Theology of the Body 2013/12/31

It's so long since my previous post on Theology of the Body that I recommend that you go back and reread that to get "up to speed" for this one.

"Jesus' response to the Sadducees is recorded in slightly different form in Matthew 22:29-32, Mark 12:24-27, and Luke 20:34-38. …

"In all three Gospel accounts, Jesus affirms the truth of the resurrection based on the Scriptures and 'the power of God.' The Sadducees were very learned in the Scriptures but they were bound to a strictly literal interpretation. To read the Bible correctly, Jesus tells us, we cannot look simply at the words — we must believe in the power of God. The Giver of Life is not bound by death. …

"God gives life to those who live for him. …

"God is the inexhaustible source of life. With sin, death entered the world (Gen. 3:19) …. Gut the living God made a covenant with his people …. Through his covenant of love, God continues to offer life to sinful human beings.

"Jesus came to bear witness to the true God, who is … the God of boundless life. For now, Jesus showed the Sadducees how the Scriptures supported the resurrectionof  the dead. But the time would come when Christ would give a more dramatic demonstration of God's power over death.

"… Through the cross, Christ restored humanity's access to the Tree of Life — the immortality that was planned for us from the beginning."

Two Blogs and a Play

My 501st post was about Thanksgiving, not, as I had promised, about a couple of blogs I like. So here's what I wanted to say, plus a bit about my doings.

One of the blogs I'd recommend taking a look at is Spiritual Friendship. It is a group effort, with two editors and twelve additional contributors. Some of their names are familiar to me and others are not. But I think well of those I know, and I suppose the others are comparably good. They say that they "believe that marriage is not the only way of life God calls us to, and so we seek to explore different ways of serving God in celibacy. And Christ-centered friendship is, we believe, essential to that task." The idea that friendship is important is not new, and I expect that the thoughtful essays they present can be helpful.

They sometimes expand their scope beyond matters of friendship strictly speaking to include other topics related to gay people. For example, there was an article about Tom Daley's "coming out."

Their description of the blog includes this as well. "In trying to create a new approach to homosexuality, we have drawn on the wisdom found in the broader Christian tradition. We explore God's calling, the nature of the Church,celibacy, our nature as embodied souls, and related topics. Thus, what began as questions addressed to our situation as celibate gay Christians has led to answers which may be of interest to a much larger Christian audience."

So I see this blog as something which can encourage those among us who want to be celibate, can demonstrate the reasonableness as well as the possibility of celibacy for those who are wondering if it what they are called to — those who are asking themselves what kind of life they ought to lead, what kind of life they can lead — and can provide any who may consider "Side B" somehow homophobic a clear example of non-homophobic upholders of the "Side B" view.

As I've been writing this, I was drawn into reading a few of the articles and, in addition to the recent one on Tom Daley and this more recent one about romantic love, I highly recommend looking at this one from last August about C.S. Lewis's very balanced take on homosexuality. Those should give you some idea of what the blog is about, and I hope you'll find it worth reading.

The other blog is Mudblood Catholic. The blogger is a young man named Gabriel Blanchard, "a gay Catholic bookworm (incorporated into the Anglican Use in 2013). Huge fan of indie and electronica, as well as Mediaeval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. I have a degree in Classics, and get paid to snark across an espresso bar. I can be reached by Nigerian princes who need my assistance at gabrielblanchard25@gmail.com.." In his first post, he explains the word "Mudblood," for the benefit of those of us who haven't read the Harry Potter books. In his case, he means that he is a convert to Catholicism. But his choice of such a striking word gives you an idea of how visceral his approach is.

That first post gives a glimpse of his thinking and his original intent for the blog. I haven't read through the whole thing, even though it is still less than a year old, but based on what I have read, I think I'd do well to take the time for it. I'd suggest looking at a couple of posts — almost any will do — to get an idea of what he's about. His ideas are in some ways very unusual and striking,  and his writing is visceral, as I said, and personally revealing. Don't let the intensity scare you off.

Each blog in its own way does some of what I wanted this blog to do, and I'll probably find myself occasionally recommending posts from them here and/or on Twitter. But don't wait for me. Look for yourselves.


Wednesday evening, I trekked in to Boston to see a play presented by the Huntington Theatre Company, "The Cocktail Hour," by A. R. Gurney. Just in case the page I've linked goes unavailable after the run is over, here's how they describe it: "The pre-dinner cocktail is a revered ritual in John's parents' elegant home, but when he returns to announce that he has written a play about them, their calm demeanor dissolves. As the martinis flow, so do the revelations and recriminations, both funny and poignant, in this heartfelt comedy about the ties that bind."

While we may not have had the official designation in my home as I was growing up — and we didn't have hired help in the kitchen to allow everybody to relax in the living room — a pre-dinner drink was part of the daily routine.* Some of our friends and neighbors may even have had the more formalized version represented in the play. In other words, the play brought me to a setting reminiscent of my earlier years, and it was interesting to see what the author did with his characters in that setting. But the author regards that setting as one that is fading away. While the parents cling to the lifestyle that included it and made it possible, the next generation are moving away from it — it is a way of life that is fading away.

Into that milieu, the author places his characters with a drama exploring the author/son's relationships with his parents and siblings. He feels somehow excluded from the rest of the family, rejected from infancy by his parents (going so far as to suspect he was not his father's son). He comes to understand himself and his family more clearly by the end of the play. In a way, it's almost a play within a play. The play itself is semi-autobiographical, and the play which the protagonist has written is also semi-autobiographical and titled "The Cocktail Hour."

I enjoyed it a lot — so much so that I'm actually thinking of trying to get in to see it again.

* At one point I came up with a parody of the opening lines of Longfellow's "The Children's Hour."
Between the dark and the daylight
When the night is beginning to lower
There comes a pause in the day's occupation
That is known as the cocktail hour.

Plans for Thanksgiving

This year the couple who invited me and my brother to their place for Thanksgiving in earlier years are going to their children's home out of state. So I'll be preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I've invited a single guy from church who has also been a guest at the other couple's Thanksgiving dinner.

I'll start the day by going to Mass at my parish church. Then I'll mostly be involved with preparing and setting up for the dinner.

First I'll prepare the bread stuffing (Pepperidge Farm mix, with some sauteed celery and onion added). When that's ready it goes into the bird and the bird goes into the oven. The giblets will cook in a double boiler. Then there should be time to set out mixed nuts and cheese and crackers, and maybe tortilla chips and dip, for the social hour. I'll peel and boil some potatoes and mash them with milk, a little butter and dried parsley. Hubbard squash will be peeled, cut up, boiled and then mashed with butter, honey, and nutmeg. When the turkey's done, I'll make gravy from the pan drippings, flour, the cooking water from the veggies and the giblets, with a bit of soy sauce, Tabasco, mild paprika, Bell's Poultry Seasoning, etc. (Since my brother doesn't eat giblets, I'll have them available on the side, rather than chopping them into the gravy) We'll also have cranberry sauce, which I'll make this evening; and I got some green olives stuffed with pimiento to go with celery on a relish plate (first time in years for the relish plate). For dessert it will be pumpkin pie and mince pie, with whipped cream to accompany the former and cheddar cheese for either; thin mints and chocolates will also be offered. I'll bake the pies this evening.

When I was a boy, all of the above would be part of the dinner. It would also have included creamed onions, sweet potatoes, steamed puddings with custard sauce and hard sauce, sometimes scalloped oysters, and sometimes potato stuffing in addition to the bread. You'll notice there are no green beans, no salad, in fact no green vegetables of any sort other than the relish plate. That's the tradition I learned, and I'm sticking with it. You can have your green vegetables 363 days per year, but not on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

To accompany it, I have several kinds of beer, whiskey, and rum for the social hour and merlot and Graves wines for the dinner. There will be coffee to go with dessert.

In addition to what I do this evening, I'll probably spend most of the time from 10:00 to 2:00 preparing the meal, 2:00 to 4:00 enjoying it, and 4:00 to 5:00 putting away leftovers and helping with the clean-up. Mostly we'll use the fancy china (parents' wedding gifts) and silver — not dishwasher safe. Perhaps we'll call the cousins in Colorado in the evening, after the guest has left. If anybody wants supper, I recommend another piece of pie.

I guess it's about time to leave the computer and start cooking.

No. 500 (Published)

As the title indicates, this is my 500th published post on this blog. As the parenthesis acknowledges, there are draft posts that I've never published and haven't reviewed in some time — 15 of them in all. I joined Blogger in September 2008, although I may have been commenting on some people's blogs even before that. My first post was on October 31, 2008. I think it was the one about the boys who took more than their fair share of the Halloween candy I had put on the front stoop (label, mischievous boys). So I've averaged a post every 3.7 days, slightly under two per week. But I've slacked off recently: my 400th was way back on May 28, 2012, which means that it has taken me 546 days to post the last 100 — a rate of about one every 5.5 days.

I blame Twitter for the slowdown. I "blame" Martin for getting me on Twitter. When I was visiting him in Germany in the summer of 2012, he mentioned that lots of acquaintances from blogging were now regularly on Twitter. So I signed up and found it as he said. So I spend a lot of time there, following folks I met on blogger, and others I met there.

Over the years I've become acquainted with a lot of bloggers, and I've really cared about a lot of them. Many have stopped blogging, and while some are now on Twitter, others have disappeared altogether from my sight. It would be nice to know how they are doing. But I'm glad to be in touch with all who are still around in one way or another.

Although I'm grateful for those who keep in contact via Twitter, I really prefer blogging. It permits full presentation of major events and in depth discussions of issues. Twitter is to Blogger as the 30 second soundbite is to a reasoned presentation of someone's idea. Many people manage to tweet about something significant, but then I usually find myself wishing for more detail.

So I plan to stay with Blogger (as well as Twitter), and I thank you for doing me the courtesy and honor of reading my posts (even if you're one of those who needs me to alert you on Twitter). And, as always, I'd welcome comments on anything.

My blog is primarily directed to gay people. Although I started it with the hope of presenting the Catholic viewpoint on questions relating to homosexuality, the blog seems to have evolved into something principally about the life of one celibate gay man. I hope that as it's now going, it's at least making it clear that being single is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. I also hope that I've come to be more patient with people, and a bit less argumentative when I disagree. Maybe I've learned that even a valid (as I see it) argument won't always persuade people, even if it's worth a try.

Well, anyway, it's been a good first five years on Blogger. Thanks for reading, and blessings and best wishes to all I've encountered here (and all the "lurkers") over the years.

I thought I'd take this occasion to recommend a couple of blogs I've recently noticed, but this post is long enough, so that will have to wait for the first post of my second 500.

Theology of the Body 2013/11/21

Readers who have been with me for a while will remember that I was giving a series of excerpts from the book Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body in Simple Language, published by Philokalia Press. I had begun with the second part, dealing with love and lust. Then I went through the first part, in which the Pope draws out the meaning of the Genesis creation accounts of humanity's creation as male and female. All of these previous posts are available under the label Theology of the Body, and I recommend reading them if you haven't already done so, or rereading them as a refresher.

John Paul II began by saying that one of the preeminent ways we are created in the image of God is our ability in conjugal sex to give a physical image of God's abiding, life-giving love. The body, in its maleness and femaleness has a nuptial meaning. In the second part, he went on to say that love means giving oneself unreservedly to the beloved. Lust, on the other hand reduces the other to an object for one's own gratification.

Now we come to the third part: "Heaven and Earth: Reflections on Resurrection" which the translator divides into two sections, "The Resurrection of the Body," and "Celibacy for the Kingdom." I expect the second section to have some relevance to the discussion of whether gay people need to be celibate. But we should realize that John Paul is not concerned to any great degree with homosexuality. So it's a matter of seeing what in his position illuminates our situation.

With that introduction, I now begin excerpting from Part III.


"What is the body's ultimate destiny?

"The Sadducees, a Jewish sect active at the time of Christ, taught that the soul died with the body.

"One day [they] challenged Jesus to accept their belief [by proposing the hypothesis of seven brothers who successively married the same woman and died. They asked whose wife she'd be at the resurrection. Cf. Matthew 22:24-28 and parallels in Mark and Luke.]

"… But Christ did not debate their logic on a human level. Instead, he answered out of God's wisdom:

"You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in  heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead — have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living" (Mt. 22:29-32)

"This answer opens a whole new perspective on the body. Like his statements on 'the beginning' (Mt. 19:3-9) and 'adultery in the heart' (Mt. 5:27-28), this statement about the resurrection is foundational to the theology of the body.

"… The truth of the resurrection is a vital one; if we do not know our destiny, we cannot know how to live.

November 19, 1863, Gettysburg, PA

One hundred fifty years ago today, President Lincoln said:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Catching up

On October 17 I went to a symphony concert, and the following evening I trekked in to Boston again, for a show called "Baritones Unbound." It's a brief look at the history of the baritone voice, especially after it was identified as such in the early 19th Century, and it was having its first run anywhere. It was basically a fun evening — pure entertainment. Apparently it hadn't been booked anywhere else as of when I saw it, but the Three Baritones are hoping to be signed elsewhere. So keep your eyes on the entertainment listings; if you notice it, I think you'll like it.

Over the weekend, I came down with a cold. On Monday morning, I had almost no voice. But there was gradual improvement. I was able to take a visiting cousin to dinner at Scollay Square before I went to symphony on the 24th. She didn't join me for the concert, but the "absolutely gorgeous young man" I wrote about in my previous post was at Symphony Hall that evening — with another guy who wasn't nearly so gorgeous. We happened to meet in the corridor after the concert was ended. It was his companion's first time in Symphony Hall and his first time hearing Mahler's "Lied von der Erde" live. They were both enthusiastic. I wasn't, but I refrained from negative comments. Having heard his name for the third time, I actually remembered it long enough to look him up on social media. It turns out his paternal grandmother was Japanese. (I hadn't noticed anything semi-oriental-looking about his father in pictures — dad's also on social media.) He was actually in Japan a few years ago on some study-abroad program when grandma died, and he described going to the funeral. In case he shows up again, I think I'll call him G.

The following evening, I went to Scollay Square again, before another HMA concert. I had the same waitress as the previous evening, and she recognized me. She was good, but I was sorry not to see Wendy or Blake, the waitress and waiter I had liked last spring, on either visit. With my cold still lingering, I decided to leave before the second half of the concert.

This week, the cold has continued to fade away. Wednesday was another evening at the theater, for "The Power of Duff," about a TV newscaster in Rochester who begins to pray at the end of the news programs after his father dies. Some interesting things happen, but mostly the play is about his attempts to connect with people — especially his estranged wife and alienated 15 year old son — after a lifetime of being self-absorbed. There is some value to the story, and the play has its good moments, but the characters and the action often seem contrived. It was nice to hear some of the Red Sox final game of the World Series in my car on my way home and to see the last inning on my TV after I got home.

Last night was another symphony evening. I decided to escape Hallowe'en trick-or-treaters by having dinner in Boston before the concert. There is a local chain called Petit Robert. They describe themselves as French-style bistros. The menu varies slightly from location to location, but both the ones I've visited offer some things that are commonplace in American restaurants and some things you don't see regularly on this side of the Atlantic. Before "Baritones Unbound" I went to the Petit Robert Central and had oysters and coquilles St. Jacques. The latter is not available everywhere in America, and it was quite enjoyable. The waiter was easy to look at and properly attentive. This week I went to the Petit Robert Columbus Ave. and enjoyed a tasty foie gras appetizer and a very good tripe entree (neither of which was on the PRCentral menu, although Central had a different style of foie gras). I really like being able to get these things that aren't on most American menus, especially the organ meats, and I'm looking forward to going to one or the other before future plays or concerts.

Looking forward, I'll be seeing "Waiting for Godot" for the first time next week, in a performance by an Irish company called the Gare St. Lazare Players. Symphony Thursday and the following two Thursdays. Harvard Musical Association on Friday the 8th. My parish has their Mass of Remembrance, especially for those who have died in the past year, on Saturday at 4:00, followed by Italian Night at 5:00. Then there is an end-of-season Race Committee party at 6:00.

Interesting Encounter; Autumn

Interesting Encounter.  Last Friday evening I went to the first "social evening" — i.e., concert followed by refreshments — at the Harvard Musical Association for this season. This particular concert was preceded by a lecture dealing with the history of the building which houses the association. Just before it began, in came a 30-40 year old member who I'm confident is gay with an absolutely gorgeous young man.

After the concert, I joined the pair and got introduced to the young man. He gave the impression of being gay also, and they may be something of "an item," for example, taking trips together. Eventually they went off but later I encountered them again, and in conversation learned that the young man had graduated from college two years ago, which would mean that he's about 24. (Even so, he's practically beardless, with only a few fine hairs visible on his cheeks.)

As he and I talked, I felt his elbow touch my arm just above the elbow. (How did he do that? He's several inches shorter than me.) With another touch, I noticed that he was turning his upper body back and forth. In all, he touched me in that way four to six times. At the time, I took it as expressing some measure of affection, like a pat on the back or an arm around the shoulder. But over the weekend I began to wonder if it was some sort of come-on. Was he inviting me to the men's room for some fellatio or some such thing?

I asked over on twitter if elbowing someone as he did is a commonplace signal. Nobody responded. If anybody knows that it has a common meaning among gay people, I'd like to know. (Not that I'd accept the invitation: I don't do sex. I'm just wondering.) If it means no more than, "I'm enjoying this encounter," I might even respond in kind, but if it means, "Let's have sex," I don't want to.


Autumn.  The arrival of the concert season coincides with the onset of autumn. Leaves are turning red, orange, and yellow and dropping from the trees. It will take a month or more for them all to go, but I'm never happy to see the trees bereft of leaves. They are much more attractive with their leaves, and with their leaves they make their surroundings more beautiful. They also seem to soften the sunlight, especially toward sunrise and sunset. I'm also sorry to have the sunsets coming so early.

I also associate feelings of nostalgia with Autumn. On sunny late afternoons I think of the high school sailing club: it was under such conditions that we'd return from our meets an hour from home. When the weather is cool and damp, there is a more generalized feeling of remembrance and loss. There is also a specific memory of an evening one autumn when a bunch of us were at a classmate's house and I found myself seriously crushing on her dark-haired, dark-eyed younger brother. And in the daytime, when most of the leaves are gone and the air is somewhat moist, I think of Tom.

What Does St. Paul Say — No. 5

In 2009 and 2010, I started a series, "What Does St. Paul Say," in response to another blogger. Although that blogger's basic contention was that St. Paul says that the Law does not apply to those who live in the Spirit — so that what he writes about homosexuality does not apply to those in the Spirit — I felt I needed to establish what St. Paul says about homosexuality before I took on the blogger's underlying argument. So I looked at three passages which seem to deal specifically with homosexual conduct and tried to explain why I understand them to refer to all homosexual conduct, not just that by heterosexuals, and why I don't think the modern realization that there is a homosexual orientation — something St. Paul probably had no idea of — does not change the meaning of the passages.

Three years later, although I have seen other statements of the argument that when St. Paul says "against nature" he should now be understood to mean "against the one's personal nature," I still find the argument unconvincing. So I still see the passages in St. Paul as applying to all homosexual conduct, regardless of an individual's orientation. BTW, because it seems to me that St. Paul is clear on the subject — even just because he wrote about it — arguments about Leviticus are irrelevant. The Old Testament passages do not establish the case, and refuting them is irrelevant because the refutation leaves St. Paul's writings untouched.

My previous posts are all available under the tag St. Paul, and all have a title that begins, "What Does St. Paul Say."

There is a post in the series that covers what I originally projected as Nos. 3 and 4, the one dated August 11, 2009. Therefore, I come now to the final part of the series, No. 5, where I explicitly consider the argument that none of these moral rules apply to those who live in the Spirit.

The blogger feetxl, asserted that homosexual marriages were approved by Christ because, "gay believing marriages are filled with the fruit of the spirit in the same way as heterosexual marriages." He added, "in fact how do support the magisterium creating new regulations or affirming old ones to be under, in the new covenant, when the tearing of the curtain at the cruxifiction indicated that we no longer have a relationship to god thru regulation as in deut. 28, but instead directly to the one who lives in each believer.

paul said all things are permissible but not all things are beneficial.

paul also said(romans) that we are to be led by and serve of the spirit.

jesus said we would recognize them by their fruit(fruit of the spirit(gal5). a good tree cannot produce bad fruit, a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

can murder,thievery, adultery, produce the fruit of the spirit? then why is it that believing homosexual marriages can if it is a sin?"

So I think we need to consider what are the fruits of the Spirit that he alludes to. He seems to be referring to Galatians 5:18-23. More specifically: "18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. … 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (New International Version). He concludes that since in Christians' gay marriages such things are found, gay marriage for Christians is approved by Christ — a way of being led by the Spirit.

In response, I'd point out the context of those verses, including not only the rest of the passage, but also verses 16-17 and 24-25. There we are told that we are not to "gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature." (The original Greek word which is the NIV translates "sinful nature" is σαρς/sarx, which most others translate literally, as "flesh.") If we belong to Christ we "have crucified the sinful nature with its passions," and need to live by the Spirit.

In other words, there is no license for specifically immoral conduct intended in this passage. In fact, at verse 19 "sexual immorality" is included among the things that are acts of the sinful nature and hence contrary to living by the Spirit.

But my argument has been that homosexual acts are included in the category of sexual immorality. If I'm right, this passage does not condone homosexual conduct. On the other hand, if Christians in gay marriages experience the fruit of the Spirit, then how can homosexual conduct belong to sinful nature?

I think the answer is that our life isn't an absolute either/or. We do not live entirely by the Spirit — which is why St. Paul concludes by saying, "Since we live by the Spirit let us also keep in step with [walk in] the Spirit." Even those who live by the Spirit do not always walk as they should. Our sanctification is, for most of us, a work in progress.

It must be acknowledged that we can see much in the life of many sexually active gay couples which corresponds to what St. Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that they are being sanctified. But it must also be acknowledged that there are many atheists whose lives seem similarly characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. Yet a Christian would not say that the atheist is right about the existence of God. So one can be mistaken about something and still be someone who is in the Spirit. I think this is true whether the mistake pertains to a matter of faith in God or to a particular question of morality.

To summarize the series, then, as I see it

1. being justified by faith rather than by the works of the law is not the same as being free to commit immoral acts;
2. homosexual acts are among those St. Paul says are immoral; and
3. the realization that there is a homosexual orientation does not invalidate St. Paul's teaching on the matter.

A final note: all of this is to be read and understood in the context of Pope Francis' famous line, "Who am I to judge" one who seeks God and tries to do what is right according to his own conscience and in the context of the line in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which says that homosexuals must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. I have tried to explain my beliefs and my understanding of scripture both respectfully and persuasively, in the hope that those who think I am wrong will see that there is at least some rational basis for my position — it's not simple bigotry — and that those who are still undecided or open to changing their mind will see the reasonableness of my view of the issue.

My Concert and Theater Plans for the 2013-2014 Season

I've been meaning to give a picture post showing some of the things I brought back from Japan last June. Sometime I should also get back to giving excerpts from the "Theology of the Body." But with the sailboat racing season over and the concert and theater season beginning, in my vanity I like to think you might find my plans for trekking in to Boston to attend a performance mildly interesting. So here it is, arranged by presenting organization.

Boston Symphony Orchestra   http://www.bso.org/

October 3,10,17,24, 31

November 7,14,21

January 9, 16*,23, 30

February 6, 20

March 6, 13, 18*, 20

April 3, 10, 24

* — Concerts which are not part of my subscription, but which I want to hear and will probably buy a ticket for.

 Arts Emerson   https://artsemerson.org/Online/default.asp

September 28   "Columbinus"

October 18   "Baritones Unbound"

November 6   "Waiting for Godot"

January 17   "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation about the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, from the German Sudwestafrika, between the Years 1884-1915"

February 13   "Red-Eye to Havre de Grace"

March 14   "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

April 11   "Lebensraum (Habitat)"

Harvard Musical Association   (private)

October 11,25

November 8

December 6

January 10, 24

February 7, 21

March 7, 27

April 4, 18*, 25

* — Evening on which there will be a concert, but it's Good Friday, and I'll be in church, not there.

Huntington Theatre (sic) Company   http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/

October 23   "The Power of Duff"

December 5   "The Cocktail Hour"

March 26   "The Seagull"

April 23   "Becoming Cuba"(?)

May 29   "Smart People"*

* — I haven't purchased tickets for any of these yet, but they look worthwhile. I have "Flexpass" tickets available for plays and dates of my choosing. The dates selected are tentative.

I've included the url's for the public organizations so you can get more info about these performances, not just to satisfy your curiosity, but also so you can invite yourself to join me at one or another that might interest you. So if you live nearby or might be visiting Boston during the next seven months or so, let me know if something strikes your fancy.

Of course, my plans are subject to change, and I could well add a few things with other organizations (such as some operas), but that's how it looks at the moment.

A Visit from Family Members; Update on Updates

A Visit from Family Members  My sister-in-law arrived from Japan on Friday for a visit through Wednesday morning. My big brother (net her husband) met her at the airport. I hadn't completed all the tidying up I had had in mind, and she began to do some housecleaning — very embarrassingOn Sunday her son (my nephew) and his girlfriend arrived by train from New York. Although she calls herself a vegetarian, she said she would like to have lobster along with the rest of us, and she enjoyed it. She calls herself "a chill vegetarian," and apparently her motive is health, not an ethical concern about eating meat. They'll also be heading out on Wednesday morning. My brother will take them to train station and airport.

It's kinda fun having them here. Last evening, we played "Clue" — first time for me in 30-40 yrs.

With three additional people sharing the upstairs bathroom, I realized I needed a way to get the hot, humid air out of the room. I took the window fan from my room and put it in the bathroom window as an exhaust fan, plugged into the light by the sunk. When the light's on, so is the fan. Then I realized that it strained a bit when the door was closed, so I lowered the upper sash, so as the fan pushes the moist air out at the lower level, cooler air comes in at the upper level to replace it. (When I'm alone upstairs, of course, I can just leave the door open.


Update on Updates  My brother in Japan suggested that my nephew could help with the computer woes I talked about in my previous post. Meanwhile, once I finally got the printer working, I was annoyed to see nothing giving me the options to print only one or a limited number of pages of a multi-page document. Finally this morning, encouraged by a cryptic reference in the printer User's Guide, I decided to see what happened on an unlabeled button with a down arrow in the print dialogue box. That opened a larger box giving me the options which used to be in the first box that appeared. Does somebody think it's an improvement to have to jump through one more hoop to have those options available? Well, at least I solved that problem.

The Google/Safari problem remained. And for that I asked my nephew to help. An option on the Mac menu offers Software Updates. My nephew knew about that and suggested going there. Most of the updates were for applications I don't use, and there was nothing about Safari. But there was one for a general OS uupgrade. It had crossed my mind that it might help, but I wouldn't have tried it. He thought we should, so we did. When it was finished, I had a newer version of the Mac OS X 6, and it was able to run the standard format of gmail and let me access google+ and my g calendar in all its colorful splendor.

So for now I'm happy with the state of my computer and printer.

New OS

Earlier this week, my printer/copier/fax/scanner stopped printing because it was unable to self clean. The suggestions in the owner's manual failed to solve the problem, and I decided to buy a new machine rather than go to the trouble of sending the old one out for repair.

The new machine seemed to have just what I wanted. As the clerk was carrying it to the checkout register, there was a small boy facing us, about 20 feet away, who had pulled his pants down and was urinating on the carpeted floor.

When I got the machine home, I saw by the fine print, that it required Mac OS X  10.5.8 or higher. My OS was X 10.4.x. I had been thinking for a while that I should update. Maybe Safari would stop quitting once or more per day. So I went to the MAC store to get the latest OS, only to find that it wouldn't let me update from my early 2007 OS directly to Mountain Lion.

After some searching, I found that I could update from what I had to the Snow Leopard, OS X 10.6. I placed my order Thursday afternoon, and it was delivered in about 22 hours. I installed it last evening, and  now I'm running on OS X 10.6.3

For my purposes, it doesn't seem much, if at all better than the old OS, so far anyway. But at least Safari hasn't quit on me. But there is one thing that is very annoying: it won't open g-mail using the standard format. It freezes about 7/8 of the way through. So I have to use the basic format. That would be only a very minor annoyance, except that the basic format gives no links for Google+ or my Google calendar. Although I haven't done much with Google+, I had recently started using a Google calendar to keep track of shows and concerts, both those for which I have tickets and those I might like to go to. When I managed to get into my google calendar, it seemed to use a basic format, rather than the standard one I had used to make my entries. It seems harder to work and it has no method for using colors to distinguish different categories of events.

It's especially annoying that g-mail tells me to update my browser to be able to access the standard format, but when I follow the links and click on Safari, there is page after page of description of Safari, but absolutely no place to go to get an updated version.

Next to  hook up the printer.

A Visit from Mark

My friend Mark (whom I've also called Zack in some posts — check out both names in the topics list) visited last week. He's decided to be car free as much as possible, so he came by bus, and arrived on Monday afternoon, August 5. He's basically vegan, but was willing to go vegetarian for the visit. So our first business was to go to the grocery store to stock up on items for vegetarian cuisine. We never got to most of them because we got meals elsewhere, as I'll narrate.

Monday evening we went to a game of the North Shore Navigators and had cheese pizza there as our supper. I also had a hot dog.

Tuesday, after I got home from Mass we basically lounged around the house naked. Eventually we headed out to the Peabody Essex Museum but didn't get there until about 10 minutes before closing time. So we strolled around Salem for a while and then went to Boston. Mark wanted to have dinner at my "regular" restaurant, Scollay Square. He enjoyed the mac and cheese with artichoke and spinach, and I the hanger steak special (used to be a regular on the menu, and it's pretty good). It was a beautiful warm evening, and we strolled around Boston Common for a while. Then we went back home and took off our clothes and watched the end of the Red Sox game. I felt a cold coming on, so I went to bed early (for me).

On Wednesday we had to keep our clothes on. There was a funeral of a family friend to be followed by a luncheon, and my big brother was going to attend too and then stay in the area to run boat races in the evening and sleep here overnight. For supper, Mark and I had pizza from a local shop. I wasn't able to finish my half, but Mark handled his. My brother eventually threw out the leftover, which I had thought might be my lunch on Thursday. Well it was no big loss, just a very minor annoyance.

After supper, we watched the Red Sox game. I felt fairly tired, so I went to bed early. The Sox were trailing, and Mark also went to bed before it was over, only to learn in the morning that they had come from behind in the ninth inning and won the game. In the morning, I brought Mark to the subway station so he could get to his noon bus back to upstate New York.

What was good about the visit, beyond just being together, and being able to be naked when we wanted (until my brother showed up), was that we are able to talk freely about our sexuality. There is no thought that we will become sexually active, but just the ability to be open with one another face to face, to have live conversations which we could not have with the other people in our lives, is very satisfying. When I've met other gay bloggers there has been the same sort of comfort in just knowing that I didn't have to be careful in what I said about myself. The shared understanding is comfortable., even when the conversation is on other topics. So for adults, I recommend meeting others you know through blogging and feel you can trust. Of course you still want to be a bit cautious about where and with whom you meet at first. But you can have enjoyable visits, and some can flower into friendships, as has happened with me and Mark.

Astute readers will have noted that we cooked no vegetarian dinners while Mark was here. On Tuesday at lunch we each ate one of the frozen veggie burgers he had bought, and he had a fair amount of soy milk on his cereal. But when it was time for him to leave, the canned lentils, beans, corn etc. which he had bought for a salad were untouched, so he left me the black beans and took the others with him. Also untouched were the last two veggie burgers and a frozen burrito. On Friday, I felt pretty washed out with my cold, and they proved a satisfying lunch/supper.

I'm glad he likes to visit, and I'm glad we've made an introduction to my brother, who was pretty low-key about it.

Japan Diary, Part Five

June 5 & 6  Wednesday was trash day. Stuff had to be at curbside for pickup by 7:30, so it was my first order of business after waking up at about 5:00 a.m.. In mid-morning I went food shopping at the stores nearest to the house. Had breakfast when I got home, watered and misted the plants*, brushed the cats, was surprised when Minka licked my hand. In mid-afternoon, I had lunch, worked sudoku and crossword puzzles in the newspapers.

*Yang Yang decided it was a good idea to drink the water in the dishes under the plants. I decided it wasn't. When I picked him up and was carrying him to his water dish, he struggled and scratched my arm.

From about 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., I took a nap, then watched some baseball on TV. Unlike my country, they don't have baseball games on TV every day. It seems that every Japanese major league team has one or two American players. A noticeable difference in crowd behavior is that when each team is at bat, there are numbers of fans wearing team colors who sing the team pep song. So there's no quiet time (except maybe between innings and halves of innings).

I got to dinner about midnight.

Cod, sauteed peppers and mushrooms, salad, black coffee (in pot), manhattan, white wine.

Thursday morning, having gone to bed at about 2:30, I was awakened at about 5:00 to feed the cats. I got up at about 6:00, and Yang Yang paid a brief visit at about 6:30.

At about 7:30 I went out to take a walk along the pedestrian promenade.

A view of a side street across Shiroyama Dori (the street the promenade parallels) from the promenade.

Near the farthest point of my walk, perhaps a mile from the point where I started.

I find it a little surprising that they put it in English. This is in an area where I think there are very few English speakers, and few of them who would be unable to handle the Japanese.

A tile embedded in the promenade. This looks like an old map of the area.

Hollyhock.

I saw a couple of maps which showed a fairly direct route from near the annex back to the house via regular roads, so I decided to try it. At one point I became uncertain which way to go, but I knew that going right would either get me where I wanted to go or back to the promenade. Eventually I arrived at an intersection a couple of blocks from my brother's house and got back to the house just after 9:00. After that it was a relaxed day of newspapers and TV and occasionally looking in on the cats. They spent most of their time in the main bedroom, but Yang Yang also liked to spend time looking out from the breezeway between the two houses. Once in a while Minka joined him for a moment.

Yang Yang in the bedroom.

Minka on my s-i-l's bed.

My brother and s-i-l were due back late that evening, so I had dinner early and cleaned up the kitchen.

Chicken livers and hearts (they came attached to each other) sauteed with mushrooms etc. on toast points. Usual beverages.

When the folks got back we had a little collation which included some German cheeses and pastries I had bought. I got to bed about 1:30.

June 7  Friday was my return to the States (via Toronto).

My brother in what I understand is a fairly typical pose with the cats. Minka doesn't curl up in a lap, just drapes herself over one thigh. Yang Yang is not a lap cat at all. (If you recognize my brother, please keep it confidential).

My sister-in-law drove us to the station, where my brother and I caught a train to Shinjuku. There my brother made sure I found the train to Narita. It turned out my flight was delayed, which meant less time in Toronto. So I decided just to stick close to the gate. After an hour or so I realized that the gate I was at was my seat number, not the plane's departure. Fortunately, there was plenty of time to recover from that misreading of the boarding pass.

The flights were smooth and uneventful, although the Tokyo-Toronto leg went well south of the normal route, making the distance considerably longer than normal, but the pilot made up for it by flying about 100 mph faster than normal, so our flight time was about as scheduled. I suppose the change of route was to avoid rough weather.

I arrived home in a downpour from a tropical storm and got drenched just going from the van to my front door.

It was a pleasant and relaxing time in Japan, and my brother was very grateful. He said that if I hadn't come, he'd either have cancelled his trip or spent the whole time worrying about the cats.

Well, that concludes the trip. I may post a follow-up, with some words about the cost of the whole thing and pics of the loot I picked up, but these five "diary" posts give you the basics. I hope it was somewhat interesting.

Pope Francis on Homosexuality

A couple of months ago, Pope Francis was asked if there is a "gay lobby" at the Vatican, and he answered that there is. On his way home from Rio yesterday, he gave an 80 minute press conference in which -among other things — he was asked about it. Here's a translation of what he said according to one report.

"There's a lot of talk about the gay lobby, but I've never seen it on the Vatican ID card!"

"When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them? They shouldn't be marginalized. The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem … they're our brothers." —Emphasis added.

Another report gives a bit more context.

Addressing the issue of the gay lobby, Pope Francis said it was important to "distinguish between a person who is gay and someone who makes a gay lobby," he said. "A gay lobby isn't good."

"A gay person who is seeking God, who is of good will -- well, who am I to judge him?" the pope said. "The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says one must not marginalize these persons, they must be integrated into society. The problem isn't this (homosexual) orientation -- we must be like brothers and sisters. The problem is something else, the problem is lobbying either for this orientation or a political lobby or a Masonic lobby."

The thing is, as the reference to the Catechism makes clear, this is not exactly novel. What is new is hearing it directly from the lips of the pope. Hopefully the publicity it gets will help more people learn what we've been saying all along.

I realize that this won't satisfy people who insist that the Church must not teach that gay sex is wrong, but hopefully it will help other people — people who can see nuances — realize that the Catholic Church doesn't hate, condemn, or exclude gay people.

Japan Diary, Part Four

June 2  I woke up about 5:30, fed the cats, shaved, said my morning prayers, generally relaxed, and finally had breakfast at about 8:30.

To get to Mass at St. Francis Xavier chapel at Sophia University, I needed to get to Shinjuku (a major rail hub in Tokyo) via the Odakyu Line, then take either the Chuo Line or the Maronouchi Line to Yotsuya Station. There was a change of trains on the Odakyu Line several stops before Shinjuku, which my brother had told me about. I had forgotten about it, but when the announcement was made on the train, I knew what it meant. I had hoped to take the Maronouchi Line, because in January 2010 I had taken the Chuo Line. But I couldn't follow the directions to it in the station, so I took the Chuo Line and got to Yotsuya with no difficulty. It helps that station announcements are made in Japanese, Korean, and English and that station signs are in Japanese and Korean and in Roman alphabet. The church is just across the intersection from the station exit.

The church is a fairly large, oval, gray brick building, with tall stained glass windows.

A general view of the interior, including pulpit, altar, tabernacle, and several of the windows.

(Click on photos to enlarge for greater detail.)

The window the the left of the altar in the previous photo.

Another window.

Detail of one of the windows in the rear of the church.

The noon Mass was in English. I made the mistake of putting ¥5,000 in the collection basket, rather than 500 (i.e. about $50, rather than 5).

In the courtyard outside, they were having a bazaar, with all the usual sorts of stuff — mostly handmade cloth articles.

A banner announced the event (I think).

There were a few musicians, including this guy.

Here's the section where they had food. Most was typical Japanese items, but I settled for a hot dog.

It was explained to me that this table had ceramic wares made by the clients of a program for the developmentally handicapped, which operated in the area near Mt. Fuji. toward the left are bowls with a blue design. These may be the ones that seem to show a stylized cat's face. I bought one for my brother and sister in law.

I also bought this smaller bowl for myself.

I returned to Shinjuku via the Maronouchi Line. Then via the Odakyu Line to Kyodo, where I bought a large bowl of noodle soup at a semi-automated noodle shop. (There's a numbered menu with pictures of the items. You put money into a machine and click the number of the item you want. The machine produces a ticket which you take to the counter. They ask if you want soba or udon noodles in your soup. When your order is ready they call you.)

After I got home, I watched some baseball on TV. The teams all seem to have one or two Americans on them. I had a nap, watered the plants, said my evening prayers, and had a steak dinner, which I forgot to take a picture of (sorry).

June 3 & 4  The next two days included some reading, a fair amount of TV watching (costume dramas mostly), watering the plants, doing the sudoku and crossword puzzles in the English language papers my brother gets, and grocery shopping.

The cats were good about letting me know when they were hungry.

They also knew how to relax.

Monday evening I had salmon with asparagus on toast.

Tuesday I bought some sandwiches at the university student coop. The one in the bun was pretty good and so was the cutlet sandwich. The one in the middle was mainly veggies and not very tasty.

At the cash register the clerk opened a drawer under the register and said something which included the words "go en." After a few seconds I remembered that my brother had told me that he was annoyed that they charge five yen for a plastic bag. I then remembered that "go" is Japanese for five, and "en" is Japanese for yen. Somehow I managed to convey that I was willing to pay the extra ¥5, and I got a bag to carry the sandwiches and a bottle of beer brewed by a company founded by a graduate of the uni.

Tuesday evening I watched the highly anticipated soccer (football) match between Japan and Australia. Keisuke Honda, a big bleached-blond player, got to take a penalty kick in extra time when an Aussie touched the ball with his hand. His scored a goal, which created a tie, enabling Japan to qualify for the World Cup, and that had people celebrating in the streets and pubs all over Japan.

My dinner that evening was pork cutlets with mushrooms on toast points and some leftover beans. They're sort of like edamame, but bigger. You take the beans out of the shell, and then you take the membrane off each bean.

On each of these days, I went to bed between 12:30 and 12:45, whereas earlier in the trip I had been retiring well before midnight. I suppose it has to do with the fact that when I'm alone, I tend to put off dinner until late in the evening.

This leaves three more days, which I expect to cover in my next post about the trip. There will be some kitty pics and some additional ground covered in a walk along the promenade, and then bro and s-i-l got back, and I had my return flights.