A Glance at Death...

Praised Be Jesus!

I hope everyone is enjoying all the fall festivities and that this post finds everyone well! The Halloween season is upon us, and so is the season of many huffy Christian posts about Halloween — but luckily, this will not be one of them! As we approach this time of year, there is a torrent of content which seeks to either destroy the practice of celebrating Halloween or to discourage those who wish to revitalize its Christian roots. But as I see it, the way the modern celebration of Halloween flows into the great feast of All Saints Day can give us greater insight into the mystery of Christ.

Brittany Maynard and the Myth of Dignified Suicide

Pictured: courage, dignity, and death that didn't serve a politically correct agenda

If you're alive and have spent any time on the Internet in the past few weeks, chances are you've heard the heartbreaking story of Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer who has decided to kill herself rather than suffer the effects of the disease. Like most of you, I read her story and was saddened by her plight, but I got stuck on one part of her interview:

“There is not a cell in my body that is suicidal or that wants to die,” Maynard told People.com. “I want to live. I wish there was a cure for my disease but there’s not. … Being able to choose to go with dignity is less terrifying.”

And suddenly, I found her story more exasperating than empathy-inducing. What, exactly, is dignified about giving up?

Drunken Book Club Presents: Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore

Welcome to another episode of Drunken Book Club!

I’m your host, Anna, Queen of the Ox People and Head of the Dragonslayers Northern Guild. This episode features:

Moments of Grace and Negative Nancies

Praised Be Jesus, everyone!

It is upon us! We are in Holy Week! And the dawn of the Solemnities of Solemnities, the great Feast of Resurrection, is upon us! As we plunge into this great week of the mystery of our salvation, may we all seek a deeper entrance into the Passion of Christ.

Now that I have all you good Catholics' attention, let's talk about Nancy Pelosi. To be honest, this article has nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi's political positions, nor where she stands in opposition to Catholic teaching. Earlier this month, it made news that Barack Obama had given a rosary blessed by Pope Francis to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The article caused a little bit of an uproar, and some were outraged and considered this an act of sacrilege — a slap in the face to the faithful. I would like to offer another look at the situation.

Quit Pretending You're Better Than Fred Phelps

I can totally feel God's love, you guys.

As all of you know by now, Fred Phelps is dead. He was most famously known for his and his family's protests at funerals — often but not always of U.S. soldiers — because, according to them, virtually every bad thing ever (and I mean everything, even tornadoes) was the direct result of America's tolerance of homosexuality. I say tolerance, not acceptance, because Phelps argued that sodomy should not only be illegal — it should be a capital offence. The Church was also a favourite target of the Phelps clan, who regularly picketed Catholic churches and other houses of worship; they even dedicated an entire Web site to attacking her, which I will not link here.

Predictably, many responses to his death welcomed it, with some reactions outright gleeful. The argument goes that since Phelps spent his life disrespecting the dead with hateful, vulgar protests, his death should be met in kind. Because... tolerance?

I'll cut to the chase: This post is not about Fred Phelps, despite its title. It's about you.

The Great Magdalene

Praised Be Jesus!

I hope that everyone is having a fruitful beginning of Lent! And I pray that you are all strengthened to carry out your resolutions and through them, grow closer to Our Lord! One of my absolute favorite Saints is undoubtedly Mary Magdalene (so be ready for numerous articles about her and other favorites). But I have to confess that my image of the great Magdalene is informed more by her legend than actual fact. Yes, we know that Mary Magdalene was the woman from whom Jesus cast out several demons who became one of the foremost of Jesus' followers, But in my mind, much of her is still colored by the misinterpretation of her being the prostitute, the woman of ill repute, and the sinner who falls madly in love with the person of Jesus Christ. This is the Mary Magdalene I love and the one who colors my side of Catholic imagination.

The Man and the Mystic

Saint John resting on the breast of Jesus

In the gathering of the Church the Lord opened his mouth and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and clothed him with a robe of glory. —Introit of the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist

God and Man at Columbia

The first BioShock is a masterpiece of a game, and I eagerly awaited creator Ken Levine’s latest project: BioShock Infinite. Rather than an underwater city filled with characters from a Galt’s Gulch gone terribly wrong, this game features a floating city in the sky. On first glance, it’s a quasi-Mormon paradise inflamed with American nationalism, but below the surface there lies a society scarred by racism, crony capitalism, and a dangerous cult of "the Prophet." BioShock Infinite has taken the gaming world by storm and won more awards than I can count. It's a creative piece of storytelling and is probably worth playing if you like fast-paced shooters. The game’s religious themes in particular were irresistible to me as a Catholic, and so I’d like to dig into them, as I haven’t seen these ideas seriously addressed elsewhere. I’ll assume the good reader has either completed the game and knows the ending or isn't a gamer and actually wouldn't mind it being spoiled… so read at your own discretion.

Innocence, Born to Die

"So, we're just going to let scores of children carry open flames in the cathedral? Did no-one second-guess this idea?"

As Michael noted in our previous post, last Sunday was the Feast of Christ the King, which closes out the liturgical year. Thus, the start of Advent (derived from the Latin for "coming") today marks a new year, as well as the beginning of that short but intense time of solemn waiting and joyful expectation. Christmas will be upon us in not even four weeks, giving us precious little time to reflect upon its true meaning.

Christ, a King for Us!

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

—Luke 13:10-17