Category: celibacy
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Four Types of Men
THE SUMMER FEAST OF St Benedict is approaching (11 July) and, listening to the most recent Episode of Catholic Stuff You Should Know, I was reminded of how the Father of Western Monasticism begins his Rule. After the opening prologue, urging his spiritual sons to listen to his teaching, he lists, in Chapter 1, the…
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The BVM, Challah, and Celibacy
SO, AS WAS EARLIER mentioned I’ve been wrestling with an article from First Things, published in 2002, called Celibacy in Context. I don’t mean “wrestling” as in struggling with, but rather as in Jacob saying to God, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Celibacy is not only hard for some folks…
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A Helper
DOING A GOOGLE ON A First name is such an interesting project: you find a lot of people with that name, of course – people you did not know, some stars, a few politicians, sometimes a saint or scoundrel if there is one that is particularly notable. Names common in other languages sometimes result in…
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What is a Week End?
THE DOWAGER COUNTESS of Downton Abbey rather famously asked, “What is a Week End?” Ascending high enough up the ladder of nobility, at a certain point the difference between work and life no longer matters: one is always The Dowager Countess of Downton even when other folks have “down time”. Vocation is like that: one…
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Almah Parthenos
IN ISAIAH 7:14 the Spirit of the Lord speaking through the Prophet says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (AV) and people bicker a lot about the word “virgin” there: the Hebrew – according to the Masoretic…
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Day 151: Parthenos
But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. – St Paul, I Corinthians 7:32-33 THESE THREE ESSAYS…
Orthoparadoxy 