Dressing for Mass in Hot Weather

Among the most-visited posts on this site are those on proper attire at Mass.  It's interesting to read the queries that result in the reader arriving at the post.  Right now there seems to be a concern about what to do in hot weather.

The answer is that what is proper is exactly the same -- elevated attire: veils, chapel caps, or hats for women, no hats for men, no trousers for women, no shorts for anyone, no jeans for anyone, no bare arms or bare shoulders for anyone, no flip-flops or sneakers for anyone.  Take at least as much care with your personal hygiene and grooming as you do at other times (if not more), leave your water bottle in the car, and your dog at home.

But, "It's hot," you complain.  Well, the answer is to wear lightweight breathable linen or cotton garments and to the extent you are still uncomfortable .  . . offer it up, soldier it through.  After all you are a member of the church militant!

Image:  Details of flax plant from which linen fibers are derived.  From Wikimedia Commons.  In the public domain in the United States.

Les anges du péché (1943)

          Les anges du péché (1943) was the first feature length film by Catholic director Robert Bresson (1901-1999). The screenplay was written with the help of a French Dominican priest, Fr. Raymond Leopold Bruckberger, and playwright Jean Giraudoux.  Bresson's next movie was Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945).
 

The film is set in a Dominican convent that takes in female ex-prisoners.  It examines the effect of good on evil, evil on good, what happens when one "stands too close to the fire", and how that fire can transform and be transformed.  That is, it examines the operation of grace.

Like Bresson's other motion pictures, it acts on the viewer on several levels -- the cerebral, the spiritual, and the visceral.  It features trademark Bresson visuals focusing on the interplay of light and shadow, and religious symbolism that is recognizable without being overly predictable or trite.

The casting and acting are impeccable.  Moreover, those who have seen The Nun's Story (1959) will have a chance to view a different resolution of the conflicts and struggles of religious life.  

This terrific film is now available in an all-region DVD from one of the Korean distributors under the title "Angels of Sin".  It has English subtitles as well as Korean and is of quite acceptable quality.

Image:  "Umbrella opened" from Wikimedia Commons.  Click for licensing.

Thank You for the Light (Fitzgerald, 1936)

I've always enjoyed vignettes because they give the reader the sense of having found the fragment of a novel to be filled in.

Thank You for the Light by F. Scott Fitzgerald is just such a vignette.  It's only a few pages, belatedly discovered by Fitzgerald's grandchildren among his effects and published by the New Yorker in 2012 although the same magazine rejected it many decades ago.

It's about Mrs. Hanson, a 1930s traveling saleswoman addicted to nicotine who goes to a Catholic church hoping to light her cigarette from a votive candle and has an encounter with the Blessed Mother.

One realizes that the end of the vignette is just the beginning of a very long journey for Mrs. Hanson.  In fact, although superficially very different, the piece reminds me of the transforming experience for Sarah Miles in the Deborah Kerr movie version of Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair.

It can be purchased on Kindle from Amazon for ninety-nine cents.

Update - May 13, 2019 - The vignette is also available at the New Yorker online

All About Mary (Tumblr site with Marian images)

Looking at beautiful things while drinking a cup of coffee is one of my favorite ways to refresh myself during the work day.   Much better than reading polemics on blogs and forums!

In doing so, I recently came across a wonderful Tumblr site devoted to Marian art -- All About Mary.  It is frequently updated and very uplifting.   If you visit, I am sure you will not be disappointed.