One of the great myths out there – a myth used to justify gutting social safety nets – is that there was a huge spike in government spending under Obama, and this is behind the huge jump in the government deficit. You can even see traces of this false reasoning in the arguments of Msgr. Charles Pope, (my rebuttal is here). This position might appear ubiquitous, but it is wrong. In truth, the deficit was cause by the recession, largely... Read more
“If God can raise someone from the dead in the middle of human history, the very fact reveals that death, which up till this point had marked human history as something simply inevitable, part of what it is to be a human being, is not inevitable. That is, death is itself not simply a biological reality, but a human cultural reality marking all perception and a human cultural reality that is capable of being altered. This it seems to me... Read more
Vox Nova is happy to present these thoughts from reader Greg Mayers, C.Ss.R. It seems clear that the post was meant for Good Friday, but by the time we got organized it was Sunday and we thought this wasn’t exactly an Easter Day post. We apologize for the awkward timing. In any case, Vox Nova is happy to receive Guest Post submissions as a way for our readership to engage us and one another. We thank Greg for his contribution... Read more
I wrote this song when my kids were little, more to have something to do while commuting than anything else. They loved it, and it is now our tradition to sing it every Easter. Following the Wesley brothers, I have set the words to a popular tune: in this case the sea chantey, “What do you do with a drunken sailor.” Enjoy! Christ is Risen! (Chorus) Hooray! Up he rises! Hooray, up he rises, Early Easter morning. (more…) Read more
Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: With Thee O let me rise, As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day Thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. My tender age in sorrow did beginne; And still with sicknesses and shame Thou didst so punish sinne, That I became Most thinne. With Thee Let me combine, And feel this day Thy... Read more
Brett Salkeld has posted very thoughtful reflection on atonement here and here. At the risk of initiating a thread that Brett might himself have started, I’m offering these thoughts both in support of his reflections and as a way of following what appears to me to be a hint of God’s “Paschal logic.” In a nutshell: Jesus enters the human drama where our sin leads us to kill people who don’t shoehorn themselves into our skewed view of justice. He’s... Read more
I meant to write this yesterday after the Good Friday service, but I think it is still valid today. Yesterday during the service we sang the classic spiritual “Were You There?” Some small part of me always smiles when I hear this beautiful hymn. To understand the joke, some history. The alma mater of Trinity College, “Neath the Elms” was written more than 100 years ago. The history of the song is interesting: a student was suspended for a term... Read more
Today we celebrate the crucifixion of the Lord. Reread that sentence. We celebrate Jesus’ death. To Christians this is a great comfort. We know that Jesus died out of love for us in order that we might be saved. To many non-Christians this is an outrage. Why should someone need to die in order that we might be saved? What does this say about the God Christians worship? Indeed, too often, Christians present the crucifixion in an unnuanced way so... Read more
Scottish-born James MacMillan (b. 1959) quickly rose to become one of the leading classical composers of his generation. A practicing Catholic, he and his wife are both lay Dominicans. MacMillan’s music is infused with the spiritual and the political. He has collaborated with the Catholic poet Michael Symmons Roberts and also Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury. His Seven Last Words from the Cross is a cantata for choir and strings, composed in 1993. Here is its first part, “Father forgive them, for they know not what... Read more
In the year 1224, St. Francis withdrew to the Mount of La Verna to mark the “small Lent” from the feast of the Assumption (August 15) to the feast of St. Michael (September 29). On the night of September 17 (approximately, the sources say “a few days after the feast of the True Cross” September 14) a six-winged Seraph appeared to St. Francis, bearing the crucified Christ, who impressed upon Francis the stigmata: wounds in his hands and side. These... Read more
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