Saturday Surprises

I came across two bits of interesting news this morning. The first has to do with Peanuts creator Charles Schultz being, according to his biographer, David Michaelis, "a funny, warm and charming man with a great sense of calm and decency. But he also had a lifetime of being lonely, misunderstood and unhappy". Instead of happiness being a warm puppy, Schultz would insist that "Happiness is a sad song", perhaps like Morrissey's Everyday is Like Sunday. I do not think this too surprising. It does make the world of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally, Snoopy, and Peppermint Patty that Schultz bequeathed us all the more valuable.


In a Q & A session, held in a packed Carnagie Hall in New York City, Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, was asked whether Dumbledore ever found "true love". Her initial response to this question was quite succinct: "Dumbledore is gay". She then added that the much revered Hogwarts headmaster, in his younger years, "was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago".

Rowling explained Albus' infatuation with Grindelwald, thus: "'Falling in love can blind us to an extent,' she added, saying Dumbledore was 'horribly, terribly let down'". She also said that "his love for Grindelwald was his 'great tragedy'. It once again shows that one should not underestimate the complexity of Rowling's writing.

Here are the closing lines of my homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time for this year, which was 5 August: "The ultimate paradox, taught us by our Lord himself, is that only the person who loses his/her life for his sake will save it. The true master of death, the wise Albus Dumbledore says to Harry Potter, 'does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying' (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg. 721). The true master of death, Jesus Christ, shows us that it is only by dying to self that we live forever!"

Writing of homilies, let's not forget that tomorrow is Dies Domini, the Lord's Day. Let us also be mindful that liturgy is the work of all God's priestly people. So (I write in my best admonitory voice), if you're baptized, that means you dear sister and brother! If you're not baptized, like Nacho Libre, who says to his sidekick, Esqueleto, commenting on his never being baptized, "I'm worried about your salvation n' stuff".