Amen! Alleluia!!
.
See Luke 15:7.
.
Repent. It is never too late.
.
Finally (Thank God!), it would be such gracious articles that convinced me that the Wall Street Journal subscription price was worth the money.
“At the end however we are confronted with the stark reality of death and the time for illusion ceases…” I think it would be more appropriate, indeed correct, to say that the time for “self-delusion” not “illusion” ceases.
I know that Hitchcock had a well-formed Catholic upbringing in his school years, studying for a time at St Ignatius School (prep) in Stamford Hill, in London. (He had to leave, according to his biographers, about age 15, because his father died and the family was left in tight circumstances.)
..
Of course, Jesuit training, especially by the English Jesuits in the then-pre WWI era, was something substantial and to be proud of,…then. That era of spiritual formation apparently stayed with him quite well and brought him home at the end.
Every so often I read something such as this (last Friday’s WSJ) and say to myself, “It’s still worth the subscription price.”
Whenever I read a story of a penitent, I think of the sermon that Bossuet preached at the solemn profession of Mlle de la Vallière, (Sister Louise de la Miséricorde) the former mistress of Louis XIV, as a Carmelite nun.
He took as his text, “And He that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new'” (Apoc 21:5).
He also discusses the mystery, even the paradox of grace, both “Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ez 18:31) but also, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”(Ez 36:26)
One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Isaiah 1: 18:
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
You have a good heart Donald. Thanks for the touching story.
Donald…..very good story. It reminds me of the movie, “immortal Beloved” about the life of Beethoven. In the movie, the dying composer refuses to see a priest and receive the last rights. In reality, according to Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, he died during a terrific hailstorm after having devoutly received the last sacraments. His Missa Solemnis, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, ” is a mighty profession of faith in a personal God by one of the greatest geniuses of all times, who composed it in the midst of the growing doubt and impending moral and spiritual disintegration of his age.” I don’t know the reason why Hollywood and the publishing industry do not want to tell the truth or downplay the influence of belief in God but it must have something to do with the agnostic/atheistic ingrained prejudice against the compatibility of Catholic faith and intellectual or artistic genius. They think only stupid or simple people could believe in God.
” They think only stupid or simple people could believe in God.”
This fits in with their usual ignorance of history, religion and ludicrous overestimation of their own intelligence.
Arrogant, half-witted hypocrites think everyone else is (if it were possible) stupider than they are.
And also that ‘veritable icon of modernity’ the great poet Wallace Stevens:
Poetcomic…..thank you very much for the informative link…..great story also.
Thanks, Mac. That is very familiar to this old fart.
.
Other classics that made it into circuses and TV include von Suppe’s “Light Cavalry Overture” and Fucik’s “March of the Gladiators.”
.
The other night I watched the first hour-and-a-half of Ford’s “Rio Grande” movie (then too late went to bed). In a moment, I will remove myself to listen to “The Bold Fenian Men” by the Sons of the . . . and old US Cavalry bugle calls.
.
When my son wasn’t jumping out of perfectly good air planes, the Army assigned him to a cavalry squadron and a year in Afghanistan where he earned his CIB and spurs. We have his Stetson somewhere in the house.
Love this. Sounds to me more like a merry march than a funeral march. And I remember the Hictchcock TV series fondly, very imaginative and nothing else like it on TV then or since.
T Shaw, Congrats to your son! I’ve seen the Av Cav dress uniform many years ago (early 70s) at Ft. Benjamin Harrison : Stetson, boots w/spurs and Sam Browne belt w/ what looks like an ammo packet. What’s a CIB?
Thanks, CAM. The man looks sharp in dress blues, Stetson, spurs. The Sam Browne belt wasn’t there. I ought to have spelled it out. CIB = Combat Infantryman Badge.
.
He’s serving with a state-side airborne outfit.
.
Bless them all.