10/1/24

 October 1, 2024

My favorite month in Wisconsin

1867 Karl Marx published "Das Kapital" in Berlin, a description of the capitalist system, its instability, and its tendency to self-destruction

1918 World War I: Combined Arab and British force under T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, captures Damascus from the Turks

1932 Oswald Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists

1946 12 Nazi war criminals were sentenced to death in Nuremberg

1949 People's Republic of China was proclaimed by Mao Zedong and the Republic of China (Taiwan) formed on the island of Formosa

1955 Jackie Gleason's sitcom "The Honeymooners" debuted on CBS, replacing his variety series

2019 US Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was taken to a hospital after suffering a heart attack

2021 US COVID-19 death toll passed 700,000, with daily deaths averaging 1,900 a day

In bed at 9:30, awake around 4, and up at 4:10 on a brisk, windy morning, winds NW at 17 mph and gusts up to 32 mph.  The expected high-temperature today is 66° with a low of 51°.  Autumn is blowing in.  At 5:34, the train passing through Bayside blows its warning horn and I wonder why.  Does it do this at every crossing?  Is it automatic or does it require the engineer to be aware of each crossing?  At 5:45, Lilly shows up and I let her out, noticing two cars on County Line Road, one heading up into Mequon and one leaving Bayside.  Doctors?  Newspaper delivery?  Night shift?  Where would a neighbor be coming from or going to at this dark morning hour?  At 6:30, I let Lilly out again and saw a car pull into the Pandl's driveway and the driver leaving something at their kitchen door, a newspaper?  Looking east, I enjoy the sight of the tops of the tall trees swaying in the strong breeze against the brightening pre-dawn sky.

Prednisone, day 140, 7.5 mg., day 19/28.   Prednisone at 4:55 followed by 2 slices of toasted, buttered Dave's Bread with strawberry preserves at 5:20.  Morning meds at 6:15.

I am grateful that I can lift myself out of bed each morning.  I thought of this as I did so this morning, remembering my inability to do so when I suffered from polymyalgia rheumatica.  Before I gave up entirely on sleeping in bed at night, I moved my pillows down to the foot of the bed thinking it would be easy to roll out of bed for pit stops and to get up in the morning, or more commonly, in the middle of the night.  Eventually, the cause became hopeless because of the severe shoulder pain and for a couple of months or more I slept only on the recliner in the TV room, the one that is motorized and only requires me to push a button to get to a seated position.  What dark days and nights those were.

I mounted the 54-inch canvas on my big easel this afternoon, did a very rough sketch of the model, and applied a thin coat of titanium white to cover or mute the grid lines.  The canvas barely fits on the easel, but so far so good.  Standing upright is rather hard but its necessary to work on the canvas, at least the upper portion of it.

Divino Afflante Spiritu  Yesterday was the anniversary of this 1943 encyclical from Pope Pius XII, called by some 'the Magna Carta of Catholic biblical studies.'  I ran out of steam yesterday before I could record any thoughts on the day's anniversaries but I did read a lengthy article by John R. Donohue, S.J. in America about this encyclical.  The article describes the history of tension within the Church about modern biblical scholarship and the tension between the magisterium (The Church's claimed 'teaching authority;) and the scholars.  I find all the blather about Divine Authorship of the Bible and 'inerrancy' hard to swallow.  I tend to focus on the lines from the Gospel of Matthew 51-53:

51At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.…

What are we to make of this?  The veil of the Temple in Jerusalem was torn in two, top to bottom, and no other report of this extraordinary occurrence exists?  More astounding yet, multiple tombs split open and many dead people emerged and were seen by many people but no other record of this mind-blowing occurrence exists?  And what of the theological significance of the fact that Jesus wasn't the only or even the first person resurrected from the dead, he was beaten by three days by all those hitherto-dead people walking around Jerusalem on Good Friday!  And of course by his friend Lazarus.  John 11:38-44.  

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”   Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”   When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.  Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

 The following lines describe Caiaphas, the high priest, conspiring with the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus because, if they didn't, everyone would believe him, and the Romans would then "come and take away both our place and nation.”  What are we to make of all this?  The magisterium always has an explanation for everything in the Bible and in 'tradition' that also plays a big role in dogmatic theology, and when they can't come up with an explanation that makes any sense they punt and call it "a mystery," known to God but not to us.  I suppose that is why in my 19 years of education in Catholic schools, I never heard the story of all those dead people walking around Jerusalem on the afternoon of Good Friday.  It's odd that Josephus never thought to mention this Jewish curiosity.

I drove Andy to work this morning.  His Infiniti is in Ogui's Garage having it's catalytic converter replaced.  Anh has a meeting in Sheboygan this morning.  It was good to have time for a nice conversation with him.

Geri took her first walk on Wakefield this morning, down to Reuben Peterson's house and back, then off to Azura to get some shampoo, and to Marshall's.

Israel has invaded Lebanon with ground troops; Iran has launched approximately 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.  Can anything good come of this?  Zionism has produced a century of warfare.

Time Walz/J.D. Vance debate is tonight at 8 p.m.