felix hominum

quote of the day: St Basil the Great

The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.

St. Basil the Great (4th century)

Quote of the day: Michael Spencer in the CSM

Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it.

from this article
Michael Spencer is known to bloggers as the Internet Monk

The more I love humanity in general

the less I love man in particular. In my dreams,' he said, 'I have often come to making enthusiastic schemes for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually have faced crucifixion if it had been suddenly necessary; and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together, as I know by experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs my self-complacency and restricts my freedom.

In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he's too long over his dinner; another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.'

Fyodor Dostoevsky:  The Brothers Karamazov, chapter 4.  The elder Zossima is relating the story of one particular visitor.  How easy it is to love "humanity in general", and how difficult to love one's neighbour in particular

Quote of the day: a pagan view of bishops...

Bishops bustle about to one council after another, each trying to impose on the rest his own interpretation of the faith.  And the only noticeable result is the imposition of an intolerable burden on the means of public transport.

pagan Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, writing in the 4th century, in the aftermath of the Council of Nicea

quote of the day - Kyle Strobel

Mine is probably the first generation of children whose parents became Christians in the seeker movement.  The first time I sang a hymn was in college.  I have been saved from facing issues that come with growing up around a lot of tradition;  for example, I have no qualms with redoing everything if that is what is needed.  On the other hand, my lack of tradition has left me feeling my way in the dark even though millions of others have walked the way before me.

Kyle Strobel in Metamorpha:  Jesus as a Way of Life