Spanning the Globe To Bring You The Constant Variety Of PostsIs it a sin for a moron to call an imbecile an idiot? - tagline of the blog "Nehring the Edge"
Ignatius Insight presents lots of Catholic bloggers on "The Problem With Blogs". My basic thought on blogging is "Take what helps or amuses you and leave the rest." It reminds me of my sister's theory of throwing a party: "If they're going to complain about free food and free entertainment, they're jerks anyway." But I am at least mentally healthy enough that I can't dredge up any guilt about blogging. People who are bored or irritated are obviously the wrong audience... I don't see how someone could be annoyed by a blog any more than they could be annoyed by a sign in the neighbor's yard. - Karen Hall of "Some Have Hats"
I am troubled by Orthodoxy’s “Easternness.” The coherence and power of Orthodoxy is partially achieved by excluding the Western tradition from its spiritual and theological life. One is hard-pressed to find an Orthodox writer who speaks highly of the Western Church, of her saints, ascetics, and theologians, of her manifold contributions to Christian religion and Western civilization....If the catholicity of Orthodoxy can only be purchased by the practical expulsion of Augustine and Aquinas, then, at least in my own mind, Orthodoxy’s claim to be the one and true Church is seriously undermined...A truly catholic Church will keep these great theologians in conversation with each other, and their differences and disagreements will invite the Church to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the divine mysteries. - from "Pontifications", prior to his conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism
The famous psychologist Carl Jung put his professional reputation on the line with his book "Synchronicity." A synchonicity is kind of like a coincidence only it's a coincidence with great meaning and purpose to the person who notices it. If you're a fan, or an idle wonderer, about Intelligent Design, Jung's book is the equivalent of Intelligent Design only with Psychology. In a famous example, Jung is working with a difficult patient whose totally rational view of the world prevents her from overcoming her psychological problems. She relates a dream she had about a golden scarab beetle. Jung knew that the scarab held great significance to ancient Egyptians as a symbol of rebirth. As the woman was talking, they heard a tapping on the window, Jung opened the window and in flew a golden scarab beetle. The total shock of the instant resulted in the woman's rational view of the world being dropped and Jung was able to help her by acknowledging that there was a deeper meaning in the universe. - Rock of "Lofted Nest"
We will NOT, however, be staying in Key West, where one cultivates weirdness until it is merely boring. - Steven Riddle
One of the more fashionable ways of talking about faith these days is to use the image of the "story." We're told that what faith is essentially all about is finding a "story" (or "narrative" or "myth") that is meaningful to you, that fits, that informs your life and gives you strength for your journey....it's a day [feast of Sts Peter & Paul] to confront the lie, that has indeed infected the way Catholics talk about spirituality, that this journey is all about finding that blasted story. What an insult to the martyrs. What a violation of their experience of Christ, which was no page-turner, but the encounter with the Living One, whose impact on them was such that they could not but say "yes" when he called them to follow. Not to just keep telling a story and inviting others to groove to it if they feel like it, either. But called to invite others to meet that same Living One and be saved, reconciled and redeemed by Him. - Amy Welborn
Why should you worry whether God wants you to reach the Heavenly home by way of the desert or by the fields, when by the one as well as by the another one arrives all the same at a Blessed Eternity? -- St. Pio of Pietrelcina via "Sancta Sanctis"
The notion that somebody in New Zealand was praying for me was more than I could imagine. I have never been an emotional worshipper of Christ; I have never felt the weight of His love and presence literally drive me to the floor prostrate. I can say that no longer, as I have felt just that in the last 24 hours, and have cried the cries of a child humbled at the love of my Heavenly Father and His providential workings in my life. - Lance Salyers, assistant prosecutor in Dayton, Oh. fired over a blog entry
What does it avail you to argue profoundly of the Trinity if you be wanting in humility, and consequently be displeasing to the Trinity? - St. Thomas a Kempis, "Imitation of Christ" quoted on a blog
I cannot ever hear "Cat's in the Cradle" without starting to cry a little. I really can't. "We'll get together then..."--the thing about fatherhood, I sometimes think, is that it is so thoroughly a metaphor for our relationship to God the Father that no real human father can suffice. That's part of why ordinary human fatherhood deserves so much honor. Because ordinary human fathers bear so much of the brunt of their children's aloneness. Mothers (sometimes) get the desperate confessions of fear and sickness; fathers often don't even get that solace, that trust. Every mother is Mary, Mother of God (Mother of Sorrows, Queen of Heaven, Mary at Cana and Mary at Calvary), but every father is (symbolically) Yahweh, not Joseph. And it's terribly hard. So I guess... there's nothing really to say except, Thank you. - Eve Tushnet on Father's Day
I volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center. A 16 year old girl came in for a pregnancy test. As we waited for the results she was visibly trembling and near to tears. When the result was negative, she began to cry and laugh and bounce up and down. I asked her why she was so happy. She looked at me like I was a total idiot and and with that "duh, you're so stupid" tone that teenagers do so well, she answered "I'm way too young to have a baby". I leaned toward her and said "Then you're also too young to be doing what makes babies." For a long moment she stared at me with her mouth open and not breathing, then in a very small voice she said "No one ever told me that before." - commenter on Fructus Ventris, replying to Alicia's post with the line "I don't understand why so many people are surprised that sex leads to pregnancy."
I think the other thing that has changed, though, is the willingness of Christians (evangelical? All of us? I don't know) to be publicly honest about failure and weakness. Christians have always sat in Church and listened to sermons about how sinful they are and how much they need to repent. Christians have always read books inspiring them to be better people. But in the public conversation, in the process of creating an image for what Christians were, there was a hard shell of propriety, a deep desire not to show any fractures to the world, despite the bumper sticker sentiment, "Christians aren't perfect; just forgiven." I do think that the public image, as crafted and presented by Christians, of what the ideal Christian is, has shifted, or is in the process of doing so, and that image is far more likely to include public acknoweldgement of sin, temptation and weakness than it was a few decades ago. That's intriguing. - Amy Welborn
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