Paul Simon Way Ahead on the Amazon

As we read at Holy Mass today: The Lord sent the prophet Jonah to the non-Jewish Ninevites. And the Lord sent a non-Jewish Samaritan to help the robbers’ victim, in the parable. This Sunday we will read about the ten lepers Jesus cured. The only one who came back to say thank you? A Samaritan. A foreigner.

The Lord founded a cosmopolitan Church. Not like the magazine Cosmopolitan. But in the sense that true religion resonates with people of all languages and races. The Lord sent the Apostles to all nations.

For most of us, the Amazon basin counts as “foreign land.” Anyone ever visited?

It became a little less foreign for us Paul-Simon fans back in 1990. He followed up his album Graceland with an encore, involving Brazilian musicians. I wore out my cassette tape of Rhythm of the Saints, by listening to it like a thousand times. The song “Born at the Right Time” can still bring tears to my eyes.

Paul Simon was twenty-nine years ahead of the Vatican. Everyone heard of the “Amazon Synod” in Rome? I, for one, long ago lost track of what exactly the point of all these Roman synods is.

Anyway: the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the grace of His mysteries, belongs to everyone, of every language and nation. Our Lady’s Rosary has “delivered” the Gospel, and the grace of Christ’s mysteries, to souls seeking God, all over the world, for centuries.

You can’t go wrong, listening to some Paul Simon every once in a while, to cheer yourself up. And we definitely can’t go wrong, praying the Rosary daily.

Loving Oneself in Nineveh

Twenty years since Paul Simon’s Rhythm of the Saints got a Grammy nomination. One-hundred fifty since Grant and the Union occupied Nashville, Tennessee. Multiple millennia since Jonah preached in Nineveh…

The people of Nineveh repented. (Luke 11:32)

The people of Nineveh repented. What sins had they committed?

Presenting the Nea

Hoyas 3-0! Yeah, buddy.

Speaking of which, it was nice to see our old homeboy Jeff Green on the court against the Wizards last night…

…Looking for an act of devotion in honor of the Solemnity of Christ the King?

Consider adding your e-signature to the Manhattan Declaration…

…After I finished high school, I got a job typing the reports of a company of local archaeologists.

The company specialized in pre-historic archaeology–that is, the study of artifacts produced by people who did not have writing.

In our area, you can discover a pre-historic artifact while you are out for a walk. There are still Algonquian arrowheads and potsherds lying on the surface of the earth.

Contrast this with archaeology in the Old City of Jerusalem. On Monday evening, we walked down four flights of steps from street level. We emerged into a cistern that was built to hold water for use in the Temple in the fifth century B.C.

Chiesa Nuova in Rome

There are books written about the building of that temple–they can be found in the Old Testament. My point is: In Jerusalem, archaelogists have dug and dug and dug, and they still have not gotten to the pre-historic level.

And here is some more perspective: In our day and age, since the beginning of the Digital/Organic Era (which began when Bill Gates’ net worth reached $1 trillion), “new” refers to something that came into being in the last half-nanosecond.

In Rome, there is a beautiful church called Chiesa Nuova, the “New Church.” It was completed in 1606.

In Jerusalem, the Nea, the “new” church in honor of Mary the Mother of God, has lay buried beneath the rubble of earthquake and Persian destruction for 1200 years.

Today is the day the Nea was dedicated in A.D. 543.

Our Lady was born in Jerusalem. She was among the girls who cared for the Temple paraphernalia.

When Mary brought the newborn Jesus to the Temple to present Him to the Father, she encountered the priest Simeon and the prophetess Anna. The three of them may already have known each other.

The above is a mosaic map of Christian Jerusalem. It is not easy to read. The Cardo, or main street, runs left to right through the middle of the city. The huge ancient basilica of the Holy Sepulcher is below the main street, the Nea is above it, to the right. There was an annual procession between the two churches.

…I am sorry that I allowed the following “Bests” list to get as stale as five-year-old granola bars. It is retired. An exciting new edition is available behind the Bests tab above.

The Myth of Fingerprints?

To you and me, it might seem like a legal footnote.

But the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts will have a huge impact on some of the unsung heroes of criminal justice.

Of course no innocent person should ever be punished for a crime committed by someone else. On the other hand: Should criminals go free just because they have tricky lawyers who can out-talk hardworking crime-lab scientists?

Are there any latent examiners out there who would like to comment on this? Please chime in, and enlighten us ignorant laymen.

In the meantime, rock on out. Happy Friday!