Puvis de Chavannes + St. Thomas’ Recovery

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes: interesting painter

How did St. Thomas manage to miss the Lord Jesus on Easter Sunday?

“Gosh, I would love to hang out with you brother Apostles in the Upper Room and pray the afternoon away, but—wouldn’t you know it!—I have a conflict. Catch up with you next Sunday!”

Okay. Thomas had a lot of friends and associates. Kept busy. Always on the go. No harm in that.

But: when Thomas refused to believe his old friends when they said the Lord had risen from the dead—should we fault him for that?

“He came here. Flesh and blood. And He gave us the Holy Spirit.”

“No He didn’t.”

“Yes. He did.”

“No He didn’t.”

“Yes. He did.”

“No He didn’t.”

“Thomas, you’re hopeless.”

Worth Writing Down Artfully

Lacquered Japanese Calligraphy Box at the Walters

On Monday, December 29, 2008, the Hoyas played Hasheem Thabeet & Co.–the UConn Huskies–in Hartford. Georgetown stepped on the court as 6 1/2-point underdogs and stepped off the winners by 11 points.

Christmas-week glory indeed.

But 2008 cannot hold a candle to what took place in Louisville, Ky., yesterday evening.

The Hoyas went on to take a nosedive in January 2009. It won’t happen again. This season will unfold differently. Nothing can bond a team together like a stadium-clearing brawl in inland China.

I wish I owned my own 19th-century suzuri bako, so that I could calligraphize the moment:

Hoyas Stun Cardinals to End Louisville’s 20-Game Home-Court Winning Streak and Inaugurate the J.T. III Salad Days!!

Little Wonders

Did you know: Before Helen was taken from Sparta to Troy–even before she was married to king Menelaus–while she was still a girl, she was abducted by Theseus?

Theseus gave her to his mother to take care of her, until she would be old enough for him to marry.

But Helen’s brothers Castor and Pollux rescued her from Theseus’ mother Aethra. (You can learn a lot of ancient mythology from beautiful old plates.)

Helen married the king of Sparta. But then she was taken away to Troy by Paris. (Paris was the cousin of Aeneas, the ancient father of the Roman race.)

It was a trial being the most beautiful woman in the world…

…Puer natus est nobis!

The “Missal” is the book the priest uses to say the prayers of the Holy Mass. The Cornaro Missal has a beautiful illumination on the page next to the Christmas Mass prayers.

Dateline: Charm City

Lourdes

One hundred fifty-one years ago today, our Lady appeared for the first time to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France. The Lady made a spring of water flow. She asked for a church. St. Bernadette faithfully did everything the Lady asked.

Preacher and Big Daddy is on the road. We kept the Memorial of our Lady of Lourdes at the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, Maryland.