Daily pages of reflection...for knowledge, understanding, to wisdom
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Christian Humanism

November 1, 2019
Year 4, Day 305 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

On the editorial page of our newspaper there appeared an excellent article cast in the context of Lincoln’s experience in the conditions of contradiction, warfare, slavery, concern, prejudice, politics, sorrow and death.  Here are some of the statements from the article published 150 years after he died for his ideas and actions so: leaving an heroic legacy of tolerance and sacrifice for an exceptional idealism . . . . The days of making progress through protest are over.  The time for making progress through other means has arrived.  Lincoln could have blamed . . . but he did not. . . .  He turned to an unusual and profound Christian humility to move victors and vanquished alike beyond past evils… Read more

Satan and Safety

October 31, 2019
Year 4, Day 304 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

Christians do not need to afford much time to the topic of Satan.  A clear understanding of that enemy of God and man is not a necessary accompaniment of salvation.  One who places utter spiritual faith in the redemption of Christ, and cultivates a life of proof of that faith in righteousness is virtually all that one needs to fulfill minimal requirement for God’s acceptance and God’s participation in an individual’s life.  Effectiveness of the redemptive experience is highly related to faith (key to spiritual life), hope (immortality) and love (life context).  God is man’s effective defense against negative life influence.  For the Christian there is faith that there is a hedge on every side that offers spiritual safety. It… Read more

Head and Heart

October 30, 2019
Year 4, Day 303 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

The casual Bible reader does not easily grasp that God changed the world’s orientation at Pentecost.  The story is told, beginning with the Second Chapter of the Book of Acts. in the birth of the Church. The culture of western mankind was changed in the miracle of Pentecost. The culture was moved on this date from the former human culture of tribal (social) and patriarchal (personal) context to world (social) and private (context).  From this point God addressed the whole world with the gospel of Christ, not just the former accent through Israel’s tribal/national order, nor the patriarchal representative of the personal order.  The patriarchal assignments were made for purpose, related to male and female, to children and aged, to… Read more

History

October 29, 2019
Year 4, Day 302 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

For me history is most alive in the biographies of persons, especially in the narratives and statements of those who include accents from God and nature than any other factors one might choose for accent.  The measure for the person of faith is to find if an orientation works for good in mankind.  Is there more to favor God and faith than there is to generate doubt, and/or entirely naturalistic cause and effect?   Some histories accent wars with their generals and government authorities.  Others accent movements and cultures rising and falling, and so various contexts form as specialization emerges.  Science seeks to tell the story in the analysis of evidence about weather, seasons, evolvement, conduct, and the related features of… Read more

Ordinary People

October 28, 2019
Year 4, Day 301 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

Promises to society are often broken, even if they give a respite in hope for a period of time. Finding the promises unmet, the confidence of the people with their support begins to decline, and may end in despair.  The pattern can be illustrated in the major and minor elections and ensuing experience in the American experience.  Using the president as an example, it is common for this newly elected person to enter office on a wave of good will and a general willingness to support the platform that won the majority vote.  The first measure is taken after a hundred days.  There appears to be a crack, even cracks, here or there.  They widen in the months ahead, perhaps… Read more

Devotion To Prayer

October 27, 2019
Year 4, Day 300 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

We do well to perceive prayers as discussion between parent and child – with restrained communication from one, and limited knowledge from the other.  (By using the family analogy we are recalling the preference of Jesus in using parables to freight his meanings.  The Apostle Paul owed much to the patterns of Aristotle’s rhetoric.  Both are used by God, although both might be faulted by divine standards.)  The child stubs his toe, begins to cry and hastens to mother for comfort and some relief.  The child may be sniffling, making some word sounds, and the gestures make clear the enormous extent of the conditions.  There is concern from mother, not nearly as dramatic as that of the child.  She knows… Read more

Dignity

October 26, 2019
Year 4, Day 299 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

There is common human fumbling in the sometimes mysteries related to good and evil.  Good and evil are identified variously in the present natural order.  The two begin as givens (unavoidable) for all of us.  We do not treat others quite as they ought to be treated, and we are not treated as we ought to be.  But, when we are identified in dignity, we likely, without obedience to proper instruction, do not well understand this life force (moral), meant to be justified in the image of God given to us in creation..  Often, our favorable self- interpretations lead to pride, even arrogance, or cause for us to perceive better reputation for ourselves, perhaps even for celebrity, than genuine dignity… Read more

Prayer Habit

October 25, 2019
Year 4, Day 298 | No Comments

It is human to shy away from prayer as a prevailing matter in Christian life.  Because God has everything, he needs nothing from human beings.  His omniscience means that he needs no information from us.  His omnipotence means that he needs no service from us.  We could make a litany of this kind of statement.  In short, God needs nothing, but he does desire some things and demanding others.  That understanding is basic to the understanding of humility in the human race.  Much of the humility we practice means virtually nothing to him.  The gracious prince may practice humility (genuine in wholly human context) to the pauper, all the while knowing his value exceeds that of the pauper.  The pauper… Read more

Stewardship of Regard

October 24, 2019
Year 4, Day 297 | No Comments

For this date in this series of Pages, the theme of esteem, focusing on self-esteem, has been accented.  It is to be understood in the light of the large and important concept of paradox, very important to the analysis of life and meaning in the light of natural and supernatural overlap in Christian formation.  The Christian seeks to abandon contradiction in life, but recognizes that there is paradox, which, for many persons, is confused with contradiction.  For example, the Christian perceives one’s self as elevated.  How can a child of God be less than important?  But, that status with God is put into perspective by the command to the Christian for humility.  An evidence of humility is found in attitude… Read more

Irrepressible Conflicts

October 23, 2019
Year 4, Day 296 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

We return to the conflictions of analyses referred to on this date a year ago, with focus emerging from the Tom Brokaw volume: The Greatest Generation.  The book received wide circulation, and repeated references in the media, stimulated by interviews with Brokaw.  We are considering an event of considerable discussion during several years, with Brokaw’s concentration on the history, after some years as an eminent reporter of world news.  The book from Brokaw named a number of persons who served valiantly in World War II, both men and women, who went on, after the war, to achieve productive lives – many to become eminent in their fields.  I choose one to make a point that may be missed, perhaps controversial,… Read more

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