Nail Scars and Bullet Wounds – Isaiah 1:15 – Bradley Jersak
Nail-scars & bullet wounds.
"And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood."
-Isaiah 1:15
20 million guns sold in 2020
18.5 million sold in 2021
An Emmaus Way / Christotelic response to Isaiah 1:15 might see God's own hands "spread forth" in the cruciform, bearing bullet wounds, pleading with us, "Will you hide your eyes yet again?"
Somehow, we must get beyond the repetitious platitudes of ineffectual "thoughts n prayers" or news-cycle brief faux-outrage to find someone somewhere in whose authentic grief we can sit and practice co-suffering love.
What if — by Ron Roper
What if God was only giving the Devil enough rope to hang himself on that dark April day when he hung up God’s Son to torment and shame? I may be wrong, but what if the only wrath shown against Jesus at the cross was the wrath of Satan, who was about to get his...
Janus, Terrorism and Peacemaking by Ron Dart
Janus was, in Roman myth, the god who had two faces, one at the front and the other at the back of his head. Janus looked in both directions, and, being able to do so, could not be taken in by a single perspective. The language of terrorism is very much with us these days, and the political use of the term has certainly intensified since 9-11.
Compassionate Fire — Review by Ron Dart
Review: Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton & Catherine de Hueck Doherty (Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 2009) ed. Robert Wild. I owe much to Catherine Thomas Merton Father Louis, in some strange mysterious way I never...
Sylvie Weil’s ‘At Home with Andre and Simone Weil’ Review and Interview by Brad Jersak
I’ve just finished reading At Home With Andre and Simone Weil. This heart-felt little work allows readers a personal glimpse into the family life and history of the sibling wonders, Andre and Simone Weil.
New Documentary Brings Hell Debate to the Big Screen
Kevin Miller, best known for co-writing the controversial Ben Stein vehicle "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," takes on hell in an upcoming documentary that goes into production this summer. PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 18, 2011 – Are any...
‘Raids on the Unspeakable’ – Thomas Merton (excerpt)
Law is consistent. Grace is inconsistent. The cross is the sign of contradiction--destroying the seriousness of the law, of the Empire, of the armies, of blood sacrifice, and of obsession. But the magicians keep turning the Cross to their own purposes. Yes, it is for...
Beauty will save the world: A Word about Supplementary Education by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo
There is a certain moral content to beauty. We do not mean the kind of moralism which is purely religious. The appreciation of and love for beauty is a quality which enhances our humanity and softens our perspectives. Perhaps this is what Dostoevskyhad in mind when he...
On the Essence of True Morality — by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo
True morality consists far more in how well we care for one another than in what kind of external behaviour we wish to force on other people. Too often, moralism is confused with morality, but they are far from being the same. The moralistic notion that Christianity...
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – the video that started the hell-storm
Exploring the Contact Zone in Paton’s, “Cry the Beloved Country” by Glenn Runnalls
In Paton’s South Africa, the white settlers had destroyed the African tribal systems through mining camps, exploitation, unequal education, segregation, and inaction, not to mention colonization itself. Against this backdrop Paton writes Cry The Beloved Country...