Our Hearts Are Restless

To St. Michael in Time of Peace - G.K. Chesterton Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning, Michael of the Army of the Lord, Stiffen thou the hand upon the still sword, Michael, Folded and shut upon the sheathed sword, Michael, Under the fullness of the white robes falling, Gird us with the secret of the sword.When the world cracked because of a sneer in heaven, Leaving out for all time a scar upon the sky, Thou didst rise up against the Horror in the highest, Dragging down the highest that looked down on the Most High: Rending from the seventh heaven the hell of exaltation Down the seven heavens till the dark seas burn: Thou that in thunder threwest down the Dragon Knowest in what silence the Serpent can return. Down through the universe the vast night falling (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Morning!) Far down the universe the deep calms calling (Michael, Michael: Michael of the Sword!) Bid us not forget in the baths of all forgetfulness, In the sigh long drawn from the frenzy and t...

At the request of my cousin, who is an Assembly of God minister, I wrote a synthesis (as best I could whip together in a few hours) of the top 5 differences between Protestants and Catholics.  It was hard to narrow the list down to 5, because of course I wanted to include every topic, all of the arguments, all of the ramifications.  But I did my best to keep it to a simple presentation of Catholic belief. The five topics I chose are the papacy, the Eucharist, Mary, Purgatory, and Sacred Tradition.  Thanks to Catholic Answers, I had scriptural references and great explanations at my fingertips through  www.catholic.com  and  Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth , a handy little tract.  Thanks be to God, I just happened to have that little book with me, and it came in very handy.  A lot of the explanations below are only slightly modified from that book.  I'll make this a 5-part series for the next Saturdays! All of Catholic teaching hinges on the doctrine of the Incarnation: that Christ ...

It's been a long week around here - so naturally, we decided to dress up and wander through the woods.  Christendom's campus and trails are especially suited for Saturday afternoon rambles.  It was a gorgeous day - not too warm, not too cold, sunny with a handful of fluffy clouds.  I think we might have weirded out a few people as we walked across campus, but it was well worth it.  After all, it's not the weirdest thing to happen.  One of the highlights was the bald eagle we spotted.  It was perfectly framed by tree branches, just barely within range for pictures, and sat on the branch for a good fifteen minutes.  We named it Stanley, as in "Fly away, Stanley!  Be free!"  Okay, so we get a little crazy sometimes!  For your entertainment, here are a bunch of pictures from our woodland adventure.

[caption id="attachment_1127" align="aligncenter" width="522"] Apparently Alex is a cat person. We have a friendly little cat who was very interested in sitting on Alex's lap on Saturday.[/caption]

One of the many reasons I love Christendom is the beauty, present in so many ways on this campus.  There’s the immediate beauty, of course – a campus in a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in a bend of the Shenandoah River, with majestic views on one side and tangled, fantastic woodland on the other.  We’re far enough away from light pollution that the stars are vibrantly clear.  I could even see the Milky Way a few days ago!  This Wednesday, the first quarter moon was stunning in the clear sky of early evening.  I took a few minutes away from my responsibilities and grabbed my camera.  Unfortunately, only one picture turned out with any clarity.  While it fails to do the brilliancy of the moon any justice, I rather liked the composition.  The statue is an image of Our Lady that stands tall on a pillar outside of the college library. There is more beauty, also, to be found at Christendom, including the beauty of dance.  I snapped a few pictures of Contra practice after I went out moo...

  At the request of my cousin, who is an Assembly of God minister, I wrote a synthesis (as best I could whip together in a few hours) of the top 5 differences between Protestants and Catholics.  It was hard to narrow the list down to 5, because of course I wanted to include every topic, all of the arguments, all of the ramifications.  But I did my best to keep it to a simple presentation of Catholic belief. The five topics I chose are the papacy, the Eucharist, Mary, Purgatory, and Sacred Tradition.  Thanks to Catholic Answers, I had scriptural references and great explanations at my fingertips through  www.catholic.com  and  Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth , a handy little tract.  Thanks be to God, I just happened to have that little book with me, and it came in very handy.  A lot of the explanations below are only slightly modified from that book.  I'll make this a 5-part series for the next Saturdays! All of Catholic teaching hinges on the doctrine of the Incarnation: that Chris...

[caption id="attachment_1114" align="aligncenter" width="418"] Alex with a kitten! We have a lot of feral cats around that are basically campus pets. They're more friendly this year than in the past.  So glad I snapped this picture even though it's poor quality.  :)[/caption]

At the request of my cousin, who is an Assembly of God minister, I wrote a synthesis (as best I could whip together in a few hours) of the top 5 differences between Protestants and Catholics.  It was hard to narrow the list down to 5, because of course I wanted to include every topic, all of the arguments, all of the ramifications.  But I did my best to keep it to a simple presentation of Catholic belief. The five topics I chose are the papacy, the Eucharist, Mary, Purgatory, and Sacred Tradition.  Thanks to Catholic Answers, I had scriptural references and great explanations at my fingertips through  www.catholic.com  and  Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth , a handy little tract.  Thanks be to God, I just happened to have that little book with me, and it came in very handy.  A lot of the explanations below are only slightly modified from that book.  I'll make this a 5-part series for the next Saturdays! All of Catholic teaching hinges on the doctrine of the Incarnation: that Christ ...

I hope everyone knows by now that Pope Francis has asked for today to be a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world.  This danger that the world is in - it feels as if everyone is holding their breath.  The threat and the danger for the world are honestly terrifying.  Perhaps, as a history major, I'm so closely connected with the history of the world that I fear more clearly than others.  It wasn't too long ago that I was reading and editing Dr. Warren Carroll's book  The Crisis of Christendom .  The details of the World Wars and the crisis of totalitarianism are still vivid in my head. Fear can be a crippling thing if you don't have any hope. We have hope, though - we're Catholics, after all!  Even more, we have joy, a deeply abiding joy that undercuts all the fear the world can force upon us. It is so encouraging to think about the great power that God deigns to bestow upon our human actions.  Prayer and fasting are p...

This week has been packed!  Besides being back with my wonderful boyfriend and so many great friends, sisters, and brothers, I've started classes and the Legion of Mary again.  I thought I'd include a bit about each of those, to give you a taste of what I'm doing out here. Currently, I'm registered as a double major - history and literature - but I'll end up dropping history to a minor, alas.  Let the history department mourn my passing!  I'll still be taking as many history classes as I can fit in, though.  This semester I have two core required classes - Medieval Philosophy and Moral Theology.  I am taking two history courses, Historiography and Tudor-Stuart Britain.  I'm also taking two literature classes - English Novel and Literary Criticism - and auditing a third, Modern Catholic Fiction. Here's a quick look at the class descriptions from my syllabi for this semester! Medieval Philosophy In this course we will survey the medieval philosophical trad...