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Despite teaching at prestigious universities, René Girard (1923—2015) was an outsider to the world of academe. The French philosopher and social critic began teaching literature because he needed a job. This venture set up his discovery of just how similar the various novels and classics were that he was lecturing on. He realized over time that, primarily, people want what other people want, a dynamic he called mimetic desire.
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Christmas is a season, so, Merry Christmas!
In this video, I dive into some word origins and Bible verses that have to do with the brevity of life. Natura is the Latin root for nativity and nature and natural — and it has to do with things coming into being.
We often treat life like a giant game of dodgeball and we hear about someone dying we think “Oh, that’s too bad they got hit with the ball” as if we’re never going to get hit. We’ll be the last man standing forever.
The word of God teaches us otherwise. you and I will spend a brain-fracturing long amount of time in eternity in the life to come, whether in heaven or in hell, compared to the short decades we spend here in this life.
With each 52-week unit of time known as one year that we experience the subsequent 52-week units of time seem to go by faster with each passing year.
Isn’t that true?
Didn’t Christmas seem to come around every 10 years or so when you were a little kid?
So here are seven Bible verses on the brevity of life:
1. Psalms 90:10
2. Psalms 144:4
3. Job 9:25-26
4. 1 Chronicles 29:15
5. Luke 12:20
6. James 4:14
7. Hebrews 2: 14-15
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have changed death from a black pit into a well-lit door.
The great playwright and Catholic convert Tennessee Williams wrote something fascinating and very practical about the brevity of life. I’ll close with this:
“In the time of your life–live!” That time is short and it doesn’t return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, loss, loss, unless you devote your heart to its opposition.”
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This episode debuted exactly two years ago, and I could think of no better show this year to honor my all-time favorite movie, Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1947) through the eyes of two women with close ties to its creation.
If Mr. Capra didn’t write it, why do I call it “Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life? It’s because that’s how the movie was marketed, which helps explain why the film got only a so-so reception when it was first released. Most of Mr. Capra’s pre-World War II movies were so sweet-hearted that they later earned the moniker “Capracorn,” not meant as a compliment.
It’s a Wonderful Life is one of the most critically acclaimed films ever made. Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made, and placed number 11 on its initial 1998 greatest movie list, it also ranked number one on its list of the most inspirational American films of all time.
Think about that. In light of the fact that hundreds of thousands of movies have been made, this is a jaw-dropping achievement.
By the end of the Second World War, though, the mood of the movie-going public had shifted, as I wrote about the making of the movie in National Review a few years ago HERE.
The next day after it was published, an appreciative email from a woman named Mary Owen arrived in my inbox. Turns out, Mary is the daughter of actress Donna Reed, who played Mary Bailey, the wife of James Stewart’s George Bailey.
I thanked her for the lovely email and we had a few back-and-forths. After my podcast was up on two feet and spreading around the world (110 countries and counting), I thought it would be fun to have her on the show to talk about her mother’s role in this now-international favorite Christmas movie and to learn some back story to her mother’s career and her commitment to writing back to the G.I’s who wrote to her from the trenches and the gun turrets of World War II.
The interview segues nicely into the next one, a rich conversation with actress Karolyn Grimes who played Zuzu, one of the four Bailey kids. Remember Zuzu’s petals? This was a real treat for me who loves the movie so well, and I know it will be for you as well.
I learned, among other things, how much Mrs. Grimes suffered as a teen when her mother died and then the next year her father was killed and she became a ward of the state—then “rescued” by an aunt and uncle in Missouri, which was an unhappy home situation. Karolyn also played Debbie, the daughter of David Niven and Loretta Young in another Christmas favorite, The Bishop’s Wife.
For those of us who can’t gobble up enough trivia and true stories about It’s a Wonderful Life, Mrs. Grimes is a treasure trove of first-hand memories and insights!
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In this Christmas video, I cite a writer writing about Christmas.
Without Googling, can you guess who wrote it?
The mystery writer starts according to John’s Gospel:
“And the Word was made flesh, and came to dwell among us; and we had sight of His glory, glory such as belongs to the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14
I’ll give you a major hint: the writer is a Christian.
Leave your guess in the comment box below.
A merry and blessed and peaceful Christmas to you and your family!
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Do you find yourself distracted all day by the pings and dings of your smartphone, by the lure of that Amazon Prime movie, or hilarious kitten videos on YouTube, or your favorite news commentary, or the funny pages, or making a hot coffee before you “really get down to work”?
Stop me if this sounds like you, because it certainly sounds like me.
Fortunately for the distracted brethren of this world, a practical guide to distract-proofing your brain is now available. New York best-selling author Nir Eyal has put 5 years of research into one place. It's called Indistractible: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.
Nir does not spout platitudes or make generalizations. He provides practical tools that build the kind of habits that enable you to stay on task and to use your time wisely and deliberately. Lots of objective data to back it all up as well.
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Resources Mentioned:
In this video, I describe what these three classic Christmas movies are must-watches. (NB, Die Hard has some potty words, so it's not for kids.)
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Two months ago, Alexander Tschugguel (chu-goo-gle) was almost a complete unknown, apart from pro-life activism in his native Vienna, Austria. All that changed when he released the video his removal of five Pachamama idols that sat at the side altar of the church of Santa Maria of Transpontina in Rome marching them on the ancient Ponte Sant'Angelo over the Tiber River and knocked them, one by one, into the drink.
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In this video, I summarize the story so far of the sudden postponement of the Bishop Fulton Sheen beatification, which had been slated for December 21, 2019.
I also provide some important context for the lead up to the "Sheen Cause Pause," and give you the lowdown on WHY it was halted, as well as give a short introduction to the great man himself.
In his day Bishop Sheen was a household name.
Every aspect of his very public life has undergone extraordinary scrutiny already. The miraculous raising of the dead of young James Fulton Engstrom is a certified bona fide miracle (see my interview with his mother Bonnie in the link below), and Pope Francis himself authorized Bishop Sheen as worthy of beatification.
But...the Diocese of Rochester confirmed last Thursday that it had requested a delay of the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, which had been scheduled for Dec. 21 until it was postponed indefinitely earlier this week.
The Diocese of Peoria says the Rochester Diocese has left out key facts as to WHY.
This is what this video addresses.
The bottomline is, Fulton J Sheen is clean. The screeching halt to his Cause, was orchestrated by Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester (Rome sources say he was abetted by Cardinals Cupich of Chicago and Dolan of New York—no surprise there). It's a sham.
Does Cardinal Dolan's silence in particular have something, maybe, possibly something to do with the fact that he lost in four different legal Appeals in a row—costing the faithful of New York hundreds of thousands of dollars for high-priced attorneys to keep Bishop Sheen’s body in Saint Pat’s Cathedral?
Will no US bishops stand up in defense of their brother bishop and sainthood candidate?
In the end, Catholics should be glad the Cause was halted. I explain why in this video.
Venerable Fulton J Sheen, Ora Pro Nobis.
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If you think George Cardinal Pell is innocent, and you happen to be a Catholic, you’re open to the charge of protecting your a hero from your tribe or—worse—disbelieving victims. Andrew Bolt is a top TV journalist, and host of “The Bolt Report” on Sky News in Melbourne, Australia, and he is firmly convinced that the guilty verdict, when the facts of the case are closely analyzed, is dead wrong.
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