Priority of Goods: Entertainment
Do you want deeper, richer entertainment? Do you want stories that stay with you for years, giving you food for thought, beloved characters, and multi-faceted stories? Do you seek a fulfilling happiness in your leisure hours? These aids made my resolve easier to act on, but you must make that resolve yourself, or these resources will do you no good.
The Untold Story
There is a story I’ve been trying to tell my whole life. It’s the reason I tell stories.
Sometimes I come very near to it, either in writing or in reading, but the note is never quite perfect, never quite completed, the taste never quite right. Or else I find it to be too apologetic, or else too sarcastic.
As far as I can tell, from the pieces I have put together thus far, it involves a graveyard and a garden. It features a heroic, magnificent knight who is utterly broken, and a broken heroine who is also utterly magnificent. There lurks in the shadows of the tale the ultimate evil of a dragon, and the ultimate innocence of a unicorn. It involves in the forefront a lion and a doorway, and the journey consists of a descent to the underworld and a rising to the afterworld. In its very fabric it communicates final suffering, and ultimate joy.
The Blindness of Babylon
You chose a topic that you believed was common ground, but found that it had no effect in waking them up. They were not conscience-pricked by paying less attention to the Fourth of July than to Ukraine or Juneteenth. The new holiday and the war are, in their opinion, more important, and nothing you could have said would have changed those opinions, because they stem entirely from an appeal to sympathy.
Debunking the Need for ‘Reading Comprehension’
Finding a new book for my eight-year-old brother is both a joy and a struggle. An avid book listener, and the youngest of nine children, he has had many books read to him through the years, and he digests good stories like they are desert for the ears. Recently, he just got proficient enough to read chapter books all by himself.
Roles in a Team in a Story
Leader - Sees what needs to happen, and leads others to do it
Philosopher - Asks “Should this be done?”
Inventor - Gets it done
Protector - Protects in the process of getting it done
Trickster - Does them all, but badly
Accomplisher - Know which one they are, embraces it, and does all the rest well
Book List for Early Readers
Small children collect data in an active way, but do not try to sort it into a contextual understanding, and they do not question the truth or relevancy of what they’re learning. When we give a child a book to read, and they soak it in without question or deep understanding, it’s important to give them a book with words they can read, but the actual content does not need to be understandable.
An Introduction to Teresa of Avila’s Seven Mansions
The structure of the mansions:
To begin with, Teresa uses two gorgeous visuals to help us understand the structure of our souls, and the dwelling place of the Lord.
Your soul is like two things: one, it is like a crystal, and two, it is like a many-tiered mansion. Putting them together, your soul is like a many-tiered mansion which is made out of crystal.
Treading Water with Moby Dick, and the App that Finally Helped Me Read It!
Two years ago, I gave up on reading Moby Dick. It was an extremely well-written work, with beautiful descriptions, vivid characters, and striking scenes; it was a book of mythic magnitude, of fabled fame, of prosperous popularity, and yet – I could not get through the seventh chapter.
Reclaiming Catholic Culture through Classic Literature: An Interview with Joseph Pearce
You may know him as the acclaimed expert on J.R.R. Tolkien, or you may know him for his Ignatius Press critical editions of the classics, but Joseph Pearce is also the dedicated editor for St. Austin Review (StAR), a publication committed to reclaiming culture.
The magazine centers on reviews of classical reads, articles that delve deeper into children and adult literature, and advice for why and how to approach the classics, so I was very excited when I found them! I reached out to Joseph Pearce, and he kindly agreed to share the story behind StAR, as well as some of his insider wisdom on the importance of reading the classics, particularly for Catholics.
Prayer for the Feast of Pentecost
Oh, Most Holy Spouse, light of love, who proceeds from Father and Son, and from Son and Father to overshadow Mary, and the whole world; who abide in the Children of God; who ignite, and transform, and imbue life…
Jesus’ Plan to Reveal the Father to Men and Women
I shall begin. My plan for men is for their greatest good. Shall I tell you? It is so beautiful! It is radiant! It is my desire to turn back the veil, the many, many veils, that separate them from the sight of my Father, and the inner knowledge of Him, which I possess. It was for this that I came into the world, it was for this that My Mother was placed here for such long a time, to imbue men and women with a direct image of the Father, and to indicate me, who am also a direct image of the Father.
God in the Darkness of Miracles
It can be tempting to think of miracles as purely positive, uplifting things, and to only notice them when we see happy fruit, which is obvious to our very limited, mortal sight.
Miracles, however, - while always producing good fruit - nevertheless often include something unpleasant: a step we usually overlook, as a trial, and not something which is intrinsically part of the miracle itself.
Surrender in the Midst of the Sea: Message from God the Father
There are two worlds, my child. Two worlds, and two loves. What do you love? You love Me. What does the world love? It loves money. It loves comfort. It loves false stability. As you seek MY stability within the world which loves money, you are tossed from this place to that! How can you land anywhere? EVEN MY CHURCH HAS CHOSEN MONEY BEFORE ME…
Petitionary Prayer for the Warning
Lord Jesus, we who have been killed in white martyrdom, for the sake of the kingdom, and having received our white robes, cry out to you with anguish: O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood upon those who dwell upon the earth? Lord, we have no wine! We beg you to send the Day of Your Mercy, and flood us, and the whole world, with the vision of your particular judgement. Knowing that it shall be fearful in the presence of God, we joyfully embrace the knowledge of our sins in exchange for the sanctity that shall flood our hearts, and will open us to an even deeper relationship with You, paving the way for your Era of Peace. Amen.
She Is My Everything
God has given you this treasure… He hath not given her to you so that you may be exalted, but the very gift of her exalts you! As Jesus was given to Mary not to exalt her, but because the very gift of Him within her was her exaltation, so is woman to you, oh man. The very gift of woman to you, oh man, exalts you.
A Stirring of a New Renaissance
To claim humankind’s entry into a New Renaissance might seem like a high-flown claim, and to be honest (or rather to clarify), I must say I do not claim it for all of humankind. Men and women who live in and of the world sadly do not see a need for art that engages beauty. This recognition of the need for beauty must come from the heart, placed there and stirred up by God. It is not a worldly need, but a personal need. The renaissance itself is personal. It is a call from the Lord into the heart to seek out beauty, and if the heart does not find it… to make it. Not for its own distinction, but for the sake of the beauty which is absent. This is why a renaissance is awakening - not in the world at large, but in the individual hearts of those seeking and yearning for beauty, and it is why I am so bold as to claim a New Renaissance - because it is a stir and call in my own heart. Is it stirring in your own?
Wise and Foolish Artists
No artwork, done for its own sake, is worthy of a Catholic artist. Only that which is dedicated to the glory of God, and which deepens our own virtue and relationship with Him is worthy of our time, for everything we create here will pass away, even if it is the greatest artistic achievement of all time! And yet, your soul will not pass away. I do not mean you must become a Doctor of the Church, writing only of mystical and doctrinal truths, but that even if you are called to fashion a countertop for your neighbor’s kitchen, the activity and completion, when done in humility and obedience, must bring you deeper into the service and love of God. This progress you can only achieve interiorly, and it will not be visible to others. To others you appear to be nothing but a songwriter, a carpenter, or an author like anyone else, but within, you are daily and humbly growing your heart for God…
The Peace of Christ in the Thousand Years
People think that if they have the peace of God, they have the ability to be perfectly tranquil and loving, no matter what others do to them, or experiences they endure…
They think the era of peace, to come, shall be full of individuals who smile at each other benignly, and bow placidly, when they meet…
A Helper for the Man
I aim to demonstrate how men rely on the love of their life to help them in their trials, and how this reliance is always mutual. In the search for three couples who exemplify three entirely separate and iconic relationships between men and women, I have failed. I can’t say I have chosen the best examples, and it might even be sustainably argued that one of my couples doesn’t even count, since we never see them together as a couple on screen. Notwithstanding, I have chosen those who were uppermost in my mind, and have enjoyed the searching out of the secrets of their relationships very much. The first couple, Will and Elizabeth from Pirates of the Caribbean, whom I thought would be the easiest of the three, was by far the most difficult. If I hadn’t felt like it was a challenge to find the answers, I would have given up.
Prayer in the Morning
Lord Jesus, I am your handmaiden – arrange for me the graces you desire for this day. I will go where you direct, speak to whom you will, and listen to all you want me to hear. May my feet be your feet, my hands your hands, and mouth your mouth. May I speak only words that emulate you, and pursue all in profound humility. Amen.
I apologize, but the search engine can be a bit finicky. First try usually gets you a ‘no results’ message, but just push that enter button again, and what you’re looking for should pop up. Happy Reading!