The fight is over, the victory won....

I'm one of the folks who've been following the saga of Kobayashi Maru's brother. His fight is over now.

As you probably know from my other blog, I've been reading St. Catherine of Siena lately.

"...the peace of the just man’s death is greater or less according to the perfection of his soul... Wherefore when they come to the point of death, they die peacefully, because they have vanquished their enemies during their life. The world cannot accuse such a man, because he saw through its deceptions...the virtue of a just and perfect man transcends nature, extinguishing his natural fear and overcoming it with...desire of arriving at his last end... his conscience remains in peace, for during his life his conscience kept a good guard, warning him when enemies were coming to attack the city of his soul, like a watch-dog which stands at the door...

"The just man does not turn his head to admire his past virtues, because he neither can nor will hope in his own virtues, but only in the Blood in which he has found mercy; and as he lived in the memory of that Blood, so in death he is inebriated and drowned in the same...that soul, who already is beginning to taste eternal life... with the eye of the intellect illuminated by the pupil of the holy faith... sees Me, the Infinite and Eternal Good...

"Wherefore, opening the arms of hope and seizing Him with the hands of love, [the soul] seems to enter into His possession before she actually does so, in the way which I have narrated to you in another place. Passing suddenly, drowned in the Blood, by the narrow door of the Word she reaches Me, the Sea Pacific. For Sea and Door are united together, I and the Truth, My only-begotten Son, being one and the same thing.

"What joy such a soul receives who sees herself so sweetly arrived at this pass, for in Truth she tastes the happiness of the angels! This joy is received by all those who pass in this sweet manner...."

Please pray for Kobayashi Maru, his family, and all their friends, and for the soul of this just man whom we have come to love, too.

Ecu-fun-ical

In case nobody has pointed you to it (hey, I came in late, too!), you owe it to yourself to read some AnglicaNoir. Great blogger in-jokes and Leibowitzing abound.

Start with The Adventures of Chris Johnson, Anglican Investigator.

Then it's on to the terrifying saga of The Hound of the Inghamvilles.

Finally, we find ourselves attending a little Reunion. (Clip on "Chapter One" to get to the beginning of the story.)

Enjoy!

Hollywood, Meet a Grownup.

Today, fire destroyed Aardman's warehouse containing priceless props and memories of the company.

Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, said the earthquake in South Asia helped put the loss into perspective.

"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.

Thank you for reminding us that not all artists are whiners.

In other news, not everything was lost, because not everything was in the warehouse.