The Arrow's Path

This man is an Orthodox priest talking to those considering conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy, so take that into account, but he gives a most excellent reflection on an e-mail he received from a Protestant who was in that uncomfortable time of conversion before one has fully been received into their new faith but they have gone too far to ever be able to go home again to the faith from whence they come. He refers to that time as being in "No Man's Land."  I am not Orthodox, but as someone who works with those considering conversion to the Catholic faith, I really resonated with his discussion to those in that uncomfortable place in their faith life. You may find it of interest, so see what you make of it if you are in that position. The video is here:

One of the marvels I realized when I discovered modern board gaming a few years ago was the invention of the solo player game. I suppose the concept of a solo game has existed for a long time, but was more along the lines of playing yourself a game of chess. In board gaming parlance, this is referred to sometimes as two-handed play: where you play like two separate players, just taking turns, but it's all you at the controls for both "players." I admit I played myself chess or risk some as a younger boy, as I was an only child who lived out in the sticks where there were no other children really around. A true evolution of the board gaming industry that appears to have occurred at some point between my youth and my now middle aged self is the advent of solo games. I still find the concept somewhat novel because, again being an only child, the idea that someone (obviously an adult) intentionally creating games for the one player seems kind of far out. I love it, don't ...

 I have talked about this resource before, but for those particularly with children who want in some way to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Nicholas-the real Santa Claus-on December 6th, there is an excellent ecumenical website out there that has a ton of resources and ideas to mine. I have used the St. Nicholas Center website many times over the years for youth group ideas or newsletter ideas. It really is a great resource.

Advent was originally more like Lent, as there were fasts and things. But was also a time of preparation for Christmas. Now, when I say that, I don't mean it was originally a time to go out present shopping and hanging stockings and all that. It was really a time to remind people that Christmas was coming and get ready for it. This may come as a surprise, but Christmas was not a popular religious holiday until St Francis came up with the Nativity scene and Christmas as a liturgical feast grew in popularity exponentially after that. Go do a Google image search of pre-Medieval Christian art and see how many depictions of Christmas scenes of a baby in a manger and all that there are. Very, very few. Of the major holidays, Christmas was simply not a big thing for the first 1000 years of Christianity. The popular ones were Easter/Pentecost/Annunciation and to an extent All Saints Day or the local patronal saint's feast day. Christmas was way down the totem pole of imp...

There is much debate amongst fanboys and literary critics alike over whether JRR Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings , used allegory. Part of this stems from Tolkien's alleged dislike-even hatred-of allegory. This often bubbles up in discussion arguments about Tolkien's writings. On one hand, you often have those more ready to fully embrace the allegorical, particularly the religious and/or moral allegorical, interpretation of Frodo and the Ring of Power in the identical way one must interpret Aslan on the stone table. Then you tend to have the atheist/secularist crowd who with equal vehemence loathe any allegorical interpretation of Tolkien, or really any major work of literature with anything less than a sneering "We know better than those theist types." I paint in broad brush strokes, of course. Neither side is really right in the most technical of senses. There are many different types and degrees of allegory. Yes, some are what we might call "in...

What is Jesus talking about in Luke 17? On the surface, it appears to be a mishmash of several things. It is hard to understand when taken out of context I generally take this passage to be a response by Jesus about the common expectation of a coming political or earthly kingdom, one that would restore Israel to its former glory and establish a tangible reign of God among them. Jesus responds by stating, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:20-21, ESV). This declaration shifts the focus from an external, observable kingdom to an internal, spiritual reality. The phrase "the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" suggests that the Kingdom is not a distant future event but a present reality that is already at work among the people. This teaching challenges the notion that the Kingdom can be confined to geographical or p...

  Found this gem yesterday in my studies, which seemed apropos for Armistice Day: "But vain the Sword, & vain the Bow, They never can work War's overthrow. The Hermit's Prayer, & the Widow's tear Alone can free the World from fear.   "For a Tear is an Intellectual Thing, And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King. And the bitter groan of the Martyr's woe, Is an Arrow from the Almightie's Bow..."   -excerpt from The Grey Monk, by poet William Blake, circa 1800

As a political science nerd (one of my many interesting if worthless degrees), I have been following the Presidential election cycle in America these last several months with both fascination and revulsion. As a leftover Jeffersonian agrarian that does not really fit into either major party much anymore, I was forced yet again to hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. I did the mail-in voting thing just because I like to have time to think and ponder my physical ballot and not be pressured cattle car style through an election booth. I last voted in person on election day in 2020 when the election poll workers were all wearing yellow Class 1 Hazmat Suits in what was quite possibly the most dystopian looking civic exercise I have ever been party to.  I have over the last few years taken an interest in polling methodology. Modern elections and political commentary seem to live or die on polling data. The art of polling is this interesting amalgam of scientific surveys, psy...

 We had a question on St. Paul's 1st letter to the Thessalonians on the Facebook group I moderate: I found this group so helpful a few years back when I converted to the faith! I have a question that piggy backs off of another question recently asked about the second coming of Christ: I know we believe in the second coming of Christ and that, on the last day, the dead in Christ will rise first and then He will take the living. This might be silly, but the Bible refers to the dead in Christ as “those who have fallen asleep.” I believe in the communion of saints and that they intercede for us. They are obviously alive and conscious in Heaven with God after their Earthly death, right? Do we not have a physical body in Heaven? Why are the saints referred to as sleeping? It makes me think of Lazarus when Jesus says he is not dead, but sleeping. We are not really conscious while sleeping? Does the Catechism ever address what happens immediately after bodily death? This alway...