“My father told me: worship gold, and you'll never feel you have enough of it, and you'll feel angry and weak and frightened your entire life. He said it was a terrible curse, to love something you'll never have enough of." - Katherine Rundell, “The Poisoned King”

“The reason why so many examples of the grace of God contribute nothing to our profit, and fail in edifying our faith, is, that as soon as we have begun to make them the subjects of our consideration,

The human creature is such a deceptively simple thing to look at. You can watch someone peel an orange or trip up a flight of stairs, and forget that inside they are both strange and infinite.

People who are determined to love their enemies are the freest and, in some ways, the most powerful people in the world. They set their own agenda, and no one can distract them from it. - David P. Gushee, The Moral Teachings of Jesus

Me when I have a new comic out about radio telescopes on the moon.

I’m trying to learn how to play and sing Taylor Swift’s “Innocent,” one of those songs that turns out to be more difficult than it sounds.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. - Robert Louis Stevenson

I just finished this. Outstanding as usual.

Tyrant Lizard Queen will be stomping your way next year, so it’s a good time to get into When the Earth Was Green if you haven’t already. 🌱

Thought for the day: ibuprofen is just ibufen that has lost its amateur status.

The reason that cliches become cliches is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication. Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

“It was amazing, this mystic business. You tell them a lie, and then when you don't need it anymore you tell them another lie and tell them they're progressing along the road to wisdom.

“The Midwest is like that. If you stick with it, it will reward you. I've been disappointed in the Midwest, but I've never been betrayed by it, because it wears its heart and its wounds in the open.” - Sarah Kendzior, The Last American Road Trip

"We who are now the richest nation are today’s main coveters. We never feel that we have enough; we have to have more and more, and this insatiable desire destroys us...

I see McDonald’s has a new item on the breakfast menu, and honestly “Spicy McMuffin “ sounds like a stripper.

The only means by which, in our affliction, we can obtain the victory, is by our having hope shining in us in the midst of darkness, and by our having the sustaining influence which arises from waiting for the favor of God. - John Calvin on Ps.69:13

However deep we may have sunk in trouble, it becomes us to trust the power of God, who claims it as his peculiar work to open up a way where [humans] can see none. - John Calvin, commenting on Psalm 68:20

And not a moment too soon.

Just because some people have a rotten idea of goodness doesn't mean that the idea of goodness is rotten.

“Churches often think they have community when they only have proximity.”

My Lenten reading is "Come Forth: the Promise of Jesus' Greatest Miracle" by Fr. James Martin. The book is Fr. Martin's deep dive into the raising of Lazarus.

One of my favorite contemporary authors, Fr James Martin, has written a book about the raising of Lazarus. In his forward to the paperback edition, Pope Francis wrote this:

Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in midlife it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools. - Jeremiah 17:11

Fortune cookie getting awfully specific.

How about a break from the news: www.npr.org/2025/01/16/n...

The attacks on Bishop Marian Edgar Budde for her words at the prayer service made me think of the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:11-12:

Today would be a good day to read MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail.

They tell you while you’re young/“Girls, go out and have your fun”/Then they hunt and slay the ones who actually do it. - Taylor Swift, “Nothing New “

“Never be so kind you forget to be clever/Never be so clever you forget to be kind.” - Taylor Swift, “Marjorie”

The scenery of the ocean, however sublime in expanse, seems far less beautiful to us dry-shod animals than that of the land seen only in comparatively small patches; but when we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop,

Fear and hope may seem opposite and incompatible affections, yet it is proved by observation, that the latter never comes into full sway unless there exists some measure of the former. In a tranquil state of the mind, there is no scope for the exercise of hope.

3400 YEARS OLD!!! 🤯 They both look incredibly modern!

How many of *you* have “Varnish Holy Family” on your to-do list?

In our inbox, bless us. In our conference calls, bless us. When we clean and build, punch in and punch out, grant us meaning. Give us people to serve, customers to love, good work to do.

Roses are redde Noble are the manatees Yf we wante a bettir future Teach artes & humanityes

I’ve reached the age where trimming my toenails is at the same difficulty level as rebuilding a carburetor.

I dreamed that a group of us were sitting around talking. My wife said (of me) “I always know what he’s thinking.” Someone said, “What’s he thinking about now?” and she said “Food!” I laughed so hard I woke myself up.

It’s a lovely thing to see leaves as they fall from their tree, wisps that seem dead but are just beginning an afterlife sheltering so many small lives.

When I was in high school, I was introduced to a concoction known as “camper’s stew.” It’s like chili in that it starts with browned and seasoned ground beef,

Happy St Andrew’s Day to all who celebrate.

McDonald’s has a drink right now called “Dulce de Leche Frappé” and honestly “Dulce de Leche Frappé” sounds like the name of an exotic movie star from the 1930’s.

optimist: the cup is half full pessimist: the cup is half empty county show: the cup is for the supreme champion cow

I’m willing to pay for BlueSky if it means keeping it N*zi-free.

He followed me home, so Kathy said I could keep him.

What does my fortune cookie know that I don’t?

I offer this prayer in the hopes that, over the next few days, we might claim a sacred space for ourselves and others — An Election Day Breathing Prayer https://bit.ly/48BfSks

I always think it’s kinda sweet how Lucy gets up in the middle of the night, finds Linus ( who’s freezing in the pumpkin patch), brings him home, and puts him to bed.

This needs to go viral.