Easter is past and Pascha is soon for those Christians who worship in the East, but East or West, all Christians recall Saint George. He was a soldier who sided with the Prince of Peace and so lost his life to the Empire. While an entire nation in the East is named for him (Georgia!), England in the West also celebrates him as patron. The Red Cross on a white field was worn by a hero in Spencer’s Faerie... Read more
More than an Empty Tomb: Return of the King Easter has come and Pascha is coming. Of course, every Sunday is a miniature Pascha so all Christians celebrate the central fact of history: Jesus is alive. The empty tomb is, however, just where Jesus is not. Where is He? Jesus is King of Glory and is coming soon. Surely He is coming quickly for all of us. One hundred years from now, if time has endured, anyone reading this will... Read more
Pascha is coming, but Easter is today for billions of the world’s Christians. Easter is not just to empty a tomb, but to fill the City of God. Paradise is the end result of Easter: Jesus did not conquer death so we could get treats in this life, though God is happy to bless us when it is for our best, but so we could live in utter joy for all eternity. If the school of souls seems stressful, then... Read more
To avoid the supernatural, a person must never see nature as a whole, but always, quickly, break her into parts. We speak of what makes up a star and not the spangled sky. Wonder makes us wander from any narrow explanation that explains everything easily: thoughtless naturalism. What is behind it all? Ancient philosophers moved to atheism to avoid fear, the worry about what may be underneath it all. If there was no life after death, no active gods or a God,... Read more
I asked for new voices and got some outstanding writers! Today we hear from the erudite James R. Harrington. James R. Harrington earned his M.A. in Ancient History at California State University Fulleron and is a member of the Torrey Honors Institute. James has been a classical educator in a variety of settings over the past thirteen years. He lives in Houston with his wife, Sharon, and their daughter. Mr. Harrington responded to thoughts on his first post. Harrington wrote about... Read more
Lost and Found Once one of our children decided to stay at Disneyland, when we decided to go. He waited and slipped away, running back to Fantasy Land and the rides. We started heading out and quickly missed him. I was not too worried, he would turn up if I called. He did not. My stomach hurt and I started looking everywhere. Security began to appear: ten minutes, fifteen minutes. I was not frantic, yet, but was sweating in a... Read more
The preparatory phase in the race for President in 2020 is coming to an end. The race is still centered on President Donald Trump: replace him or keep him. That’s dangerous for the challengers, if as I suspect, interesting celebrity story telling is now as valuable as any quality in a candidate. We may elect as much to continue an interesting series of stories, and Trump has given those in droves, as to govern. When the Founders combined the ceremonial “head... Read more
Notre Dame suffers, but Notre Dame lives. Much was lost at Notre Dame today, but much has been lost before in the past. Cathedrals are not built in a day or remain static: they grow, decay, change, are renewed over the centuries. This has been and will be true of Notre Dame. Easter brings hope. Our Lady, Notre Dame, will be renewed now at the hour when she seemed to die. Any icon, an image that is a celebration of... Read more
Yesterday in 1865 was a bad day as a terrorist and traitor shot our President. The next day in 1865, the nation went from celebrating the end of the Civil War to deep mourning. It was Good Friday when Mr. Lincoln died and Holy Saturday left the enslaved wondering if Easter would ever come. It was over one hundred years away. Reconstruction without Lincoln failed. Over the course of the War Lincoln had learned and would have kept on learning.... Read more
The right story will save us if we believe it.* Not all stories are this way, the tale of my brother stealing my gum at five** is not redemptive or even relevant to most people. History is full of events, but also of stories. A story is a true myth, a likely account of something that finds deep truth, moral goodness, and beauty out of the data of history. The story is the job of the mythic poet and not of... Read more
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