 |
| Saint Paul the Hermit |
Thursday January 01, 2026
December the eight,
nineteen eighty, was the day
Our Lady met him.
The Solemnity of the
Immaculate Conception.
Friday January 02, 2026
He must learn to see
the Blessed Virgin in all
the women of Eve.
The ACB interview
was a subtle reminder.
Saturday January 03, 2026
"I'm gonna love you
till the wheels come off, oh, yeah"
(dear Terror of Hell).
As he sat in Rumi's field,
he repeated this refrain.
Sunday January 04, 2026
He was once punished
but he was not doomed to die,
all thanks be to Thee.
The no-man's-land of language
ends in Marian silence.
Monday January 05, 2026
Because they don’t care
what he thinks, nor reads what he
writes, he ended it.
It became an exercise
in polished self-indulgence.
Tuesday January 06, 2026
Ian Ker’s Newman
on Vatican II might be
a framework for him.
He just needs to work out all
the grammatical details.
Wednesday January 07, 2026
We contain neither
our first principle nor our
final end in life.
We live, and we move, and we
have our being in Being.
Thursday January 08, 2026
To the Lord belong
all of the poles of the earth:
He gives and He takes.
He must not be left to the
vice of his own devices.
Friday January 09, 2026
He is a poet
who produces book reviews
using structured verse.
It is his way of whacking
two birds with one stoned waka.
Saturday January 10, 2026
It is the German
(and not the Polish) Pope that
resonates with him.
Mediatrix, Saint, and Pope
are now the circle of three.
Sunday January 11, 2026
“There is no sense in
reading nonsense” (so says Saint
John Henry Newman).
“Pay close attention to your
nonsense” (so says Wittgenstein).
Monday January 12, 2026
Joseph Ratzinger
makes the Second Vatican
Council sensible.
This is a commentary
on his own fear and trembling.
Tuesday January 13, 2026
He was reminded
yesterday that Newman can
dwell where he cannot.
This is an occasion for
renewal, not repentance.
Wednesday January 14, 2026
Civil discourse has
become less than civil and
beneath his concern.
He refused to dignify
it by engaging in it.
Thursday January 15, 2026
He said he was too
postmodern to become an
Oratorian.
Those were wise words then, but now
he is not modern enough.
Friday January 16, 2026
The latest silence
from the picture in a frame
song remains the same.
He felt inspired to play
it despite expectations.
Saturday January 17, 2026
And just like that it
all suddenly stopped and felt
insignificant.
When it is removed, you are
left with what is required.
Sunday January 18, 2026
He does not have a
continuing city here
(he seeks it beyond).
He rejects words of plunder
and accepts works of wonder.
Monday January 19, 2026
Undistracted prayer:
the highest intellection
of the intellect.
Prayer is the ancient ascent
of the intellect to God.
Tuesday January 20, 2026
He has studied the
Orthodox order of the
CGOCA.
It is a variant of
the Catholic SSPX.
Wednesday January 21, 2026
He is living through
the last two vows that he made
to God years ago.
This is why he is slowly
disappearing from the world.
Thursday January 22, 2026
He is a poet
writing verse for the glory
of the Triune God.
Masculinity compells
me to continue Eastward.
Friday January 23, 2026
"Being" is rather
the very darkest of all
words in our grammar.
The word is an entity,
but the sinn of it is not.
Saturday January 24, 2026
The greatness of Saint
Anthony consists in his
generosity.
Without him he would not know
about Saint Paul the Hermit.
Sunday January 25, 2026
“Do congregations
make us crazy, will we get
better on our own?”
Because of our history,
some of us go it alone.
Monday January 26, 2026
Heidegger’s task of
destroying the history
of ontology?
The ironic sine qua
non of my orthodoxy.
Tuesday January 27, 2026
What would be the point
of continuing to post
his personal verse?
He is a sanctuary
for God’s holy hiddenness.
Wednesday January 28, 2026
He too has taken
up his staff and searched for God’s
will in the desert.
And like his namesake, he found
it and wrapped it in a cloak.
Thursday January 29, 2026
He has walked away
from people, places, and things
(never to return).
He does not deserve to live
among the monks of Athos.
Friday January 30, 2026
While growing wiser
he groveled to the mountain
of mysticism.
It is here that he shall stay
to the very end of days.
Saturday January 31, 2026
He reads the Scriptures,
he studies the Junker Jörg,
and prays the three Prayers.
Much complexity produced
this three-fold simplicity.
...
Sunday February 01, 2026
He was baptized as
Protestant, and was confirmed
as Roman Catholic.
He then entered into the
desert of ἡσυχία.
Monday February 02, 2026
He will no longer
use elaborate schemas
to order his life.
He will use the Great Schema
Monks for his inspiration.
Tuesday February 03, 2026
Deciding to change
the dedication to him
was deliberate.
Resonation requires
this kind of recognition.
Wednesday February 04, 2026
He will pray his way
into the stillness of the
Philokalia.
The consequences of his
prodigality remain.
Thursday February 05, 2026
“Don’t forget about
me” simultaneously
functions in two ways.
One way is one that he wants
to do his best to forget.
Friday February 06, 2026
He is not worthy
to be an Orthodox or
Catholic monastic.
He remains as he's always
been (a protesting hermit).
Saturday February 07, 2026
Das Unbedingte
and Vorgriff have their being
within Sein und Zeit.
The sine qua non of both
is Heidegger’s gift to us.
Sunday February 08, 2026
He is trying to
define "protesting hermit"
now that he can hear.
Here is his definition:
repentant prodigal son.
Monday February 09, 2026
"And after that no
one dared ask Him any more
questions to test Him."
He is always the measure,
never the One that’s measured.
Tuesday February 10, 2026
He gets hypnotized
by the music before he
retires each night.
He snaps out of it once he
remembers her history.
Wednesday February 11, 2026
Luther’s De Votis
Monasticis explains why
he is not a monk.
The protestant principle
never ceases to amaze.
Thursday February 12, 2026
Barthianism
is Dialecticism
dressed in Calvin’s drag.
You shall know them by their fruits
(and not by their institutes).
Friday February 13, 2026
Today he was told
he needs to avoid each and
every one of them.
This is how he will learn his
many Lutheran lessons.
Saturday February 14, 2026
Today marks the one
year anniversary of
her painful fracture.
He does not regret choosing
to end his independence.
Sunday February 15, 2026
His manly mentor
is Mihailo Tolotos
(pure orthodoxy).
You can’t live with them, but you
can live without seeing them.
Monday February 16, 2026
He's experienced
both of these worldly systems:
marriage and divorce.
This prevents him from being
seduced into them again.
Tuesday February 17, 2026
Around and around
in confessional circles
... until he lets go.
He bows his head and prays: "I
beg you, show me your glory."
Wednesday February 18, 2026
Aristotle is
“the master of those who know”
(and we are many).
It’s Dante's way of saying:
compared to him, we’re all hacks.
Thursday February 19, 2026
Every day is like
the movie Fifty First Dates
(redux edition).
The day is spent informing
them, then they fall back asleep.
Friday February 20, 2026
“There was a man sent
from God, whose name was John” (Lord,
have mercy on him).
All things work together for
good for those who have been called.
Saturday February 21, 2026
In his thumos he
won’t sin against them, despite
their maliciousness.
Penitential repentance
restrains the beast within him.
Sunday February 22, 2026
The year he was born
determined his place within
Catholic history.
His history is shaped by the
Second Vatican Council.
Monday February 23, 2026
Charles Taylor is
a Catholic philosopher
worth admiring.
In nineteen sixty-four he
published his very first book.
Tuesday February 24, 2026
He remains confused
over the state of Roman
Catholicism.
This is why Saint Paul of Thebes
is such an inspiration.
Wednesday February 25, 2026
In the darkness, the
“I feel a sin coming on”
post was a warning.
He remains a sinner in
the hands of an angry God.
Thursday February 26, 2026
Because hell hath no
fury, he buries himself
in bureaucracy.
Dreams remind him why he stopped
paying attention to them.
Friday February 27, 2026
“At this stage, they can
all go fuck themselves, as far
as I am concerned.”
This is one way of saying
that he lives in indifference.
Saturday February 28, 2026
The saintly “Doctor
of the Church” argument rears
its head when he's lost.
His only consolation
is that the strife gets shorter.
...
Sunday March 01, 2026
It was Orthodox
Monasticism, then the
Jesuit Order.
This process confirms he is
an Oratorian Man.
Monday March 02, 2026
Reaching out rather
than simply reacting will
be the end of him.
Another day, another
relational lesson learned.
Tuesday March 03, 2026
The war in Iran
caused his position to drop
thousands of dollars.
He wonders whether he will
recover from this result.
Wednesday March 04, 2026
Someone once said that
Vatican II is a “get
out of jail free card.”
If this means that it sets the
captives free, then so be it.
Thursday March 05, 2026
“It’s not right for us
to neglect the word of God
to serve at tables.”
There are many if any
ways to serve, and to be served.
Friday March 06, 2026
He goes back and forth
when it comes to disclosing
his words to the world.
His latest Buddhist musings
made him publish everything.
Saturday March 07, 2026
On the sixty-sixth
day of the year his father
kindly reminds him.
He will never forget where
he was, nor where he now is.
Sunday March 08, 2026
There is a reason
why shots are fired at doors
in public places.
Is it terrorism? No.
It's a protest against it.
It's a protest against it.
Monday March 09, 2026
Living on borrowed
time is now the new normal
for the old oblate.
The runway is slowly but
surely coming to an end.
