I just entered the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes. I’ve never done anything like that before. I’m sure it signifies some ominous line that I’ve crossed, some dubious group that I’ve joined (namely: “the time’s running out and I’m not rich” crowd). But I’m going to postpone any philosophical musings for the time being. I just hope like hell that I win. If you’ve ever actually torn open one of those envelopes—and I’m sure that few people who read a blog... Read more
“Proclaiming Christ means showing that to believe in and to follow him is not only something right and true, but also something beautiful, capable of filling life with new splendor and profound joy, even in the midst of difficulties.” Okay, who is the author of this quote? The theologian of aesthetics, Hans von Balthasar, famous for identifying Truth, Goodness, and Beauty as the key divine attributes? No, the author is Pope Francis, famous for his ministry to the poor and... Read more
Now that our son is almost ten, he has begun to feel his oats a bit: In the middle of fourth grade, he has begun to log a few life achievements that both we, and he, are proud: he has surmounted some of his attention problems and can stay focused on the tasks at hand—reading about military history, remembering to take out the trash, remembering to modulate his quick-start anger before it bursts from his lips. He has also learned... Read more
Only after I hung up the first time we spoke on the phone did it hit me. I had called her the day before and left a message, but in keeping with pride or protocol Tracy waited the conventional twenty-four hours before calling me back. Soon enough I would realize the timing was more in keeping with a happy combination of providence and happenstance. Technically speaking, we had spoken on the phone for the first time six months before, when... Read more
As many of our readers know, there has been a lively debate over the past year concerning the condition of contemporary literature as it engages religious faith. Because that debate has been conducted over many different venues, we’ve received requests for a list of weblinks that would enable readers to follow the conversation. That’s what we’ve done below. Feel free to add further thoughts about this conversation in the comments section. Paul Elie, “Has Fiction Lost Its Faith?” D.G. Myers,... Read more
Guest Post By Jeanne Murray Walker I’m up at 5:30 in the morning, packing, then gazing out the window at Whidbey Island as I wait for a pick-up. Wind rattles the cold panes. Behind me, a fire flares in the fireplace. This weekend I have been staying at Camp Casey, a WWII military base, now home to birds and a herd of black-tailed deer. A gathering of painters, composers, theologians, environmentalists, and poets from all over the country has spent... Read more
Continued from yesterday. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin saw creation as dynamic in matter and spirit, and understood the world and specifically human consciousness as continually evolving. He believed creation to be the process of divine incarnation, all of the world perpetually moving toward God. The process was not and could not yet be complete. As a result “nothing is profane here below for those who have eyes to see.” All is sacred. In Chardin’s Mass of the World, written in... Read more
“Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.” —Psalm 111:2 As I drove home from the Methow Valley a week ago, I listened to Krista Tippett interview Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. Around me the mountains of the Cascades softened as they declined into the Columbia River Valley, a part of the scablands of eastern Washington scoured by the Missoula flood during the Pleistocene Epoch. In the interview Brueggemann suggests that the... Read more
It’s nineteen degrees today, the lakes are frozen solid, and the snowdrifts are twice my height, but the sun is shining, and last night, it streamed through the kitchen window as I cooked dinner. My friends in Virginia say the daffodils are coming up. Meanwhile I’m positively giddy to have made it almost halfway through my first winter up north. We moved to Northern Michigan in time for the worst winter in twenty years, the natives tell me. I don’t... Read more
Guest post by Ann Conway I dread my annual hearing tests, which involve sitting in a grey padded booth. High tones I hear well through the headphones. Low tones seem like sonar, the faint song of far-away sea creatures. I want to hear, want to will it, so I lean forward intently. When I hear, I raise my hand for the audiologist, who watches through a window. Sometimes I guess. I want to do better, pass the test. I am... Read more
Good Letters
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