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I can't claim Abraham as an ancestor. My ancestors very likely hadn't even heard of Abraham and Isaac until missionaries arrived, and I've mentioned that before. I have, however, learned a bit about our Lord's family history. That brings me to the Elijah cup my wife and I bought, some years back. Make that decades. My wife and I got it while in Minnesota's Twin Cities, for a brother-in-law's wedding, which puts it in the 1990s. Elijah's Cup in Context "Remember This Day...." Moses, Pharaoh — — The Late Bronze Age Collapse, George Washington, and Me Overheard While Getting Our Elijah's Cup Taking Traditions Seriously (More at A Catholic Citizen in America .) (How and why the Passover Seder began, What I think about Moses, academic fashions, and buying either a properly-prepared item or a cheap imitation.) (I know: this topic is related to Lent, not Advent. But it's what I came up with this week.)

A musician who's also a scientist found music in TRAPPIST-1 data. Meanwhile, 3D models help folks 'see' galaxies: and I found a Lenten connection in all that. Sonification and Switching Senses for Science TRAPPIST-1: A Planetary System With Resonance and Rhythm Scientific Sonification and the Cocktail Party Effect Tactile Perception: Making Mental Maps With 3D Models A Grain and Galaxies: Comparing the Incomparable More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Switching senses for science: sonification, 3D models of astronomical images, the cocktail party effect, and mental maps. And, briefly, a Lenten connection.

  The Repentant Peter El Greco [ Web Gallery of Art ] 'Repent and believe in the gospel'  (Mark 1:16; Gospel). Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:12-15  ( English Standard Version Anglicised, India) The Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.   And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,   and saying,  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”   Léachtaí i nGaeilge Cupola Decoration Early Coptic Painter [ Web Gallery of Art ] One of my teachers in the Columban seminary in the 1960s was a saintly priest, Fr Edward McCormack. Father Te...

Here in central Minnesota, palm fronds are part of our Palm Sunday Mass. We generally take them home, fold them into the shape of a cross while they're still green and pliable, and put them somewhere in the home where they'll be visible. Before next year's Lent, we'll return them to the parish church, where they're burned to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. That's the idea, at any rate. Some years, including this one, I forget about bringing last year's back. Letting that upset me is an option. But not, I think, a reasonable one. And that's another topic. Last weekend, my now-grown son asked my wife about the palm fronds he'd brought home from Mass. That reminded me that it's been 11 years since I made a short video, and 10 since I've shared it online. It's a short (4:26) how-2, showing how we fold our fronds. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (How my family folds palm fronds into a Saint Andrews cross, using a lanyard weave....

  Transfiguration Cristofero Gherardi [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Matthew 17:1-9  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)     After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.   And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.   And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.   And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”   He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with w...

This post should be online just after midnight, on the morning of Ash Wednesday Meanwhile, New Orleans will have almost six hours of their Mardi Gras left. There's a reason for that, and it's not that New Orleans Mardi Gras folks are ignoring Lent. A Catholic Citizen in America is on UTC time, Greenwich Mean Time's successor. Midnight, UTC, is 6:00 p.m. in New Orleans, Louisiana. 1 Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday: Meat, Cheese and New Orleans Lent: Pointing Myself Towards God Original Sin: Living With Consequences Wounded, But Still Basically Good The Bible, Very Briefly Goals: Short- and Long-Term Simple, Yes; Easy, No Looking Back at Lent 2022 More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Mardi Gras, very briefly. The purpose of Lent. Original sin and consequences. The Bible, briefly. Goals, short and long term.)

Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery   Rembrandt   [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 8:1-11  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.   Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.   The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst   they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.   Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”   This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.   And as they continued to ask hi...

Transfiguration Blessed Fra Angelico [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readiings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 9:28-36  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.   And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.   And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,   who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.   Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.   And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us ...

  Abraham's  Journey from Ur to Canaan József Molnár [ Wikipedia ;   source ] A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous  (Deuteronomy 16:5; First Reading).   Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 4:1-13  ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India)    Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were over, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shal...

  Nicodemus Unknown Flemish Master [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 3:14-21 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) Jesus said to Nicodemus: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,   that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.   For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.   Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.   And this is the judgement: the light has ...

  C hrist Driving the Money-changers from the Temple   Rembrandt [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel  John 2:13-25 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these t...