It is easy for me to forget that HUvB does not hold all the cards when it comes to theological aesthetics. Other theologians have critiqued, expanded, and found different methods to approach similar questions.

I remember ready the Odyssey in college with a professor (an Orthodox chanter, Heidegger scholar, and Greek native). She was a formidable teacher and reminded me of Athena/Penelope combo. You never wanted to cross her.

You've been murdered. Who do you want on the case?

the two outfits for men

Homer surrounded by the Muses BL Harley MS 5600; Homer, Iliad; 1466 CE; Italy; f.15v @blmedieval.bsky.social

Amidst a myriad of thorns and thistles, a close friend called me to announce his engagement to his girlfriend of three years. God is good, y'all.

This seems interesting...

If Hollywood wants to twist the knife a little: Put all the written Greek in modern English subject/predicate form with the verb directly after the subject.

It is not surprising that Janelle Monae is one of our mutual Muses.

TBF, we Benedictine monks are all over the place when it comes to aesthetics.

Today is the Solemnity of Our Lady of Einsiedeln, feast of the patroness of our mother house in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Our Lady of Einsiedeln, pray for us!

Our Lady of Einsiedeln, pray for us!

Saw this a couple of years ago in Galleria Borghese in Rome. Seeing a couple of Caravaggio paintings together was an interesting experience.

Happy Bastille Day

I tell guests that most pre-Vatican II monastic foundations started in the US missionary were by cloistered types trying to be missionaries while building a home. Invariably, there were family squabbles, vehement disagreements, and several church fires.

Lovely place to visit in August. And, one can see most of the modern city and valley below. Plus, the WWII museum is good.

Only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. —Gaudium et Spes §22

11th July is the feast of St Benedict. Here Dante and Beatrice are before St Benedict, with scenes from his life below. BL Yates Thompson MS 36; Dante Alighieri, Divina commedia; 1444-c 1450 CE; Italy (Tuscany); f.168r @blmedieval.bsky.social

Self accusation: I have ambivalent feelings toward the Catholic discourse around the recent FSSPX schism. I often relish a perceived rival or wayward brethren make more mistakes for pride and self-preservation. Equally, I lament the breaking of fraternal bonds.

I am a firm advocate of interrupting doomscrolling. So, how we listen to Hildegard of Bingen? youtu.be/4v_vYiK2qeY?...

"Loving God and loving neighbor is precisely how we love ourselves well." https://www.saintmeinrad.edu/seminary-blog/echoes-from-the-bell-tower/tools-for-peace/

The Christian celibate (eremtical,cenobitic) and family life are mutually beneficial to each other. Fight me.

Everybody read this. Thank you.

Thank you. You're not so bad yourself.

Proverbs 10,19 In multilóquio non déerit peccátum; qui autem moderátur lábia sua, prudentíssimus est. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent. En el mucho hablar no faltará pecado; el que frena sus labios es sensato.

Robert Boxie III has been consecrated as Auxiliary Bishop of Washington, becoming the youngest Catholic prelate in the U.S. and the entire Western Hemisphere. The 45-year-old former Howard University chaplain is the first new African-American Catholic bishop in nearly a decade. buff.ly/ookON7d

I keep on fallin' in And outta love with you Sometimes I love ya, sometimes you make me blue Sometimes I feel good, at times I feel used Lovin' you, darlin', makes me so confused 1/2

Moral responsibility is ongoing acts of conversion that acknowledge one's insufficiency to change without being responsible and held accountable for the sake of others under the providence of God. So saith the Christian spiritual tradition...

there is a cohort of men who resent the responsibilities and obligations of adulthood — of the fact that you owe things to other people. it is a fundamentally childish impulse that they have reconfigured as the height of masculinity, and i think it informs the parasocial attraction to platner.

I remember Catholic Twitter like my twenties: I remember the shenanigans so fondly that I pray we never do such things again.

let this be a lesson to deal with your feelings of gender anxiety and masculine inadequacy with a hobby or therapy or something and not a high stakes senate election

Random nerd thing: The Dionysian Corpus seems to be the bane of many Christian translators. One thinker wrote, "With great reluctance and concern, I use [said translation] though it is terrible, and I reference other translations, but they are not much better." I find this mildly entertaining.

Through moments of receptivity, illumination, and rectitude, the real and concrete is quite extraordinary.

Me with my Bluesky mutuals

Something to consider every day, but especially on this day: Name a blessing, something that you give thanks for, a mercy that you encountered, and/or a grace that you received.

We ask you, Heavenly Father, to bless and protect our nation and renew in her people the strength to dedicate themselves to the task of giving her a new birth of freedom so that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Ps 95,8 Utinam hódie vocem eius audiátis: Nolíte obduráre corda vestra O that today you would listen to his voice. Harden not your hearts Ojalá escuchéis hoy su voz: No endurezcáis el corazón

During Vigils this week, the Office of Readings was from the Book of Deuteronomy. I was struck by the tension of blessings and curses within the covenantal promises between God and Israelites.

The local icongrapher wrote a practice icon of St. George. Those saintly curly hairs are difficult to write. Needless to say, I am not a Boss Ross or Andrei Rublev. God bless artist and their endeavors.

"The 'peace' that Jesus gives us is not the absence of struggle, pain, and problems, but an unshakeable serenity in spite of, and in the face of, those problems." https://www.saintmeinrad.edu/seminary-blog/echoes-from-the-bell-tower/the-gift-of-peace/

Hans Urs von Balthasar

It does not surprise me that the four SPPX priests whom the excommunicated society consecrated (speaking colloquially) were lifelong members with deep histories (familial roots, seminary formation, leadership in institutions etc.) in the movement itself.

A local iconographer is grad students, including me,a class on writing icons. I am, now, lamenting that I should have paid attention to Bob Ross. TBH, it's a fun class.

Our own Sr. Jeana Visel, OSB, was featured in a news piece about her iconography work. https://www.wave3.com/2026/06/30/iconography-windows-into-heaven-sister-jeanas-art-prayer/

Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us!

"We groan within ourselves" (Rom 8:23) Ain't that the truth...

Weekend Reading

especially this "one thing" that I really really want....