I have been interested in Faustina Kowalska’s experiences ever since I first read about them when I was eighteen. I am not usually much of a fan of modern-day (or even early modern) devotions, and I was never sure what to make of things like Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, and so on. But for some reason I never had this lurking suspicion when it came to Faustina’s visions of Divine Mercy…. The Divine Mercy, which at the time was an intensely popular devotion – especially among Poles but also well beyond the Polish community – also seemed to have substantial theological content, in contrast to the vacuous platitudes characteristic of some modern devotions: ‘I am Lord in My essence and I know neither commands nor needs’, declares Christ to Faustina, ‘If I call creatures into existence – it is out of the immeasurable depth of My mercy’.
This is cosmic stuff, and in fact Faustina’s theology (or the theology revealed to her, or however you want to interpret it) represents a refashioning of familiar theological themes with God’s mercy as its interpretative key. God’s mercy is the prerequisite for our being, as well as our redemption. What may seem obvious, but is easily lost today, is that this elevation of mercy presupposes a starting point of recognition of the awe-fulness of God – a holy fear that God may not, in fact, choose to be merciful.
It might seem surprising, in a world of global stars, that the 6m Danes, many of whom are fluent in English, listen mainly to homegrown music. And until fairly recently they did not. In 2019 only five songs in Denmark’s top 20 were in Danish. By last year the figure was 18.
A similar trend is under way in other countries — and in other forms of entertainment. From Asia to the Americas, music charts are increasingly dominated by local sounds. Hollywood television-streaming companies are commissioning more local productions in foreign markets, causing consumption of American shows to fall. Social networks are connecting the whole world, but so far people are mainly using them to consume local content. And as video gaming expands, it too is becoming increasingly tailored to local cultures.
Marcin Wichary is right: Apple keeps talking about making things faster, but users just want things to work reliably.
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was born in Oxford on this date in 1893. The cover of my forthcoming biography of her might look like this:
I’m spending the day on a long-overdue task: going through all my unfinished drafts and deciding what to do with them, the three options being (a) post as-is to the Big Blog, (b) post as-is here, (c) discard. It’s dreary work but I’ll have a more orderly digital workplace when I’m done. And over the next few days more posts than usual will be showing up — I could spread them out in a weeks-long queue but then I’d be tempted to work further on them before they post. Can’t have that.
When I was a kid, my dad often bought these Ace Doubles, and they seemed magical to me. Read a book, flip it over, read another book. But I also often think of a comment made by the editor Terry Carr: If Ace were to publish the Bible they’d do it as a Double: on one side War God of Israel, on the other The Thing with Three Souls.
I love watching our male cardinals fetch seeds and suet from our feeder and bring them to their lady friends, who wait patiently and decorously. Such chivalrous young men; such appreciative young women.
The british architect Norman Foster once called the [Boeing] 747 his favorite building of the 20th century. Like the ocean liners and railcars it replaced, the 747 is more than a vehicle. It is also a dwelling.…
Use of the whole space was encouraged. Why make a building for people to remain seated in? A TWA pamphlet about 747 service from the early 1970s encouraged passengers to exercise on their flight: “Walk 13 times up and down the cabin and you’ve actually covered one mile.” Continental once boasted of removing 41 seats for four extra inches of legroom in coach. Even on a three-hour domestic flight, the experience of the airborne building was deemed as important as the transportation itself.
The photos in this article are wonderful.
Here’s an essay by me on Auden and James Schuyler. And here are links to some of the poems I mention:
- Schulyer, “A Stone Knife”
- Lawrence, “Snake”
- Auden, “Their Lonely Betters”
- Lawrence, “Tortoise Family Connections”
My book The Year of Our Lord 1943 has gotten a largely positive response, but there’s been one odd element to its reception that can be seen here: Some people complain that a book that’s quite explicitly about what five Christian intellectuals wrote during World War II is marred by its failure to cite works published in 1930 or 1955. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯