass during the offertory, when we were singing "In the Deep Mid-winter." The image of the 4th verse caught me:

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air;
But his mother only,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss

--all those angels present in worship, and Mary had the privilege of kissing Him as they could not.  

Happy Christmas 2020, Day 11

Władysław Skoczylas, "A Goral Nativity," 1910 

shamelessly pinched from @JRsartplace

Today is also the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Might be a stretch, but here's why she deserves to be a Christmas saint. 

Happy Christmas 2020, Day 10

Arthur Rackham, "Christmas," 1930

shamelessly pinched from here 

Newman, The special charm of Christmas: "If at any time we may love the world, it is now. If at any time, it is when He is come to be our Emmanuel."

Happy Christmas 2020, Day 9

William Kurelek, scene from A Northern Nativity

Toldja there would be more Kurelek this week. I was tempted to just run one per day. See a video of other images from this book here.

On another note: Annie Lennox belts out God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Books Read, 2019

Disclaimer: This post is just for records-keeping, nothing to see here. 
It was the year of Xenophon and Sigrid Undset

Popery
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week
Pope Emeritus' Letter on Child Abuse
The Memoirs of St. Peter

Professional & Devotional 
Accounting for the Numberphobic
Born to Love
Boundaries
Burn the Business Plan
Catherine of Siena
In Sinu Jesu
Linchpin 
Power of Silence


Book Clubs
A Gentleman in Moscow
Hiero
Housekeeping
The Education of Cyrus
The Mask of Apollo 
Memorabilia
Thomism & Aristotelianism 

Just Felt Like It 
All the Light We Cannot See
Atticus
The Big Rock Candy Mountain 
A Kingdom Far & Clear
Jenny
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Ross Poldark, A Novel of Cornwall
Rules of Civility
The Song at the Scaffold
Virgil Wander 


Shakespeare
Richard III
Henry IV, part 1

Happy Christmas 2020, Day 8

Howard Pyle, "Christmas Morn," Chicago Tribune Dec 3, 1903

shamelessly pinched from Howard Pyle

Happy New Year and Happy Feast of the Maternity of Mary, Mother of God!

For your reading pleasure: God & Bertie Wooster

And, for meditation, reprising this, because I happen to love it.

How to do a Yearly Examen