By Sarah Levesque … Isn’t it strange how big a difference the word “my” makes? Someone recently asked me, “When the Psalm says ‘God, my God, how awesome is your name,’ isn’t that redundant?” I struggled to give a good response; it was hard to put into words on the spot. But it’s the idea of claiming God as our own. He isn’t just a god, like Zeus or Osiris or Odin. He is my God. I have claimed Him.
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By Ian Wilson … The wicked minister Ulpian had the saintly lady arrested and brought to the temple of Apollo, attempting to force her to sacrifice to the false god. Instead, Tatiana prayed, and the idol of Apollo shattered with a terrible noise. Some witnesses claimed they saw a shadowy being fleeing from the statue.
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … I allowed the time, the year, the day to slip / And so I can only imagine a card for you / A Russian Christmas card in paper and paints / Of Christmas scenes from a happy golden time….
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … True Grit appeared on the Orwellian telescreen the other night, and I found myself watching that wonderful film yet again. The climax comes when…
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Not minding my own business I urged a tree / Yes, their children are gone / Yes, their children are grown / But the Christ-Child / is here
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By Joshua David Ling … The rearing of William Avery was the best that it could be. / From the age of three he learned to sing in four part harmony. / At five, he learned to fence and soon he learned to read and write. / But the Bible was his one true joy in morning and at night.
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” … My friend prays at the Stable each Christmas Eve / In statio at St. Michael’s, waiting for the Light / (But indolent half-pagan that I am / I want an early bed on any night)
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How long does Christmas last? Read on…
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By Ruth Amsden … Ebenezer Scrooge, a “tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner,” appears upon introduction to be beyond the reach of love, human or divine. Scrooge is an object lesson for St. Paul’s exhortation to St. Timot
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By T.K. Wilson … The Great Martyr Anastasia was born in Rome, the daughter of a pagan and a secret Christian. During the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian, she ministered to those in prison, slipping out in disguise, keeping this from her pagan husband. She used her wealth to free the captives and also, using her skill as an herbalist, cured many wounds and diseases, hence her title Deliverer from Poisons, as she knew how to reverse poisonings.
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … A river flows out into all that is / And with it your music across the universe / To sing the happy beginnings of all things / To celebrate the holiness of being
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By Amanda Pizzolatto … It began with a prophecy uttered long ago / Bringing hope to a people that fell from grace / That the Son of God would come to Earth / And not only show us His heavenly Face / But also offer Himself up for our sins / So the Heavenly gates would open to the human race
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by Ian Wilson … A brilliant theologian and defender of the Russian Orthodox church, Archbishop Hilarion was born Vladimir Alexievich Troitsky around the year 1885 in the Russian village of Lipitsa. He was born into a family of clergy and theologians, and followed in his father’s footsteps.
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … We leave the comfort of a little fire / And repair to the kitchen for a morning repast / Of bacon crisp, of toast from home-baked bread / And omelettes more golden than the morning sun
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By Luke Towns … I handed my pastor the plush octopus and told him, “This is the best animal in the basket.” It was after I returned to my seat that a random thought popped into my head seemingly out of nowhere. “I want my spiritual life to be like an octopus.”
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By Sarah Levesque … St. Bernadette was born Marie-Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, on January 7, 1844. She was considered a sickly child, and had asthma. Whether due to ailments or other difficulty learning, Bernadette was unable to read, write, or learn her catechism lessons properly as a child, which delayed her First Communion. At the age of fourteen, over the course of six months, she had eighteen visions of Mary, Mother of God…
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … Like children dancing, leaves form up in rows / Then skitter across each corner and street / As shoals in rolling ranks overflowing other ranks / Or little tornadoes laughing through circles and swirls
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By Cordelia Fitzgerald … First, “I will not serve!” echoed through the heavens, but the second great rebellion was silent, the fruit in the mouth of Eve speaking louder than words. Yet stronger than these rang the simple statement of a Virgin: “Be it done to me according to thy word.”
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By Caroline Liberatore … Edmund Campion is notably remembered and celebrated yearly with a feast day on December 1st. Although there are many components of his later life which we annually recall and commemorate, his entire life was remarkable upon examination.
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By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … No more the withered summer-browns of death / Crumbling and sere upon the dry and crackling ground / Beneath a Rime of the Ancient Mariner sky – / Leaves in autumn colours are falling now
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LogoSophia Magazine 