#85: Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour, Ch. 33

Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour continues. Apparently, it is universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a pack and a good fortune requires a huntsman. Or at least, that's what's believed by the snobby huntsman whom Mr Puffington's about to meet.

Ch. 33: A Swell Huntsman.

18:40

#84: Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour, Ch. 32

Continuing to take Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour, we meet Mr Sponge's new host-to-be as he is now -- Mr. Puffington, a man of wealth, leisure, avoirdupois, and absolutely no interest in foxhunting. So why is he the Master of the Hanby Hounds?

Chapter 32: The Man of P-r-o-r-perty.

13:26

#83: Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour, Ch. 31, by R.S. Surtees

Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour continues.

Chapter 31, "Mr Puffington; or, The Young Man about Town", contains a flashback to the days of the Regency. (Even funnier if you read a lot of Regency romances and are familiar with the Corinthians, dandies, and Bond Street beaus.)

17:11

#82: "How I Lost My Gravity" by Fitz-James O'Brien

"How I Lost My Gravity" is today's cute little story from Fitz-James O'Brien. I know he's not noted for cute little stories, but there you go.

18:17.

#81: The Imitation of Christ, Part 22

The end of this week's section of The Imitation of Christ.

Part 22 deals with what to do in times of trouble and temptation.

6:43.

#80: The Imitation of Christ, Part 21

More of The Imitation of Christ.

Part 21 deals with the basis of Christ's peace.

10:32.

#79: The Imitation of Christ, Part 20

The Imitation of Christ continues some more.

Part 20 includes an invaluable list of four simple things that will bring peace to us. Unfortunately, it's "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master".

5:38.

#78: The Imitation of Christ, Part 19

The Imitation of Christ continues. (I actually had this up on archive.org yesterday, but I was too tired to put it up on the podcast. Sorry.)

Track 19 talks about putting God first.

9:28.

Blog Announcement

I've decided I don't like numbering posts A, B, etc. So I'll just number them separately. Sorry for the inconvenience.

#75B: "Lecture 1" of the Catechetical Lectures by St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Part 1 continues.

"Lecture 1" is on proper preparation for Baptism, particularly giving up sin and praying more.

15:03

Read it here.

#75A: "Procatechesis" by Cyril of Jerusalem

I've decided to read Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechetical Lectures, because they are by far the coolest RCIA lectures ever. But because back then they were given three a week for the six weeks before Easter, and that's a bit of a heavy schedule unless you really are a candidate, I'll mostly just be doing two a week or so. Here's Part 1.

The Catechetical Lectures are transcripts (somebody must have been a court reporter or an awesome notetaker) of classes given to candidates for initiation to the Church sometime during the early 4th century. They were given by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, archbishop/patriarch of Jerusalem. (The bishop was and is chief teaching authority in a diocese.) The classes, and indeed the lecture transcripts, were presented under the veil of secrecy called the "Disciplina Arcani". The class members were forbidden even to fill in people who missed class, much less catechumens not ready for Baptism or non-Christians. The candidates have no idea what is going to be taught next. They've got no clue as to the true mystery of the Mass, because they've never been allowed to attend past the Gospel readings. Everything is new.

And back then, you got exorcised every time you went to class, which certainly would have its uses.

In the "Procatechesis", or prologue lecture, the groundrules for class (including the secrecy ones) are presented, and the class is told just how special this opportunity to join the Church as an initiate really is. The archbishop also warns those who've come for frivolous reasons that they should either stop now, or get serious. Long, but full of historical atmosphere and thoughts to chew on.

41:18

(BTW, I read the footnotes just in case somebody's dying to know something about the early Church. But if you're not interested, feel free to regard the word "Footnotes" as equivalent to "End of Lecture." Especially since I'm obviously mispronouncing the Greek stuff, and you could always just look this stuff up on the Net.)

#74C: Ch. 30 of Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by R.S. Surtees

Part 6 continues.

In "Chapter 30: Bolting the Badger", Mr. Sponge accedes to the dictates of Necessity, but not without a little struggle.

15:55.

#74B: Ch. 29 of Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by R.S. Surtees

Part 6 continues.

In "Ch. 29: The Cross-Roads at Dallington Burn", Lord Scamperdale attempts to go hunting far enough away on a bad enough day that Mr. Sponge won't attend. Ooooops.

19:14.

#74A: Ch. 28 of Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour by R.S. Surtees

Part 6 of Mr Sponge is up, which includes...

"Chapter 28: The Faithful Groom." Mr. Sponge commits a slight error in his labor relations with Mr. Leather.

13:53.

Blog Announcement

Apparently, my current format is not friendly and happy to the iPod owners. (Since I don't use any of these modern conveniences and just hop around and download things, I wouldn't know. Heck, RSS still seems way too newfangled to me.) So I'm going to change the format to make it easier on them.

Apparently, the desired format is to only have one soundfile per post. (Which basically means these expensive iPod things don't work very well, I'd say, but nobody consults me about this stuff.) This will of course mess up the looks and organization of this podcast blog, but apparently improve the functionality.

I'm not sure why I care, since there's never been more than 4 people subscribed to this podcast and we're apparently down to one plus me. But I guess I have to do something to justify my keep over on archive.org, where all my real readers are.

So from now on, you can just click on the title of an item and get the single download per post. I'll continue making the archive.org page available as well, just for reference. Also, some of my archive.org posts will now include "cover art", since I now know how to do this. (Which is good, because the art in Surtees' books is half the fun.)

Sigh. (*hating necessity of change*)

#73: "The Skaters" by Fitz-James O'Brien

It's almost time for the Winter Olympics. Here's a poem about pairs skating that's even more suspenseful than watching the competition!

And yeah, I know the direct link for manual download doesn't seem to be working real well. I wish I knew what to do about it.

MANUAL DOWNLOAD HERE!
"The Skaters"

2 minutes, 43 seconds

#72: Sheer Dunsanity -- Week Three!

The final third of Lord Dunsany's Fifty-One Tales. (Sorry for the technical difficulties which prevented me from posting this before.)

MANUAL DOWNLOAD HERE!

"The City"
"The Food of Death"
"The Lonely Idol"

"The Sphinx in Thebes (Massachusetts)"
"The Reward"
"The Trouble in Leafy Green Street"

"The Mist"
"Furrow-Maker"
"Lobster Salad"

"The Return of the Exiles"
"Nature and Time"
"The Song of the Blackbird"

"The Messengers"
"The Three Tall Sons"
"Compromise"

"What We Have Come To"
"The Death of Pan"