Here's another one who's seen a vision
Let's dance for Jesus
There’s an expression in Italian, but I can’t reproduce it here because I can’t conjugate Italian verbs to save my life. It begins ‘Quando non si….’ and roughly translated means ‘When you can no longer (do it), you turn to God.’ I’m sure somebody out there will rush in to quote it.
Of course, the ‘it’ is open to interpretation, but the way I understood this when I was growing up is that when you can no longer flirt, run around with men, dress up and look sexy, then God becomes an increasingly interesting option. I remember one of the women in my family using this expression in respect of the occasional Runaround Sue who discovered the rosary and the Legion of Mary at 60.
Things have changed for ordinary members of society. Now burgeoning prayer groups are packed with attractive and well-maintained women of all ages, wearing tight pants, and at 60 you’re no longer written off. But they haven’t changed for those who work in what’s called the glamour industry. There, you’re still written off at 30. Then you get a job in a supermarket check-out, become a proper prostitute, or…..you see a vision of Jesus and, like Angelik Caruana, you turn it into a new career.
And obviously, if you look like Anna Nobili rather than like Angelik Caruana, you’ve got it made. The Catholic Church actually wants to be associated with you because the Catholic Church, like male-dominated organisations everywhere, is not immune to the charms of gyrating women, as long as they gyrate for God and do the Maria Maddalena-reformed-fallen-woman thing, so that they can be paraded as an example to mankind. The celibate men can look at the gyrating woman and pretend to themselves that what they’re admiring is the restorative power of God and religion.
Well, I think the truth behind this story lies in the last line. “My body has changed so the way I dance has changed, too.” A 38-year-old lap-dancer? I don’t think so, however well maintained. It’s time to dance for Jesus.
Alicia Trujillo
BBC World Service – Tuesday, 7 April
‘Lap-dancing nun’ performs for Church
Anna Nobili is no ordinary nun. The 38-year-old used to be a lap-dancer, and spent many years working in Italian nightclubs. She is now using her talents in a rather different way – for what she calls “The Holy Dance” in a performance on Tuesday evening at the Holy Cross in Jerusalem Basilica in Rome, in front of senior Catholic clerics including Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican’s Cultural Department.
Miss Nobili told the BBC World Service that the transformation from podium lap dancer to nun happened gradually. “It was my mother who went about getting me involved in the faith – she had a powerful vision of Jesus,” she says. “At first I didn’t want to know, but then Jesus appeared to me too, and I fell in love with him.”
Several years ago, she swapped her old life for the Church, after a visit to the shrine of St Francis in Assisi, a place of pilgrimage for millions of Catholics in Umbria. Sister Nobili, then joined the order of nuns called the Working Lady Nuns of Nazareth House, and it is through them that she tours prisons and hospitals performing her modern Christian dance. She says the Church is very open to what she does.
“They understand that our hearts belong to Jesus, that means our moves also show that he is alive, and that he is a God of joy, not one of sadness,” she explains. “He is a God who dances not one who stands still.” Sister Nobili adds that it is for these reasons she has noticed that bishops, and priests in general, are struck by this new form of expression.
She does use some of her past life in her new shows, telling young people in the audience the story of how she converted. Referring to the actual dancing she does today, with her group, the Jesus Dancers, Sister Nobili says it is different from what she did for her nightclub shows.
“My body has changed, so the way I dance has changed too.”
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I like the ‘He is a God who dances’ line. I maintain He is a God who loves footie…
Quando non se ne può più, si ricorre al buon Gesù.
http://www.dituttounpo.it/lcdp02.html
[Daphne – That’s the one. Thank you.]
It’s “Quando non si può più, si ritorna al buon Gesù”.
http://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Proverbi_italiani
[Daphne – Thank you.]
Please watch Suor Anna Nobili
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay349wk5poc
You betcha…Angelik cannot dance like her.
This is definitely worth viewing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCkCcOAqeQo&feature=related
…and as the film title states…
Le vie del Signore sono finite
Deuteronomy 13 warns about the dangers of being misled to serve false “gods”. There are so many different versions of Jesus, (not to mention Mary), out there.
Such a shame that people misunderstand what Jesus meant when he said to the people that “before Abraham was, ‘I am’.”
He was talking about God (God’s name in Hebrew is “I am”) and the importance of the first commandment.
This is gibberish to me. What’s the point you’re making?
Can’t you read?
Thanks for the explanation. It’s all clear now.
My point is this. With the world economy in serious recession, and likely to remain so for at least another year, wouldn’t it be better if Angelik went direct?
Are you on the same stuff as Angelik?
What stuff would that be, John?
The stuff that makes you write unintelligibly. I can’t make head or tail of what you’re saying.
That’s your problem, I’m afraid.
Actually, I can’t understand a word you’re saying either. So that makes two of us.
I’m joining the bandwagon… that makes us three.
He’s definitely on the stuff, HP. And if he ain’t – he should be.
Can’t read either, then?
and after someone tells you the ”quando non si puo..” bit, the response is usually, ”meglio tardi che mai”. so I suppose there’s hope yet for a few of us……
I find this a very refreshing way of expressing oneself. It’s rather obvious that this nun has an inner life that is flourishing. I’ve always maintained that it’s the continuous process of metanoia, the change for the better, that marks us out as persons of faith. This woman is clearly marked in my view.
I find her strangely admirable that she expresses herself in this way. And no, not every priest, bishop and religious you see is a pervert. The vast majority are people who want to serve their fellow man, human beings nonetheless, and many have won their battle against themselves.
[Daphne – Nobody is saying they’re all perverts, Mario. But in general, I find that heterosexual men have one of two reactions to women dancing: utter and absolute boredom (ballet, folk dancing, ballroom dancing) or sexual interest (lap-dancing, pole-dancing, club-dancing, flamenco – if she’s not squat or plump). You get the picture.]
[Daphne -… utter and absolute boredom (ballet, ….]
As a full-blooded male I have to tell you that you’re wrong there. As this video will prove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpNE7s2_g_E
This is pretty mild compared to “Fratello Metallo” ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ap3sIaLNYM&feature=related
Dancing to the tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRr9lVQ54hM
Re. the new blog design.
In the main page at the end of each post you get “Post a comment | Read (1)” where the number in brackets is the number of comments already posted. Shouldn’t that be “Comments” then?
[Daphne – I don’t get you. Ideally, it should be ‘Post a comment’ (because most people only post one) and ‘Read comments’ (because there are usually more than one), but the second ‘comments’ makes the line too cumbersome and it’s kind of stating the obvious.]
Personally I think the “Read” part should be to the left and the “Post a comment” to the right. Would be a more logical order. Also, I would rather have the word “Comment(s)” associated with the reading, ie:
Comments(12)|Post a comment
or
Comments(12)|New
Then again, I know from experience that every visitor to a website have their own idea how things should be and there are as many opinions as there are ways to do things.
Still, real good job on the makeover. The only thing I would want amended is the number of items displayed in the Comments feed. I use it a lot, but unless checked fairly frequently there is a lot of comments missed.
[Daphne – We have an average of about 50 comments a day coming in, but when it’s a hot topic more than a hundred a day. And believe me, I can never predict what’s going to be a hot topic. Who thought that they would still be rambling on about Gensna?]
Oh come on, when have you written anything that isn’t a hot topic ;)
What I meant was to extend the number of comments in the rss feed. Don’t know if this is just a setting in WordPress, or if it’s something more complex, but it would make it so much easier to follow.
This post focuses on women but it brought to mind a cartoon I saw in the New Musical Express many years ago.
This worn-out rock guitarist is telling a young man how in his heyday he participated in all-night wild parties, slept with 20 women at a time on luxury yachts, etc, etc. “Then I met Cliff Richard and became a born-again Christian. Now tell me, what can I do for you my son?” The young man, who had been listening in awe, eyes bulging and tongue hanging out, grabs the guitarist by the neck and shouts, “Teach me to play! Teach me to play!”
And you think that this is “quando non si puo pui”?
She is still at her prime , and she is wearing no make up. From the look of her face she seems she found true happiness
I think she is still a good dancer, and is using her talents to praise the Lord. Hopefully she is not doing it for money.
[Daphne – She definitely can’t wing it as a lap-dancer anymore, not with all those 18-year-olds coming up behind. Dancing for God must seem a lot better than an escort service for over-the-hill glamour models. And John, lap-dancers use their body not their face.]
If she’s dancing for God, does that mean he gets turned on by the whole thing? And if he’s not, then why is she doing it?
“And John, lap-dancers use their body not their face.” I am still learning. It never crossed my mind that lap-dancers can have wrinkles on their faces. [Daphne – That’s not what I meant. I meant that the body of a woman in her late 30s is always the body of a woman in her late 30s, no matter how hard she works out. It doesn’t even begin to compare with the body of a girl 20 years younger, no matter how wrinkle-free the face.]
I think she knows how to use her face and her body. But I’m not 18 any more!
If a (young) nun became a lap dancer what would our comments be? [Daphne – That she was bored in the convent.]
Ma dawn se taqbad issa???? ara vera m ghandekx x’ taghmel ta’, ahjar iddur dawra madwarek ghandek ma xiex teghda ha nghildek forsi taghmel xi saghtejn tghaddi l-hin, ja sahhara, nies bhalek jixirqilhom ikunu fuq filfla biex forsi jkollok il hila toqghod tghodd il gremxul.
[Daphne – You have to hand it to these Labour supporters. They really know how to put forward an intelligent argument.]
Int veru Blogroach…
…u peress li zgur ma tafx xi tfisser…ghamiltlek il-howmwerk. Orrajt?
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/blogroach.html
…u hemm stampa tieghek ukoll
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary_archives/001985.html
Heqq. Man. Attent tuf…ghax tispicca hekk:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=29782424
…u jekk twegga…mur il-matter day.
Fuck off yourself, Camilleri. Jekk ma jghogbokx itlaq int fuq Filfla u hallina kwieti
The story above and the reference to Angelik Caruana, drives me to write my comment. I come from the same village as Angelik. The majority of Birzebbuga residents know him well, and believe that it is all his own invention. I am not going to write about whether the story is true or false, but I am astonished to hear in the media about his experiences. I cannot understand, and I am confused by people like Patri Elia, Dr. Xuereb, Fr. Hayden another Caruana of iL-Mument, trying to justify his experiences.
With all due respect to these personalities, you had better use your time and resources to help people truly in need, rather than in justifying this kind of behaviour.
A “cubista” is a “gogo dancer” not a “lap dancer”. I should know – I was one back in Milan (ehrm… quite a few years ago).
When discussing the ridiculous Paceville case, Tonio Borg referred to the girls as “laptop dancers”.
Leave the Divine alone and concentrate on politics. And that’s for you Daphne.
[Daphne – No. And incidentally, popes are not divine.]