BBQ Judging, Scythe Harvesting, and Christian Marriage

• Barbecue Competition Judging: Adam shares his first experience as a barbecue competition judge at a local Catholic church and school fundraiser in Tulsa, where he was joined by his son Jude (assistant judge) and two priests.
• Judged four categories: chicken, pulled pork, ribs, and brisket (Adam insists brisket is the primary measure; David (wrongly) argues for ribs).
• 12 pit masters competed; judged on appearance, taste, tenderness, texture, uniqueness, and overall (max score 25).
• Advice from Joe Martin’s son: Take one bite per entry to avoid overeating (48 bites total across 40 minutes).
• Adam judged strictly (e.g., scores as low as 14, zero for appearance), while priests gave higher scores (23–24), highlighting differing standards.
• Event fostered camaraderie among pit masters (12 hours together) and service to attendees, teaching kids sacrifice, friendship, and craft articulation.
• Shout-out to Brian Schooley for organizing; Adam and David plan to enter as The Catholic Man Show next year, with Jim in a dunk tank.

Main Discussion

Wheat Harvest with a Scythe

• David’s Experience: David harvested two 45x45-foot wheat plots using a scythe, finding it soothing, peaceful, and in tune with nature despite being exhausting.
• Quotes Wendell Berry: “The means we use to do our work almost certainly affects the way we look at the world” (via an X account, @minahan8).
• Compared to last year’s sickle (felt “commie”), the scythe was efficient for small-scale farming; not practical for large-scale but satisfying.
• Kids raked straw (post-harvest, nutritionless due to seeding) for pig bedding or garden mulch; straw vs. hay explained (hay retains nutrition).
• Adam plans to borrow David’s scythe for his own wheat harvest, nervous about back strain.
• Wendell Berry Reflection: Hosts revisit Berry’s essays, appreciating his beautiful, idealistic conclusions but finding his reasoning insufficient (e.g., abandoning tractors would starve people).
• Compare Berry’s idealism to J.R.R. Tolkien and Guardini's Letters at Lake Como; both depict lovely worlds but lack practical solutions for modern challenges.

Christian Marriage and Pope Leo XIII

• Introduction to Pope Leo XIII: Adam introduces Pope Leo XIII (1810–1903), a prophetic figure who addressed modernity’s challenges (secularism, communism, liberalism) in the late 19th century.
• Known for Rerum Novarum (1891, Catholic social teaching), reviving Thomism in seminaries (to counter Nietzsche, Hegel, and communism), and engaging modern society.
• His encyclical Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae (1880) emphasizes Christian marriage as a divine, not secular, institution, foundational to society.
• Critiqued rise of divorce, moral relativism, and civil interference undermining marriage’s sanctity; argued church, not state, holds primary authority over marriage.
• Marriage as Trinitarian Image: Marriage mirrors the Trinity’s relational society, where spousal love is so real it produces a third (child), reflecting Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Secular view (Enlightenment-era and today) reduces marriage to a consensual contract, ignoring its sacramental, stable, and permanent nature.
• State has a role in regulating marriage per natural law, but church’s supernatural authority supersedes.

Ephesians 5 and Mutual Submission

• Scriptural Basis: Leo XIII references Ephesians 5 (footnoted), where St. Paul instructs mutual submission out of reverence for Christ, with specific roles: wives submit to husbands, husbands love wives as Christ loved the church.
Secular society fixates on “wives submit,” ignoring mutual submission and...