From St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 3, a. 53, q. 1: It behooved Christ to rise again, for five reasons. First of all; for the commendation of Divine Justice, to which it belongs to exalt them who humble themselves for God's sake, according to Luke 1:52: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, …
Holy Saturday: The Two Reactions to Proclamation
Holy Saturday is one of those holidays that for most seems to be only a gap. We see the re-enactments of Christ's passion on Good Friday and the celebrations of his resurrection on Easter. But what happened between the two? What took place is what used to be called the "harrowing of hell", i.e., when …
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Why Christ's Passion was the Best Way: A Good Friday Reflection
From Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 3 q.46 a. 3: Among means to an end, the more suitable is that whereby the various concurring means employed are themselves helpful to such end. But in this that man was delivered by Christ's Passion, many other things besides deliverance from sin came together for man's salvation. In the …
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Les compagnons de Paul: Jésus va revenir est-tu prêt?
(KO 091113) 1973? The best way to describe this album's style is "eclectic." But that's not in a contemporary sense--even for the time it came out--but in a traditional sense. "The Companions of Paul" (the group's name in English) draw from a variety of folk styles, including French folk music (an ancestor of zydeco), bluegrass …
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What Happens When You Cut Corners on Final Expenses by Using Cremation
(That's a barbecue grill under the casket spray.)
Getting With the Program: The Lesson of the Brandon Eich Fiasco
When I was growing up, one of my father's favourite expressions to get my brother and I to not stray from the path he set before us was to demand that we "get with the program". Â The flip side to that was that, if we did get with the program, life would be good. That …
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Groupe Naissance: Entre tes mains
(Jef 335.111) 1974? A very nice French Christian folk album. To my mind it isn't quite up to this (from the same label, though), but it isn't bad either. Les Chalands Vivre Ave Toi Comme une Terre Desséchée Amitié Langueur La Feuille Morte Oh! Oh! Seigneur Ce N’est Pas Étrange Quand J’ai vu les Mains …
My Thoughts on Bill Nye, the (so-called) "Science Guy"
In early February we were regaled by a debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham over "creationism vs. evolutionism" which attracted more attention than it deserved. I'm tempted to move on about this except for this fawning piece in the New Republic (lefties can certainly be sycophants when the situation calls for it, something Barack …
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Pauline Mills: Pauline Sings
Century 35625 (1963?) One of the frustrating things about our culture is that everyone "markets" what they do as brand new. That includes Christian music. Music leaders, composers, and publishers would like to think that the move away from "traditional" Christian hymnody (and they usually fail to define "traditional") is all recent and the music …
Go Ahead, Make My Day. Excommunicate Me!
(Note: the Markov chain example starts about halfway through the post). One of the issues that the Roman Catholic Church wrestles with on an ongoing basis concerns the status of those politicians which a) profess and call themselves Roman Catholics yet b) show that they do not ascribe to the teaching of the Church in …
Positive Infinity 