#FaithfulFriday
Philip James “Jim” Elliot was born in Portland, Oregon in 1927 to two loving parents Clara and Fred. Fred was a traveling preacher with the Plymouth Brethren movement. From a young age, Jim professed Christ as his savior.
St. Thomas became a prolific theological writer, famously dictating his thoughts for different works to multiple secretaries simultaneously… His seminal work is the Summa Theologica (or Summa Theologiae), a massive multi-volume explanation and defense of all of the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.
If you’ve seen me since the middle of September, it is a near certainty that I have asked you, “Have you seen the moth joke?” and then—regardless of your answer—proceeded to whip out my phone and play you a clip of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien from 2009.
A meal is a social activity, the society of which is preserved today only rarely for meetings at restaurants. This socialization should not be limited to only the eating of food, however, but should also be connected to its preparation.
When I was a girl, in small-town America, /
There was a street called Parallel, /
Where we Protestants ran alongside the /
Catholics – an historical microcosm of /
Our ancestral nations.
Saint Agnes was a Roman martyr from the times of the early persecutions of the Church whose exact time period is unknown, though she may have died in 304. While her exact story is also unclear, tradition holds that Agnes professed herself to be married to Jesus and would accept no other husband.
Yes, the day we have assigned to be New Year’s Day may be arbitrary, but what it represents is not. There is a reason why new beginnings, fresh starts, and—yes—resolutions dominate our minds as each year draws to a close…
If there must be time capsules buried beneath /
Statues of bold men wearing uniforms /
As a remembrance of man’s noblest ideals /
Let us have one for dear ol’ Sergeant Schultz
Little indeed is known for sure about the magi who visited the child Jesus, bringing Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew is the only Gospel writer to mention them, detailing their visit in the second chapter of his gospel. Matthew does not call them kings, but ‘magi’ or ‘wise men’.
‘Twas the week after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring. That would be me, the sleeping creature. Everyone else was stirring. Anyway, the sound of my cell phone going to town interrupted my slumber.
Janus faces both ways, and so do we /
A last, lingering look at the year that was /
And then a turn to the year we must meet /
Marching to it through Janus Pater’s doors
During the octave of the birth of Jesus, I think it is fitting that we look at His mother, particularly today, on the eve of one of her feasts in the Catholic Church. Today, let’s simply take a look at the Gospels.
Childhood Christmases are often the metaphorical benchmark for our present Christmases, and that won’t do. The magic of opening a package under the tree on Christmas morning is for little children; it won’t work for us and it’s not meant to.