In his brilliantly disturbing novella, The Testament of Mary (ostensibly about the mother of Christ but arguably about the inevitable unhappiness of mother-love), Colm Toibin articulates very well the dilemma of choosing between a righteous course of action and the more pressing demands of self-preservation: I watched in horror, but I did not move or […]
Up with this I shall not put! Read More »
No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend’s were. Each
Evil does not exist ontologically. And that’s why it’s so powerful – because it’s so parasitic on our deepest desires – and why so oftentimes the most profound evils that are perpetrated are done in the name of the good. If God does not exist – at least the God we worship and Jesus Christ
Sex is a problem because it would seem that in that act there is complete absence of the self. In that moment you are happy because there is the cessation of self-consciousness, of the ‘me’; and desiring more of it – more of the abnegation of the self in which there is complete happiness, without
Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star at its rising. Matthew 2:1-2 I have always loved Christmas. Loved it. Is it the mischievous child’s grace period? Amongst other things, that was what it symbolised to
I have been thinking of the famous baseball story, possibly fabricated, certainly embellished, that tells of a wide-eyed young fan asking his sporting hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, to deny his involvement in a conspiracy that had the Chicago White Sox throw the 1919 World Series. The breathless waif tugs at Jackson’s jacket as he leaves
Say it ain’t so, Lance. Read More »
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