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January 2017

January 05, 2017

Twelve: It is Finished . . . in a Good Way

Christmas has one more glorious day: the Twelfth Day. Jesus is born, angels have appeared,...

January 04, 2017

Elevens: Being Right Without Everyone Else Being Totally Wrong (Eleventh Day)

In Symposium, the best part of the story is lost, because people went to sleep before...

January 03, 2017

Ten Commandments: One Law (Happy Tenth Day of Christmas)

A little bit of hunger makes me enjoy eating. Being thirsty makes drinking water wonderful....

January 02, 2017

The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit on the Ninth Day of Christmas

Scrooge understood Christmas and could not wait to go to work and celebrate with Cratchitt....

January 01, 2017

Rejoice! The First Eighth Day of God

Eighth Day of Christmas is, with Twelfth Night, some of the best of Christmas. To...

December 2016

December 31, 2016

Find a Place of Rest on Day Seven (or Don’t be the Vicar of Bray, Sir)

We are in the Seventh Day of Christmas and approaching the very best part of...

December 30, 2016

Sixth Day of Christmas: Create and Pass on Creativity

Saint Anne birthed Mary and Mary was the mother of God. This is fecundity! This...

December 29, 2016

Fifth Day of Christmas: Five Fingers, One Hand

People have given numbers symbolic meaning over time and the Twelve Days of Christmas are...

December 28, 2016

Four Classical Virtues on the Fourth Day

We are still early in Christmas and the great gifts of the third day (hope,...

December 27, 2016

Three Virtues: Third Day

Let's party virtuously. If that seems odd, it is because we have made one mistake or...

December 26, 2016

On the Feast of Stephen: Second Day of Christmas

Christ is born and the fast of Advent is done. Today the party's just starting...

December 25, 2016

The Location of the Tsarist Gold: Merry Christmas!

I am told the least read post of the year is the one posted on...

December 24, 2016

Relax: the Savior is Come and We are Not He

2016 is one of those years. The Republic did not totter, but it did slouch...

December 21, 2016

The Christmas Cantata: A Short Story With a Remarkably Fecund Ending

Does anyone perform a cantata any more? What is a cantata anyway? When I was...

December 15, 2016

“Man of the Worldly Mind”- Scrooge and His Simplistic Materialism

Scrooge has a great many problems and one of them is a weird irrationality about...

December 12, 2016

Christmas around the World and in Our House

Jesus loves the whole world and Jesus loves my little family. Our family is about...

December 05, 2016

Follow the Star: the Folly of Certainty

Beauty, Truth, and the Good are real. What do I mean by that? Beauty, Truth,...

December 04, 2016

Give Money to Have Less Money: God Will Bless You, Every One.

Scrooge got angry with his nephew Fred over a "Merry Christmas" claiming he would like...

November 2016

November 29, 2016

Praying for Mr. Trump (After Eight Years of Praying for Mr. Obama): Five Requests

Recently I marked a change in my daily prayers: I began to pray for the...

November 28, 2016

Advent: Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

Let's celebrate the coming of Jesus, but not quite yet! We are "between" in the...

November 27, 2016

Mozart and a Quiet Moment Without a Moment of Drowsiness

Listening to Mozart live is one of the few musical experiences where I am made...

November 27, 2016

The Glass Bauble Was Beautiful . . . God, so Beautiful

We put up the Christmas tree today and the entire time was lovely. We went...

November 25, 2016

Born to Free: Advent is Coming

Everyone is born to be free, but soon finds themselves in chains. This is not...

November 24, 2016

Thanks Lewis: on Miniature London

We finished it. Every year we work hard to create a Dickens' Village worthy of...

November 23, 2016

Find One Moment of Beauty

Sufficient is more than enough, but a culture built on consumption cannot stop. There are...

November 22, 2016

In Which I Suggest Five Topics for Thanksgiving Dinner

If religion and politics were off the table, then we would not be able to...

November 21, 2016

Thanksgiving Dinner and Your Never Trump-Clinton Relative

We stood at Armageddon and we could not find the Lord. Five percent of the...

November 20, 2016

Love Your Enemies: Thanksgiving for “Those People”

Thanking God for our blessings is easy and we do not do that enough! Thanking...

November 16, 2016

What could go wrong?

Nothing compares to the Third Reich. Nothing. Nobody in American politics is Hitler: not President...

November 13, 2016

Love not Passion

There is so much I want that I cannot have. What is to be done?...