Even the Devils Believe

Recently I read Joseph Ratzinger’s little book, Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief (that’s Marian, not Martian), based on some lectures he gave in the 1970s before becoming Archbishop of Munich and Freising. I have a lot to process from those 80-some pages, and I doubt I will write a post about [...]

Here is my homily from yesterday, delivered at Mass at St. Mary Magdalene’s. I think it went quite a bit better than my first homily—this time I decided to breathe once or twice rather than doing it all in one go without breathing.
I may have audio of it later in the [...]

Since posting has been so light this week, I thought I would offer a photo of Mahler, one of our kittens. (He’s looking for a home, incidentally, if anyone wants a cat.)

The movie we were watching was Donnie Brasco—Mahler was fascinated by the whole thing.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, we are headed [...]

Last night I watched a DVD of the first mass of Fr. James Fryar, FSSP, a Solemn High Mass with smells, bells, chant, and Latin. It was reviewed here on the New Liturgical Movement blog a couple of weeks ago.
I found a lot to like about the DVD, especially the chant, and I [...]

Thanks to all of you for your supportive emails and comments since the weekend. I get a lot out of the blogosphere as a sphere for intellectual engagement, but what really makes it important to me are the relationships fostered by our participation in each others’ lives—both the joys and the sorrows. So [...]

I just received the news that my maternal grandmother died this morning. She had been living the last several years with cancer, and her doctors had prepared our family for this eventuality.
Please keep my family in your prayers.

In continuing to read Paul Tillich’s system, I am finding a lot of incredible, thought-provoking ideas. I keep looking up and noting with surprise that I’m barely 150 pages in, and yet I have so much to think about already. I suspect I could turn this blog into Radio Free Tillich for the [...]

As part of Ben Myers’ series of top 10 lists for theologians, here’s my contribution, a list of important ikons (primarily Eastern Orthodox):

Christ Pantokrator — this stern Christ is a major archetypal ikon. There are many famous Christs Pantokrator, but this small one held by the monks of Mt. Athos is one of my [...]

Verbum Ipsum’s Lee has a post up about the Rosary and why it constitutes neither “Mariolatry” nor “vain repetition.” I like this point in particular:
Moreover, it seems that what Jesus is condemning in, e.g. Matthew 6:7 is a kind of prayer that seeks to cajole the deity into doing what you want by means [...]

Last week I made a textually minor change to my bio over on the right that reflects a pretty major change in the discernment of my call. Ever since Polyglut became the Progressive Protestant blog, I’ve written in my bio that I considered myself a prophet and theologian, something I now believe was incorrect.
Unfortunately, [...]