David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 30 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, My two letters on politics (Returning to Rerum Novarum and Running Afoul of the Catholic Left and Right) have garnered a fair amount of attention. It helps that Patheos (both the home page and the Catholic page in particular) decided to highlight my first letter. As I mentioned in the second letter, this has caused some interesting push back. I want to write... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time Michaelmas The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Today is the feast of Michaelmas. For those unfamiliar, Michaelmas (also known as the feast of St. Michael and all Angels) is a day the church celebrates the existence of angels and their actions on our behalf. I have been, not fascinated, but perhaps engaged with belief in angels for some time. Ever since I had a vision of them in a small Anglican church... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 27 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, This isn’t the letter I intended to write today, and possibly, hopefully, I’ll write the one I wanted to, but I feel it is necessary to write this letter right now. I’ve made no secret that I don’t believe either mainline party presidential candidate is worth voting for. Even if I were a single issue voter (and since I am pro-life I certainly... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 27 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, The other day I came across a video from The Guardian concerning Donald Trump. The video is called “Trump, trade and racism: economic decay is dividing Ohio Democrats.” According to the video most of the working class people, or at least the union members among them, in Youngstown, OH were, for years, Democratic voters. Now, however, in light of the Trump campaign, many... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 23 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Today thanks to Addison Hodges Hart (older brother to David Bentley Hart) and Kevin Johnson (ringleader at The Inner Room), I read the article at Brain Pickings entitled, “The Secret Life of Trees: The Astonishing Science of What Trees Feel and How They Communicate.” The article is essentially a review of Peter Wohlleben’s book The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel,... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 23 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, I’m certain I’m not alone but Ordinary Time is always rough for me. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this more than once. Normally, it’s the impending arrival of Advent that starts to make me hopeful again. But for some reason, now that Autumn has officially arrived, I’m starting to come out of my ordinal slump. Maybe it’s the promise of cooler temperatures, apple picking... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time Nativity of Bilbo and Frodo The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Autumn is slowly, but surely beginning to arrive here in New England. While it’s true that I’m currently sitting outside in shorts with a temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit, and that tomorrow is supposed to see a high of 82, the weekend and the following week will only see temperatures in the mid sixties to low seventies. In defiance of the... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time St. Matthew The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, Yesterday, I wrote to you about food, quoting somewhat from Angel F. Méndez-Montoya’s excellent book, The Theology of Food: Eating and the Eucharist. Today I want to interact a bit more with his section on Sophia and food. In Proverbs 9.1-6, Wisdom, who is depicted as a woman (and I simply refuse to believe that this is merely because the word is feminine in... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 20 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, I’ve been thinking a lot about food lately. Thanks to a paper I’m working on (that is not nearly as close to being done as I’d wish it to be) I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about food. It helps that I love to eat; and that, while I would make no claims of being a gourmand or foodie, I enjoy well... Read more
David Russell Mosley Ordinary Time 19 September 2016 The Edge of Elfland Hudson, New Hampshire Dear Readers, As Autumn swiftly approaches, at least technically if not quite in the feel of the air, I thought I would share this very short, old poem of mine on Autumn. I hope you enjoy. Autumn Sweaters Bursting with gold, festooned in red The trees dress for Summer’s end. Their Autumn sweaters they gaily don For the final festival of the year soon gone.... Read more
Letters from the Edge of Elfland
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