prose & praise

the entry below is courtesy of Matt Walsh from a couple of years ago. mostly keeping it here to remind myself that my sins are so grave, the Son of God had to die for me... "I used to read the story of Our Lord’s Passion and come away horrified at the treachery and cowardice of nearly everyone around Jesus. I used to read about those who betrayed and denied and abused and killed Christ and find myself unable to understand them at all. They always seemed so foreign, so shocking. But as I’ve studied the story recently, I’ve begun to see it quite differently. I’ve realized that the most terrifying thing about the treacherous characters of the Passion is not that they are foreign, but that they are deeply and terribly relatable. If I’m being honest, I must admit that I see myself in every act of betrayal and violence inflicted upon Our Lord. I see that I am Judas. How many time have I betrayed Jesus with a kiss, pledging my fidelity to Him in one moment and then in the next selling Hi

brain is too mushed to come up with coherent strings of words so here are some fun articles/links for you to peruse: looking for jewelry that encourages and inspires? check out Handstamped Stories by Stephanie Engaging online: Five tips from St. Benedict : my high school English teacher sent this article after reading an online discussion i had with a friend; she said i reminded her of St. Benedict with my answers. with every word you say... witness . The David Foster Wallace Disease : this articulates well my relationship with DFW's writing. i actually have not finished going through this one but some of the pictures made me lol: Funny airport moments Ryan Holiday's reading list : i'm subscribed to Ryan Holiday's monthly reading list because he introduces me to books i've never heard of. he advocates for the Stoic philosophy, which is well and good to a certain extent, but if i could have one moment with Mr. Holiday, who confesses that he seeks books that "tea

do you know how easy it is to be deceived? very. all you have to do is glance at a beautiful lie. the world is filled with beautiful lies. we post things online that look amazing and then go back to our truly messy lives laden with brokenness. the people that know me irl know this about me: that i greatly dislike social media. which is actually really funny because i love talking to people. i give way more thought into responses than most, i've been called goofy and honest and my default in every day interactions is cracking jokes because the world is way too serious and maybe just maybe it's my defense mechanism against the awkward silence. (or maybe i'm just naturally witty?). these days, i tolerate the nonsense that is social media because i cannot deny that it's the 21st century’s telephone and airmail. back to the beautiful lies...it's easy to write something on a blog and sound like all the other blogs by identifying problems and offering half-hearted "ge

here are some  recent additions to my To Be Read (TBR) pile: "KEATS" by John Keats no written summary for this as it is a collection of Keats' poetry but here's a vampire weekend tune called "we belong together" mentioning "Keats and Yeats" belonging together. ironically, for those non-English majors that have never seen those two names before, "Keats" (as in John Keats) is pronounced "keets" and "Yeats" (for W.B. Yeats) is pronounced "yates" as opposed to "yeets", so, like, they don't actually belong together except in writing only. that Ezra Koenig fellow is clever as heck. "The Baudelaire Fractal" by Lisa Robertson from the back cover: "One morning, Hazel Brown awakes in a badly decorated hotel room to find that she's written the complete works of Charles Baudelaire."  ooooooooo! "The Divine Comedy I: Hell" by Dante from the back cover: "Guided by the

  prelude    about a year ago, i saw the film “spider-man far from home” at the cinemas (you remember what those are still?). and me being me came out of the theater not necessarily entertained or uplifted by what i just saw, but in deep thought about…man, i don’t even know. salvation, i guess. way too heavy coming from somewhere way too light-hearted. (leave it to me to see God in everything...and to connect everything back to Him…).   with a few moments to myself after the movie, this is what i wrote. and i guess i just needed to share it for no other reason than to relate to those who’ve felt exactly the same way:   you & me, don’t forget: we’re heaven-bound.   ---   “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.” ~Psalm 49:15   what is a world full of riches and fame without the Lord your God?   what is success in the land of death when God dwells in the light of the living?   what is a “labor of love” when Love Himself is absent in its midst?   w

so i finally saw the movie Kick-Ass 2 and it got me thinking about John 15 from the Bible, the part where Jesus says abide in Him for without Him we can do nothing.  and you remember the van scene more than halfway through the movie? it got me really thinkin about it... we need to abide in God the same way  Chloë  Grace Moretz' character, Hit Girl, gripped onto the van roof by her fingers through the bullet holes: to cling to God the same way, like your life literally depends on it.  you let go of God, you will fall off the van, and you will get run over by oncoming cars of life. cars that don't care about you. cars that cannot save you. only those bullet holes through which your fingers cling can save you. in the metaphor, God is the van and it's being driven by Him and you're not in control; the bullet holes in the van roof are His words, the Bible. saving your life is making sure you stay holding on to God's words, clinging to the van, no matter what. like your

the world's been way too serious lately, and by lately i mean the year 2020, so here's some fun things: blogs to follow: http://internetvibes.blogspot.com/ ezra koenig of vampire weekend's old old old blog - i look forward to him one day writing a novel; it'll be so lovely. https://karigraceplace.wordpress.com/ a friend's fantastic challenging and uplifting life-and-Christ-centered blog  http://keturahskorner.blogspot.com/ only met this friend once in person but she is radical in the most fun and totally courageous hence entirely enviable way! music to check out: https://www.youtube.com/user/paradisefears paradise fears - an old but never forgotten favorite https://www.youtube.com/user/200000028 josh turner, not the country music artist - imma let his music speak for itself https://www.youtube.com/user/kamiltz kami maltz - it's uncanny how much she sounds like joni mitchell https://www.youtube.com/c/vampireweekend vampire weekend - a new favorite https://www.you

...just remember that the famous reclusive writer j.d. salinger would've envied your anonymity. that thomas pynchon (of V. ,  The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow)  is probably still in hiding to protect his.  the appeal of self-glorification by way of discussing the minutiae of your daily life that is prevalent in our culture remains a mystery for many authors whose only desire is to write without their own lives being eviscerated. in the words of salinger again: "I'm tired of being collared in elevators, stopped on the street, and of interlopers on my private property. I've made my position clear for 30 years. I want to be left alone, absolutely. Why can't my life be my own?" see, we make a grave mistake when we obsessively (key word!) identify with the owners of the content we consume and think we are One with Them and wish we could call them up after consuming their work. for one thing, in religious circles, that's called idolatry punishable

the world is a broken candle 1 right now.    lately i’ve gone back to the gospels, to the teachings of Jesus. almost like the dark dark world has kicked me towards the light.    and you know what i’ve realized? the very word “gospel” has been taken advantage of. do we even know its literal meaning?    the word gospel is derived from the anglo-saxon term god-spell, meaning “good story,” a rendering of the latin evangelium and the greek e uangelion , meaning “good news” or “good telling.”    (thank you, britannica.com). 2    it’s good news – that God (YHWH) of the Old testament is not only the true God but that Jesus is the charakter 3 (Hebrews 1:3)--the exact expression, exact impression--of God the Father. when God says in Exodus 34 that He is “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,” this means that JESUS, being the exact imprint of God's nature, is a God merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in st