Tuesday, August 31, 2010

My New Granddaughter

... and her happy parents, Aña and Mike Orsi.


Monday, August 30, 2010

A couple of thoughts . . .

Sin is the seductive power that endows acts of lovelessness with moral respectability. It is evil on training wheels.

Evil is sin, no longer in need of such moral evasions, standing akimbo, reveling in the candor of its shamelessness.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

From the Archives: Famished Craving pt 6

(Aug 29th 11am PDT) Note: I apologize for the techincal glitch that made this audio player "unavailable" at its original posting. This is now fixed. Thank you for your patience.














Saturday, August 28, 2010

For St. Augustine - All in a day's work...

For the feast day of St. Augustine I offer the following quote from Sermon 340:

The turbulent have to be corrected,
the faint-hearted cheered up,
the weak supported;
the Gospel's opponents need to be refuted,
its insidious enemies guarded against;
the unlearned need to be taught,
the indolent stirred up,
the argumentative checked;
the proud must be put in their place,
the desparate set on their feet,
those engaged in quarrels reconciled;
the needy have to be helped,
the oppressed to be liberated,
the good to be encouraged,
the bad to be tolerated;
all must be loved.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

From the Archives: Famished Craving pt 5

Famished Craving: the attention of others, the fascination of the famous, and the need for faith

the origins of sacred kingship...














Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Not Guilt but Nonentity

From my friend Giuseppe Fornari:
... the major concern of totalitarian regimes in our time has been to seek out "nonpersons" to kill with impunity; they are so much the more "nonpersons" because they are perfectly innocent, given that a capacity for moral or legal attribution is always proof of existence.
Think: Innocent Victims of Indiscriminate Terrorism ... Nonentities in the glazed eyes of the Jihadists

Think: A million unborn innocent babies a year ... Nonentities in the glazed eyes of the champions of "choice."

Please be patient

Until we are able to fix it, the avalanche of stealth posts with Amazon links will continue to appear on this blog. Ignore them all. We are trying to find a way to stop them.

Thanks, Gil

Friday, August 20, 2010

From the Archives: Famished Craving Pt 3

Famished Craving
the attention of others,
the fascination of the famous,
and the need for faith


Think now
History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors
And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,
Guides us by vanities. Think now
She gives when our attention is distracted
And what she gives, gives
with such supple confusions
That the giving famishes the craving

T.S. Eliot, Gerontion












Saturday, August 14, 2010

From the Archives: Famished Craving Pt 1

Gil utilized a number of stories written by Flannery O'Connor in the late 1980's including 'Revelation', 'Parker's Back' and 'The Displaced Person'. I hope to return to those at some point but for now a change of pace...

With the end of the 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' series our next selection comes from 1995 and is entitled:

Famished Craving
the attention of others,
the fascination of the famous
and the need for faith

The title comes from the T.S. Eliot poem Gerontion

Think now
History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors
And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,
Guides us by vanities. Think now
She gives when our attention is distracted
And what she gives, gives
with such supple confusions
That the giving famishes the craving
Here is what Gil wrote introducing this series:
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.

With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.

Using this survey as a backdrop we will rethink today's social and psychological presuppositions and ponder anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.











Wednesday, August 11, 2010

From the Audio Archives: A Good Man is Hard to Find Pt 8 - the final chaper

This is the final chapter of Gil's 1989 reflections on the Flannery O'Connor story, A Good Man is Hard to Find.

Anyone who would like to purchase a copy of this entire presentation in either CD or MP3 format may do so on our website. As a reminder to those who have found our work of value but who do not yet contribute to the support of our efforts, we make available on a monthly basis complimentary copies of Gil Bailie's presentations to anyone who contributes at the $25/mo or $300/yr sustaining donor level. For more information about this please visit our website HERE.













Sunday, August 08, 2010

From the Audio Archives: A Good Man is Hard to Find Pt 7

Continuing with 8 part series of Gil Bailie's 1989 reflections on Flannery O'Connor's story, A Good Man is Hard to Find.













Thursday, August 05, 2010

From the Audio Archives: A Good Man is Hard to Find Pt 6

Continuing with the 8 part series of Gil Bailie's 1989 reflections on Flannery O'Connor's story, A Good Man is Hard to Find.













Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Jean Daniélou, SJ

… there are certain identifiable human values, not peculiarly Christian, which nevertheless flourish only in a Christian setting, and tend to wither away when Christian influences are withdrawn. With the removal of Christianity, men lose their religion, but also in a measure their humanity. We should be the last to exaggerate the value and importance of the civilizing aspects of Christianity, especially in comparison with its essential other-worldly significance. And we are satisfied that non-Christian civilizations have their own values, which are not to be depreciated. But when we consider the universal constant work of civilization, which is the defense of mankind against necessity, or fate, we remain convinced that civilization’s most reliable ally is Christianity, though the essentail purpose of Christianity is something entirely different.

Monday, August 02, 2010

You can't be too careful . . .

 . . . with the truth. It has a subtle way of intruding.



Thanks to Creative Minority Report.

From the Audio Archives: A Good Man is Hard to Find Pt 5

Continuing with the 8 part series of Gil Bailie's 1989 reflections on Flannery O'Connor's story, A Good Man is Hard to Find.