Christopher’s Corner
Monday Night at the Movies
The Scarlet and the Black
From a Catholic perspective, The Scarlet and the Black offers a rich tapestry of spiritual and moral lessons drawn from the true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty’s resistance against Nazi oppression in Rome during World War II. Here are some of the most compelling takeaways:
✝️ Courage Rooted in Faith
- Monsignor O’Flaherty’s daring efforts to save Jews and Allied POWs were not just acts of heroism—they were expressions of deep faith and moral conviction.
- His refusal to remain passive in the face of evil reflects the Catholic call to defend human dignity, even at great personal risk.
🕊️ The Power of Forgiveness
- One of the most striking moments is O’Flaherty’s monthly visits to his former enemy, Herbert Kappler, after the war—culminating in Kappler’s conversion and baptism.
- This act embodies Christ’s teaching to love one’s enemies and shows that redemption is always possible, even for those who have committed grave sins.
🛐 The Role of the Church in Times of Crisis
- The Vatican’s neutrality is tested, but O’Flaherty’s underground network demonstrates how the Church can be a sanctuary and a force for good amid political turmoil.
- It raises questions about institutional responsibility versus individual conscience—a theme still relevant today.
🧠 Moral Clarity vs. Political Compromise
- The film contrasts O’Flaherty’s unwavering moral compass with the calculated diplomacy of others, including Pope Pius XII.
- It invites reflection on when silence becomes complicity and how Catholics are called to speak truth to power.
❤️ Sacrificial Love
- O’Flaherty’s actions were not for glory but for love of neighbor—a living example of the Gospel in action.
- His willingness to risk his life daily, even disguising himself to cross enemy lines, shows how love can be both fierce and tender.
From a Catholic lens, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway offers a surprisingly rich spiritual subtext beneath its surface of disillusionment and postwar malaise. Though Hemingway’s characters often seem adrift, the novel quietly wrestles with themes of pilgrimage, confession, and redemption.
🛤️ Pilgrimage and Spiritual Longing
- Jake Barnes, a lapsed Catholic, embarks on a journey that mirrors a spiritual pilgrimage—from Paris to Pamplona and finally to San Sebastián.
- Scholars have noted parallels between Jake and St. Peter, the patron saint of fishing, especially in Jake’s quiet moments by the river and his moral clarity compared to others.
- The bullfighting scenes, particularly with Pedro Romero, evoke sacrificial imagery and moral strength, contrasting the decadence of the “Lost Generation.”
🙏 Confession and Moral Reckoning
- Jake’s internal monologue often resembles a confession. He acknowledges his failings, his complicity, and his inability to fully live out his faith.
- His wound—both physical and spiritual—becomes a symbol of brokenness that he must learn to accept, echoing Augustine’s reflections on sin and grace.
💔 Love, Sacrifice, and Grace
- Jake’s love for Brett Ashley is marked by restraint and sacrifice. He cannot consummate their relationship, yet he remains loyal and protective.
- Brett’s final act—leaving Romero to preserve his purity—can be seen as a moment of grace, a rare selfless gesture in a world of indulgence.
🕯️ Faith in a Godless World
- Though Jake struggles with belief, he still attends Mass and prays, even if imperfectly. His yearning for meaning suggests that faith persists, even in spiritual drought.
- The novel doesn’t offer easy answers, but it does suggest that community, charity, and moral integrity are paths toward healing.
o July 23-27 Hemingway Days Festival (Key West, Florida)[4]
§ Can’t make it to Pamplona this month? Head to Key West instead! Hemingway Days Festival honors the late author, who lived and worked on the southern coast of the island. The annual event includes its own "Running of the Bulls" — this one with Ernest Hemingway lookalikes pushing fake bulls on Key West’s famed Duval Street.
· Beans Month bursts into July with a celebration of one of the world’s favorite and most versatile ingredient—beans!
· Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
· Bucket List trip[5]: USA 70-degree year trip:
o Seattle
· Violinist Isaac Stern born, 1920
· Monday: Litany of Humility
· Spirit Hour: Green Dragon
· Foodie- Oyster
JULY 21 Monday
King Louis XVI beheaded by guillotine
Exodus,
Chapter 14, Verse 13
But Moses answered the people, “Do not FEAR! Stand your ground and see the victory the LORD will win for you today. For these Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.
At Christ’s transfiguration Moses along with Elijah appeared with Him. The purpose of the transfiguration was to fortify Peter and the other apostle’s faith for pain and hopelessness they must have felt at the loss of their friend Jesus on Good Friday. They must have felt much like the throng with Moses, noted in this verse, standing by the Red Sea awaiting the certain death by the Egyptians.
I wonder did the apostles hear a quiet voice saying in their soul-Do not fear; stand your ground and see the victory of the Lord.
Blessed are the poor
in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:3)
Copilot
Exodus
14 is a masterclass in divine pedagogy—especially when read through the lens of
Catholic theology. It’s not just a historical account of Israel’s escape
through the Red Sea; it’s a spiritual blueprint for confronting fear with
faith. Here are some key lessons:
🛡️ 1. Fear Reveals Our Need for God
When
the Israelites saw Pharaoh’s army closing in, they panicked: “Was it because
there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the
wilderness?” (Ex 14:11). Their fear exposed a lack of trust, even after
witnessing God’s power in the plagues.
·
Catholic
insight: Fear often unmasks our spiritual poverty. It reveals where we’ve
placed our trust—in ourselves, in comfort, in control. The Catechism reminds us
that faith is a response to God’s initiative (CCC 142). Fear, then, becomes an
invitation to deeper surrender.
✝️
2. “The Lord will fight for you” (Ex 14:14)
This
is the heart of the chapter. Moses tells the people to “stand firm” and
watch God act. It’s not passive resignation—it’s radical trust.
·
Spiritual
application: In Catholic tradition, this foreshadows Christ’s victory on the
Cross. Just as God fought for Israel, Christ fights for us in every Eucharist,
every confession, every moment of grace. We are not alone in our battles.
🕊️ 3. Stillness is Strength
Moses
says, “You have only to be still.” This isn’t about doing nothing—it’s
about interior silence, the kind that allows God to act.
·
Catholic
practice: Think of Eucharistic Adoration. In stillness, we learn to let go of
fear and listen. As St. Teresa of Ávila said, “Let nothing disturb you… God
alone suffices.”
🌊 4. God Makes a Way Where There Is None
The
Red Sea parts. What seemed like certain death becomes the path to freedom.
·
Sacramental
lens: The Church Fathers saw this as a type of baptism—passing through water
from slavery to sin into new life. Fear is often the threshold to
transformation. When we walk in faith, God opens the impossible.
🔥 5. Fear Can Be a Catalyst for Faith
By
the end of the chapter, “the people feared the Lord, and they believed in
the Lord and in his servant Moses” (Ex 14:31). Their fear was transfigured
into awe and trust.
·
Catholic
theology: This is filial fear—not terror, but reverence. It’s one of the
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2–3). It draws us closer to God, not
away.
Today
the secularists of France took King Louis XVI and
had him beheaded by use of a guillotine in front of a crowd of Parisians.
The
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church[1]
addresses the issue of when and how St. Peter's teaching that obedience to
God comes before obedience to men as it applies in the modern Christian's life.
Presciently,
or perhaps better, prophetically, Pope Benedict XVI foresaw and foresees
increasing conflict between American Catholics and a public authority
increasingly secularized and increasingly hostile to the moral values of its
Catholic citizens. The conflict is caused by the increasing demands of the
State to "to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of
Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in
intrinsically evil practices." The aggressive secularist State wants
freedom of religion to be limited to "mere freedom of worship," and
not to "freedom of conscience" which extends beyond the realm of the
four walls of a Church into the "public square" of social, civil,
political, and economic life." Christians may conscientiously object to
civil laws if they infringe upon one or more of three things:
(1)
the law violates the moral order, that is, the natural moral law; (2) the law
violates fundamental human rights; or
(3)
the law violates the teachings of the Gospel, which is to say the teachings of
the Church. Laws that trespass against one or more of these three things may
not be obeyed, and obedience to them must be refused. In fact, the Christian
has both a duty and a right to refuse such a law. And though it may be
unrecognized, it is a right that he must exercise regardless of the
consequences to him.
The
full text of the Compendium on this issue merits quotation:
"Citizens are not obligated in conscience to follow the prescriptions of
civil authorities if their precepts are contrary to the demands of the moral
order, to the fundamental rights of persons or to the teachings of the Gospel.
Unjust laws pose dramatic problems of conscience for morally upright people:
when they are called to cooperate in morally evil acts they must refuse.
Besides being a moral duty, such a refusal is also a basic human right which,
precisely as such, civil law itself is obliged to recognize and protect. 'Those
who have recourse to conscientious objection must be protected not only from
legal penalties but also from any negative effects on the legal, disciplinary,
financial and professional plane.'" "It is a grave duty of conscience
not to cooperate, not even formally, in practices which, although permitted by
civil legislation, are contrary to the Law of God. Such cooperation in fact can
never be justified, not by invoking respect for the freedom of others nor by
appealing to the fact that it is foreseen and required by civil law. No one can
escape the moral responsibility for actions taken, and all will be judged by
God himself based on this responsibility (cf. Rom 2:6; 14:12)." (Compendium,
No. 399)
The
right of conscientious objection is not the right of resistance,
and the two should be carefully distinguished. Moreover, resistance which can
be expressed in "many different concrete ways" should be
distinguished from the last and desperate recourse of "armed resistance."
The right to resist an oppressive law or an oppressive government is one that
is found in the natural law. It is a right which precedes a government, and so
is one that is inalienable. Resistance generally is something to be avoided, and
it is justified only if there is a "serious" infringement or
"repeated" and chronic infringements of the natural moral law, a
fundamental human right, or a Gospel precept. "Recognizing that natural
law is the basis for and places limits on positive law means admitting that it
is legitimate to resist authority should it violate in a serious or repeated
manner the essential principles of natural law. Saint Thomas Aquinas writes
that 'one is obliged to obey . . . insofar as it is required by the order of justice.'
Natural law is therefore the basis of the right to resistance." The right
of resistance is not one that necessarily has the overthrow of government in
mind. There may be many ways in which resistance may be expressed, and there
may be many ends which resistance may have in mind: "There can be many
different concrete ways this right may be exercised; there are also many
different ends that may be pursued. Resistance to authority is meant to attest
to the validity of a different way of looking at things, whether the intent is
to achieve partial change, for example, modifying certain laws, or to fight for
a radical change in the situation." (Compendium, No. 400)
Resistance
in the sense of armed resistance is something which is a last resort.
The Church has identified five conditions all of which must be met before armed
resistance is morally justified:
"1)
there is certain, grave and prolonged violation of fundamental rights,
2) all other
means of redress have been exhausted,
3) such
resistance will not provoke worse disorders,
4) there is
well-founded hope of success; and
5) it is
impossible reasonably to foresee any better solution." As the Church
observes, armed resistance, even if morally justified, is generally to be
avoided, and passive resistance is to be preferred. Armed resistance is often a
Pandora's Box which unleashes as much or more evil as it intended to avoid.
"Recourse to arms is seen as an extreme remedy for putting an end to a
'manifest, long-standing tyranny which would do great damage to fundamental
personal rights and dangerous harm to the common good of the country.'
The gravity of the danger that recourse to violence entails today makes it
preferable in any case that passive resistance be practiced, which is 'a way
more conformable to moral principles and having no less prospects for success.'"
(Compendium, No. 401)
For God did not give us a spirit of
cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed
of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear
your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God. (2 Tm. 1:7-8)
Novena
of St. Ann[2]
Daily Prayer to Saint Ann
O
glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and
with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my
troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present
intention which I recommend to you in your special care.
Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it
before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue
to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me
the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the
saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.
Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .
O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at
the hour of my death. Good St. Ann, intercede for me.
FIFTH
DAY
Hail, all-powerful Lady. By God’s special
favor, grant consolation to those who invoke you. Procure for them the eternal
riches of heaven, and like a good mother, success in their temporal affairs as
well.
Good St. Ann, obtain my deliverance from the
punishment which my sins deserve. Obtain for me success in my temporal affairs;
especially see to the salvation of my soul.
St. Ann, by your influence with Mary’s son
Jesus, you have won the gift of conversion for many sinners. Will you then
abandon me, who have chosen you as my mother? No, St. Ann. Your name alone,
which signifies grace, assures me of the help of your prayers, and these
prayers will surely procure pardon and mercy from Jesus. You will pray for me
now and at the hour of my death.
·
Let
Freedom Ring Day 15 Freedom from Wastefulness
o Pope St. John Paul II said, “Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”
Here are ten unmistakable signs that your gifts are
going to waste[3]
in the wrong job:
1. The
real world keeps changing, but your company doesn't change. Your job description remains the same, month
in and month out -- even if you were told that the job would provide lots of
great learning experiences.
2. Your
manager isn't interested in trying new things. They aren't interested in making
improvements to the work flow or innovating in any other way. You can't afford
to waste your career working for someone like that!
3. You
have tried many times and failed at getting your boss to be open to change. I
believe 99% of the "change management" initiatives companies
undertake are pointless, because it's so
often not the employees who are resistant to change -- it's their managers!
4. You
have big ideas about your job. You see ways to help your employer serve its
customers better and generate more income. You might roll your ideas around in
your head or even commit them to paper -- but in your heart you know they will
never see the light of day.
5. You
are the only "malcontent" in your work group. You are the only person
who wishes your manager would wake up and step into the future. Your coworkers
are perfectly content. You need a snappier group of people to work with!
6. When
you look around at work, you don't see anybody you could learn from. Even as a
relatively new employee, you already know more about how things work, and come
up with more ideas, than almost anybody else.
7. You
daydream about a job that will give you more creative freedom, acknowledge you
for your contributions and allow you to feel like a valued member of a team
that is accomplishing great things. You don't experience any of those feelings
in your current role.
8. When
you look ahead, you don't see anything changing at your job in a year or
beyond.
9. You
feel sick on Sunday night when you contemplate going back to work on Monday
morning.
10. Your trusty gut hates your job. Trust your gut!
Bible in a
Year-Day 33
In today's reading from Exodus 10-11, Fr. Mike explains how the ten plagues
reveal that God is far greater than the Egyptian gods. We also discover more
about how God wants to be worshipped through Leviticus 8 and Psalm 50.
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: For
the intercession of the angels and saints
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[2]Blessed Sacrament Fathers, ST. ANN’S SHRINE, Cleveland, Ohio
[3]https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2018/06/25/ten-unmistakable-signs-youre-wasting-your-talent/
[4]https://www.historichideaways.com/events/key-west-hemingway-days-2020
[5] Schultz, Patricia. 1,000 Places to See Before You
Die: A Traveler's Life List Workman Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
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