Gradual
A lost-looking pedestrian with a violin case asked a New York City policeman: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” the answer was: “Practice, man, practice.” There’s no easier way. You learn to do it…
Category: Catholicism
Today’s One-Liner (#272)
Yet who can tell how many times each day our curiosity is tempted by the most trivial and insignificant matters? –Saint Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin
Liturgical Impermanence
Much of the excitement of guitar Masses, living-room Masses, sport-shirted celebrants, readings from Eldridge Cleaver, coffee-and-donut Eucharists, and post-communion dancing has depended on the dramatic clash of the old and new, the unexpectedness of it…
The Depraved Intellect
Dante delineated a hierarchy of sins that, as a Thomist, he based on human reason. Thus the worst sins were lying, deceit, and treachery—the use of the intellect to subvert the truth rather than to…
Today’s One-Liner (#270)
I became and remain convinced that life has never been more thrillingly worth living than it was when Francis, Thomas, Innocent III, and Dante stalked this earth. —Ross J. S. Hoffman, in The Road to…
Look More Deeply
Therefore when we speak to a wicked man, we should speak to the good man inside him that is suppressed, the man who is being held prisoner. He is there. He needs someone to acknowledge…
Today’s One-Liner (#269)
I am a happy, old, white, Gentile, American, heterosexual, conservative, religious, Christian, Catholic, Evangelical, traditional, dogma-believing, hierarchical, authoritative, absolutistic, moralistic, repentant sinner. –Peter Kfreeft, From Calvinist to Catholic
Paying Close Attention
Francis showed great tenderness for all of God’s creatures, however humble. Remembering the Psalmist’s words: As for me, I am a worm and no man, he would pick up any earth-worms he found in his…
Why We Need the Saints
We don’t escape mimesis, we can only observe it—and in observing it, loosen the grip that envy has on us. And while we may be doomed to mimesis, we have, at least, a choice between…
Today’s One-Liner (#265)
Peter’s denial is a spectacular example: as soon as he finds himself surrounded by people hostile to Jesus, he imitates their hostility. — René Girard, All Desire Is a Desire for Being: Essential Writings Selected by…