"In the industrialized and post-industrial world, death usually arrives late. [...] Even animal deaths are hidden from view: We buy the shrink-wrapped meat of creatures whose faces we have never seen. Mortality remains an inescapable fact, but it has been tamed, sanitized, and banished to the margins of our consciousness."
The Fall of a Sparrow
https://firstthings.com/the-fall-of-a-sparrow/
I have a lot of problems with #FirstThings, but I haven’t unsubscribed yet as sometimes they publish really beautiful and thought-provoking #conservative article like https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/12/can-the-ignatius-study-bible-save-biblical-studies . And yes, I have no idea why The Ignatius Catholic Study #Bible is any better than for example The Jerusalem Bible (or any quality Protestant Bible for that matter). But that is not what this article is about.
We live in an age that prefers to forget. This is not only because our attention spans are calibrated to the evanescent flickerings of a screen, to a barrage of quickly forgotten tweets and disappearing images. These are merely symptoms. The deeper moral malady is the malaise of memory—of the will to forget. Today, the very notion of a collective memory, a shared identity, or a common life is met with deep suspicion.
– Gerald P. Boersma, from “Our Newest American Monument Is a Masterpiece” via First Things
aaaand the last task of #AuGhost2023 done \o/
is it pretty? not very
did i make the first threads too short? yes
did i make the loop around on the wrong loop? yes
but it will do v0v
has to :]
Recently author George Weigel recounted an interview with Benedict XVI; Weigel asked: "Why is Thérèse of Lisieux a Doctor of the Church?" First Things has granted us permission to publish excerpts.
:blobcatcoffee: Learn why!
http://carmelitequotes.blog/2023/01/04/b16-20sep97/
#PopeBenedictXVI #StThereseOfLisieux #DoctorOfTheChurch #FirstThings #interview #GeorgeWeigel #Catholic #Carmelite #quotes
"The longing of Christians in exile is not primarily for a physical place of security. Our longing is fulfilled when we see Jesus coming in clouds with power and glory (cf. Mark 13:26).
At no time of the Christian year do we experience our homelessness more acutely than at Advent. Holding out for Christmas, we cry out for Jesus to end our exile—to be our final home."
- Hans Boersma, "Homeless in Advent," in First Things (12/1/20)
