"There is no freedom."

This is incredibly moving footage from a Christian television show ("Islam Explained" can be rather confessionally ambiguous). I take my freedom far too much for granted.

Via the Feminine Genius.

What I was thinking...

... after the Oath of Office:

"The unconscious democracy of America is a very fine thing. It is a true and deep and instinctive assumption of the equality of citizens, which even voting and elections have not destroyed."

~GK Chesterton

It's a big day.

Thanks to Danielle Bean.

Prayer for Christian Unity

I was surprised to read in the missal this morning that the week of prayer for Christian unity includes prayer for the persecuted Church. I've been following the India massacres a little, and came across this apropos poem from Oscar Wilde. It's rather dramatic, but I can sympathize with the human howl he raises--it seems to be a morally superior response to persecution than a yawn.

Oremus.

ON THE MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS IN BULGARIA

Christ, dost Thou live indeed? or are Thy bones
Still straitened in their rock-hewn sepulchre?
And was Thy Rising only dreamed by her
Whose love of Thee for all her sin atones?
For here the air is horrid with men's groans,
The priests who call upon Thy name are slain,
Dost Thou not hear the bitter wail of pain
From those whose children lie upon the stones?
Come down, O Son of God! incestuous gloom
Curtains the land, and through the starless night
Over Thy Cross a Crescent moon I see!
If Thou in very truth didst burst the tomb
Come down, O Son of Man! and show Thy might
Lest Mahomet be crowned instead of Thee!

~Oscar Wilde

She's still got what it takes!

Ahem.

I must brag a little and say: In spite of spending my days with a Relativistic Tyrant, I scored 100% on this logic test.

Truth and Goodness.

One of the philosophy lessons that most impressed me as an undergraduate was the metaphysics of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

The True satisfies our intellect or reason; the Good satisfies the will; and the Beautiful satisfies the senses or feeling or sensibilities or emotions or heart. To paraphrase Peter Kreeft: We need them. We need them absolutely. And we know we need them absolutely. We want, not some truth, but all truth and without limit. We want all goodness and all beauty, also without limit. They are the three things that satisfy us and with which we are never bored.

It was the understanding of the connection (or, rather, oneness) between Truth, Goodness, and Beauty that helped me to break through that "duty" mentality toward Church or divine law. If there is One who is these three things, then Truth is Beauty is Goodness. The most beautiful thing in the world will be true goodness. The laws of God (which I have come to believe are revealed through Christ) are not tiresome checklists to be fussed over; they show me what it is good to desire, what is beautiful to behold, what is true to contemplate. They satisfy me; they do not tire me. The laws of the One refresh and do not destroy.

John Paul II in the Splendor of Truth said that we must understand this link--the salvation of the world rests on it. We are only free when we can recognize and rejoice in the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.

So, on your next date night (yeah, I'm a dork) or when you're folding the laundry, give a listen to Kreeft. Or take a gander over to the pope's encyclical (hint: include it in your plans for Lent!). Take some time to seek what is truly good, and therefore beautiful beyond words. The demands of truth are simply the demands of our own hearts.

Miriam the spiritual director.

Miriam: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kind of come, thy will be done..."

Sometimes, yeah. That's the way I say it, too, "Thy kind of come... but not yet." How like the young Augustine!