A Note from Natalie Long
I’m reading “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers”. This excerpt, recounted in the section on Abba Poemen, reminded me of Father Zossima. 34. Another brother questioned him in these words: What does, “See that none…
Category: Friends
Today’s One-Liner (#108)
Nothing is more difficult to overcome than the problems we thought were already overcome.–Alexis de Tocqueville, via my friend Suzanne Renard
Dear Annie and Lindsay
I was earlier going through a 2016-17 Moleskine commonplace book I kept, and came across the following passages I transcribed from Harold Bloom’s book, How to Read and Why. I hope you may enjoy at…
Share the Wealth with Cait Stevenson: A People’s History of Medieval Women Mystics
(or, “Dear Lord, help me drink less wine so I don’t lose my temper”) Cait fell in love with medieval women’s mysticism during her MA at SLU when she realized they would be a much…
Share the Wealth with Andrew Ivers: Reconsidering Joan Didion and the New Journalism
Through recent engaging conversation with Andrew Ivers at the Courtesy Diner, I became re-interested in Joan Didion, whose book The Year of Magical Thinking I read when it came out. Andrew has agreed to share…
Saints, Mystics, and the Neighbor Next Door: A Class in Inspiration and Imitation
[T]oday it is not nearly enough to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness, itself also without precedent.—Simone Weil, Waiting for God For [Dorothy] Day,…
Share the Wealth with Natalie Long– Thérèse of Lisieux: The Saint of the Quotidian
Born in 1873, Thérèse of Lisieux entered into this world as the youngest daughter of a devout Catholic family. By the time she passed away at the age of twenty-four, Thérèse was a Carmelite nun…
Andrew’s Pieces of Proust
It pleases me to read and to share this compilation by my friend Andrew Ivers, Pieces of Proust!
Today’s One-Liner (#27)
Old age ain’t for sissies. –Ida, via George, personal acquaintance
Gratitude/3
For Jim Grote, who introduced me in my late twenties to the work of Rene Girard, whom I am still reading, especially through three recent works by Cynthia L. Haven. Girard’s ideas inspire, humble, energize,…