Star of Bethlehem
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year....most of you trying to keep up with the sporadic posts on this fledgling journal are known to me already, and I appreciate your friendship very much. Thanks for the conversation out and around the ether, you make me smarter and braver, surely holier can't be far behind :).
Lots of good stuff over the last several weeks - some insight into tragedy, some thoughtful reflection, many good ideas and suggestions about living in the light instead of the dark in a culture determined to go grim...so, read away...
Stop Hiding In Your Armory Vanessa
"Joy is a celebration of life and freedom, as opposed to fear and death. The old motto “live free or die” was chosen to reflect joy. Joy that was unmarred by fear, even when facing seemingly insurmountable odds. The people who carried those banners assumed that they were marching like pigs to the slaughter, and they kept marching anyway. They were joyful in their suffering and misery. They had hope. They didn’t know if they’d live on earth for long enough to see things improve, but they hoped they would eventually improve."
Why Are Catholics Still Whining About the HHS Mandate? Bad Catholic
"It is vital for the non-religious to understand this ridiculousness, for it follows that the real crime of a government against the religious man is not violence, but the attempt make it impossible for him to love God and neighbor. This is the ultimate prohibition of the free exercise of religion. This is the injustice that hammers the heart of the religious man and raises him to fury."
There's No Going Back Keoni Galt
"You now see things with clarity. Then you realize just how ugly most truths are, and you sometimes wish you could go back to believing the beautiful lies of the mainstream consciousness. Unless you experience brain damage that inflicts amnesia, you will find that you can't.
Once you know the truth, you cannot hide from it, even if you want to."
Reflections on Sandy Hook The Deliberate Agrarian
"I’ll bet that there are plenty of people in this country who are appalled and disturbed by the Newtown shooting, but who declare that they are "pro-choice." These people don't much care about unborn children that are literally ripped from their mother’s womb’s. Many of these unborns are fully formed, fully alive, fully innocent. And yet it, in the minds of so many people, this killing of children is acceptable.
I don’t understand. "
Newtown and the God Who Knows The Anchoress
"People will ask, “where was God, in all of this.” God was in the teachers who pulled little kids into classrooms and went into lockdown, and in the first responders who got survivors to safety and reunited with their parents (pray for the first responders, too; they suffer — often in silence — after they have made safe). God was right beside everyone, and is with them in grief. Because he is the God Who Knows all we feel and experience."
The Reality of Christ's Birth Generation Cedar
"Perhaps the pristine stable looks nice, but we should rather remember just how lowly the King of Kings made his entrance. This too, God’s sovereignty, to show us how much he delights to exalt the lowly. Christmas–the ultimate rescue mission to save the lost and heal the broken."
The Peace of the Lord be with you always. Amen.
