The Desert Fathers, Sunday, March 27, 2011

Antony said, ‘Fish die if they stay on dry land, and in the same way monks who stay outside their cell or remain with secular people fall away from their vow of quiet. As a fish must return to the sea, so must we to our cell, in case by staying outside, we forget to watch inside.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward

Quote of the Week, Saturday, March 26, 2011

Peggy Noonan on the speech the President should give:

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"Which gets me to Mr. Obama's speech, the one he hasn't given. I cannot for the life of me see how an American president can launch a serious military action without a full and formal national address in which he explains to the American people why he is doing what he is doing, why it is right, and why it is very much in the national interest. He referred to his aims in parts of speeches and appearances when he was in South America, but now he's home. More is needed, more is warranted, and more is deserved. He has to sit at that big desk and explain his thinking, put forward the facts as he sees them, and try to garner public support. He has to make a case for his own actions. It's what presidents do! And this is particularly important now, because there are reasons to fear the current involvement will either escalate and produce a lengthy conflict or collapse and produce humiliation.

Without a formal and extended statement, the air of weirdness, uncertainty and confusion that surrounds this endeavor will only deepen. "

Founders Friday, John Adams, Friday, March 25, 2011

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But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.


John Adams, letter to H. Niles, February 13, 1818

Wacky Wednesday, Wednesday, March 23, 2011, Christopher Lloyd

It's Wednesday, we've made it half way through the week, it's time to kick back and have a half.  Here's a funny bit from the old Taxi TV series.  Enjoy

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, March 20, 2011

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward

A brother said to a hermit, ‘How does the fear of God come into the soul?’ He said, ‘If there is humility and poverty, and no judgement of others, the fear of God will be present there. 

Founders Friday, Friday, March 18. 2011

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" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."

Charles Carroll - Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence

Wacky Wednesday, Wednesday, March 16, 2011, Victor Borge

It's Wednesday, we've made it half way through the week, and it's time to sit back and enjoy a laugh with Victor Borge.  Enjoy.

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, March 13, 2011

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The Lord's Day is a mystery of the knowledge of the truth that is not received by flesh and blood, and it transcends speculations. In this age there is no eighth day, nor is there a true Sabbath. For he who said that `God rested on the seventh day,' signified the rest [of our nature] from the course of this life, since the grave is also of a bodily nature and belongs to this world. Six days are accomplished in the husbandry of life by means of keeping the commandments; the seventh is spent entirely in the grave; and the eighth is the departure from it.



St. Isaac of Syria, The Ascetical Homilies.I

Founders Friday, Friday, March 11, 2011

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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?


James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788

Ash Wednesday, 2011

Since it's Ash Wednesday, I forego the weekly Wacky Wednesday, of course.  I wish you all a blessed and prayerful Lenten Season.

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, March 6, 2011

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They used to say of Pambo that in the hour of his death he said to the holy men standing round, ‘From the time that I came into this solitude, and built my cell and lived in it, I do not remember having eaten anything I have not worked for. I have not said anything that I regretted saying. But still I go to the Lord, as one who has not yet made a beginning in the service of God.

Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Benedicta Ward

Quote of the Week, George Will

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To progressives, the best thing about railroads is that people riding them are not in automobiles, which are subversive of the deference on which progressivism depends. Automobiles go hither and yon, wherever and whenever the driver desires, without timetables. Automobiles encourage people to think they—unsupervised, untutored, and unscripted—are masters of their fates. The automobile encourages people in delusions of adequacy, which make them resistant to government by experts who know what choices people should make.


Time was, the progressive cry was "Workers of the world unite!" or "Power to the people!" Now it is less resonant: "All aboard!"

George Will, Newsweek, 2/27

Founders Friday, Friday, March 4, 2011

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But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain...let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Wacky Wednesday, Wednesday, March 2, 2010, George Burns and Gracie Allen

It's Wednesday, we've made it half way through the week, time to kick back and relax a little.  Here's a clip from the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, from back in the 1950's.