In the beginning, God made all things and made them good. He made each thing to be itself and not another, to occupy its own particular place in creation and to reflect its own small portion of His infinity. God loves everything that is because it is what it is. I believe it was Dr. … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts: Love and Unique Creation
Thoughts
Thought of the Day
The biggest mistake Conservatives make in dealing with Liberalism in all its forms lies in treating it as an intellectual problem. We take them at their word that their views are simply an exercise of reason. A philosophy, grounded in the intellect and subject to rational investigation. It isn't. It's a religion. A religion that, … Continue reading Thought of the Day
October 21: Blessed Karl of Austria
Today is the feast of Blessed Karl of Austria, the last Hapsburg Emperor (for now). For those who don't know the tragic story of this holy monarch, Blessed Karl was the grand nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph and ascended the throne in 1916 at the age of twenty-six. He was an extremely pious and kindly … Continue reading October 21: Blessed Karl of Austria
Thoughts on ‘Psychonauts’
With volume 2 of Fantastic Schools (featuring a story by your humble servant) coming out soon [UPDATE: It's alive!], I thought it appropriate to revisit one of my own favorite entries in the fantastic schools subgenre: the video game cult-classic Psychonauts. We open with a man in an army uniform giving a speech before the … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘Psychonauts’
CM Piece: Authority in Marriage
Well, this one's probably going to make some people angry: The standard practice when faced with this passage is to emphasize the duty it and the following verses place on husbands: to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and to lay down their lives for them. This is all perfectly right and proper, … Continue reading CM Piece: Authority in Marriage
Thoughts on ‘Mulan’
With the unnecessary and unwanted remake becoming the ‘who the heck thought this was a good idea?’ film of the season (previously occupied by such luminary pictures as Birds of Prey and The Rise of Skywalker), I decided to revisit the original Mulan, which I had not seen in many, many years. Mulan came near … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘Mulan’
Patriotism
You know what makes me the most angry, looking back? The fact of being told so many times that I shouldn’t be. I should be sad. I should be aware of the complexities of the situation. I should have sympathy for those in other countries. But I shouldn’t be angry. I shouldn’t feel it personally. … Continue reading Patriotism
Talking Confession at Catholic Match
My latest Catholic Match post is up, talking about why you need to go to Confession: This brings us to the second point: besides your eternal salvation (if anything can be ‘besides’ that), Confession, along with the other Sacraments, conveys a very useful lesson. Namely, that we do not get to set the terms of … Continue reading Talking Confession at Catholic Match
Sunday Thoughts: The Treasure in the Field
Deconstructing fairy tales is like deconstructing a ming vase; it's easy to do, but it says more about you than about the subject itself. When some wag sniffs at the 'love at first sight' trope, or writes smarmy novels about Cinderella realizing how shallow her love for Prince Charming really is, it only shows the … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts: The Treasure in the Field
On Narrative
As noted, I’m reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s The Black Swan at the moment. One of the things he talks about early on is the narrative fallacy, which involves our need to create narratives and see patterns to explain the world around us. This seems a good chance to talk about the meaning and purpose of … Continue reading On Narrative
Serpent's Den 