DDR: The Death of the Messiah, From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels by Raymond E. Brown

 

Well...I've been waiting to get to this one for some time now, but it's size...and weight!...intimidated me, so I tucked in to some other things. But I'm ready now. I was talking to a friend yesterday and I said, "I love reading fiction, and I love reading history and philosophy, but at this point (with not so many years to go), I really want to bear down on religion and spirituality.

So this.

Volume I: xxvii + 877 = 904 pages

Day 1 (DDRD 3,111) May 8, 2026

Read to 18.

I have to admit that when I turned the page and saw the eleven pages of abbreviations, I stopped short and caught my breath. Was I really man enough for this? I don't know. But I'm going to find out.

And?

Raymond E. Brown is a very good writer, and I think I can hang in there with his book. He even injects a little bit of humor into his commentary now and then. So...we're off, you know. 

BTW:

So it hasn't been sitting around TOO long. 

Day 2 (DDRD 3,112) May 9, 2026

Read to page

DDR: Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power by Jefferson Cowie

 

xii + 497 = 509 pages

I'm not 100% sure that this is my next DDR, but just in case I started reading the end notes as I went along. Don't eant to get stuck the way I did with TIE. 

Day 1 (DDRD 3,099) April 26, 2026

Read to page 20.

An American definition of freedom: the right to inflict tyranny on others.

Yep.

Day 2 (DDRD 3,100) April 27, 2026

Read to page 60. Interesting, sure, but it hasn't caught me up yet.

Day 4 (DDRD 3,101) April 28, 2026

Read to page 90.

Day 5 (DDRD 3,102) April 29, 2026

Read to page 120.

Day 6 (DDRD 3,103) April 30, 2026

Read to page 150. I think it's always a bad sign when I read 30 pages of a book and am not compelled to copy down a line or three. Well, I've read 130 pages of this book with no nudges. It's not that it isn't interesting—it is. But it's not compelling, and I'm beginning to think it's not well written. Hmmm.

424 - 150 = 274 text pages to go. That's 9 more days. Is it worth it? 🤔 

Day 7 (DDRD 3,104) May 1, 2026

Read to page 180.

And now, this:

"From 1872 on, the struggle to regain freedom from federal incursion and Black political power would be a much more raw, naked appeal to local self-rule and white supremacy. Compromise and formal politics were over. In the future, they would take up arms against democracy in the name of their own freedom." (151)

Day 8 (DDRD 3,105) May 2, 2026

Read to page 210.

This

has come up in the Notes a few times now. I thought I had read it, but when I checked it looks like I watched a documentary based on the book and had not actually read the book itself. I'm thinking about putting it on the to be read list, but I really want to read some Jesus stuff next, so....

President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House. In response, South Carolina Governor Benjamin Tillman said, "...we shall have to kill a thousand niggers to get them back to their place." (205)

Day 9 (DDRD 3,106) May 3, 2026

Read to page 250.

Welcome to the Terrordome:

And here's a quote from Richard Wright's Black Boy:

"The things that influenced my conduct as a Negro did not have to happen to me directly; I needed but to hear of them to feel their full effects in the deepest layers of my consciousness. As long as it remained something terrible and yet remote, something whose horror and blood might descend upon me at any moment, I was compelled to give my entire imagination over to it, an act which blocked the springs of thought and feeling in me, creating a sense of distance between me and the world in which I lived." (233)

Day 10 (DDRD 3,107) May 4, 2026

Read to 280.

"For many white Southerners, this was a fight against domestic totalitarianism, in which tyrannical federal powers would dictate how inferior races would be handled. If the New Deal was really the new tyranny of state socialism, then, as many claimed in the confused hothouse of wartime letters and speeches, the FEPC was the Gestapo. In short, this was a war for white freedom." (276)

Day 11 (DDRD 3,108) May 5, 2026

Read to page 320.

Southern politicians like George Wallace, who is the focus of the part I'm reading now, often portrayed the federal government as The Enemy. According to  Cowie this allowed them to pursue racist rule under the cover of opposing federal intrusion into state affairs. And that was Trump's schtick, too. It's amazing how racism has been such a huge factor in American history for the past 200 years or so. I don't get it.

Speaking of which...here's another book that's been referred to frequently which looks interesting:

And it's available at https://archive.org/details/politicsofragege00cart, which makes it even more tempting. But I am feeling anxious about getting back to religious readings, so we'll have to see what happens.

"By generating often artificial conflict with federal authority, Wallace created a system that generated votes. By losing to the feds, he won local politics." Then there's a note which includes "...it has not mattered to most Alabamians that in his series of confrontations with the federal government Wallace had met with consistent failure. What matters is that he fought, and continues to fight." It seems to me that again this is a big part of Trump's playbook. Attempting to prosecute James Comey for posting a picture of seashells is a fight Trump can't win, but bringing the fight is its own victory.

Btw...my interest in this book has picked up considerably, and I'm glad that I didn't tap out on it.

Sidenote: I just read the Preface (15 pages) of The Politics of Rage. Pretty interesting.

Day 12 (DDRD 3,109) May 6, 2026

Read to page 350. Leaving a mere 72 pages. And I'm going to read another dozen pages today to chop that down to 60 pages, which means Two More Days. 

"...by wrapping racism into questions of federal power, and then making both race and federal intervention into an assault on American freedom, Wallace had himself a winning formula and a growing national audience." (333)

Once again, it is impossible not to see Donald Trump following this same route.

Meanwhile, on TV at 3:29 am:

Have we really made so little progress in 62 years? 

😔 

Here's something worth ten minutes of your time: https://youtube.com/watch?v=kzGEedy9GSs&si=UjMnGsa-KxWqkiQ5

And the solution to racist voter suppression?

"By November 1965, Black Belt counties with federal registrars had 84 percent of the 'Negro Voting Age Population' registered. The corresponding figure for counties without federal oversight was 41 percent." (363) And that, of course, is reversed in the racist's mind: the Federal government is inserting itself into local matters, subverting the will of the people. Thus the federal government is the enemy.

Bada bing bada bay.

P.S. Read to page 365. Also read to page 30 in The Politics ofcalling.It makes the "mistake" that most biographies I have read make it: begins far too early and goes into way too much detail about George Wallace's family. I wish they would just put all that into a paragraph and get on with the real business. I'm still entertaining the idea of reading this book next...but I do hear Jesus calling.

P.P.S. So let me get this straight: in 1966, the symbol for the Democratic Party was a rooster with the slogan, "White Supremacy, For the Right"??? 1966...when I was 9 years old????

P.P.P.S. Read to page 384.Tomorrow should be it.

Day 13 (DDRD 3,110) May 7, 2026

Read to page 497, The End. And I'm glad that I stuck with it. This was an enlightening, frightening, and strangely topical book. Highly recommended.

Wallace's presidential campaign of 1968 is described as "a political revival...for people who want to save their country." (399) Again...sound familiar?

And here it is:

Sad, sad,sad.

Kamandi Sighting

I'm housebound while I recover from quadruple bypass surgery, so it wasn't until today that I was able to get a ride to the comic book store and get my mitts on Swamp Thing #88 (aka Swamp Thing 1989 #1). I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Like 37 years. Like I was 31 when this book was suPOSSed to have come out. And I'd barely started reading when I saw...

Yes indeed, that is my boy Kamandi. 

Life is good sometimes. 

P.S. I know it's a shitty picture, but you should get your own book, anyway--we want DC to know that we appreciate it when they're not being pussies.

P.S. As for the comic...good enough to bring me back for issue #2 (#89), but some shoddy Biblical stuff put me off. The main one being casting Mary Magdalene as a prostitute.  For fuck's sake, read your Bible, man! MM was not only not a prostitute,  she was probably Christ's #1 disciples. This misogyny shit has got to stop!

DDR: The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart

Well, this has been quite the challenge. I had open heart surgery on the 15th. I have read every day since my last DDR (1st, 2nd, and today the 3rd), but it's been pretty meager...one day only a paragraph. But I'm feeling a bit better today, so I'm hoping to knock out some pages. Let's see how that goes.

xxvii + 290= 317

Day 4 (DDRD 3,090) April 17, 2026 

Read to page 15. Which makes 42 pages in ...the physical world--matter itself--4 days. Pmindretty puny, but hey...I HAD OPEN HEART SURGERY!

Day 5 (DDRD 3,091) April 18, 2026

Read to page 45 (30 pages!).

"Things no longer should be seen to exist in and of themselves, but like a quantum particle, exist only in relationship.  ...the physical world-- matter itself--appears to be malleable, susceptible to influence from the outside." (17)

😱Albert 

Y'know,  I can understand why people would be dismissive of the thesis of this book if you just gave them a one or two sentence summation, but reading the details, I get a different idea. The work on these concepts involved. Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize winners, and equipment that cost hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars. That doesn't sound like a scam to me.

Day 7 (DDRD 3,092) April 19, 2026

Read to page 58. Yeah. Fucked up day. Plus I took a shower. You can't believe how strenuous that is after you've had open heart surgery.

Thinking about this book has got me thinking about other related things. For instance, this morning I was thinking, I know the words to heal, and I try to speak them as often as I can. And often I can see that it makes a difference to people. One incident I'm thinking of occurred several years ago. I was in Barnes & Noble, and I saw this young girl, an odd looking girl, and an older woman had come up to her and asked some impertinent question, and the girl reacted with such sweetness and kindness that I couldn't stop myself. When the older woman walked away, I went up to the girl and said, "You know, sometimes I think there's no hope left for this world. But when I see people like you who are just so kind for no particular reason, I know that we're going to make it. I'm so glad that you exist." And we both started to cry. I have to say I have not always used words of kindness. I've spoken in anger. I've spoken in fear. I've said some dreadful things, and I wish I could go back and change that. Maybe one of the gifts of old age is that you slowly begin to really know that this life is not much about yourself. In fact, it's not really about yourself at all. It's about how you interact with other people. How you establish relationships, how you treat other people. And isn't that really what this book is about?

Day 8 (DDRD 3,093) April 20, 2026

Read to page 70. Short day...Hospital Release Day.

Quote from Walt Whitman: "Every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." (63)

Who needs scientists...we've got poets.

I was just watching some highlights from the NBA playoffs (which seemed much less intense than the WNBA games I've watched), and I thought, "My next DDR should be Foul! The Connie Hawkins Story by David Wolf. It's too expensive to buy--$100 or more on most websites--but guess what?  https://archive.org/details/foulconniehawkin0000davi_b5g7/mode/1up

Some scientists were measuring brain waves of monks while meditating; this part struck me: "When Davidson and his colleague Antoine Lutz wrote up their study, they realized that they were reporting the highest measures of gamma activity ever recorded among people who were not insane." (71)

Day 9 (DDRD 3,094) April 21, 2026

Read to page 105.

My interest in Catholicism has been steadily growing since late 1980, when I began at My Studies at Bellarmine College (now Iniversity). Since there was a requirement for 9 hours of theology for any major, I decided to get it over with at the get-go and signed up for an introductory class. I had had no interest in Catholicism previously, but the priest who taught this class, Eugene Zoller, was so dynamic, so enigmatic, that when it was time for second semester sign ups, I sought out his name and signed up for another theology class with him. That was a pattern that continued for all three of my years at the college  (Catonsville Community College  plus CLEP tests taken in the military made up for the other year of my English major), so I ended up graduating with my major in English and a minor in theology. I also ended up married to a Catholic girl.  I had met her in a theology class, admired her from afar for awhile, and finally worked up the courage to ask her out. She acceded, we began to date, and about 6 months later we got married. I can't remember if I attended mass with her at that time, but when she was offered a scholarship to Notre Dame we moved up there. I read lots of her textbooks so that I could be of some use to her, and after she had graduated we returned to Louisville. Not long after that we had our first child. He was baptized and I began going to mass. I was fascinated by the Catholic church. It was so different from the Lutheran church I had grown up in. The Lutheran church was very plain and dull. The Catholic church was elaborate, fascinating...full of mystical implications. I liked it. So much so that when my Catholic  Girl and I divorced I continued to take our children to mass on the weekends when it was my turn to do so Long story short I fell deeper and deeper into the embrace of Catholicism over the years in the past year or so I have taken to reciting the rosary on a daily basis I like the sense of having a physical implement to anchor me to my prayers I have not always found it easy to pray I also like the sense of the repetition the mantra like nature of it. At any rate, I have been saying the rosary every day for over a year now.

"A study at the university of Pavia in Italy and John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford showed that saying the rosary had the same effect on the body as reciting a mantra. Both were able to create a 'striking, powerful and synchronous increase' in cardiovascular rhythms when recited at 6 times a minute." (71 - 72)

In fact, there is research  (Lazar) which indicates that "meditation causes permanent alterations in brain structure." (74) And if saying the rosary is essentially meditation, then....

Day 10 (DDRD 3,095) April 22, 2026

Read to page 135.

"The strange, almost unbelievable events occurring during Tiller's experiments made me wonder whether setting aside a particular room for carrying out intention might be an important consideration. Perhaps we each need our own 'temple' to which we return...." (123)

Day 11 (DDRD 3,096) April 23, 2026

Read to page 165.

Reference the pleasure that is derived from curiosity / hunting, "What actually feels good is the activation of the seeking portion of the brain." (137) Which makes me think that a part of the great pleasure I derive from reading is because for me that is seeking. Seeking the truth, man.

After discussing self-healing etc, "These cases of spontaneous remission suggested to me that casual thoughts that run through our minds every day together become our life's intention." (142)

Well, that seems very important.

Day 12 (DDRD 3,097) April 24, 2026

Read to 195.

Meanwhile,  back at my heart...

The vertical cuts at the bottom had tubes hanging out of them. Yuch.

I usually read all the notes, the. Bibliography, and the Index for the books that have them. But when the notes come at the back of the book, it creates a bit of a reading strain for me. I don't like to keep flipping back and forth. But I usually do it, even though it makes it harder to concentrate on the text. This time, however, I was too caught up in the reading to do do diligence. Which means this: I have 40 more pages of text here. Then 26 pages of notes, 22 pages of Bibliography,  and 16 pages of Index. That's a lot...and I'm thinking about skipping it. Which would mean that I "lose" 64 pages of reading--two days' worth. I'm pretty focused on knocking back pages, and I would guess that I could read the 64 pages in a single day given their nature. But it wouldn't be any fun. So we'll see how it goes. But I am anxious to move on to whatever comes next.

"We can no longer view ourselves as isolated from our environment, and our thoughts as the private, self-contained workings of an individual brain. ...Every thought we have, every judgment we hold, however unconscious, is having an effect. With every moment that it notices, the conscious mind is sending an intention." (194)

Day 13 (DDRD 3,098) April 25, 2026

Read to page 230.

Reference preparation for meditation, one of the suggestions is "prayer, as with a rosary, since the repetitive sounds still the mind." (202) Score another one for rosries!

Couldn't face the Notes, etc. Bro out.

My favorite context-free quote of the week.

 

"...even the virtues of opium have their limit."

DDR: The Chosen and the Damned: Native Americans and the Making of Race in the United States by David J. Silverman

Day 1 (DDRD 3,074) April 1, 2026)

Read to page 27. 

I had my doubts about going to this book next. Was I really prepared to read about the ignominious treatment of native Americans? Not a head in the sand reaction, but a keeping my head above water one. But it's a library book, and I knew that if I didn't start it now, it would go back unread. So....

x + 501 = 601 pages.

Go.

"...behind the American celebration of the self-made man is the reality that too many of those figures were and are mere hucksters and blowhards." (2)

Reference American Indians adapting to life after the invasion of whites by becoming ranchers, etc., Silverman says that "White civilization had no room for actual Indians adapting to modernity. Therefore, the White public either ignored them or dismissed them as inauthentic. Recognition as real Indians required playing to the stereotype." (4)

"...scholars no longer view race as real in a biological sense. Rather, they see it as a product of history, of human beings categorizing one another as discrete descent groups and giving those categories social, cultural, economic, and political meaning based on struggles for power. That is to say, scholars agree that race is not a matter of skin color, blood, or some other physical essence, but is purely a human construct for human purposes." (25)

Day 2 (DDRD 3,075) April 2, 2026)

Read to page 60.

I think I'm up the first person to read this book.  The "received" stamp is for February 18th 2026, which is pretty close to the date I picked it up from the library. Also, there's this:

https://youtube.com/shohttps://youtube.com/shorts/KOYi82Y6uPQ?feature=sharerts/KOYi82Y6uPQ?feature=share

Is that a These Pages Have Not Been Turned Previously sound, or what?

Reference the deaths of many Native Americans from smallpox in the early 17th century, Governor John Winthrop said, "...so the Lord hath cleared our title to what we possess." (35) How's that for a Good Christian Man?

After discussing the atrocities committed by Nathaniel Bacon and his followers, we're told that even after "Bacon was long dead...the fear, hatred, and greed that drove his movement continued to animate the colony's vicious exploitation of Native people for decades to come." (50)

Which makes me wonder.

Day 3 (DDRD 3,076) April 3, 2026)

Read to page 90. According to Silverman, the governments of some of the colonies offered bounties for the scalps of "Indians." They went as high as the equivalent of today's $80,000. Can that possibly be true? Well...AI Overview says $30,000. But still...Holy shit!

Day 4 (DDRD 3,077) April 4, 2026)

Read to page 120.

As I was reading about the American Revolution today, Jacqueline found a Schoolhouse Rock segment on the same topic. (Coincidence, I suppose, though sometimes that's hard to believe.) I stopped to watch. It was an innocuous bit set to bouncy music, and there was only one appearance of Indians --in which they peered at the White folks and then disappeared again. Apparently, they weren't part of the action according to 🏫 🪨. Which I understand, of course: the target audience is a little young for the subject of genocide. But why include the Indians at all? To make them skittish spectators does not honor history.

By the way, I have taken to using the term Indians without even the small solace of quotation marks because according to the author of this book, who is a Native American, The People prefer this term to others. Apparently, it's liberal White folks (🙄) who try to force feed the Native American nomenclature.

They don't teach you this in history class: Indians refered to George Washington as Conotocarious, which meant Town Destroyer. (120) 

Holy shit.

Another American hero, George Rogers Clark, said, "to excel [Indians] in barbarity was and is the only way to make war upon...and gain a name among them." To this, he added, "for his part, he would never spare Man woman or child of them on whom he could lay his hands." (120)

I have no words for this.

Day 5 (DDRD 3,078) April 5, 2026)

Read to page 130. I got sucked into The Moonstone  and couldn't pull out. In fact, I'm going back now to finish it off. 

Day 6 (DDRD 3,079) April 6, 2026)

Read to page 140. Another short day, but a better excuse this time: I was at the hospital from 7 am until 2 pm for a heart catheterization, then went home with a directive not to use my right hand for 24 hours. 😒

Day 7 (DDRD 3,080) April 7, 2026)

Read to page 170.

Said of the White treatment of Indians, but still works today: "The real issue was the number of White Americans whose ideology and interests made them blind to the obvious truth, or willing to lie about it bald-facedly." (167)

Andrew Jackson as the Great Father. (Satire)
Public Domain

Day 8 (DDRD 3,081) April 8, 2026)

Read to page 200.

In his discussion of the government's moving the Seminole Indians out of Florida, Silverman says, "...for every four Seminoles deported, the United States killed one person, lost three soldiers, and spent thirty-two thousand dollars. In today's money, that would be equivalent to about $8.5 million for every deportee." (181) 

And once again, this sounds very familiar. 

I suspect that no commentary is necessary regarding this...

...but just in case: The Latin phrase says "Civilization Replaces Barbarism," and it certainly appears as if that White dude is chasing the Indian out with his plow and horses.

Day 9 (DDRD 3,082) April 9, 2026)

Read to page 235.

An Indian named Smohalla

https://alchetron.com/Smohalla

said, "Men who work cannot dream and wisdom comes to us in dreams." (233)

That's what I'm talking about.

😴 ✨️ ✨️ ✨️ ✨️ ✨️ ✨️ 

Day 10 (DDRD 3,083) April 10, 2026)

Read to page 254.

Day 11 (DDRD 3,084) April 11, 2026

Read to page 267. References to Indian boarding schools reminded me of the scenes in 1923 which showed the cruel and inhuman treatment children endured there. AI told me these other shows dealt with this: Sugarcane (Disney+), Anne With an E (Netflix), and Reservation Dogs (Disney+? HBO?) 

I have 113 pages to go in this book. Counting today (since I'm not finished reading for today), I have 3 days before I go to the hospital. Can I pump it up to 40 pages per day and finish before then? I think so. Let's see.

BTW, the pictures in this book are just AWful...small and dark and blurry. Check this one out:

And that's not even the worst of them.

Meanwhile...

Read to page 307. 🚂I think I can I think I can.🚂

Day 12 (DDRD 3,085) April 12, 2026

Read to page 354. 28 text pages to go. In the immortal words of Barry Manilow, Looks Like We Made It. 🎇

If this doesn't break your heart, nothing will.

Sarah Deer

Day 13 (DDRD 3,086) April 13, 2026

Read to page 501, The End.

"Honest, evidence-based, resolute historical perspective is necessary to combat White supremacy in the present and future...." (377)

Which explains the conservative determination to sanitize history.

A good book, well worth reading. 

Sherlock

"Don't appall me when I'm high."

Sherlock Season 3 Episode 3 ∙ His Last Vow

DDR: The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History by Odd Arne Westad

 

Saw a blurb for this, thought it looked like my kind of thing, asked the library to send it to me, here it is. I think I'm the first person to check it out.

244 pages. Let's see what Westad has got. 

Day 1 (DDRD 3,069) March 27, 2026)

Read to page 39.

Oh. Oh. Get this: "The best example of how British politics went from complacency to fear is the sudden appearance of the question of tariffs." (35) As it flails about in its death throes, Britain decides that imposing tariffs is the way to maintain their hold in the competitive trade market. Mmm-hmmm.

Day 2 (DDRD 3,070) March 28, 2026)

Read to page 84. Well...I'm not sure about this book. Thus far (about 1/3rd of the way through) I don't feel that I've learned a whole lot that I didn't know before. It's interesting enough, I suppose, but it's not digging its claws into me yet.

Day 3 (DDRD 3,071) March 29, 2026)

Read to page 150.

For one thing, to date this book has primarily focused on the events that led up to World War I. The supposition is that those events parallel what's happening now, but I would prefer more now and less then, especially if we're going to end up hypothosizing that World War III is imminent and unavoidable. 🥶 

Day 4 (DDRD 3,072) March 30, 2026)

Read to page 195. So one more day ought to do it. This book has been such a disappointment,  though. It's more about yesterday's umbrella than tomorrow's rain.

Day 5 (DDRD 3,073) March 31, 2026)

Read to page 244, The End.

The last 16 pages ("Conclusion") are more what I thought this book would be about. Also, surprisingly topical, mentioning events from 2025. But all in all this book was not worth five of my reading days, so make it worth my while and give it a skip. That way I'll feel that I have not read in vain.

DDR: Eucharistic Miracles and Eucharistic Phenomenon in the Lives of the Saints by Joan Carroll Cruz

xxii + 330 = 352 pages

Had to think hard about which of the many books in my Want To Read pile should be next. But since reading the St. Carlo book to Jacqueline--which went into some detail about several eucharistic miracles--I've been very interested in this topic...which was new to me. And just for the record,  I'm not becoming a religious nut, just doing due diligence in the name of my reigning philosophy: What the hell do I know? Thus....

Day 1 (DDRD 3,064) March 22, 2026)

Read to page 57.

I've read The New Testament four times, but somehow this section...which was referred to on page xiv...escaped me:

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

That is some very, very heavy material.  The flesh counts for nothing. It also seems to imply that once you have taken communion, Christ is in and stats in you...which is definitely not Catholic teaching. Must ask ex-wife about this. She'll laugh at me, but she'll probably have an answer.

And...

So that wasn't very satisfying,  but since she's got a Master's Degree in Divinty studies from Notre Dame and a couple of decades' worth of working in Catholic education programs,  I guess it's as good as I'm going to get.

😕 

Meanwhile, I've been thinking about My Life With Communion. I grew up in the Lutheran Church, was Confirmed, and have a distinct memory of my first Communion...though I'm not sure how old I was then. 13? I might have to check on that. At any rate, even though communion was not offered every Sunday at Emmanuel Christian Church. I'm sure that I partook of it a fair number of times until I went into the Army at the age of 19. And continued for a bit even then, but fell off the wagon by the time I'd gotten to AIT at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. And since then (1977), I've probably had communion less than a dozen times, because most of the time I attend Catholic services, and non-Catholics aren't welcome at that table.

Day 2 (DDRD 3,065) March 23, 2026)

Read to page 140.

This book is pretty interesting,  but some of these miracles are...dissettling? Like the guy who had communion, later threw up, and after the vomit was pitched into the fireplace  (questionable solution) the host reappeared. These Catholics just Go There, y'know? I like the fact that the book has many pictures, but I wish they had gone the extra mile and made them color pictures with better definition / reproduction value. It's often difficult to discern what is even in the picture.

When I was on New York with Jacqueline last year, I took communion twice. In two Catholic churches. The first was St. Patrick's Cathedral. We were in a Small chapel for mass, and it was so crowded that we were squashed together when communion was being given out. (I usually step out of the aisle when people are going up.) I had no way to escape, and it didn't even occur to me to do the arms crossed across chest thing. So I took communion. I didn't mean to do it. But the next day, when we went to the church of Saint Lucy in the Bronx, I was thinking hard about communion. I felt like I hadn't had the entire experience since there was no chalice of wine at St. Patrick's. So I did a bad thing. I got up in line and deliberately went up and took communion. I let my desire overcome my sense of propriety. Only to find out that there was no chalice of wine there either. (What's up, New York City?) At any rate, I felt pretty bad about violating the rules of the Catholic Church. So I asked for forgiveness. 

Ever since then, though, I've been thinking I would really like to take communion in an above board way. I could go to the Lutheran church, whete I'm officially authorized to partake. But that hasn't been a good experience for me when I tried to go in Louisville. So now I'm thinking that the Episcopalian church might be the way to go. 

And they have open

communion. Next Sunday I don't take the kids to St. James I'm going to see if I have it in me to go for it. 🤞ma,n

Day 3 (DDRD 3,066) March 24, 2026)

Read to page 213.

Oh man this book. Chapter 22 describes Sir Oswald's experience of demanding the Large Host at communion-- with his armed fellows and while clothed in his full armor. According to the story, Oswald sank into the floor up to his knees, then reached out and grabbed the altar to steady himself and left his handprints in the altar. We're told that the hole in the floor and the handprints in the altar still exist, yet the pictures which follow the story show neither of these. What the actual fuck?

More "What?" After Chapter 32 (which ends on page 201) we have Chapter 33, "More Eucharistic Miracles." And then follow short (a paragraph or two), unverified Eucharistic Miracles.  The puzzlement here is that there were some really good EM stories in the St. Carlo book I just finished reading to Jacqueline which have not been included here. What up? This book is copyrighted 1987, so I don't think it's a time issue. But it IS a puzzlement!

You know, if I keep up this pace, I'm going to finish this book in two more days.

Day 4 (DDRD 3,067) March 25, 2026)

Read to page 253. 

Stories of levitating hosts and people living on the Eucharist alone for years and years. Also, priests who say mass from daybreak to nightfall because they get caught up in rapture. Which is kind of cool.

Day 5 (DDRD 3,068) March 26, 2026)

Read to page 330, The End.  This was a good book, to be sure, and I'm glad to have read it...but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. So the journey continues. 

There's a reference to Jesus spending 40 hours in the tomb. I had to stop and count, and that seemed like a reasonable estimate. But just to be sure I Googled, and sure enough.... Learn something new every day. So when I write that novel, there going to be 40 chapters, and, needless to say, we'll be moving from darkness and pain to light and joy.

St. Francis de Sales says, "...behave in such a manner that by all your acts it may be known that God is with you." (318)

The Black Widowers books by Isaac Asimov

I started reading the fourth book in this series today,  which inspired me to write to my sister, who reads a bit of "detective fiction"...and who knows a bit about Isaac Asimov...to see if she had read any of these books. She wrote back and indicated that she had not and asked for more information about them. My first instinct was to pack up the books that I owned and send them to her. But then it hit me that I only owned two of them--the first and the third--so that wasn't very satisfactory. When I looked online to see about purchasing the other four books I was somewhere between surprised and astounded. All of them cost more than I usually pay for used books, and some of them were outrageously priced--$100, sometimes much more. But I had found books two and four at Internet Archive, so I thought I would give that a try. I had no luck at all. I found the two books I had already found there (including the one I am reading now), but none of the other four books seemed to be available. Then I remembered how tricky the index to Internet Archive can be at times. I started trying variations on titles and author, and eventually hit upon one that worked. I compiled a list of the titles and links to Internet Archive for the series to send to my sister. I thought someone else out there might be interested as well, so here you go. 

Oh. And as for background information, here's the short version: The Black Widowers is a group of men who meet once a month to share a dinner. They also invite a guest who is interrogated, usually beginning with the question, "How do you justify your existence?" More than a little bit corny, to be admitted, but it usually doesn't linger there. Inevitably the guest has a problem which the Black Widowers then try to solve. They prove themselves incapable of this, however, and the waiter Henry (who is an honorary Black Widower) then comes in to present the solution. There is little variation from this scheme, yet even after reading 36 of the stories (12 per book), I find myself wanting to read more. One warning, however: Asimov cannot resist allowing misogyny to creep into his stories.  Sometimes he manages to rise above himself to counter that cretinous attitude, but it's still very irritating (and completely unnecessary), to say the least. So caveat emptor.

Tales of the Black Widowers

https://archive.org/details/talesofblackwido00asim/mode/1up

More Tales of the Black Widowers

https://archive.org/details/moretalesofblack0000asim

Casebook of the Black Widowers

https://archive.org/details/casebookblakwido00isaa

Banquets of the Black Widowers

https://archive.org/details/banquetsofblackw00asim/mode/1up

Puzzles of the Black Widowers

https://archive.org/details/puzzlesoftheblackwidowersisaacasimov/mode/1up

The Return of the Black Widowers

https://archive.org/details/returnofblackwid00isaa

DDR: Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored League of the Maritimes 1895 - 1925 by George and Darril Fosty

I heard about this book a long time ago, but the library didn't have it and I didn't want to shell out the bucks to buy it (it's a bit pricey), so it just hung in my mind, Damoclesian style. And then...finally...it occurred to me to try for an interlibrary loan. A few weeks later...

And check this out:

That's a long way for this little book to travel.

When I opened up to the title page, I was surprised to see this:

An autographed edition! Here's the cheapest autographed edition I found online:

Yowza!

So let's go. ix + 235 = 244 pages, so this shouldn't take long.

Day 1 (DDRD 3,058) March 16, 2026)

Read to page 45.

Lots of history and boxing, but not much hockey yet. Maybe mañana. 

Here's an interesting bit of history I'd never heard before*:

"...at the time of the American Revolution, there was no such thing as thirteen colonies. There were actually nineteen--six of those colonies did not agree with the Revolution. Those colonies became Canada." (12)

 * And which I've been unable to confirm elsewhere. 

Day 2 (DDRD 3,059) March 17, 2026)

Read to page 77.

Finally into some hockey. Here's a thing which caught my attention:

"It is...not surprising that aspirating Black Canadians would also see hockey as an acceptable tool for social upward mobility." (67) If you've ever looked at current American sports such as football and basketball and wondered why there were so many black players in these sports, which used to be either dominated by or exclusively White, I think this is the answer.

Day 3 (DDRD 3,060) March 18, 2026)

Read to page 113.

There have been quite a few bizarre proofreading errors in this book. Like this: "...the Sea-Sides would defeating the Eurekas by a score of 4 -2." (87)

I mean...seriously?

Another strange bit of history: "hockey was the first sport to be played at night" (92) because the locals would dig through snow and ice to expose coal lines and then ignite the coal. Very strange! This would make an excellent scene in a film, by the way. I'd better writer to Michael B. Jordan about this. (Michael B., if you're listening, 🤙.)

And then came The Cakewalk. There's a reference to two of the Black hockey players doing The Cakewalk during halftime. I had to look that up...and found some pretty interesting things. For one thing, The Cakewalk looks like THIS. So far as I can tell, it is a parody / mockery of formal White dances, but apparently the White folks didn't understand that, so they liked watching it performed. On plantations during slavery days, the masters would have a cake baked, then, hold a competition for the best cake dance. Whoever won received the cake. And thus we get the phrase, "that takes the cake."

Ta da.

Day 4 (DDRD 3,061) March 19, 2026)

Read from page 198 to 235...the nitty gritty detail stuff. Not actually worth the effort as it's mostly just a series of lists with few details, but I suppose it's for street cred. Reading it now means I don't have to end the book on such a low note. 👌

Day 5 (DDRD 3,062) March 20, 2026)

Read to page 143.

For the most part I've tried to ignore the (many) proofreading errors in this book, but this one...

...is just too much for me. Versus? Come on, FF'sS.

Day 6 (DDRD 3,063) March 21, 2026)

Read to page 175...which means a mere 21 pages to go. Might even finish it off later today...as I'm kind of tired of this book now. Glad I didn't pay for it. 

3 things:

(1) for reasons unknown,  we've left ice hockey and are now discussing (at great length) Black Canadians in World War I. If I'd wanted to read about World War I, I'd have gotten a book on it!

(2) Sorry to say it, but the Fostys are terrible writers. The regularly go off point and follow a digression for no apparent reason. 

(3) The proofreading fuckups are killing me. They're making me want this to be over with.

Oh...a 4th thing:

(4) Why are White people so awful to Black people? I don't understand.

Later That Day....

Here's a line that sums up a lot of evil. " The Black man's problems were never complex. The problem had always been the forces within the White upper classes of Nova Scotian society who were aligned against them." (187) Of course you can leave out "of Nova Scotian" here.

And this...this is so shameful that I don't know what else to say about it.

"Tyranny is the heritage of the silent." (193)

Read to page 235, The End.