Most people in the ancient world, in fact, not just Jews, would have supposed that legitimacy came, ultimately, from what you did in office, not from the method by which you got there.
Purity & Love
“If only you saw what I can see, you’d understand why I need your modesty.”
So… virtue = being careful to stay out of the way of the sinfulness of young men. “That’s what makes you beautiful.” Got it.
Wounded & Holy
Of course there is woundedness, but there is holiness as well. How the two come together — not which one wins, but how they join — constitutes the unique and profound meaning of one’s life: the emergence out of the maelstrom of the true self, transformed in Christ.
The Breastplate of St. Patrick
I bind unto myself the power /
Of the great love of the cherubim; /
The sweet ‘well done’ in judgment hour, /
The service of the seraphim, /
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word, /
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the Prophets’ scrolls, /
All good deeds done unto the Lord, /
And purity of virgin souls.
Epiphanies, Not Resolutions
These are the questions of the New Year, and of the Seasons of Winter & Epiphany, as the days grow long & longer: Are you still seeking? What is your guide? What gifts do you bring?
Creation Groans
![By Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK (Falcon 4 Uploaded by Magnus Manske) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingcirclebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Falcon_4_5634954035-150x150.jpg)
Turning & turning – and do we now see /
Mere anarchy at last upon the world?
Terrible Goodness
Nature’s so terribly good. Don’t you think so, Mr. Stanhope?”
What Would C.S. Lewis Read?
The books of C.S. Lewis filled me with a sense of wonder & awe, and shaped my youthful vision of what it meant to be a whole, healthy, mature, and virtuous human being. But what books shaped him?
Eating the Book
Read through the Bible in 2012 with a community of local fellow-readers: Door Creek and Blackhawk churches here in Madison are encouraging their communities to join in a reading plan called Eat This Book.
On the Discipline of Seeing
Pastor David E. Carlson at Fresh Read tells what painting has taught him about studying the Word.
Tomorrow is a Monday
A voluptuous torrent…
Seven Books of Fools & Sacred Folly
What makes a fool’s day happy? And what — if anything — makes us wise?