Cæli enarrant If the first two sorrowful mysteries — our Lord’s agony in the garden and scourging at the pillar — directly confronted us with the Passion, dropping us in the deep end, the last three only repeat and intensify the regimen. Their sole purpose is to fix our attention on things as they are: the form of God’s suffering love. To pray these mysteries — traditionally … [Read more...] about Thorns, Cross, Crucifixion
suffering
Suffering in Christian Life
x1klima/Flickr By G. Jeffrey MacDonald The Iraq War left Army Reserve Chaplain David W. Peters reeling from post-traumatic stress and a broken marriage, but he is not done with voluntary suffering. Not by a long shot. Peters opts for trials that exceed what most human beings could endure. He trains for 100-mile ultra-marathons by taking demanding runs, such as … [Read more...] about Suffering in Christian Life
Sudanese Bishops Seek Help
Adapted from Anglican Communion News Service Bishops from Equatoria, South Sudan, have given harrowing accounts of how recent conflict is affecting local communities. They urged the Anglican Alliance and Anglican partners to advocate for relief assistance. Recently the armed conflict that has severely affected the states of Unity, Upper Nile, and Jonglei for two years has … [Read more...] about Sudanese Bishops Seek Help
PB: Care for the Sojourner
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued this statement on the worldwide refugee crisis:The children of Abraham have ever been reminded to care for the widow and orphan and the sojourner in their midst, who were the refugees and homeless of the time. Jesus charged his followers to care for the least of these and proclaim the near presence of the Reign of God — in … [Read more...] about PB: Care for the Sojourner
Bishop: Welcome the Stranger
The Rt. Rev. Andrew M.L. Dietsche, Bishop of New York, urges parishes to become involved in helping refugees from Syria and similar countries:We are researching the best avenues for getting donations directly and safely to the places where the need is greatest, and those who would like to join in this effort are encouraged to send monetary donations to the Diocese of New York, … [Read more...] about Bishop: Welcome the Stranger
Life in a Fallen World
Review by Daniel Muth If God is good, how can there be evil? To many a modern mind, it is the great atheist “gotcha!” And certain presentations of the problem accordingly slouch toward the silly — the notion that a good and omnipotent deity must adjust weather patterns and tectonic plate shifts to account for human demographics, reassign viral and pathogenic physiology to … [Read more...] about Life in a Fallen World
Primitive Prayer
By Patrick T. Twomey Late second-century Christianity, a period during which martyrdom was a distinctive form of Christian testimony, offers a dramatic display of what prayer cannot do, and a sign also of what it can do. Reading, for instance, the story of “The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity,” one is struck by the resolve and quiet confidence with which martyrs faced their … [Read more...] about Primitive Prayer