David Mills, in his latest book, Discovering Mary, helps us linger in the domain of Mary by opening up to us the riches of divine revelation, both from tradition and Scripture. Mills, a convert from the Episcopal Church, former editor of the Christian journal Touchstone and editor of the 1998 book of essays commemorating the centennial of C.S. Lewis’ birth The Pilgrim’s Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness, as well as the author of Knowing the Real Jesus (2001), has written a rock-solid introduction to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and done so with intellectual rigor and an affable tone.
His book begins with an introduction in which he describes how he came to discover the riches of the Church’s teachings on Mary: “I began to see how a sacred vessel is made holy by the sacred thing it carries,” he writes. “I began to feel this in a way I had not before. I found myself developing an experiential understanding of Mary and indeed a Marian devotion. Which surprised me. It surprised me a lot.”
Read it all here.
Editor's Note: In icons Mary is often shown holding the Christ between two angels. This reflects that she is holy and in God's presence, even as God was conceived within her womb (the true Ark of the Covenant). This is the fulfillment of the image of the two angels facing each other with wings extended over the old Ark of the Covenant, which prefigured the Theotokos. In both images, God dwells between the angels.
Thinking about ethics and current events (Began 1 April 2008)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
How Congress Does Diplomancy (Badly)
WASHINGTON: It was a field day for Pakistan bashers at the US House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia where speaker after speaker blamed Islamabad for allegedly continuing to support Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“There is, in fact, no reason to doubt that Pakistan’s military is likely paying compensation to the families of the terrorists killed in the Mumbai attacks,” said the panel’s chairman, Gary Ackerman. “These are our allies in the war on terror,” he bemoaned.
It’s no surprise coming from a lawmaker who heads the Indian caucus on Capitol Hill and has received India’s third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan.
However, even a Pakistani-American expert, Shuja Nawaz, was forced to acknowledge that the LeT was “a Frankenstein’s monster”, which assumed a broader regional role.
Mr Nawaz, who is the director of South Asia Centre at the Atlantic Council of the US, warned that “another Mumbai-type attack involving the LeT might bring India and Pakistan into conflict, a prospect that should keep us awake at night.”
But he also defended Pakistan, saying that both the civil and military establishments in the country now appeared to have recognised the existential threat from groups like the LeT.
“The army appears to have dislocated the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Yet, it faces a huge and, to my mind, greater threat in the hinterland, in the form of the LeT.”
Equating the LeT with Al Qaeda, Mr Ackerman said the Mumbai attack of November 2008 showed that the LeT was capable of conducting such raids anywhere it wanted.
“We need to take this threat very, very seriously. The LeT is a deadly serious group of fanatics. They are well-financed, ambitious, and most disturbingly, both tolerated by, and connected to, the Pakistani military,” he alleged.
He claimed that operational funding for the LeT came from charitable fundraising amongst the general population in Pakistan, but it also depended heavily on contributions by Pakistani businessmen living abroad and other wealthy individuals from the Persian Gulf.
Claiming that one of the key facilitators of the Mumbai attack was an American of Pakistani extraction, the congressman warned: “Unfortunately, the LeT enjoys a substantial global network.”
Ashley Tellis, an Indian-American associated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, went a step ahead and urged the US to be prepared to take action against the Lashkar if Pakistan was unable or unwilling to act against it.
From here.
Editor's Note: Some sensitive deliberations should be done behind closed doors without the media so that our leaders don't look like uninformed bigots to the world. The Congressional Record recounts the facts of the deliberation and the record is public.
“There is, in fact, no reason to doubt that Pakistan’s military is likely paying compensation to the families of the terrorists killed in the Mumbai attacks,” said the panel’s chairman, Gary Ackerman. “These are our allies in the war on terror,” he bemoaned.
It’s no surprise coming from a lawmaker who heads the Indian caucus on Capitol Hill and has received India’s third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan.
However, even a Pakistani-American expert, Shuja Nawaz, was forced to acknowledge that the LeT was “a Frankenstein’s monster”, which assumed a broader regional role.
Mr Nawaz, who is the director of South Asia Centre at the Atlantic Council of the US, warned that “another Mumbai-type attack involving the LeT might bring India and Pakistan into conflict, a prospect that should keep us awake at night.”
But he also defended Pakistan, saying that both the civil and military establishments in the country now appeared to have recognised the existential threat from groups like the LeT.
“The army appears to have dislocated the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Yet, it faces a huge and, to my mind, greater threat in the hinterland, in the form of the LeT.”
Equating the LeT with Al Qaeda, Mr Ackerman said the Mumbai attack of November 2008 showed that the LeT was capable of conducting such raids anywhere it wanted.
“We need to take this threat very, very seriously. The LeT is a deadly serious group of fanatics. They are well-financed, ambitious, and most disturbingly, both tolerated by, and connected to, the Pakistani military,” he alleged.
He claimed that operational funding for the LeT came from charitable fundraising amongst the general population in Pakistan, but it also depended heavily on contributions by Pakistani businessmen living abroad and other wealthy individuals from the Persian Gulf.
Claiming that one of the key facilitators of the Mumbai attack was an American of Pakistani extraction, the congressman warned: “Unfortunately, the LeT enjoys a substantial global network.”
Ashley Tellis, an Indian-American associated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, went a step ahead and urged the US to be prepared to take action against the Lashkar if Pakistan was unable or unwilling to act against it.
From here.
Editor's Note: Some sensitive deliberations should be done behind closed doors without the media so that our leaders don't look like uninformed bigots to the world. The Congressional Record recounts the facts of the deliberation and the record is public.
New Martyrs of Optina
The beginnings of the Optina Pustyn Monastery are not formally known because there is no actual documentation as to when the Monastery was established. What is known is legend, which, as the tradition relates; in the 15th century, Opta the Outlaw renounced the world, asking forgiveness of his sins, and by embracing holy monasticism, became the Monk Makarii. It was he who founded the Monastery of Optina Pustyn.
Optina Pustyn means, “living together”, in Russian. A name earned because prior to 1504, both nuns and monks had residences within the cloister. The first evidence of this was discovered during Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich’s reign in the 17th century. At this point the Monastery was but a small wooden structure with a few monastic cells, one church and less than twenty monastics.
In the period of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the Monastery increased significantly both in size and in income. The advent of the Staretz or Starchestvo, which means ‘a lineage of wisdom of prayer’ maintained by Startsi, the Russian Orthodox ‘Elders’, stimulated and contributed to the growth of the Monastery. St Sergius of Radonezh introduced this tradition to Russia, the roots of which are found in hesychasm (see St Gregory Palamas, 14-15th century). St Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15) was powerfully influential in bringing the almost-lost hesychastic tradition of Orthodox spirituality to Russia in the eighteenth century, and his labors found in Optina Monastery a ‘headquarters’ from which they spread throughout the Russian land. The monastery itself had been in existence since at least the sixteenth century, but had fallen into decay through the anti-monastic policies of Catherine II and other modernizing rulers. Around 1790, Metropolitan Platon of Moscow undertook a mission to restore and revive the monastery in the tradition set forth by St Paisius. By the early 1800s the monastery (located about 80 miles from Moscow) had become a beacon of Orthodox spirituality, partly through their publication of Orthodox spiritual texts, but more importantly through the lineage of divinely-enlightened spiritual fathers (startsi, plural of starets) who served as guides to those, noble and peasant, who flocked to the monastery for their holy counsel. The fathers aroused some controversy in their own day; a few critics (some of them from other monasteries) disapproved of their allowing the Jesus Prayer to become widely-known among the people, fearing that it would give rise to spiritual delusion (prelest). For a wonderful depiction of the deep influence of the Jesus Prayer on Russian life during this period, read the anonymously-written Way of a Pilgrim.
Optina Pustyn Monastery became a primary center of this holy tradition.
Read it all here.
Optina Pustyn means, “living together”, in Russian. A name earned because prior to 1504, both nuns and monks had residences within the cloister. The first evidence of this was discovered during Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich’s reign in the 17th century. At this point the Monastery was but a small wooden structure with a few monastic cells, one church and less than twenty monastics.
In the period of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the Monastery increased significantly both in size and in income. The advent of the Staretz or Starchestvo, which means ‘a lineage of wisdom of prayer’ maintained by Startsi, the Russian Orthodox ‘Elders’, stimulated and contributed to the growth of the Monastery. St Sergius of Radonezh introduced this tradition to Russia, the roots of which are found in hesychasm (see St Gregory Palamas, 14-15th century). St Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15) was powerfully influential in bringing the almost-lost hesychastic tradition of Orthodox spirituality to Russia in the eighteenth century, and his labors found in Optina Monastery a ‘headquarters’ from which they spread throughout the Russian land. The monastery itself had been in existence since at least the sixteenth century, but had fallen into decay through the anti-monastic policies of Catherine II and other modernizing rulers. Around 1790, Metropolitan Platon of Moscow undertook a mission to restore and revive the monastery in the tradition set forth by St Paisius. By the early 1800s the monastery (located about 80 miles from Moscow) had become a beacon of Orthodox spirituality, partly through their publication of Orthodox spiritual texts, but more importantly through the lineage of divinely-enlightened spiritual fathers (startsi, plural of starets) who served as guides to those, noble and peasant, who flocked to the monastery for their holy counsel. The fathers aroused some controversy in their own day; a few critics (some of them from other monasteries) disapproved of their allowing the Jesus Prayer to become widely-known among the people, fearing that it would give rise to spiritual delusion (prelest). For a wonderful depiction of the deep influence of the Jesus Prayer on Russian life during this period, read the anonymously-written Way of a Pilgrim.
Optina Pustyn Monastery became a primary center of this holy tradition.
Read it all here.
Friday, March 12, 2010
US - Israel Relations Strained
Hours after Vice President Joe Biden declared that there is “no space” between Israel and the U.S., the Israeli government announces the approval of 1,600 new housing units in contested East Jerusalem, expanding the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood for ultra-Orthodox Jews on land that Palestinians also claim. The announcement from the Interior Ministry, run by the head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, claimed that the expansion has been in the works for years (true) and that the timing was just a coincidence (hard to believe).
The day after, press reports said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised and embarrassed by the timing of the announcement. If true, that suggests he is incapable of managing his sprawling administration, so packed with patronage that it is the largest in Israel’s history — hardly an encouraging thought.
In any case, this is no way to treat a guest. The timing and the substance of the announcement left Biden in a terrible spot, forced to condemn his host’s behavior even as he was trying to launch a new round of indirect negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.
As Americans, we feel insulted. Contrary to the spin generated in some quarters, the Obama administration has gone out of its way to support Israel and the Netanyahu government. As the Forward has reported, cooperation between the two nations is flourishing — the Obama administration has worked hard to bolster Israel’s qualitative military edge, which had eroded during the final year of the presidency of George W. Bush. America continues to do the heavy lifting required to fend off unfair criticism of Israel in unfriendly venues. And American Jews continue to pour money, resources and energy into ensuring Israel’s future.
Read it all here.
The day after, press reports said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised and embarrassed by the timing of the announcement. If true, that suggests he is incapable of managing his sprawling administration, so packed with patronage that it is the largest in Israel’s history — hardly an encouraging thought.
In any case, this is no way to treat a guest. The timing and the substance of the announcement left Biden in a terrible spot, forced to condemn his host’s behavior even as he was trying to launch a new round of indirect negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.
As Americans, we feel insulted. Contrary to the spin generated in some quarters, the Obama administration has gone out of its way to support Israel and the Netanyahu government. As the Forward has reported, cooperation between the two nations is flourishing — the Obama administration has worked hard to bolster Israel’s qualitative military edge, which had eroded during the final year of the presidency of George W. Bush. America continues to do the heavy lifting required to fend off unfair criticism of Israel in unfriendly venues. And American Jews continue to pour money, resources and energy into ensuring Israel’s future.
Read it all here.
Help for Chile
CHILE EARTHQUAKE: £3930.00 now raised.
The University of Ohio has announced that the city of Concepción, near the epicentre has moved 3.9 metres into the Pacific. Santiago has moved 27.7 cms to the west, and even Buenos Aires is between 2 and 3 cms further west than it was before the earthquake. So South America continues to distance itself from Africa!
The list of fatalities is now 479. There has been tremendous relief at finding groups of people in the hills fearing tsunamis, or in shelters and refuges unknown to family and friends. The lack of communications did not help. The list is about half of what was first feared.
One and a quarter million pounds worth of stolen goods has been returned or abandoned. Either the thieves had the grace to repent, or found they were unable to resell. In any case condemnation of the looting and pillage has been very vocal.
The Ministry of Education plans 3 shifts of children in some schools as a temporary measure while repairs and rebuilding take place. The school where Margaret teaches has 9 classrooms out of action. In Talcahuano, near the epicentre, a secondary school has a trawler sitting in its playground, deposited there by the tsunami.
Read it all here.
The University of Ohio has announced that the city of Concepción, near the epicentre has moved 3.9 metres into the Pacific. Santiago has moved 27.7 cms to the west, and even Buenos Aires is between 2 and 3 cms further west than it was before the earthquake. So South America continues to distance itself from Africa!
The list of fatalities is now 479. There has been tremendous relief at finding groups of people in the hills fearing tsunamis, or in shelters and refuges unknown to family and friends. The lack of communications did not help. The list is about half of what was first feared.
One and a quarter million pounds worth of stolen goods has been returned or abandoned. Either the thieves had the grace to repent, or found they were unable to resell. In any case condemnation of the looting and pillage has been very vocal.
The Ministry of Education plans 3 shifts of children in some schools as a temporary measure while repairs and rebuilding take place. The school where Margaret teaches has 9 classrooms out of action. In Talcahuano, near the epicentre, a secondary school has a trawler sitting in its playground, deposited there by the tsunami.
Read it all here.
Homosex and Catholic Education of Children
Archbishop Chaput deserves another round of kudos for a stand he has taken regarding a school in his archdiocese.
Basically, he backed the school up when it refused to allow two children of lesbian “parents” to renew their enrollment.
This should cause no controversy whatsoever, but of course it has.
GET THE STORY.
I’m not surprised at the controversy, because a few years ago I blogged about a similar case in Orange County, California. The amount of blowback was a bit startling, given my readership. That led to a follow-up post, and then another follow-up post as we sorted through the arguments.
A key issue that was raised at the time—and that, indeed, kicked off the discussion—was the question of where Catholic schools should draw the line regarding what is acceptable in parental behavior.
And—no surprise—that argument is being trotted out now.
You see, an awful lot of parents of kids in Catholic school aren’t morally perfect, and if children were to be excluded on the mere grounds that their parents are sinners then enrollment would be quite low indeed.
Read it all here.
Basically, he backed the school up when it refused to allow two children of lesbian “parents” to renew their enrollment.
This should cause no controversy whatsoever, but of course it has.
GET THE STORY.
I’m not surprised at the controversy, because a few years ago I blogged about a similar case in Orange County, California. The amount of blowback was a bit startling, given my readership. That led to a follow-up post, and then another follow-up post as we sorted through the arguments.
A key issue that was raised at the time—and that, indeed, kicked off the discussion—was the question of where Catholic schools should draw the line regarding what is acceptable in parental behavior.
And—no surprise—that argument is being trotted out now.
You see, an awful lot of parents of kids in Catholic school aren’t morally perfect, and if children were to be excluded on the mere grounds that their parents are sinners then enrollment would be quite low indeed.
Read it all here.
Mufti Saeed Murdered in Karachi
KARACHI, March 11: Panic gripped the city when a senior cleric of a religious organisation, his son and two associates were gunned down on Thursday night.
In another attack earlier in the day, another prominent cleric, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, was wounded and his son was killed. Police said that Mufti Saeed Ahmed Jalalpuri of Aalmi Tahaffuz-i-Khatm-i-Nabuat, his son Huzaifa Jalalpuri and close associates Fakheruz Zaman and Abdul Rehman were returning from Jamia Masjid Khatman-un-Nabi on Metrovill Road in Gulshan-i-Iqbal area when four to five gunmen on motorcycles sprayed their car with bullets.
Police found the casing of spent bullets of 9mm pistol at the scene. Gulshan-e-Iqbal SP Javed Meher said the attackers had opened fire from two directions.
“The assailants appeared to be waiting at a place for the cleric and ambushed the car when it reached there,” a police officer said.
They were taken to Patel Hospital where Mufti Saeed and his son were pronounced dead while their associates died some time later.
Tension gripped the area after the incident and unknown people started firing in the air, forcing shops to close. A large number of people and students of a seminary gathered at the hospital.
The bodies were later taken to the Aalmi Tahaffuz-i-Khatm-i-Nabuat in Gurumandir.
In the morning, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, a central leader of Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan), was injured in what appeared to be an assassination attempt in the city’s Nazimabad area.
The attack, however, claimed the life of his youngest son. Maulana’s two other sons and a security guard and a driver were injured.
Police said that Maulana Nadeem and his two sons, Rashid Nadeem and Zubair Nadeem, were going in their car to the city courts for a hearing of cases registered against them on August 17 last year during disturbances which followed the killing in Khairpur of Maulana Ali Sher Hydari, chief of the defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba.
When the car was near Annu Bhai Park, two men on a motorcycle opened fire. Maulana’s younger son Mauvia Nadeem, 25, who was following the car on a motorcycle suffered fatal bullet wounds, Liaquatabad SP Abdul Hameed Khosa told Dawn.
Source: Pakistan Dawn
In another attack earlier in the day, another prominent cleric, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, was wounded and his son was killed. Police said that Mufti Saeed Ahmed Jalalpuri of Aalmi Tahaffuz-i-Khatm-i-Nabuat, his son Huzaifa Jalalpuri and close associates Fakheruz Zaman and Abdul Rehman were returning from Jamia Masjid Khatman-un-Nabi on Metrovill Road in Gulshan-i-Iqbal area when four to five gunmen on motorcycles sprayed their car with bullets.
Police found the casing of spent bullets of 9mm pistol at the scene. Gulshan-e-Iqbal SP Javed Meher said the attackers had opened fire from two directions.
“The assailants appeared to be waiting at a place for the cleric and ambushed the car when it reached there,” a police officer said.
They were taken to Patel Hospital where Mufti Saeed and his son were pronounced dead while their associates died some time later.
Tension gripped the area after the incident and unknown people started firing in the air, forcing shops to close. A large number of people and students of a seminary gathered at the hospital.
The bodies were later taken to the Aalmi Tahaffuz-i-Khatm-i-Nabuat in Gurumandir.
In the morning, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, a central leader of Ahl-i-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan), was injured in what appeared to be an assassination attempt in the city’s Nazimabad area.
The attack, however, claimed the life of his youngest son. Maulana’s two other sons and a security guard and a driver were injured.
Police said that Maulana Nadeem and his two sons, Rashid Nadeem and Zubair Nadeem, were going in their car to the city courts for a hearing of cases registered against them on August 17 last year during disturbances which followed the killing in Khairpur of Maulana Ali Sher Hydari, chief of the defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba.
When the car was near Annu Bhai Park, two men on a motorcycle opened fire. Maulana’s younger son Mauvia Nadeem, 25, who was following the car on a motorcycle suffered fatal bullet wounds, Liaquatabad SP Abdul Hameed Khosa told Dawn.
Source: Pakistan Dawn
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