Every year comes the day when light is less and darkness is greater. Will the light fail? No. Never. God, omnipotent and omniscient, gives His children the knowledge over years, decades in our own life, and millennia in human history to see the truth. Saint Lucy is the Saint of Light, the one who sees and we celebrate her on our darkest days. Saint Lucy sees best when she sees worst. Of course, that is what I am supposed to... Read more
There were Zealots in Palestine. They rallied and wrote that God was on their side. They needed no evidence, because God spoke to their hearts. These zealous men believed they could do foolish things until only a miracle could save them and then a miracle would save them. They were men of the heart cut off from the head and their hands would do bloody deeds in God’s name. These lunatics and shysters believed God had told them to rebel... Read more
Humility. Meekness. Tenderness. There is glory, angelic might, omnipotent God, and three magi, but there would be no Nativity if there were not humility, meekness, and tenderness. The light, life, and wisdom are easy to desire, but embracing humility, meekness, and tenderness reveal if we wish true light, genuine life, and Holy Wisdom, and not just a seems-like product sold to us by the world, our own desires, and devils. Humility was Jesus being willing to go even to the... Read more
My first Christmas creche from infancy is in my home office, our children’s first creche (minus a broken wiseman, 2020 was hard) is in our den, and our newest sits in the dining room giving us another view of one of history’s greatest events. There was an experiment with what one adult child calls the “bling nativity” but the less said about this the better. The handwritten nativity icon on our wall fills our house with Christmas all year. One could have... Read more
Here is a proposed general rule for a first read on new books, a first viewing of a film (or even evaluating a “worldview”!): Praise the good, lest some vice, a hidden prejudice, cause us to condemn as bad something that merely makes us uncomfortable. This year I read a great many good books, some again, many for the first time, and more than one very bad book. Some were badly argued. One had a thesis where one could easily have... Read more
Chuck Yeager is gone to Glory. As the West Virginia state song puts it, all things change, even the hills of West Virginia, but they point to a deeper eternal country, Prince Immanuel’s Land, where Yeager has gone by God’s grace: Oh, the West Virginia hills! How majestic and how grand, With their summits bathed in glory, Like our Prince Immanuel’s Land! Yeager was a hero in World War II, that generation is slipping past us, so his death on... Read more
If I am very sad, I call Dad and Mom and ask them to pray for me. They do. God delights to allow His children to cooperate in His grace giving. He hears and gives us what is best always. As a good heavenly Father, God also delights in giving us what we wish when that would be best. Since loving others is so good for us, God is especially pleased when we pour out our hearts for other people. I can... Read more
All the jollification was there when we celebrated the advocate of children and orthodoxy: jolly old Saint Nicholas. We stood in a long line as various people, many Russians, numerous Greeks, and cautious Syrians, prepared to pray at the tomb of Saint Nicholas in Muslim Turkey. There were more than a few Turks. False piety was impossible, because the lines were too long for the mask to hold. Instead, we endured, as good people must do, and then were able... Read more
We need every different voice: men, women, the older, younger, all the family. If we isolate ourselves from others (whatever “other”) then we get weird and wrong headed. Grandparents, parents, children can all join together to do great things. I saw my dad and his granddaughter working on a project. It was beautiful. At one moment three generations were working together, pulling in the same direction, and this should be normal. We need to hear Nina, equal to the Apostles, and Holy... Read more
Make beauty where you can, spending if you must, but be warned of those who do not care to try to do things as beautifully as possible. You need not gild a lily, they are already beautiful, but at the end of a hard slog of work, try for spoon full of sugar. Twice a semester, our College has keystone sessions where faculty and students gather to discuss a great text for an entire day. One session is generally held... Read more
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