On Good Friday, the Archbishop of Paris held a small service in Notre Dame Cathedral, during which the Crown of Thorns was venerated. Only a handful of people were permitted to attend, and one of them, French actress Judith Chemla, concluded the service with the Ave Maria. This, it seems to me, is the embodiment … Continue reading The Embodiment of Christendom
Thoughts
Authority in the Passion
The concept of authority has been on my mind quite a lot lately. There's a whole lot to delve into there, especially since it's a subject we moderns tend not to understand very well. We tend to think of it as either consented rule (which would make it synonymous with 'counsel' or 'employment') or oppression. … Continue reading Authority in the Passion
Thoughts on ‘The Andromeda Strain’
Just finished reading Michael Crichton's 1970 novel The Andromeda Strain (I don't know; felt in the mood for it for some reason). It's quite a page turner, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with a taste for hard sci-fi. The story has a US Military satellite bring an extraterrestrial microbe back to earth as … Continue reading Thoughts on ‘The Andromeda Strain’
Thoughts on a Movie I Haven’t Seen
My extreme antipathy towards Rian Johnson left me with no interest in seeing Knives Out, much as I love good mystery stories. I still haven't seen it, but I have learned the solution from someone who did, and, having confirmed it by a perusal of Wikipedia, I am about to say something about it. Though take … Continue reading Thoughts on a Movie I Haven’t Seen
The World We Live In
It is, I find, fatally easy to forget what kind of world we live in, especially today. We've got all our gadgets, our (relatively) ordered society, and all the rest of it, so that it becomes only natural to fall into a kind of trance assuming that everything just kind of works and that's all … Continue reading The World We Live In
Gunga Din at ‘The Everyman’
A new 'Everyman' post went up yesterday, talking about Rudyard Kipling's Gunga Din and what it reveals about both his perspective and ours: Now, you cannot think sense about morality unless you get this idea of principles clear, and you cannot get it clear until you can identify what is and is not an equivalent case. The … Continue reading Gunga Din at ‘The Everyman’
Two Philosophers, Two Critics
I've heard it said (though I can't know remember from whom) that there are two kinds of philosophers; those who try to explain why a thing is so and those who try to explain that it is so. Aristotle, for instance, took it as a rule that the common understanding of mankind is itself a fact that … Continue reading Two Philosophers, Two Critics
Some thoughts from ‘The Infidelity of the Future’
Today at lunch I refreshed my mind by reading St. John Henry Newman's sermon The Infidelity of the Future. Some of his main points, with brief thoughts: *The great evil of our time is the Spirit of Infidelity itself. Has it never struck you as odd that we consider terms like 'unorthodox' or 'unconventional' to … Continue reading Some thoughts from ‘The Infidelity of the Future’
The Ordinary King
In a far-off land, there lived young prince. He was very forward thinking in his views, having read much and mixed much among the common people, whom he loved dearly. He swore that, when he became king, he would make their welfare and their happiness his first priority. In the meantime, he thought less and … Continue reading The Ordinary King
Sunday Thoughts
In addition to being one of the great philosophical minds of human history, St. Thomas Aquinas was also a mystic who experienced visions and ecstasies while in prayer. Near the end of his life, while still working on his magnum opus, the Summa Theologica, he was granted a vision of Christ. When he came out of it, he … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts
Serpent's Den 