There’s a song from a show from my youth, Hey Arnold, called “The Simple Things.” The premise is simple: happiness is predicated upon the tiny things that make life worth living, e.g. “French-fried onion rings.” This is a truism, of course, at least when it comes to secular life. But what about with regard to the life of the spirit? Recently, and perhaps fittingly for Lent, I’ve been a bit down. Depressed seems a bit strong, maybe even a bit... Read more
I am thankful for Pope Francis’ deep faith and joyous persona, for the hope he brings for the salvation of souls. Read more
It’s not uncommon, when you’re someone interested in “social justice,” to have this pericope thrown at you: Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of costly perfumed oil, and poured it on his head while he was reclining at table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, “Why this waste? It could have been sold for much, and the money given... Read more
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last. (Matthew 20:16) A lot hinges on “will.” Here we have a future tense verb, an implication that, in some distant time, probably in Heaven, but maybe sooner, the first will get their comeuppance even as the last trot into their rightful place. Excuse me, but, though there’s truth in that idea, it sounds a bit like the old Joe Hill protest song: “The Preacher and the Slave”: You... Read more
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, etc. I have the pleasure of taking part in an ecumenical discussion group for Christian graduate students from universities across the United States. Several of us are Catholics, there’s an Anglican or two, some other Protestants—all in all a good mix. In particular, yesterday, we discussed the Catholic Reformation (also called the Counter-Reformation), the period, often associated with the Council of Trent, during which the Church clarified Her theology, reformed Her institutions, attempted to... Read more
When I first began practicing the Faith (poorly), I printed out some Bible verses during Lent so that I could put them up on my wall. My choice was, to say the least, odd. And yet, revisiting these words a few years later, I cannot feel that there are any more appropriate for Lent. I may make my practice to read them over and over, for here is the whole season—justice, desolation, loneliness, fear, sadness, debasement, pain, separation, lowliness, scorn,... Read more
Lent, East and West, begins with a supposition: we are broken beings in need of forgiveness. Whether it’s the eponymous ashes of the coming Wednesday or the forsaking of meat, dairy, and everything else worth eating practiced by others, the Lenten Season is intended to enjoin repentance among us. And repentance presupposes a need for forgiveness, for healing; in a word, it presupposes brokenness. And what does Lent work toward? The Cross and the Resurrection, the brutal beating of a... Read more
Last night the deacon’s homily emphasized the reciprocal nature of forgiveness: we forgive so that we ourselves may be forgiven. Without question, this is a beautiful sentiment. But we typically only understand it in one direction: if I forgive others, I will be forgiven by the Lord, my god. Again, lovely, and probably the hardest thing for most people; it’s incredibly easy to hold a grudge, to hang on to hate, to continue to judge long past the point of... Read more
Not the Eucharist. I recall being in third grade, given an assignment to visualize the “Our Father;” particularly, we were told to write individual lines from the prayer on construction paper, weaved ‘round with depictions of their content. “Our Father, who art in heaven” might have yielded a smiling, bearded man looking down from on high, a sun inhabiting the corner of the paper, probably smiling too. I liked that assignment because it made a familiar prayer weird. Not coming... Read more
Whoever is versed in the jargon does not have to say what he thinks, does not even have to think it properly. The jargon takes over this task. – Theodor Adorno This is not a hit job. A hit job would be un-critical defamation of “Traditionalist” philosophy, a takedown with no advice, the always-stale, but ever-present, “gotcha” of so much theoretical talk. I’ve done things like that before, and I repent—this is something different. This is (obliquely) an attempt to... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In