On the Slaying of Dragons

Church-y Stuff, Ecclesiology, Homilies, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , , , , , , , ,

In The Little Flowers of St. Francis, a collection of stories about St. Francis, his brothers, and the people whose lives he touched, we find a little story about how St. Clare had desired to eat with St. Francis. But St. Francis kept refusing to eat with her. His brothers finally came to him and said, “St. Clare converted at your preaching, and not eating with her seems a bit stiff and lacking in charity.” So St. Francis replied, “Does it seem right to all of you that I should consent to eat with her?” And all the brothers gave a resounding Yes! And so, St. Francis agreed to meet her and her companions with his own brothers at the chapel of St. Mary and the Angels, where St. Clare had performed her religious vows. As they ate, they began to talk about God, and, we are told, the glory of God descended upon all those present to such a degree that they were all in a state of ecstasy. 

Liars, Antichrists, and Blasphemers, Oh My!

Random Thoughts, Social Commentary, Theology, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , , , ,

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.  – 1 John 2:18 When I was growing up, one of the things that seemed to be on everyone’s mind was this notion of the Antichrist, since, according to some big names, Jesus was coming…

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Let Us Rejoice And Be Glad

Random Thoughts, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , , , ,

Just this morning I ran across an old Facebook post on someone’s timeline. By old, I mean about three months old. It was of a letter from a political candidate who was predicting food shortages, lack of police officers; basically, general chaos moving into the fall and winter of 2021. The predictions were the typical fear-mongering, laced with a smattering of Biblical references to make the whole thing sound like the coming Apocalypse, and that this was prophecy. Cue the air raid claxons and the faint voices of monks chanting in the background.

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Church-y Stuff, Ecclesiology, Random Thoughts, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , , ,

“Too many of you are competing to sit at a table that Jesus would have flipped over.” Some random meme Recently, that meme popped up on my Facebook feed, and I had to pause for a minute to reflect on it. It wasn’t funny enough to chuckle at and maybe share; it wasn’t stupid enough…

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When God Becomes Routine

Random Thoughts, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , , , ,

The stark contrast between my beautiful weekend and the reality of Monday morning made me aware of how easy it is to lose the peaceful nature of those moments away from routine, and I wondered how beautiful it would be to experience those moments I experienced on the retreat in the normal routine of my life. I wondered if it would be possible to live in the mindset of the retreat in every moment.

lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi

Church-y Stuff, Random Thoughts, Theology, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , , , ,

Many of us, in the days following the riot and attack on the capitol building on January 6th of this year, have come to wonder how people who claim to know Jesus could have ended up storming the capitol with the intent of causing harm to those within its walls. Causing harm, when the Jesus they claim to follow expresses the mandate to “love your neighbor,” and “pray for your enemies.” Nowhere does Christ seem to indicate that violently beating your enemies with a flagpole is the way of love, nor even something he wants his followers to do.

Beacons and Bushels

Daily Office Reflections, Random Thoughts, Things I Read Somewhere, , , , , ,

Sometimes, asking people to jump into an existing ministry works, but more often it doesn’t. People may be excited about their faith, but that excitement fades when they are told to embrace the constraints and guidelines of an existing ministry merely because “we’ve always done it this way at this church.” That vetted ministry may have been dying for a reason, and throwing a new and excited individual at it will probably not bring it back to life, because their creativity and passion will have been saddled with a vision that is not their own.