The Continence of Christ and Continence of Pagans

Continence of Scipio. Nicolas-Guy Brenet.
Oil on canvas. 1788.

One week from now week from now it will be Lent. Just as the preparatory season of Advent precedes the celebration of Christmas, so the preparatory season of Lent precedes the celebration of Easter. In light of this, we should take this weeks prior to Lent seriously, as a time to take inventory of our souls. What are the physical things we will abstain from? How shall we practice continence? What spiritual disciplines shall we focus on?
Today, consider the Continence of Scipio in contrast to the continence of Christ. Scipio refused the spoils of war and Christ refused spoils of the devil. But the tone is most likely different. Scipio's continence was probably out of contempt (resentiment?) for the Carthaginian women taken in last battle of the second Punic War. But Christ does not condemn matter. Christ's continence seems more out of love for bread that he does not accept the devil's. Christ's continence is not for its own sake but is full of worship for God the Father.

Agenda for Monday, February 24:

1. Pray
2. Finish reading the Omnibus intro to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
3. Reading Journal: Gawain & Manliness
1. What is manliness according to the Scripture? 
2. How does the Gawain poet define manliness? 
3. Compare and contrast manliness in Macbeth and Sir Gawain. 
4. Compare and contrast the story structure in in Macbeth and Sir Gawain. 
4. Review HW:
1. Study for Sir Gawain Exam Wednesday! (2/26)
2. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz tomorrow!
3. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/27)
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Tuesday, February 25:

1. Pray
2. Latin Proverb: Sed vinum novum in utres novos mittendum est et utraque conservantur. Et nemo bibens vetus statim vult novum dicit enim vetus melius est. Lucas V:xxxviii
1. "But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. And no man drinking old, hath presently a mind to new: for he saith, The old is better." - Luke 5:38
3. Grammar Quiz: Pronoun Reference 23-4
1. Collect, grade and discuss
4. Study for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Exam
5. Review HW:
1. Study for Sir Gawain Exam Wednesday! (2/26)
2. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz tomorrow!
3. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/27)
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday, February 26:

1. Pray
2. Study for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Exam
3. Review HW:
1. Study for Sir Gawain Exam Wednesday! (2/26)
2. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz tomorrow!
3. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/27)
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Thursday, February 27:

1. Pray
2. Present Gawain Poetry Projects 
3. Grammar Notes on Bedford 24. 
4. Review HW:
1. Be perfect.

Agenda for Friday, February 28:

1. Pray
2. Begin Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regnum Britaniae 
3. Review HW:
1. Be perfect.

Christ Among the Doctors

DÜRER, Albrecht. Christ Among the Doctors.
1506. Oil on panel. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

We are in ordinary time now, but as we approach the season of Lent on the Church Calendar, we ought not neglect our preparation for Pascha. How do we this? We do this by meditating on The Life that gives life to our calendar, we are careful not to overlook the seemingly innocuous events in the Christ's life, before he enters into Jerusalem.
Last week, we celebrated not the super bowl but something much more important: the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple. After Christ was presented and when he grown as a boy, he mistakenly is left behind during a trip to Jerusalem. He is found by his frantic parents in "his father's house" and being "about his father's business." This week let us recall this strange and profound scene: as they find him, "he said to them: 'How is it that you sought me?' did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?" The boy Jesus is not without a deep sense of irony. Here, dialoging with the priest and "doctors" on theological matters, the "fairest Lord Jesus" is seen in striking contrast to the ugliness of the pharisees, who are depicted, by Durer, as monsters.

Agenda for Monday, February 17:

1. Pray
2. Latin for the Week: Momento Mori.
1. "Remember you're gonna die." An aphoristic fragment from the middle ages consistent with the Biblical wisdom to number our days. 
3. Macbeth Presentations
4. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
5. Review HW:
1. Finish Sir Gawain. Quiz Wednesday! (2/19)
2. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz tomorrow!
3. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/25)
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Tuesday, February 18:

1. Pray
2. Finish Macbeth Presentations
3. Grammar Quiz: Pronoun Reference 23-1
1. Collect, grade and discuss
4. Read and discuss Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
5. Reading Journal: Gawain and Virtue
6. Review HW:
1. Finish Sir Gawain. Quiz Wednesday! (2/19)
2. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/25)
3. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday, February 19:

1. Pray
2. Reading Check Quiz: Sir Gawain to the end
1. Discuss and discuss
3. Work on Gawain Poetry Projects
4. Review HW:
1. Study Gawain Notes and Reading Journals
2. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/25)
3. Be perfect.

Agenda for Thursday, February 20:

1. Pray
2. Read and discuss Sir Gawain and the Green Knight! 
3. Discuss essay topics for Gawain
4. Review HW:
1. Study Gawain Notes and Reading Journals
2. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/20)
3. Be perfect.

Agenda for Friday, February 21:

1. Pray
2. Sir Gawain Exam
3. Discuss essay prompts
4. Review HW:
1. Study Gawain Notes and Reading Journals and prepare for essay next week!
2. Gawain Poetry Projects! (Due 2/20)
3. Be perfect.

Week The Feast of Saint Valentine

Bassano, Jacopo. St Valentine Baptizing St Lucilla.
1575. Oil on canvas. Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa

Happy St. Valentine's Day! Here Bassano shows the influence and beneficent effect of that mysterious figure, Valentinus. He takes his name from the Latin adjective valens, meaning "strong, effective, or influential." Although there is little known about the man, we honor his martyrdom: "The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those "...whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." One story, that he married Christians during a time of Roman persecution, influenced the holiday, which flourished in the days of Chaucer, during the chivalric days of the courtly love of the Middle Ages. 

Agenda for Monday, February 10:

1. Pray
2. Latin for the Week: Si vis amari ama.
1. "If you want to be loved, love." - Seneca the Elder."
3. Work on Revisions and Oral Presentations of Macbeth Essays
4. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
5. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 22-79. Quiz tomorrow! (2/11)
2. Macbeth Presentations (2/14)
3. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Tuesday, February 11:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Quiz: Pronoun Reference 23-1
3. Reading Check Quiz: Stanzas 22-79, Sir Gawain
4. Collect, grade and discuss
5. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
6. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 80-the end. Quiz next week.  
2. Macbeth Presentations (2/14)
3. Study Grammar Notes. Quiz next week!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday, February 12:

1. Pray
2. Go to Shakespeare Tavern for Much Ado About Nothing!
3. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 80-the end. Quiz next week.
2. Macbeth Presentations (2/14)
3. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Thursday, February 13:

1. Pray
2. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
3. Work on Macbeth Presentations
4. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 80-the end. Quiz next week.
2. Macbeth Presentations (2/14)
3. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Friday, February 14:

1. Pray
2. Macbeth Presentations
3. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
4. Review HW:
1. Finish Sir Gawain. Quiz Tuesday! (2/18)
2. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
3. Be perfect.

Nunc Dimittis

BELLINI, Giovanni. Presentation at the Temple
1460-64. Tempera on wood. Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. The Church saw fit to highlight this day of Christ's life for many reasons. For one, it underscores the reality that Christ was under "the Law", and not merely any law. Jesus lived a perfect life within the impossible constraints of the Hebraic Law.

The other reason why this episode of Christ's Presentation in the Temple is significant is the two characters that are highlighted in regards to this scene.

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace: 
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum 
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.

Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace;
Because my eyes have seen Thy salvation,
Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.

Notice, however, the grammar of the Latin, compared to that of the English. Notice the mood of the verb "dismiss." What is significant about this? Why does he state it in this manner? Such is the wisdom and profound beauty of this scene. Notice here that Rembrandt places himself within the drama. Why does he do this?

Agenda for Monday, February 3:

1. Pray
2. Latin for the Week: Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
1. "A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." - Luke II: 29-32
3. Grammar Ex: Pronoun Reference
4. Read the Tragedy of Saul: I Sam. 9-31
1. Take notes comparing to Macbeth!
5. Begin Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
6. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 1-21. (Quiz tomorrow!)
2. Macbeth Presentations (2/12)
1. Read I Samuel
3. Study Grammar Notes. Quiz on Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Tuesday, February 4:

1. Pray
2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
1. Read intro in Omnibus
2. Read Sir Gawain together
3. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 22-79. Quiz next week.  
2. Macbeth Presentations (2/12)
3. Study Grammar Notes. Quiz next week!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday, February 5:

1. Pray
2. Watch Macbeth
3. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 22-79. Quiz next week.
2. Macbeth Presentations(2/12)
3. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Thursday, February 6:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Quiz: Pronoun Reference
3. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
4. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 22-79. Quiz next week.
2. Macbeth Presentations(2/12)
3. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Friday, February 7:

1. Pray
2. Work on Revisions and Oral Presentations of Macbeth Essays
3. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
4. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 22-79. Quiz next week.
2. Macbeth Presentations(2/12)
3. Study Grammar Notes on Pronoun Reference. Quiz next Tuesday!
4. Be perfect.

Meditations on Constantine the Great, St. Helena, Apostolus Sanctus Paulus, and other things.

UNKNOWN MASTER, German
Darmstadt Altarpiece: Constantine and His Mother Helena
Venerating the True Cross.
207x 109 cm. Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Last week marked the annual celebration of a a man who is known for making some of the greatest advances in civil rights. But last week also marked the celebration of two (much, much more important) figures, whose influence have had a much greater impact not merely on American society or even Western civilization at large but also upon the entire world. The effect was an earthquake that shook every aspect of antiquity in the already fading twilight of the pagan Roman empire. It began, as all truly great things do--with a mother. And the fullness was realized in her son. The two people were Constantine the Great and his mother St. Helena. The feast day was yesterday, though few us knew or probably even cared.

Aside from Constantine, another figure whose affect on the world was even greater. You might be tempted to say of this depiction of St. Paul, "Wow, look at the existential features in this portrait, the cloven beard, the elongation of the face, limbs, and digits--as if time we stretching him gaunt and thin." But you would be wrong to say all that. For existentialism did not exist in the 17th century. This is El Greco. Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Paul.


Remember the Roman cognomen "Paulus"? It means small. Before his conversion to "Paul," we hear of a proud and zealous man named Saul, which means big. After he is confronted by the Lord, what was once "big" is now made "small," just God raises the valleys and puts down the mountains. Consider this aspect of St. Paul's life: his conversion, which is a feast day remember on Jan. 25. In the painting, note the emphasis on Saul's blindness. Note Caravaggio's use of light. Note his ability to create the "slow-motion" depiction of the event. Note the pleading of heaven: "Saule, Saule quid me persequeris." This language here is significant. Christ is establishes the doctrine of the Church as the mystical reality of Christ's body, not merely a metaphor. A reality. Not merely a "picture" of Jesus, but Jesus himself; "for as much as you have done it to the least of these, you've done it to me," says Christ.

GRECO, El. Apostle St Paul. 1610-14
Oil on canvas. Museo de El Greco, Toledo

CARAVAGGIO. The Conversion of St. Paul.
1600. Oil on cypress wood.
Odescalchi Balbi Collection, Rome.

Agenda for Monday, January 27:

1. Pray
2. Latin for the Week: Ego sum Jesus, quem tu persequeris. (Actus 9:5)
1. "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest."
3. Grammar Ex: Pronoun Reference
4. Read the Tragedy of Saul: I Sam. 9-31
5. Begin Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
6. Review HW:
1. Study Grammar Notes. Quiz on Thursday!
2. Be perfect.

Agenda for Tuesday, January 28:

1. Pray
2. Read the Tragedy of Saul: I Sam. 9-31 
3. Correct Grammar Ex. from yesterday. 
4. Hand back Macbeth Essays:
1. Review and discuss. 
2. Revise and turn in essays Friday. 
3. Oral Presentations comparing the life of Saul to Macbeth due February 12.
5. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
6. Review HW:
1. Macbeth Essay Revisions (2/3)
2. Macbeth Presentations(2/12)
3. Study Grammar Notes. Quiz on Thursday!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday& Thursday, January 29-30:

1. SNOW DAY!
2. Inclement Driving Conditions.

Agenda for Friday, January 31:

1. Pray
2. Work on Revisions and Oral Presentations of Macbeth Essays
3. Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight!
4. Review HW:
1. Read Sir Gawain Stanzas 1-21. (Quiz Tuesday!)
2. Macbeth Essay Revisions (2/3)
3. Macbeth Presentations(2/12)
4. Read Sir Gawain
5. Be perfect.

 

The Baptism and the Flood

TINTORETTO. The Baptism of Christ. 1579-81
Oil on canvas. Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

Note the contrast. Note the cataclysm. Note the apocalyptic imagery in Tintoretto's Baptism of Christ, suggesting that this event was not merely a detail in the life of Christ. It was a fulfillment of ages-old prophecy, as we see in this depiction. Consider this destructive imagery in light of its typological significance that relates to the great Deluge of Noah's time. 
 
Agenda for Monday, January 20:

1. No School Today.

Agenda for Tuesday, January 21:

1. Pray
2. Latin Proverb: Mortui Vivos Docent
1. The dead teach the living. 
3. Continue reading and studying Macbeth together. 
1. Reading Journal: Act V
1. How does Lady Macbeth's state of mind change throughout the play, esp/ in Act V?
2. Describe the changes in the relationship of Macbeth to his wife through the second half of the play. 
3. What does the doctor say about Lady Macbeth?
4. How does Macbeth die?
5. Who succeeds Macbeth as king?
4. Finish reading the Omnibus intro on Macbeth:
1. Take notes
5. Review HW:
1. Review the notes and Reading Journals on Macbeth.
2. Study Omnibus intro.
3. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday, January 22:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Quiz: Pronoun Reference 
3. Review Essay Prompts for Macbeth.
1. Craft thesis statements and outlines.
4. Review HW:
1. Review the notes and Reading Journals on Macbeth.
2. Study Thematic Essay Questions.
3. Study for Macbeth Exam!
4. Be perfect.

Agenda for Thursday, January 23:

1. Pray
2. Review Essay Prompts for Macbeth.
1. Craft thesis statements and outlines.
3. Watch Macbeth.
4. Review HW:
1. Review the notes and Reading Journals on Macbeth.
2. Study for Macbeth Exam!
3. Be perfect.

Agenda for Friday, January 24:

1. Pray
2. Macbeth Exam
3. Review HW:
1. Be perfect.

Baptismus Christi.

Veronese, Paolo. Baptism of Christ.
1561. Oil on canvas. Venice.

Monday, Janurary 13 is the Feast of the Baptism of Christ. When Jesus comes to be baptized, John says to him, "It is I who should be baptized by you." John asks why. Many continue to do so. Why did Christ need to be baptized? The answer has to with the Old and New Covenant, which are distilled in written form by the Old and New Testaments.  How could Christ redeem those from the Law of Moses? Only because he himself was under the Law. Circumcision. Yes, Christ knew even this as a child. For he was fully human yet without sin, and it was that to save mankind he must pass through man's world in order to, as Matthew says, "fulfill all righteousness." 

Note here the connection of baptism with circumcision.  
Here is another depiction of Christ's baptism. Again, it's clear that artists such as Veronese wish to show that Christ's baptism was an cosmological event. Note the heavens riven in two. Note the humility in the posture of Christ.

Agenda for Monday, January 13:

1. Pray
2. Latin Proverb: Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi complacui. (Matt. 3:17)  
3. Continue reading and studying Macbeth together.
4. Reading Journal: Act I, Macbeth 
5. Review HW:
1. Read Act II of Macbeth.



The Circumcision.
MANTEGNA, Andrea. 
1460-64. Tempera on wood.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

2. Be perfect.

Agenda for Tuesday, January 14:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Lesson: Pronoun and Agreement
3. Continue reading and studying Macbeth together. 
4. Review and discuss the Reading Journal on Act I
5. Reading Journal: Act II, Macbeth
6. Review HW:
1. Read Act III of Macbeth.
2. Be perfect.

Agenda for Wednesday, January 15:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Lesson: Pronoun and Agreement
3. Continue reading and studying Macbeth together. 
4. Review HW:
1. Read Act IV of Macbeth.
2. Study grammar notes on Agreement and Pronoun reference.
3. Be perfect.

Agenda for Thursday, January 16:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Lesson: Pronoun and Agreement
3. Continue reading and studying Macbeth together. 
4. Review and discuss the Reading Journal on Act I
5. Reading Journal: Acts III-IV, Macbeth
6. Review HW:
1. Read Act V of Macbeth.
2. Be perfect.

Agenda for Friday, January 17:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Lesson: Pronoun and Agreement
3. Continue reading and studying Macbeth together. 
4. Review and discuss the Reading Journal on Act I
5. Reading Journal: Act V, Macbeth
6. Review HW:
1. Review the notes and Reading Journals on Macbeth.
2. Be perfect.