A journal of byzantine digressionS
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Suicide and Reincarnation
LOCKDOWN HAS LEFT ME Dealing with a mild depression. A medical evaluation has indicated this is not so bad as to require medication, but rather a bit of self-management. I need to get out more, albeit safely, and take steps to mitigate the issues that might arise. A mild depression, indeed! If this is mild…
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In the Shell of the Old
ONE AND DONE CONVERSIONS are a dime a dozen. There’s a kind of change and an emotional rush and then things go on as they never did before. Or at least so we are told in fairy tales end conversion movies. The Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. Scrooge kept Christmas the best…
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Disorder as Liberation
ONE YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL our Marching Band raised money by working at Six Flags in Atlanta. I’m unclear how it worked, but basically, we performed various minimum-wage jobs around the park for one of three half-day shifts and all the money went to the band. In exchange for working 4 hours, the “volunteers” got…
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Paper
For our class in Fundamental Theology we were to do a short paper on one of seven theses regarding theology and evangelism. Our primary text was Cardinal Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity. I relied heavily on our secondary text, Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles, and Criteria. I went a little long and as always I need an…
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Legalism and Evangelism
ONE OF THE more pernicious lies of American thought is that “legal” equals “moral”. Under the influence of this error folks look at what is legal (allowed if not encouraged) and say “it’s not against the law, why does the Church say I cannot do this?” In like manner many in the Church are distressed…
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Joey, Joe, or Joseph?
THERE IS A TRADITION that St Joseph was older that the Blessed Virgin when they were betrothed. One saint suggests that Jesus’ Foster Father was 91 when he married the Blessed Virgin! Other, more realistic teachers, suggest mid-fifties. The reason for this tradition is generally understood to be the idea that an older Joseph would…
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A Child’s Christmas in Wurtsboro
IT BEGINS when, prompted by the Wurtsboro Village Council and borrowing a truck from his employer, Orange and Rockland electric company, my grandfather puts up the village lights. Driving slowly through town in a cherry picker, Grandpa puts up the aged white candles, the green wreaths, the red-lighted garlands. Snow has fallen. Trees have been…
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Gotta Start Somewhere
OVirgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud?Quia nec primam similem visa es nec habere sequentem.Filiae Jerusalem, quid me admiramini?Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be?For neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after.Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me?The thing which ye behold is a divine…
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This Changes Everything
OEmmanuel, Rex et legifer noster,exspectatio Gentium, et Salvator earum:veni ad salvandum nos, Domine, Deus noster.O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,the hope of the nations and their Saviour:Come and save us, O Lord our God. GOD WITH US: what can that mean? How can the infinite be with us? How can there even be a…
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Power of the King
O REX Gentium, et desideratus earum,lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:veni, et salva hominem,quem de limo formasti.O King of the nations, and their desire,the cornerstone making both one:Come and save the human race,which you fashioned from clay. MODERN DEMOCRACIES from Athens and England, to latecomers like France and America, are pretty much brainwashed into thinking…
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Power of light
O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol justitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris, et umbra mortis.O Rising Dawn, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness: Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. RBUCKMINSTER FULLER, aka Bucky, was an American architect whose gigantic, dome-shapes are probably familiar to…
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Power of the Keys
O Clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel;qui aperis, et nemo claudit;claudis, et nemo aperit:veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris,sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;you open and no one can shut;you shut and no one can open:Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,those…
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I’ve got thy love
Temptations tempting and the wind is blowingBut I can weather the stormWhat do I care how much it may stormI’ve got Thy love to keep me warm I cannot remember a worst confessionJust list the mortal sins outbut I know I can list the mortal sins out!I’ve got thy love to keep me warm Off…
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Jesus: the Great Reset
O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,super quem continebunt reges os suum,quem Gentes deprecabuntur:veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;before you kings will shut their mouths,to you the nations will make their prayer:Come and deliver us, and delay no longer. WALKING THROUGH the Great…
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Jesus is in Control
O ADONAI, et Dux domus Israel,qui Moysi in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,et ei in Sina legem dedisti:veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bushand gave him the law on Sinai:Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm. The…
Orthoparadoxy 