Saint Padre Pio required women dress approprietly for Mass or he booted them out. Saint Pope John Paul II wrote the Theology of the Body, which intigrates science and theology to reveal the amazing beauty God gives us in our bodies and in marriage, and in sexuality lovingly expressed in marriage — hot, steamy, monogamous marriage — and the very many ways we in the fallen world fall for immodesty, lust, selfishness, promiscuity, and other carnal expressions of short-term, empty delights at the expense of vastly superior delights that lead to eternal and even far greater delights.

Women don’t want to be objectified, but then present themselves as objects by flaunting their curves and then get angry when both men and women call them on it.

Why do I bring this up now? Is it because most women have fallen for the bizarre belief that to be empowered and exercise they must dawn bodysuits that used to be considered lingerie? No. I have learned to tip my hat at them and strive to uphold their dignity and defend their modesty though they do not. I still have to get past the first glimpse, every time though. Should I have to? Maybe. This is the fallen world, and as a man that is part of my challenge in today’s society. No. I bring this up because a mother, having attended Mass at Notre Dame, found the bodysuits distracting and realized what they must do to distract her sons and pleaded with the young women on campus to consider a modicum of modesty by wearing jeans instead, and is being excoriated for it ... being accused of underming the very women she is striving to help become who God created them to be, defending their Theology of the Body. Some young women responded with “Leggings Pride Day.” Pride: one of the seven deadly sins. There’s your hint, folks. This, at a Catholic (ostensably) University. Oh, how much better we can to do! Modesty, chastity, contentment, and other virtues seem, in society at large, to be becoming #vanishingcommonarts.

Women, examine your conscience. Why do you wear skin tight clothing? It isn’t really to empower you or to allow you to exercise. In nearly every case, men wear clothing that is not skin tight to do the same thing. Consider that you wear skin tight out of a desire to be noticed, seen, valued. That Catholic mother of young men is exactly right, it is vainglory that has you wearing skin tights. Please, value yourself more than that. You will be more comfortable moving about the world, have more confidence, and upholding your and others’ dignity as you do.

Search Theology of the Body, read up on it. Be amazed at the wonders God reserves for those who cherish, guard, and defend the gifts He gives us, saving them for their proper place of expression: between one man and one woman become one flesh for life, united by God in Holy Matrimony. The delights of marriage humble and obediently lived are not only abundant and wondrous here and now, along with challenging and sorrowful, joyous, and more, but lived well, husband and wife run toward Christ and the salvation He offers together, hand in hand. Nothing is more delightful and grand than deep, abiding, eternal union with God, and for most of us, marriage is our path toward holiness.

May God startle you with joy!

Update: two days after posting this, “Like Mother Like Daughter” posted this (note, it’s April 1st). Despite the joke day, the sardonic message is clear. There are women (in addition to my wife and daughters, who helped me learn to see this clearly through the clutter of our modern age) who see this far more clearly than I do.

#theologyofthebody #Catholic

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What an amazing storm! It not only brought winds in the mountains of 60mph, temps in the teens, and twelve to fourteen inches of very wet snow, but it also was the collision between New Colorado and Old Colorado.

We’ve been in a drought for over a decade. The last biggish snow blizzard (winds, snow, whiteouts) was over a decade ago. New Colorado mentality is you go and do whatever and if you get in trouble someone is there to save you. It’s their job right? Old Colorado mentality is have good, solid equipment and, most importantly, the skill to know how to handle conditions you may encounter. If you don’t, stay home. It’s embarrassing to need help, and needing help should only be a last resort because something unexpected happened that couldn’t be planned for.

New Colorado mentality ran into and killed a Colorado Trooper aiding a stranded motorist. That’s horrible. Let’s learn to be humble before the amazing power of mother nature. It saves lives. Fascinatingly, our town marshall reported that while over a thousand motorists/vehicles were stranded overnight in El Paso County (mostly on the front range), no motorists were stranded overnight that he was aware of up here. Mountains teach skills, including the skill of knowing what is beyond one’s capacity. That is a good skill to have! Yet New Colorado would have common sense and thoughtfulness end up as #vanishingcommonarts.

New Colorado, meet the conditions that helped create Old Colorado. May this be a sign that our drought is ending. Grin. May God startle you with joy!

#WithAbandon

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Why is Writing a Vanishing Common Art?

Quality reading and writing is not taught in schools. Exposure to the best writers humanity has produced is outmoded. What is taught? Typing is. Print is. Both are staccato. Both. Truncate. Thought. Into. Staccato. Ideas that flow, one into another, and build, one upon the other, in an intricate, solid developing wonder to crescendo to an idea wonderful beyond the sum of its parts ... these ideas happen in minds trained to flow their thought rather than truncate it. We are in a poverty of staccato thinking.

One result of writing not being taught is we've forgotten how to hold a pencil or pen so that a writing session longer than a few minutes doesn't cramp our hand. Instead, we hold pencils and pens as if we're an infant clutching a rattle whose yet to develop fine motor skills. Like this:

Here is a screen shot from the 2017 film “Mary Shelley,” about the author of Frankenstein, depecting her unsustainable clutching of the primary tool of her craft. Absurd. Tip of the hat to Pencil Revolution for the screen shots.

By way of comparison, a photograph of Mary Shelley at her writing desk, holding a quill, shows the same way of holding a writing instrument shown in all classic art, including of scribes going back millennia.

How Mary Shelley actually held the primary tool of her craft. Elegant. Solid. Flowing. Strong. Gentle.

This holy card shows Saint Ignatius holding his quill at work at a tilted writing slope, another secret to writing right.

To Write Right, Hold Your Pencil Right

Every photo or art I've seen from before 1900 shows a similar way of holding the pencil. Why? Because this is how they were held by those for whom writing was the primary means of communication across distances, who wrote for hours at a time, day upon day.

I made the shift a few years ago. It was not easy, but the simplicity astonished me. Instead of struggling to write more than fifteen minutes at a time, I could write for hour upon hour. Combined with switching to writing longhand (cursive), my flow of thought dramatically improved. I’m hardly the paragon of best thinking, but I've been told the difference is easily seen by comparing my first novel, written by keyboard, and my second novel, written pencil to paper in cursive.

How, already?

Like this:

1. The pencil should feel light in your hand, almost like a sixth finger. It won't at first, but will become so with experience.
2. Hold it. Do not clutch or grip it.
3. Hold it further back. This gives you leverage for greater movement with less exertion. Far enough back to get leverage, no so far it is uncomfortable to write. Yes, I know, this is uncomfortable to write for the first 30 hours. I mean after that, after you've acclimated.
4. Guide with the pencil between and parallel to your index (pointer) finger and your middle finger.
5. Cradle the pencil gently in place with your thumb. At first you will need to resist your thumbs urge to slide forward. This may persist longer than you'd like. Resist the persist. Grin.
6. The back of the pencil should gently rest on the third bone of your index finger, NOT in the fleshy part of your hand between your thumb and index finger.

Learn to Write Cursive

There are a number of good, likely older systems of writing cursive online and in book form. Pick one and make it your own. Cursive is essential to flow of thought to occur. You will be a better writer for it, even when you write emails or other bits on directly on the keyboard. Why? Your brain works differently because of writing cursive, not just when you write in cursive, but at all other times as well.

Quality Paper and Pencil Matter

Quality matters here. Experiment with what works for you, but I despise pens for their blots and skipping. Pencils, with quality, smooth lead, are brilliant. Woodcased Japanese pencils or the Blackwing 602 are my preference, followed closely by Yard-o-Led silver pencils. Paper is heavier, with subtle lines that do not scream out, but are just barely there to guide my hand so my writing stays straight.

A woodcase pencil in a Pencil+ pencil holder prototype, giving it the diameter and heft of a Yard-o-Led silver pencil, but, and I’m being amazingly nitpicky here as the difference between them is nearly non-existant, with a smoother lead and without the very slight play in the tip.

Don't sharpen the pencil to a point

Keep the pencil tip roughly 1mm in diameter, and rotate the pencil as needed to keep an edge. Sharpen to a slight concave, elongated tip with a knife (practice makes perfect here), or an El Casco pencil sharpener (yes, they are pricy, as quality craftsmanship is. Well worth it, in my experience).

Lighting

We can't do better than actual sun actually outdoors. Short of that, the closer to sunlight the spectrum of the bulb is, the better. At the time of this writing, that eliminates all but a few incandescent bulbs.

Desk

A tilted writing desk is essential.

Write Anywhere

#cursive #GodsEngineering

This blog is spread primarily by word of mouth ... please forward with abandon! I'm an award winning author. Here are my books. Oh — I'm not on social media so to “follow” me: Subscribe and receive new posts free in the mail!