Friday, March 18, 2022

Appreciation: Len Scigaj

 

  • 1080/14688417.2006.10589013
  • Corpus ID: 178658769
  • Appreciation: Len Scigaj

    https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Appreciation%3A-Len-Scigaj-Gifford/e9a41241bbbaeb8c3014eb6c3a25299b0b28231a

    Friday, October 30, 2020

    Washed in the Blood of the Lamb:

     

    Paying tribute in front of the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice following Thursday’s knife attack.

    ARNOLD JEROCKI/GETTY IMAGES

    An Islamist terrorist killed three worshippers in Notre Dame Basilica in Nice, France  The alleged attacker shouted “Allahu akbar” before being shot and detained.  He appears to be responding to a call from Al Queda to attack France.


    Solemnity of All Saints

    Reading 1 


    I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,
    holding the seal of the living God.
    He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels
    who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
    “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees
    until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
    I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,
    one hundred and forty-four thousand marked
    from every tribe of the children of Israel.

    After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
    which no one could count,
    from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
    They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
    wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
    They cried out in a loud voice:
    “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
    and from the Lamb.”

    All the angels stood around the throne
    and around the elders and the four living creatures.
    They prostrated themselves before the throne,
    worshiped God, and exclaimed:
    “Amen.  Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
    honor, power, and might
    be to our God forever and ever.  Amen."

    Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
    “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
    I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.”
    He said to me,
    “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
    they have washed their robes
    and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

    Monday, March 02, 2020

    March 2nd: St. Chad, Patron of disputed elections

     St. Chad

    Today, March 2nd, is St. Chad's feast day.  In today's hyper political and partisan times in the U.S. and elsewhere, his humility would be welcome.  He is considered the patron saint of disputed elections, a fact that was a great irony in the wake of the 2000 presidential contest between Bush the Younger and Mr. Gore.

    You may read his story in Ronald Knox's sermons given while with school girls exiled to the country from London during the Blitz.

    Tuesday, March 13, 2018

    Back Pain

    Why Back Pain Is Nearly Non-Existent In Some Populations





    https://www.npr.org/2016/07/04/484647073/why-back-pain-is-nearly-non-existent-in-some-populations


    Lost Art Of Bending Over: How Other Cultures Spare Their Spines





    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/26/587735283/lost-art-of-bending-over-how-other-cultures-spare-their-spines




    Lost Posture: Why Some Indigenous Cultures May Not Have Back Pain



    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/06/08/412314701/lost-posture-why-indigenous-cultures-dont-have-back-pain

    https://www.npr.org/series/5251891/ah-my-aching-back



    Wednesday, February 21, 2018

    "The St. James Infirmary Blues

    Janis Joplin Doing "The St. James Infirmary Blues

    Of Caesar and God

    More of the American republic's founders may have been children of the Scottish Enlightenment than the French, but all us Americans are children of the enlightenment in some way. 

    Ralph Woods reviewed Jonathan Rogers's The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O'Connor.  Woods makes an excellent point:

    When Christians have been decisively shaped by their Enlightenment heritage, they are not likely to discern the drastic difference between the agenda of the state and the witness of the Church. Though sometimes overlapping, they are never coterminous. The prophetic and sacramental body of Christ, as O'Connor saw from the start, will scandalize even the best political regimes. 

    You will enjoy the whole review.

    Carly Fiorina Accptes the Human Life Foundation Great Defender of Life Award


    Published on Nov 28, 2017
    Carly Firoina accepts the Great Defender of Life award in New York City's Union League Club, 2017