The Scarlet Pimpernel

"We seek him here, we seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? —Is he in hell? That demmed, elusive Pimpernel."
I wanted to recommend to all my readers a movie I saw for the first time last evening, The Scarlet Pimpernel - perhaps literature's greatest alias! The book by Baroness Orczy (which has also been turned into a musical) tells the story of an English nobleman who plays the hopeless dandy by day and the dashing, swashbuckling hero of the French Revolution by night! Saving the lives of French aristocrats from the guillotine with his ingenuity and bravery (while leaving his signature at the scene of every "crime": a scarlet pimpernel) he mocks the French Revolutionaries who are struggling to cement their power. While secretly undermining the Reign of Terror as the Scarlet Pimpernel, Sir Percy Blakeney falls in love with the beautiful Marguerite whose sympathies for the revolution begin to fade as she sees her friends trade in reason and justice for blood-thirsty madness. Imagine Sebastian Flyte (Anthony Andrews) takes on Gandalf (Ian McKellan) while falling for Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (Jane Seymour). It's a great story of heroism and love and as soon as I finish Chaim Potok's Davita's Harp , I'm going to read the book (which I just purchased this morning from Newman's - where else?!)

The Family and the Economy

GK Chesterton wrote that "the family is literally being torn in pieces, in that the husband may go to one factory, the wife to another, and the child to a third. Each will become the servant of a separate financial group, which is more and more gaining the political power of a feudal group. But whereas feudalism received the loyalty of families, the lords of the new servile state will receive only the loyalty of individuals; that is, of lonely men and even of lost children." We have, for the most part, lost the economy of the home. Today, husband, wife and child wake up, get in 3 separate cars, drive to 3 separate buildings often times in 3 separate cities and commit themselves to work/study in 3 separate institutions. This has much to do with the breakdown of the family that pervades our (post?)modern society experience and contributes to the structure of sin which our great JPII spoke of. Be not afraid my dismal readers, I will not leave you without hope however! These thing can be reclaimed, even better, redeemed. Far from a nostalgic longing for the pre-industrial days, I offer you modern examples of how we can begin to live again, the "economy of family" and in a way that will hopefully speak to the rest of modernity. The first step of course is to pray.. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God..." After reading Wendell Berry: (who may in fact be the greatest American writer we have on this and other related topics) I got down on my knees and prayed, telling the Lord that if this is the way he ordered things to be, then I wanted to live it out for His greater glory and the well being of my family! In short, he answered my prayer. Four out of the six members of my family will be piling into one car this summer and working together at one institution: the University of MI. Not that my family and I will be pledging our loyalty to the University's policy and disordered definition of "diversity" but I am very excited to be able to live, in a small way, the ever closer movement towards a Heldt family economy; its re-piecing! (Besides, aren't we called to bring the light of Christ into the darkness - and we will be 4 strong!)In conclusion, its like Schindler said, "when literally everything has fallen a part, its consoling to know then that every, however small, thing you do can change this reality!" Until I can have my family owned bookstore and a backyard full of chickens and bees, I'll be at U of M:) Check out this link to another modern-day family economy!! Remember, even the smallest person/action can change the course of the world. (I think I'm going to write a book entitled: Everything I need to know, I learned from the LOTR:)

The Return of the King!!

Yesterday some of my friends and I decided to celebrate this Easter Lord of the Rings style. In honor of our risen King we thought it would be, however cheesy(as I have been accused), very appropriate to watch the final part of the trilogy: The Return of the King. Can I just say that I never tire of that story (either the books or the film version); it's so beautiful. Of course we have all picked our characters - those we most relate to and those we would most like to marry! Naturally I am torn between Sam and Faramir. The latter because I have a heart like Eowyn's, the shield maiden of the Rohirrim but the former because, well, have you ever met anyone more faithful, humble or courageous? Anyway... I'd like to close with some words taken from JPII's Easter homily in 2001:
"Men and women of the third millennium, the Easter gift of light that scatters the darkness of fear and sadness is meant for everyone; all are offered the gift of the peace of the Risen Christ who breaks the chains of violence and hatred. Rediscover today with joy and wonder that the world is no longer a slave to the inevitable. This world of ours can change: peace is possible even where for too long there has been fighting and death... Men and women of every continent, draw from his tomb, empty now for ever, the strength needed to defeat the powers of evil and death, and to place all research and technical and social progress at the service of a better future for all... You, victorious King, grant to us and to the world eternal salvation!"

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

(Ancient verse referring to Aragorn; quoted in Gandalf’s letter, Book I, Chapter 10)

May Christ, our Risen King, continue to fill your hearts with His joy and peace this Easter week!!

My dear sweet Christ on earth...

Today, as we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord we also remember our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI as he celebrates his 79th birthday and his first birthday as our pope! Below is a beautiful comment by him in recollection of the days of his birth and Baptism as passed on to us by Dr. Schindler.

I was born on Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn. The fact that my day of birth was the last day of Holy Week and the eve of Easter has always been noted in our family history. This was connected with the fact that I was baptized immediately on the morning of the day I was born with the water that had just been blessed. (At that time the solemn Easter Vigil was celebrated on the morning of Holy Saturday.) To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter mystery, since this could only be a sign of blessing. To be sure, it was not Easter Sunday but Holy Saturday, but, the more I reflect on it, the more this seems to be fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still awaiting Easter; we are not yet standing in the full light but walking toward it full of trust (Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones, p. 8).

Christos anesti, alleluia!!

Holy Saturday: Mary, the Helper of Our Faith

On this Holy Saturday, the Church identifies itself again with Mary: all faith comes together in her, the first of believers. In this stillness, silence and darkness that envelops creation, she alone remains to keep alight the flame of faith in preparation to receive the awesome news of the Resurrection. In remembering Mary on this a-liturgical day, the Church is called to dedicate herself to stillness, silence and meditation, as she waits, to foster hope for a renewed encounter with the Lord... (Adapted from JPII General Audience on 3 April, 1996)


Beneath the cross the Mother kept
Bleak vigil under darkened skies.
Upon the cross her Son hung nailed,
Stabbed through by crowds of hostile eyes.

"And your own soul a sword shall pierce,"
The old man in the Temple said,
The Spirit's sword, the word of God -
God's word be done, was all she said.

Upon the cross the Savior died;
Beneath, the Mother bowed her head;
Above the storm broke harsh and wild -
God's word be done, was all she said.

A soldier came and thrust him through;
The blood and water proved him dead.
They laid his body in her arms -
God's word be done, was all she said.

At vigil's end, the Crucified
Arose from death her glorious Lord.
O Father, Son and Spirit, God,
We praise and magnify your Word.

(Words taken from today's hymn in the Magnificat)

Mary, Helper of Our Faith, may we imitate your great faith on this dark day and pray always as you did in times of deep sorrow and heartache: "God's word be done." Remind us always, Oh Mother of Hope, that death never has the final word and stand in quiet watch with us as we wait this night for the Resurrection: a renewed encounter with your Son!!

Poetic Reflection for Good Friday

Good Friday

The barren tabernacle calls no name
No peace nor presence found
Today the Church is just a hall
Her Lord and Savior bound.

Grievous Calvary has consumed our hosts
God’s Son has been swallowed
So now we sit and stare askance
Hoping for the hallowed

Death has snuffed out the candle and the lamp
There’ll be no one kneeling
Today God sleeps below the earth
Her King inside her healing

Without him chastity and love now seem
Folly and desiccated
Today no lover, no romance,
Heartsick and deflated.

Without his richness poverty pierces
And gold seems so absurd
Put away the snowy linens,
With wealth now transferred.

Obedience has lost its power to
Send us forth proclaiming,
So we sit impotent and wait
On a dead king reigning.

Unconsumed, he descends to quench the fire
And feeds the primal dead
But he dies to make anew,
And so becomes our Bread.

Fr. David Vincent Meconi, SJ

St. Joseph and Fatherhood

In my Old Testament class this afternoon we discussed how after the fall, we lost our sense of God as Father and replaced it with tyranny and fear. This is reflected in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve, after eating of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, immediately hide in response to God's presence ("hitalak" - walking) in the garden. "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Gn 3:8) When confronted with the evil they had just committed, Adam's initial reaction is to blame Eve and then God. "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me (emphasis mine), she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." (Gn 3:12). Because of their actions, God had to drive them out of the garden. He does not do so out of sheer anger but because death had entered man's created order and for him to remain in the garden and continue to eat from the tree of life would only cause more disorder and sin - it would be a lie. Even after man's disobedience, God, in His goodness and mercy does not cast Adam and Eve out before he makes for them suitable garments of animal skin, as they are about to enter a land of much harsher climate and environment. In our continued fear and projected blame upon Him, God remains Fatherly. It isn't until the coming of Christ that the seperation, this deep self-inflicted wound is completely healed however. It is Christ who takes us up in his sacrifice and divinizes us, allowing us to call upon the Father lovingly and with trust as his children, in the very words Christ teaches us: "Abba" or Daddy!

How appropriate that the Lord chose to reveal this to me and my classmates on the feast of St. Joseph, the protector and foster father of Christ - the revealer of the Father!!

I would like to conclude with a beautiful meditation on the Our Father by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI:

"The word Father makes me sure of one thing: I do not come from myself; I am a child. I am tempted at first to protest against this reminder as the prodigal son did. I want to be "of age", "emancipated", my own master. But then I ask myself: what is the alternative for me - for any person - if I no longer have a Father, if I have left my state as child definitively behind me? What have I gained thereby? Am I really free? No, I am free only when there is a principle of freedom, when there is someone who loves and whose love is strong. Ultimately, then, I have no alternative but to turn back again, to say "Father," and in that way to gain access to freedom by acknowledging the truth about myself. Then my glance falls on him who, his whole life long, identified himself as child, as Son, and who precisely as child and Son, was consubstantial with God himself: Jesus Christ. When I say "Father," the word automatically calls up the word "our." When I speak to God, I cannot address him solely as "Father." When I say "Father," I must include the "we" of all his children. But the opposite is also true: when I say "Father" I know that I have entered the company of all the children of God and that they are at my side. Consequently, talking with God does not distract me from my responsibility for the earth and for all mankind; it gives it to me anew. In the light of prayer, I can venture to accept it."

St. Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Conception and Foster-father of Jesus Christ, protector of the Holy Family, protect our families and the Church and help us always, to love Mary and Jesus so that we may, like you, find a happy death in the comfort of their arms!