The Narthex
Mercy, Humility, & Hell-Fire
Mercy as concern for the other is prominent in Jesus’ Judgment
By John M. Grondelski | November 29th 2023 2:59 PMLast Sunday’s Gospel for the Solemnity of Christ the King is Matthew’s Last Judgment account. I have to admit I’m partial to that text because, prior to the 1969 Calendar Reform that inserted Christ the King as the last Sunday of the liturgical year, there was a kind of eschatological…
READ FULL BLOG POSTDon't Get Your Christmas Tree This Weekend!
Why would you put up a Christmas tree in Ordinary Time?
By John M. Grondelski | November 21st 2023 12:09 PMThanksgiving is, for most Americans, a long weekend. Almost all children get out of school on Wednesday and don't return until Monday. Most institutions other than stores and commercial enterprises all take the long weekend. At some point Thanksgiving became something of a segue into the "Christmas season" and --…
READ FULL BLOG POSTOn Squirrels & Readiness
It is not the Bridegroom's duty to accommodate the bridesmaids; it was theirs to be ready
By John M. Grondelski | November 9th 2023 12:44 PMThis morning I left for work a little after the sun had risen -- not unusual with days shorter and clocks turned back one hour. As I walked across my parking lot, a couple of squirrels were busy on the old oak tree, about whose acorns pelting my window pane…
READ FULL BLOG POSTFalling Leaves & Acorns
Death may come quietly, like the falling leaf, or it may come loud and jolting
By John M. Grondelski | November 3rd 2023 11:37 AMNat King Cole sang about “the falling leaves [that] drift by the window/the autumn leaves of red and gold.” Drifting autumn leaves suggest a quiet, peaceful sweep outside one’s casement. Last weekend was anything but. Fall was at its peak in Virginia and Saturday was a gloriously sunny day. As…
READ FULL BLOG POSTPerennial Politicians & the Temptation of Power
One's failure to recognize he is not a demigod makes him blind to wisdom
By John M. Grondelski | October 13th 2023 12:03 PMIn the wake of California Senator Dianne Feinstein's burial, op-ed writers have been scribbling away on why America’s leadership class is so dominated by octogenarians (with a few septuagenarians as junior officers). Writing in The New York Times (Oct. 8), David French picked up Ross Douthat’s most recent hobby horse:…
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